Things to look for in evaluating alternative services
For those people looking to move their blogs offsite, services reviewed should be looking at:
1. The ability to import a Livejournal--with/without comments.
2. Threaded comments.
3. Comment notification.
4. OpenID support.
5. Style customization--how is it done, etc.
6. The ability to make "friended" entries.
7. Integration with other website management tools--plugins for gallery management, etc.
8. Ease of use. How do you sign up/install; how does it run.
9. If it's host your own, what are the server requirements? Do you know of or have experience with reliable webhosts capable of running the software? (No referrals, please.) If it's another service, how does it run differently from LJ? What are the advantages?
10. Capacity for multiple blogs.
11. Open Source or proprietary? If proprietary, what's the cost?
12. Does it do Trackback or Pingback?
13. Does it do spam filtering for comments? (Ick, ick, ick!)
14. RSS and/or Atom feeds?
15. Ad status. Do they put ads on your blog? What are they like? Can you run your own?
16. Do they have a tagging system? How does it work?
17. Support for multiple users?
Remember that some frameworks, like WordPress, might have plugins that fulfill some of those features. A good starting point is Blog Breakdown. If I'm not mistaken, there are also tools that will allow you to crosspost to some blog software and your LJ at the same time; those are also worth mentioning, if found.
This is mostly focused on bulletin board solutions to move communities to.
1. Can a LJ community be imported? (This is a VERY far fetched one, but it is possible that tools could be developed to import a community's old posts/comments into an open source bulletin board.)
2. Is it a service or host your own? If host your own, what are the server requirement?
3. If it's a program, is it open source or proprietary?
4. Advertising: is it on the boards? To what extent? Can you run your own if you're hosting it?
5. What are the tools given to moderators to help manage the bulletin board?
6. How are things kept in view of the community only?
7. How are people notified of new posts/activity on the board?
8. Can posts be threaded?
9. Any support for accounts based on OpenID?
10. Style customization: how is it done?
11. Ease of installation/signing up, management, and use.
Also needed: reviews of all backup tools available.
1. Do they backup comments?
2. Do they backup tags and other metadata?
Let me know about any suggestions to this list.
1. The ability to import a Livejournal--with/without comments.
2. Threaded comments.
3. Comment notification.
4. OpenID support.
5. Style customization--how is it done, etc.
6. The ability to make "friended" entries.
7. Integration with other website management tools--plugins for gallery management, etc.
8. Ease of use. How do you sign up/install; how does it run.
9. If it's host your own, what are the server requirements? Do you know of or have experience with reliable webhosts capable of running the software? (No referrals, please.) If it's another service, how does it run differently from LJ? What are the advantages?
10. Capacity for multiple blogs.
11. Open Source or proprietary? If proprietary, what's the cost?
12. Does it do Trackback or Pingback?
13. Does it do spam filtering for comments? (Ick, ick, ick!)
14. RSS and/or Atom feeds?
15. Ad status. Do they put ads on your blog? What are they like? Can you run your own?
16. Do they have a tagging system? How does it work?
17. Support for multiple users?
Remember that some frameworks, like WordPress, might have plugins that fulfill some of those features. A good starting point is Blog Breakdown. If I'm not mistaken, there are also tools that will allow you to crosspost to some blog software and your LJ at the same time; those are also worth mentioning, if found.
This is mostly focused on bulletin board solutions to move communities to.
1. Can a LJ community be imported? (This is a VERY far fetched one, but it is possible that tools could be developed to import a community's old posts/comments into an open source bulletin board.)
2. Is it a service or host your own? If host your own, what are the server requirement?
3. If it's a program, is it open source or proprietary?
4. Advertising: is it on the boards? To what extent? Can you run your own if you're hosting it?
5. What are the tools given to moderators to help manage the bulletin board?
6. How are things kept in view of the community only?
7. How are people notified of new posts/activity on the board?
8. Can posts be threaded?
9. Any support for accounts based on OpenID?
10. Style customization: how is it done?
11. Ease of installation/signing up, management, and use.
Also needed: reviews of all backup tools available.
1. Do they backup comments?
2. Do they backup tags and other metadata?
Let me know about any suggestions to this list.