Egalitarian blogging for a pair?

April 10, 2011 9:30 PM

What is the best (free or very cheap) blog platform for a dual-authored blog in which both authors have their own logins, but neither is the administrator?

I'm looking for something that is both relatively simple to use and customizable without hoops or fees. My ideal situation would be that when either of us posts to the blog, it will automatically say "posted by Cardanthian" or "posted by Friendanthian" as appropriate. Both logins should have equal power in the blog, so either A) neither one of us needs to approve the other's posts, or B) we both have to approve the other's posts. A notification when the other person posts would be nice but not mandatory. I'd also like a way to make collaborative blog posts, both from the same computer (pretty easy) and over the internet (maybe harder). This is going to be a project where uploading photos and videos is vital, so that needs to be hassle-free. Is there anything out there that fits these criteria? Is there anything else I need to be looking for in a collaborative blog?

(I have seen this question, but as it's nearly three years old and I've read conflicting reports about Wordpress in general, I thought I'd look for new options.)

posted by Captain Cardanthian! to Computers & Internet (7 answers total)

Posterous? You could both be administrators, although technically one of you would be the "owner" I think (invisible to your visitors). But nobody would need to approve anyone else's posts, if that's all you mean. You can both sign up for email notifications (they just added an "instant" option, rather than the old "daily digest" email).
posted by misterbrandt at 9:52 PM on April 10, 2011

I have made collaborative blogs at Blogger. It will do what you want.
posted by fifilaru at 9:59 PM on April 10, 2011

This explains how it works on Blogger.
posted by John Cohen at 10:02 PM on April 10, 2011

I've done this in Wordpress; my solution involved creating a (basically unused) administrator account, and, in your case, two additional user accounts at the "Editor" level (Wordpress codex: Roles).
posted by myrrh at 10:26 PM on April 10, 2011

WP does it. we use the functionality on a regular basis at imprint.printmag.com; there are two of us who post daily and a revolving cast of extras throughout the week. works like a charm; never had any conflicts with the admin account.
posted by patricking at 11:05 PM on April 10, 2011

We do this using MovableType. We started out with blogs for ourselves, added some friends, and got bored before they did.

There are a variety of licenses, but for non-commercial use by individuals, it's free
posted by Mad_Carew at 8:19 AM on April 11, 2011

Wordpress is going to be, by far, the most versatile option out there. It can easily handle what you're trying to do. As far as collaborative editing/posting over the internet—at least if you're planning on editing the same document in real time—you might have to find a plug-in.
posted by thsmchnekllsfascists at 12:25 PM on April 11, 2011