THIS RLY BE DAVE

It’s hard to make the transition from livejournal to your own hosted blog like ones available at wordpress.org. There isn’t an instant network of people you can browse through — independently hosted blogs just are connected in the way that ’social networks’ like livejournal, facebook, or even myspace is. & it’s a lot harder to get set up.

network

Let’s face it, nobody blogs for himself, but nobody wants to ‘advertise’ their blog either. We’ve all browsed the comment section of a YouTube video and see those comments. “great video check out my hilarious vid where a kid farts in someones face!”

But it’s easy, actually, to build up a readership. Wordpress features a variety of integrated plugins and services that help you get your name out. The key? Read read read, link link link. Read other blogs: fandom, special interests, news, whatever. Link to those places. Talk about it.

Why? Their blogs will get pinged in the comments section. They’ll see your name, check out your stuff, remember you read theirs and commented (might even respond in their own blog — comments sections aren’t for friendly chatter — welcome back to e-mail!).

It’s a more honest way to build a friends list (ah! the n00b introduction to RSS feeds, that flist). You aren’t friending people back and forth, worrying about the touchy little social network you’re creating. You’re linking, and eventually you’re putting someone’s name in the side bar under the “blog roll.” These people may not be your friends in the classic livejournal sense, but they’re folks you honestly read.

And like true net virility, that’s how you create your online network. Harder work, yeah, and you have to actually blog (…oops), but it works well, and maybe even better than those social networking sites. You aren’t limited to the one-site feel of the internet. You can’t hide from the real net, which is what those sites in effect do.

Spread out your wings! Create a real RSS list on google reader, where ever, to keep track of your friends. Don’t be afraid of cutting loose from your social network — you’ll be joining a larger one, and not losing the other, not really. It’s not a popularity contest out there if you’re only doing it for fun.

Don’t forget, flocking is easy — just either enable an OpenID plugin (still in beta –sometimes works, sometimes not!) or ask your friends to register. You can place security levels on your posts, and manage those levels from 0-9. Not as easy, but maybe someone will create a plugin for that.

the tech aspects

Yeah, I’m the first to admit, going from the premade layouts & out-of-the-tin readiness of LJ is a pain in the butt — and more than a little scary. Forget HTML, you’re thrown into the world of PHP. Ahh!

All the little cheats you learned to get by in the world of LJ layouts or myspace codes are useless — because LJ & myspace so limit the capabilities of someone to create or edit a layout that you’re basically a sculptor working with lots of tiny bits of crap, trying to create something presentable. Colors & graphics pretty much are your tools, good luck.

Once you’ve really got the hang of it — and I’m still getting there! — you can do anything with a WP blog theme. The possibilities are limitless. Once you get really good, you can make your blog look — well, not like a blog, if you want.

I’ve abandoned mine while I work on getting plugins worked out and while I learn the language of PHP. I’ll skip on the PHP, because I’m not expert, and what I’ve learned I’ve gathered from plugins and themes. There are so many types of plugins out there to help the transition from LJ to Wordpress.

I’m not the only one, I’m sure, who’s noticed all the new features that livejournal keeps throwing at us. My current favorite is the button we click to have a preview of under-the-cut texts and images. But there is always the classic comment e-mail system (which has its ups and downs) and all the extras that paid users get. Like I said before, you can get most of those features — or a variation of them — with plugins (and as many userpics as you want with all that space and control you have)

I’m not falling for it (mostly — I love the preview!) when most of these features have been rolled out since Strikethrough 07. You shouldn’t either. You might even figure out how to make your own toys.

You’ll have to wait, sometimes, when Wordpress upgrades for the plugins to follow through with compatibility. My cut and hide plugin = zip at the moment, but I’m looking around for a comparable replacement until its compliant.

cost

Okay, if you want true control and freedom of your wordpress site, having it hosted at wordpress.com just isn’t going to cut it for you. But paying for your own domain and hosting — it sounds like it’s gonna be expensive!

It is. Sorta. They don’t come cheap. But you pay how much for one tiny, limited site on livejournal a year when you could have your own site, complete with a unique domain and tons of space? I think the exchange is more than fair.

It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to find a plugin that won’t work for you, maybe even one that just can’t live without. Work around it, go longhand, or even try making your own. Your wordpress themes are going to look like prepacked themes from the get go, but isn’t that the same as LJ?

You might even have a few times when you break Wordpress and freak out (don’t forget to back up your site!) You’re going to be frustrated, but don’t give up! Just keep swimming.