Ok, Dawn’s debaucle brought up the necessity to do a pairing of LJ vs. Blogger (could you equate this to David vs. Golliath? not sure).
I was about to write it myself, and then realized - surely someone has done this before…. and yes, they had.

That list appears to be mostly a visual plug for Bloggers graphics - but it also helps you understand just WHY graphics are so important with software that is intended to be user-friendly. Blogger makes it much easier to understand what you’re doing through clear information (and pictures!). LJ often looks like 1999 (i’ve said this before).

Why have I stayed at LJ if Blogger is so much better? Truth be told, I know that if I posted only in my Blogger journal, I would lose the viewership of many (6?) who have me on their friends page. You must go through the trouble of creating a bookmark to remember other people’s pages, or else forget their site address. In other words, it’s the structure of LJ that makes it appealing. It’s incredibly easy to add a friend and have all their posts show up chronologically in one place. Very little clicking around, or learning basic HTML, is required.

Dawn signed up for Blogger b/c she couldn’t leave a post. LJ has a similar situation where you have to post as anonymous, and if you neglect to leave your name in the body of the post, it’s a guessing game to figure out who the message was from. With Blogger, the owner of the blog has the option to make their comments postable by all - blogger users and not. I will say that I prefer the MoveableType solution to this better than either described above, but we aren’t talking about buying your own server space and domain name — that’s for another day (I’ve been there and done that).

Blogger, despite being graphically user-friendly, can also be friendly towards the code monkeys and geeks who want to write their own CSS designs (myself) and edit HTML (myself). Anyone with a free account can write their own CSS - edit the site however they please whether it be adding a column of links on the side or a huge P. Diddy image in the background (I would never assault your eyes with that, I promise).

LJ, on the other hand, requires that you become a paid member to even VIEW the paid-only backgrounds - and based on the LJ designs I’ve seen, aren’t anything one should pay for. The things I want to change seem like they should be easy HTML fixes, but there isn’t anywhere I can edit my code– that is, without paying for a subscription.

Now let’s talk about that paid-for stuff. I’m sure those of you who, like me, aren’t paid members of LJ constantly notice the creepy crawly speeds at which it loads. Once upon a time I thought this to be caused by my slooooooow dialup service. Now I’m on a cable modem that gets faster speeds than work’s T1 line -and LJ is still pokey! Stall –the– browser– pokey! I’ve read the reasoning for making connection speeds faster for paid LJers, but it really hurts everyone when you consider this: The people you want to read your blog are getting slow connections speeds, too. Must the whole world join LJ so your blog can be viewed at normal speeds? Because I know that’s who’s reading this blog - the WHOLE WORLD.

Ok- I had the need to pause in this discussion for a moment, and in the process discovered yet another reason LJ and I don’t get along so much– I’m not seeing any kind of “save as draft” option! If i’m missing it, someone please let me know. Blogger has a lovely draft option, which goes way beyond a simple “preview.”

Two more things before I go:
1. Sorry for the long post. I can never remember the ‘hide all your long ass posts with this’ tag. (can someone come over and put a post-it on my computer?)
2. Once and for all I delcare: LJ IS A BLOG! Claiming one doesn’t have a blog unless they use Blogger is like saying you don’t use email if you don’t have a Hotmail account. It’s Just. Not. So.
Blog on, Dawn. Blog on.