[ezyang]

My experience trying to convince my friends to start blogging is that the absolute worst thing to happen to a blogger is for them to spend an inordinate amount of time tweaking their blog setup, and not actually writing. So yes, if you blog regularly and are looking to improve your process, this may be useful, but if you're just starting off, just do something that works immediately, and worry about the words, not the code.

[prawn]

Someone should create a blogging platform where the features are unlocked with each post you make. After your first post, you can name your blog. After your second, add an about page. Your third, comments or a blogroll. Fourth, analytics, etc.

[injekt]

Whilst that might be an interesting idea, it would probably drive people away from focusing on great content. "Ooo I want comments and I'm only two blog posts away!"

[prawn]

My suggestion was only partly serious, but IMO, focusing on great content is probably one reason many blogs are abandoned - people worrying that an entry won't cut it. That doesn't meant everyone should post junk, but sometimes you can write something short and punchy rather than an epic essay.

[petercooper]

Agreed. My most successful blogs over the years started initially with pretty low quality, high throughput "just stuff I want to post" stuff. Then eventually they became higher quality (and more difficult to post to). It seems like a good process, rather than just expecting to write high quality stuff out of the gate.