Blogger's Forum - Looking for blog authors.

I have 6 blogs that I maintain on blogger.com. 4 of which I am looking for additional blog authors for. All 4 have to do with bicycling. One is for commuting, another is advocacy and safety, another is for history and culture by bicycle and the last one is general bicycle topics not related to advocacy, safety, commuting or history.

Is anyone interested in being a blog author. If you are let me know and we will discuss the details. If you prefer more details up front before you let me know by all means state as much and I will give as much detail as I can.

First thanks for replying to my bloggers wanted post. I sent you a PM regarding LC. But I thought I would keep this discussion in the forumn as it might be an interesting discussion for some of the other bloggers on here.



I think we definitely have some interests in common as far as creating resources for cycling. I'm curious to hear/read more about your ideas for the direction and goal of your blogs. Are you just starting to recruit authors? When you bring people in, do you plan to keep it free-form i.e. within a certain context authors just post on whatever they want? Or do you have a plan for topics and issues to be addressed?



With Local Cyclist I went with the idea of "What could you do if you organized existing blogs into a nation-wide resource." Although its been a little harder than I expected to recruit blogs I've built up a fairly decent network at this point.



The part that I am struggling with however is how to take it to the next level. With an LC type structure the difficulty is in making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. I think we need a schedule of feature articles to maintain a flow of quality content. The problem is everyone's participation is voluntary and most are already at the level of commitment that they want.



With a more centralized structure its probably easier to have direction. But then you are asking a lot for a blogger to give up time that they would put toward their own blog to contribute to your project.



Please share your thoughts and I hope some other blogger's jump in as well with their ideas.

First thanks for replying to my bloggers wanted post. I sent you a PM regarding LC. But I thought I would keep this discussion in the forumn as it might be an interesting discussion for some of the other bloggers on here.



I think we definitely have some interests in common as far as creating resources for cycling. I'm curious to hear/read more about your ideas for the direction and goal of your blogs. Are you just starting to recruit authors? When you bring people in, do you plan to keep it free-form i.e. within a certain context authors just post on whatever they want? Or do you have a plan for topics and issues to be addressed?



With Local Cyclist I went with the idea of "What could you do if you organized existing blogs into a nation-wide resource." Although its been a little harder than I expected to recruit blogs I've built up a fairly decent network at this point.



The part that I am struggling with however is how to take it to the next level. With an LC type structure the difficulty is in making the whole greater than the sum of its parts. I think we need a schedule of feature articles to maintain a flow of quality content. The problem is everyone's participation is voluntary and most are already at the level of commitment that they want.



With a more centralized structure its probably easier to have direction. But then you are asking a lot for a blogger to give up time that they would put toward their own blog to contribute to your project.



Please share your thoughts and I hope some other blogger's jump in as well with their ideas.

I have not had anyone show an interest in being a blog author on any one of my blogs.

To answer some of your questions:
1. Additional and approved blog authors can post on what ever blog they would like to. I have 4 bicycle blogs and am thinking about adding a 5th, for recumbents only.
2. Additional and approved blog authors would have to agree to post relevant topics on what ever blog they are posting to.
3. Blog authors can use what ever style they would like, every one has their own unique style. What I mean by this is on my History and Culture blog the posts have pictures and links that I posted. Some have shorter write ups then others on the posts. Other authors may only wish to provide links, while some may only have a write up with out links or pictures. Some may only have a sentance or 2 for the write up and post a lot of pictures. This is just one example.
4. Authors would have to agree to a set of rules, not just guidelines, but rules that will be enforced by me as the admin of the blog. Rule number one will be no profanity of any kind. You can post opinions and state you do not like something in a strong tone, for example on my Advocacy and Safety blog, but no profanity. Another rule will be respect other's opinions if something turns into a debate when or if people post comments.
5. About the only free form I would allow would be on the blog titled Bicycling. If it is a historical or cultural event or location that has been visted by bicycle then the topic would go in the History and Culture blog. If it is an advocacy and safety issue it would go in the Advocacy and Safety blog. And so on and so forth.
6. I want to keep the topics posted on the blogs structured and centered to the particular blog being posted to.
7. I understand I could be asking for blog authors to give up time they could otherwise spend on their blog. But this is completely voluntary. Authors can post as often as they like. Maybe there are potential authors who do not maintain a blog of their own that would like to be an author on a blog that is already set up and established.
8. I am looking for authors who are not afraid to express thier minds or feelings about something if the situation warrants it. And authors who are able to maintain a certain level of respect for others and able to follow a few simple rules. If a person is the type that would rather cut lose and flame, bait, are not interested in following rules on yet another discussion type forum, etc. then do not ask to be an author on my blog.

I'm an easy guy to get along with. I look forward to interested authors who would like to post to my bicycle related blogs.

Ironically, I am so busy with various projects across several sites that I don't have time to post to my own blog.

Too funny. What are the other projects?

I have 6 blogs that I maintain on blogger.com. 4 of which I am looking for additional blog authors for. All 4 have to do with bicycling. One is for commuting, another is advocacy and safety, another is for history and culture by bicycle and the last one is general bicycle topics not related to advocacy, safety, commuting or history.

Is anyone interested in being a blog author. If you are let me know and we will discuss the details. If you prefer more details up front before you let me know by all means state as much and I will give as much detail as I can.

Just curious...

What would be the advantage of an author blogging for you within the confines of your rules/structure when they could create and author their own blog and free-form their own thoughts and format?

Just curious...

What would be the advantage of an author blogging for you within the confines of your rules/structure when they could create and author their own blog and free-form their own thoughts and format?

No advantage I guess and nothing to stop them from creating their own blog and authoring with their own free form format, or as I call it, cutting lose with no regard to common decency or respect. I am not saying people here would not be respectful or would just cut loose with bad langage, etc. But if they do then there are a lot of people who do not really want to read that kind of material or language. I know I don't. It is a huge turn off for me. If people want to create their own blog, more power to them, have at it. I am just offering something as an alternative to that.

I may be interested in the commuter blog. You can click on links for any of my bicycles in my sigfile below to see my current blog and see some of my work. You won't find anything cycle related prior to Feb 08. I've contributed to some multi-user blogs in the past. If/when I come up with anything interesting I'll send it to you....

But first, can we see links to your blogs?

I may be interested in the commuter blog. You can click on links for any of my bicycles in my sigfile below to see my current blog and see some of my work. You won't find anything cycle related prior to Feb 08. I've contributed to some multi-user blogs in the past. If/when I come up with anything interesting I'll send it to you....

But first, can we see links to your blogs?

I posted links to them in another thread, but sure, here they are:
http://commutinganderrands.blogspot.com/
http://johnsbicyclinghobby.blogspot.com/
http://recumbentbicycles.blogspot.com/
http://historyandculturebybicycle.blogspot.com/
http://commutinganderrands.blogspot.com/

I may be able to contribute to the commuting blog. I hope to commute through the (Texas) winter, so I can report on clothing I buy and stuff like that. For now I'll post that stuff to my own blog, but if I come up with anything good I'll try to remember to let you know and we can cross-post it to yours.