The blogs are more for broadcasting, and the forums are more for discussion. In my case, I don't ever look at the blogs (and I suspect that's the general case as well).
Blogs:
Blog entries must adhere to the rules and restrictions of the Parallax Discussion Forums; interactions on the blogs must also be conducted in a civil manner. We will permit the blogs to be slightly less restrictive in terms of content, but only so long as they do not become negative or harmful to others; the blogs are meant to be more personal than the general forums. (italics mine)
Forum users have typically put long-term projects in the blog and will update their progress, giving us a whole picture start-to-finish. Others (like myself) put up items of interest or information they believe will assist other members.
If you're building a robot or other electronic project, I'd suggest using the forum (project or robot) to post your progress. As SRLM said, blogs aren't read nearly as much as forum posts. I also like the format of the forum better than blogs.
If you just want some place to record thoughts and ideas then I think a blog is a better alternative.
I started a blog here a while back but I find I don't post to it very often.
The blog section IMO doesn't lend itself to mutiple entries about one topic. Each blog entry seems to be self contained without the ability to expand on the topic of the entry. So if you had multiple blog posts about a robot you were buiding, if the entries about the robot weren't all one right after the other, then it would be hard to follow progress on just the robot project without also having to go through blog entries about other topics.
If there is a way to group blog entries, I'm not familiar with it.
This inability to group entries by project, makes using a forum thread a better alternative to blog posts, for keeping track of a project. The other reason to use a forum post for your project, is you project is more likely to be seen by other forum members if you use a forum thread than if you use a blog to record your progress.
I use the forum for most things, but I occasionally promote posts to a blog entry. This is more for my use because it is easier for me to find those items. Duane maintains forum post with an index for a similar purpose.
bluejay
Posts: 131
Comments
From the Forum Guidlines:
Blogs:
Blog entries must adhere to the rules and restrictions of the Parallax Discussion Forums; interactions on the blogs must also be conducted in a civil manner. We will permit the blogs to be slightly less restrictive in terms of content, but only so long as they do not become negative or harmful to others; the blogs are meant to be more personal than the general forums. (italics mine)
Forum users have typically put long-term projects in the blog and will update their progress, giving us a whole picture start-to-finish. Others (like myself) put up items of interest or information they believe will assist other members.
If you just want some place to record thoughts and ideas then I think a blog is a better alternative.
I started a blog here a while back but I find I don't post to it very often.
The blog section IMO doesn't lend itself to mutiple entries about one topic. Each blog entry seems to be self contained without the ability to expand on the topic of the entry. So if you had multiple blog posts about a robot you were buiding, if the entries about the robot weren't all one right after the other, then it would be hard to follow progress on just the robot project without also having to go through blog entries about other topics.
If there is a way to group blog entries, I'm not familiar with it.
This inability to group entries by project, makes using a forum thread a better alternative to blog posts, for keeping track of a project. The other reason to use a forum post for your project, is you project is more likely to be seen by other forum members if you use a forum thread than if you use a blog to record your progress.
-Phil
+1... life's too short!