When I signed up for LiveJournal, the first two names I tried were already used: amberwaves and mariposalily. Three Ringed Moon comes from Andre Norton's Moon of Three Rings which was a favorite when I was a kid. It popped into my mind as I sat there desperate for a name that didn't include numbers or nonsense syllables.

I've recently been trying out various journal and weblog service providers. I've been writing Coffee and Oranges for a year now. I use a Perl program that I wrote to format text pages I keep on my PC. The benefits of this approach is that I have absolute control over my pages and my software. The drawbacks include that I don't have a lot of nifty features that the various professional solutions offer. I also have to maintain the software, which is usually fun, but occasionally a hassle, as when I broke my homegrown RSS feed. My eyes start crossing when I have to look at the raw output of an RSS feed.

The various services I have been checking includes TypePad, where I am a beta tester with Five Acres with a View. I volunteered as a beta tester on a whim and was pleased when I was chosen. I had been interested in the Movable Type software for a while, but hadn't wanted to install it myself. TypePad has a slick interface and works about the way I expect things to work.

I've also tried Radio Userland. I like its approach of keeping your data on your PC. However, I find the software works counter-intuitively to the way I think and write. And, since the updates are hosted on the PC, one can post from other locations, which is one of the biggest advantages to me for buying a solution.

I tried Blogger: it has the advantage of working the way I expect things to work, but doesn't have the feature set of TypePad. TypePad spoiled me rather quickly, even with the vagaries of using beta software.

In a comment to me, elainegrey points out that LiveJournal has different goals than weblogging packages, and I realize this. However, I've discovered that I have been writing longer, more journal-like posts for Five Acres with a View, so I decided I should look into one or two journal solutions as well. I like that LiveJournal provides an RSS feed, and find the way that it weaves Friends together to be very cool.

From: [personal profile] pipibluestockin


'morning, while you are in the process of testing LiveJournal, can I suggest you try downloading the LJ Clients?

Most of these handy little programs allow you to get on with substance and not the formatting of your post.
.

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