# Choosing a blog platform



## Pilgrim (Jan 2, 2009)

What are the relative strengths and weaknesses of various blog platforms? Blogger is the only one I really have any familiarity with, although I do have a WordPress account as well. 

I have seen some security concerns expressed about WordPress. Are there similar concerns with Blogger as well? What about other sites like Typepad, etc?


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## Pilgrim (Jan 2, 2009)

Joshua said:


> Unless you plan on having some out-of-this-world ratings and hits on your blog, I wouldn't worry about "security." I have had nothing but good things from Wordpress. I love how I am able to totally manipulate the CSS to get the design I want, and they have a plethora of awesome plugins, etc.



I have heard that there is a lot more versatility with Wordpress. Is it better to have the page hosted somewhere else? What are some options for doing that? 

What are the best ways to backup a blog just in case you do get hacked, etc.?


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## greenbaggins (Jan 2, 2009)

Wordpress has it all over Blogger in terms of ease of use. And, speaking as one who gets a fair amount of traffic on my blog, I haven't had a single security issue. However, be aware that there are two different ways of doing Wordpress. One is Josh's way: your computer becomes the server. This allows for far greater flexibility in design. However, if your computer crashes, then you are responsible for backup files. There are ways to do this. The security problems are far more with this type of Wordpress blog (which is the dot org blog). What I have is the dot com blog platform. Wordpress itself hosts it (and is thus off my computer). The flexibility is not as great, but you can still do just about anything you want with regard to posting (except that wordpress.com does not take Java script). Wordpress.com blogs have thus far greater security, and, as I've said, I've had no problems with it. It is the most intuitive blog to use (I've checked out several platforms), and the Wordpress folk are always improving stuff. It is used by about half the total blogging world.


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## Pilgrim (Jan 2, 2009)

greenbaggins said:


> Wordpress has it all over Blogger in terms of ease of use. And, speaking as one who gets a fair amount of traffic on my blog, I haven't had a single security issue. However, be aware that there are two different ways of doing Wordpress. One is Josh's way: your computer becomes the server. This allows for far greater flexibility in design. However, if your computer crashes, then you are responsible for backup files. There are ways to do this. The security problems are far more with this type of Wordpress blog (which is the dot org blog). What I have is the dot com blog platform. Wordpress itself hosts it (and is thus off my computer). The flexibility is not as great, but you can still do just about anything you want with regard to posting (except that wordpress.com does not take Java script). Wordpress.com blogs have thus far greater security, and, as I've said, I've had no problems with it. It is the most intuitive blog to use (I've checked out several platforms), and the Wordpress folk are always improving stuff. It is used by about half the total blogging world.



Lane,

When the FV battle was raging at its hottest I know that you had a lot of traffic and a ton of comments compared to most blogs, at least when compared to other blogs in our circles. Looking at your front page just now, I see that this is still the case depending on what the post is. For example, one post has over 200 comments and no doubt many more pageloads. So if you haven't had any trouble I think I'll probably be fine.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 2, 2009)

greenbaggins said:


> Wordpress has it all over Blogger in terms of ease of use. And, speaking as one who gets a fair amount of traffic on my blog, I haven't had a single security issue. However, be aware that there are two different ways of doing Wordpress. One is Josh's way: your computer becomes the server. This allows for far greater flexibility in design. However, if your computer crashes, then you are responsible for backup files. There are ways to do this. The security problems are far more with this type of Wordpress blog (which is the dot org blog). What I have is the dot com blog platform. Wordpress itself hosts it (and is thus off my computer). The flexibility is not as great, but you can still do just about anything you want with regard to posting (except that wordpress.com does not take Java script). Wordpress.com blogs have thus far greater security, and, as I've said, I've had no problems with it. It is the most intuitive blog to use (I've checked out several platforms), and the Wordpress folk are always improving stuff. It is used by about half the total blogging world.



Lane,

Josh's blog isn't hosted on a home computer but on a server in a data center hosted by Lunar Pages. I host a few Wordpress sites on the same server I host the Puritanboard on:

Web Hosting Ratings, Guides and Advice to build and promote your web site | WebsiteMaven.com
Central Baptist Church, Okinawa, Japan
Providence Church, Temecula, CA
The Confessional Presbyterian
Naphtali Press

The nice thing about the wordpress.com option is that you don't have to worry about the back end as the Wordpress folks take care of that. The nice thing about downloading your own software from wordpress.org is the control it grants.  As you can see above, you have the ability to set up sites that are not only blogging platforms but full blown CMS sites. Wordpress even has a forum feature.

As far as the question in the OP, I don't think security is much different between Blogger and Wordpress if you're going to have someone do the back end. If all one is going to do is blog then practically anything reliable is fine. Folks that only blog sometimes like the bells and whistles but, frankly, all one needs is something to write with as well as a decent comment capability.


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 2, 2009)

Joshua said:


> Semper Fidelis said:
> 
> 
> > Wordpress even has a forum feature.
> ...



Go to the Extend section on Wordpress.org.


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## fredtgreco (Jan 2, 2009)

Semper Fidelis said:


> Joshua said:
> 
> 
> > Semper Fidelis said:
> ...



I am at the extend section, but don't see anything. Where is it? Any chance of a link?


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## Semper Fidelis (Jan 2, 2009)

Fahlstad Design &bull; WP-Forum, WordPress plugin


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