At #197073 AtheistJon said: One aspect that I slightly dislike is the way that atheist blogs tend to be so politically dogmatic. I always end up having political arguments rather than discussing science or atheism. I wish these blogs would be as open politically as they are in terms of science.

The other thing I dislike about blogs is that the discussions are very chaotic. You make a statement and there are so many other conversations going on that you generally don't get your voice heard unless you join somebody else's discussion. Also, people misinterpret very easily because they cannot possible read all entries and so miss points that were made in the past.

I believe these blogs are good for sharing information and developing ideas. That is how I use this one.

I believe blogs like this part of the website are poor for debates and arguments, which is what comments sometimes turn into. Threaded forums are better for that.

(I'm not sure what the best format for a "rant" is! Probably getting down on your knees, putting your hands together, closing your eyes, and talking to yourself).

An improvement I would like is always to have the date of the original material clearly identified. One recent article quoted in full a 2001 article in a newspaper without giving the date. With no reason to go to the original article, I wonder how many people realised that it was old news?

I wrote the above before this was posted:

At #197077 Steve Zara said: If we are going to be effective we need to do more than just "blogging our frustrations away", that is, unless we are sure that our blogging in a way that has an effect. Blogging alone is not action. For those without the huge audience of PZ Myers it can be equivalent to a conversation between friends in a pub. One puts the world to rights over a beer, but nothing changes.

Blogs can be used to discuss ideas, and to arrange campaigns. They can also be used as a resource, where one can archive thoughts and links.

Precisely! I like to quote to myself (and sometimes to others, which probably irritates them!) "I am in the solution business, not the debating business".

The reality check is "what difference will what I am writing make to the Real World?"