neighborhood weblog HOWTO

September 29, 2007 8:08 AM

I would like to start a neighborhood web log. Something vaguely resembling metafilter. I don't want to spend much money on it. Is there a prototype you would recommend? Where to put it? What kind of usage terms to post? &c.
posted by bukvich to computers & internet (8 comments total)

You start a Placeblog on Placeblogger.
posted by jeanmari at 8:36 AM on September 29, 2007

I don't think Placeblogger will help bukvich. They seem to be an aggregator, not a blog host.
posted by nitsuj at 8:52 AM on September 29, 2007

I run a Wordpress MU (Multi-User) blog for a group of friends. It was fairly simple to set up, although I don't know your level of experience. I actually tweaked the code a bit (or, more accurately, wrote my own main page) so that the front page displays the latest posts across all the blogs. There are supposedly plugins that do this, but I found it easier to just write my own little script.

I should start a WPMU hosting company...? I don't see many of them around. A Small Orange is mentioned a few times, but it doesn't look like they offer WPMU already set up for you.
posted by fogster at 9:00 AM on September 29, 2007

Find a webhost (site5 or someone else) that includes a meta-program called Fantastico. Fantastico lets you install a number of cool web applications, including wordpress, with just a few clicks. It is seriously great.
posted by craniac at 9:35 AM on September 29, 2007

Check out asmallorange webhost. They have Fantastico mentioned above, and you can install a number of forums, content management systems, photogalleries, blogging softwares (including wordpress), etc. And they are cheap and reliable.
posted by Roger Dodger at 10:31 AM on September 29, 2007

Why not just a Google Group?... (hey, you werent very specific in describing what functionallity you needed/required)
posted by jmnugent at 12:10 PM on September 29, 2007

Have you seen Backfence? It's local community-specific, like what you're looking to do. Only in the VA area right now, though.
posted by buka at 1:21 PM on September 29, 2007

There's a lot of people running MeFi-style community blogs on Movable Type. (n.b. I work with the team that makes it.) It's free, and you can run it on a cheap web host at least as you get started. It supports running multiple blogs by default, and doing things like aggregating posts doesn't require any custom coding, since it's built in.
posted by anildash at 10:57 PM on September 29, 2007