vBulletin Blog has been released

[HoopScoop]

A blogging system has now been released by vBulletin. I am seriously considering adding this to HoopScoop. It comes with a $50 price tag, but that seems reasonable. You can view vBulletin.com's implementation of their Blog software at http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/blog.php.

In case you've been living in a hole the past decade or are quite new to the internet, blogs have become extremely popular. For a definition of blog, click here -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog. A Blog is a natural extension of this forum software because we have already created a community of people with similar interests here at HoopScoop.

But I wanted to at least let everyone know its available and I may be purchasing it very soon. Any thoughts or concerns out there?

The one potential downside is it could become something that has to be moderated to a larger degree than the forums. Thus, I kind of cringe at that aspect. And Blogs are meant for ALL TYPES of discussion including things like religion and politics that will undoubtedly bring to light contrasting opinions and potential heated "rants". Nonetheless, I don't want to restrict it beyond common sense "law". Obviously foul language and personal attacks are a quick way to not only get the blogs deleted, but you as a user banned from HoopScoop.

But I do want to encourage people to provide more personal kinds of blogs if you so wish. I know some of you have some very interesting hobbies (cooking, flying, have interesting jobs, interesting vacations, etc.) But others may wish to provide blogs about matters more related to basketball and women's basketball in particular.

Personally, I'd love to see a travel blog from Mechelle and Brenda as they've given us very interesting, humorous stories in the past during our meetings at the Big 12 Tournament. Maybe we can prod them into doing this!

So, if you have any questions or comments or concerns on this, please reply.

[labcoatguy]

Commish, I appreciate your effort to expand the services that we can all indulge in here at this community, and I think you've done a wonderful job keeping this forum friendly while still being entertaining: it's everything an online community should be.

I think one of the best things about blogs is that they are pretty much an open journal into whatever content the user sees fit, without anyone else to tell you what you should or should not put into it.

That's why I'm a little uneasy about your suggested policing efforts to not only removes someone's blog, but also to kick them out of the community for posting something on their own blog that may be deemed offensive to some people. I'm all for setting ground rules for posting to the forums: after all, they are meant to be a public discussion for all to participate in. But blogs are more for private expression, and my dropping an f-bomb in it doesn't affect the nature of our community forum rules, and therefore shouldn't be punished.

Just my two-cents.

[HoopScoop]

Thanks for the two-cents labcoatguy. I understand your position.

The Blogs will not be policed in any special way - only as much as the forums are. The only reason I "worry" about them more than the forums is that the breadth of material that will be discussed would encompass much more than has been in the forums to date. However, that is still not nearly enough of a reason for me not to implement blogs.

I do ask, and will insist, that blogs be held to the same standard and rules that govern your typical newspaper and mainline magazine today. We will let that be the standard rather than get in to some long discussion on Freedom of Speech. (You or anyone is more than welcome to put together an entry in their blog on free speech if they like though ;) )

On a personal note, I strongly abhor foul language. I'm dead set against it on any level you can think of. It has not been a problem in the forums to date. And I do not want it to become a problem in the blogs. It's not used in newspapers today - thus I feel that's a fair standard to hold to now. I also have to keep in mind such things as who may read material on HoopScoop. It's most definitely not out of the question that kids read discussions here. That's just one of several reasons why I can not condone that.

There are simply a vast number of topics and ways in which those topics can be discussed without this having to become an issue.

Thanks for sharing your opinion and hope this clarifies things.

[breid]

Commish, I support any efforts to keep the blogs here to a higher standard. Hoopscoop has always been a place where we can all can agree to disagree, but still all support women's bball. If someone wants more first amendment rights they can find free blogs all over the internet that will allow those rights.

[Scamp]

I like HoopScoop the way it is now. :)

It seems to me that the web has far too many blogs already. Let's stick to women's basketball, with a concentration on the Big 12.

[HoopScoop]

I like HoopScoop the way it is now. :)

It seems to me that the web has far too many blogs already. Let's stick to women's basketball, with a concentration on the Big 12.

Agreed there are tons of useless blogs out there. But Blogs are a greaty way to enhance an already established community.

It will be easy to ignore the Blogs if you chose to do so. But there are some obvious Blogs that I would like to see here. I mean, who wouldn't want to read a Chipper Blog? Right?

No pressure Chipper.