EmailDiscussions.com  

Go Back   EmailDiscussions.com > Miscellaneous > The Off-Topic Lounge
Register FAQ Members List Calendar Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read
Stay in touch wirelessly

The Off-Topic Lounge APPROPRIATE FAMILY-FRIENDLY TOPICS ONLY - READ THE RULES!
This forum is for posting anything (excluding topics prohibited by the forum rules) that's unrelated to email. General discussions, in other words.

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old 21 Jan 2021, 07:19 AM   #1
hadaso
The "e" in e-mail
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Holon, Israel.
Posts: 4,801
Tips on setting up a family blog

I want to create a sort of blog for my extended family.
Actually what I want is some platform where parents (85 years old) can write to their children and grandchildren about the family, and the rest of the family can comment, and a blog seems the right thing for this, but I also want the platform to allow others (like us, the "children", that are around 50-60 years old and have stories too) to be able to write posts and not just comments.
One requirement is that it should require absolutely no technical requirements from the old writers: they should be able to just connect and write their stuff, and anything technical handled by some other users (preferably the grandchildren).
Another requirement is that the content created can be saved and perhaps moved to anther platform if we decide later to change the platform.
And another requirement is that it should be simple enough for me.
I plan to use a subdomain of a domain I have hosted ny FastMail for this blog (DNS is at FastMail).

It seems that Blogger can do it for us, but i don't like it that it requires using a Google account (and Google makes it quite difficult to use more than one account, which has to be gmail if you already have a gmail address in your Google account).
I was looking at WordPress, but could not figure out if it would be right for the purpose.


If anyone at these forums has some tips or ideas or experiences to share about this kind of project, or suggestions on how to do it differently, please do.
hadaso is offline   Reply With Quote

Old 21 Jan 2021, 07:57 AM   #2
TenFour
Master of the @
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: USA
Posts: 1,683
Personally, I would suggest an old-style email list, which those of us who are old enough remember as the first social networks. Emails are the most universal, simplest, and also most foolproof way to gather a lot of people in one place discussing something. Just reply all and everyone gets the message. You could once in awhile start a new thread on a new topic and just collect the old emails. Eventually, you could put them together into a larger single document. I have 15-year-old email newsletters we wrote to family along with their responses. Nice to have.
TenFour is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21 Jan 2021, 01:01 PM   #3
mister
Essential Contributor
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 386
A lot of people use Facebook for (most of) those reasons.You may want to research saving and moving content ,not sure if it's possible.
mister is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21 Jan 2021, 06:21 PM   #4
hadaso
The "e" in e-mail
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Holon, Israel.
Posts: 4,801
Actually an email list was my first suggestion, and my niece also suggested it, but after she added a 3.5MB photo to her reply that was carried on to everyone else's reply, I realized that if one or two of the others replied to the email thread with their on photos, the email would be blocked due to size restrictions for some participants in the discussion.


Facebook to me is a closed garden. I don't believe information posted there is retrievable in a format allowing reposting it in equivalent form elsewhere. Also I personally don't have an account with Facebook, and don't want to ever have one. I fear that if I become reachable using Facebook some people would think it is a legitimate way to contact me, instead of email or phone or any other channel that doesn't try to own my identity and my information. And then I would become tied up to Facebook, unless i am willing to lose contact with some people and perhaps lose some of my information if i want to move away from there.
hadaso is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 21 Jan 2021, 08:03 PM   #5
Berenburger
The "e" in e-mail
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 2,898
Don't have the experience with Topicbox, but maybe that's something.
Berenburger is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 Jan 2021, 12:33 AM   #6
somdcomputerguy
Cornerstone of the Community
 
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Rupert, WV
Posts: 876
Blogger and WordPress are basically the same thing for your intentions. A major difference though is that a blog on WordPress doesn't require a gmail account, for the creator or a post replyer/commenter. WordPress also exports only in a .XML format AFAIK. I don't know what saving/export options are available in Blogger as I only have a WordPress blog. If you have a web host and just a bit of knowledge you could install your own forum software. I (and/or probably others here as well could help you with that if necessary) There are free online forums too - https://duckduckgo.com/?t=palemoon&q=free+forums&ia=web

- Bruce
somdcomputerguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 Jan 2021, 08:13 AM   #7
TenFour
Master of the @
 
Join Date: Feb 2017
Location: USA
Posts: 1,683
Another simple option is a Google Doc that you share with everyone and give them permission to edit. I frequently use these at work for things like sign-up lists for volunteer projects. People with Gmail accounts can just click the link and edit away, adding their own content.
TenFour is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 Jan 2021, 09:45 AM   #8
pjroutledge
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Melbourne, Oz
Posts: 126
Nextcloud

Another option might be Nextcloud, which has the option of self-hosting (you get to control everything, including formats, but you have to maintain everything too, including security and backups). And if self-hosting is not your thing, there are many cloud providers. (You still get to control content, formats, etc, but you run the risk that a chosen provider might go belly-up.)

One of the Nextcloud apps is 'Circles' which I don't use but it sounds like it might suit your purpose.
pjroutledge is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 Jan 2021, 11:30 AM   #9
mister
Essential Contributor
 
Join Date: Jun 2002
Posts: 386
Here are a couple of super simple solutions http://sync.in/ http://meetingwords.com/ I use them for taking notes, not secure but easy to use, you'll have to use an image host if you want pictures.
mister is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 22 Jan 2021, 09:32 PM   #10
janusz
The "e" in e-mail
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: EU
Posts: 4,933
Exclamation

Quote:
Originally Posted by mister View Post
you'll have to use an image host if you want pictures.
This may be an additional complication for 85+ users
janusz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 30 Jan 2021, 09:36 PM   #11
transitionality
Member
 
Join Date: Jun 2014
Posts: 30
There are social networks founded with this exact purpose:

* Kindaba - https://kindaba.com/
* GroupMe - https://groupme.com/
* Cluster - https://cluster.co/
* FineFriends - https://finefriends.social/
* 23Snaps - https://www.23snaps.com/
* Notabli - https://www.notabli.com
* FamilyWall - https://www.familywall.com/
* PhotoCircle - https://www.photocircleapp.com/
* Eversnap - http://www.geteversnap.com/
* Pixoru - https://pixoru.com/
* FamilyAlbum - https://family-album.com/
* Tapshare - https://www.tapshare.com/
* Postagraph - https://www.postagraph.com/
transitionality is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply


Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump


All times are GMT +9. The time now is 05:39 PM.

 

Copyright EmailDiscussions.com 1998-2022. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy