Blog vs Forum -- how to choose

[Mike Gibb, Operabase]

There have been several occasions recently where the same stories were posted to both the blog and the forum parts of this site, with consequent splitting of the follow-up responses. The two look somewhat the same but work rather differently.

Blogs. Comments can only be added to the end of the conversation. The front page shows blog posts by their creation date, so entries will inevitably vanish from the front page after a few days. Blogs are ideal for one-off pieces with a limited amount of response expected (the fact of the CMS Select Committee announcement of an inquiry, Daniel Bye's Milk piece, ..)

Forums. Rich topics which need to be ongoing are better in a discussion forum, where responses can be made to individual entries and replies (rather than at the end only). The front page shows the forums by the date of their last contribution, so the active ones remain on the front page. A forum would be the ideal place to discuss the responses to the CMS Select Committee inquiry into funding.

[Marcus Romer]

great stuff and good observation

I will put the forum at the top of the page

[Katriona Beales]

Hi Mike - oh dear I think I should have started a forum post in that case, but did a blog one instead with 'The new Culture Forum - a Big Conversation or rather more selective?'. Too late to change?

[Marcus Romer]

It is fine - both are still searchable - I have put the forum at the top of the page now

[Chantal Guevara]

There's also the option to categorise the forum; I'd been waiting till the forum had developed enough to see what categories should be used.

The blogs, however, can't be categorised (tags are the only way) so it means scrolling to find past posts in there.