Hello! Help solve the problem.
Very often try to enter the forum, but says that the password is not correct.
Regrettably use of remembering. Give like to be?
Thank you!

I feel like I should add that I'm not promoting the idea that blogs are better than message boards. It's apples and oranges and depends on the situation.

Mean Mr. Message Board could totally kick Bad Bad Leroy Blog's ass in another fight on a different night.

As an editor, publisher, blogger, owner of a message board and poster on others' blogs and boards, I've been intrigued by the personalities of the traditional and new media. My first online post was on CompuServe back in '82, I think.

My first thought when I saw a link to this game on Blogspotting was that the blog has a focus and voice, while a board has many focuses and voices. But I've seen blogs that seem to have no focus nor voice, and most forums are exercises in group think.

That is, each board, or forum has a personality. In my experience, most boards are dominated by liberals. Conservatives like me seem to have other things to do or don't like to write and voice their opinions. So, on boards, I'm usually out numbered 10 or 30 to 1. This makes it more fun for me.

Board software forces the sponsor to setup a structure and series of broad topics: Vent here. Pregnancy. First year. Post partum. Toddlers. Books. Health. To the editor. Etc.

Board readers start threads, which live or die by their appeal to the regular members. On most boards, 200 or 300 members out of 10,000 do all of the posting. Everyone else lurks or goes away after registering as a member.

Over several years, you see the same topics, questions and replies as one gang of posters comes and goes and is replaced by the next generation. People get bored and distracted and go away. Usually there are a few diehards who stay around for a long time for various reasons. This is especially true on investment forums such as those at Morningstar.com. I've been on that board for 5 or 6 years, but I've had fallow periods as other interests, including blogging and business, distracted me.

Blogging is self publishing with letters to whoever in the comments section. Successful blogging requires focus, discipline and productivity as well as a nose for news. While bloggers feed off each others' links, the interaction among us is not as quick nor as direct as you'll find on an active message board.

Blogging is a top down activity, and boards are bottom up forums that empower readers to contribute. As an editor, I've always found that my staff generated better story ideas than I could. And I see the same pattern on boards.

In my blogging area, health care policy, politics and economics, there is relatively little linking among bloggers. It's nowhere like what you see on Instapundit.com or Drudge which are the linking champs.

Our blogs are read by our subscribers, prospects, friends and people seriously interested in medicine, health care and, to some extent, the stock market. These readers tend to be bureaucrats who keep their noses clean by keeping their mouths shut and their hands off their keyboards.

So this is a bit discouraging. It's too much like writing a book that disappears into a black hole never to be seen again or a news story or column that may be read by some researcher months or years after it's published.

Over the weekend, I found myself reading magazines, newspapers and a couple of books and not a single blog nor message board, which is unusual for me. It was quite satisfying to read some really good, in depth stuff.

And now, I'm back to blogging and message boarding and not getting my work done. And that's what blogs and message boards are: Great distractions for procrastinators.

It seems this battle is in the feather weight or hobby class of tools. We sell heavy weight tools/services - Ideascape, that has group blogging with threaded comments, forums, version control, workflow, pm, etc. What's more, everything is rss and links can be used in forums.

Very funny! Thanks for the humorous break to the afternoon :)

This cracked me up.

I'm filing an official protest with the sanctioning body. I believe the fix was in!

Creative. :)

"I was right, Message Board is looking a little confused. Because he relies on a group for direction, he’s losing focus."

I can't be entirely sure how you meant this. Users do decide what topics are discussed (sometimes with help from staff or administration, of course) but, other than that, it really has more to do with how you run your community. My communities don't ever struggle for direction because I set the direction.

I see what you mean Patrick. It's purely a 1:1 comparison. Communities do have direction, but not the direction and focus that is possible via a weblog. For me, it's part of the very nature of the beasts: more authors = less ability to maintain consistent direction and focus.

Of course, I'm generalizing graciously.

Yeah, I can see what you mean. I don't see the two to be terribly comparable, anyway. They can complement each other at times, though.

Er... that should be "I don't see the two as being terribly comparable, anyway." Sorry. ;)

And in this corner...

Good thing we have wiki to referee.

Oh, and boards are not group voice. I should probably stop at that :-)

I demand a rematch! Message boards are like the Borg, the voice of many helps shape a much clearer and consistent message.

They offer a 1:1 conversation that cannot be matched by blogs, where conversation takes place in a much more roundabout fashion.

Also, you don't have to be a KOL for your message to be heard.