FAQ!

Who owns and operates BlogPeoria.com?

The site and domain name is owned by Billy Dennis, long time Peoria resident and a former journalist.

How much does it cost to use?

For private individuals, there there is no charge for creating and using a BlogPeoria blog. The site is supported by ad sales and donations. In the future, a premium service may be offered for merchants and those offering professional services.

Why was the site created

At the time, there weren’t a great many sites that offered free blogs. There was Blogger.com, but at the time, the site suffered constant outages and offered few of the featured offered by other self-hosted platforms like Moveable Type and WordPress. Site owner Billy Dennis wanted to encourage Peorians (and other local residents to blog and practice citizen journalism in a networked environment in which each others blogs and posts were promoted.

So, what platform does The Blog Peoria Network use?

It uses WordPress Mu (for “multi-user”, also known as “WPMU”). Regular WordPress allows for the creation of ONE blog per installation, with members with roles ranging from subscriber to author to editor to administrator. WPMu lets anyone who registers create their own blog.

Doesn’t The Blog Peoria Network have problems with downtime?

In has in the past. Blog Peoria is currently being hosted by Idaho Web Company, owned and operated by the man who owns South Valley Press, a web-based community journalism site. Service time is way up, and and we’re finally receiving the hands-on support this site needs.

Who who should be making use of this site?

Here are some ideas:

• Professional people: Doctors, lawyers, Realtors, teachers, etc. ought to have their own blogs, if for no other reason than to promote themselves. There’s also room for “pundit”-style blogs that focus on the news and issues in these fields.
• Neighborhood activists: Peoria is a collection of neighborhoods. Every neighborhood organization needs to have it’s own Website with contact information, as well as a way to point readers to information that can use. Blogs are perfect for this.
• Students: Anyone can have a MySpace or Facebook site. Why not take the blogging experience one step further and try out some citizen journalism, the kind you can’t do in your school newspaper.Politicians and public servants: Other than going door-to-door, I can’t think one single thing that equalizes the relationship between the governors and the governed than when a politician blogs and lets readers respond unedited.
• Businesses: Blogs are a great way for businesses to talk directly to customers.

And of course, you can create a blog just to blog.

Do members bloggers have to run ads?

No. In the past, an attempt was made to generate ad revenue by running small Google Adsense ads on every single theme. It didn’t generate more revenue. Some of these ads are still running on some themes, but a procedure is in place to delete them. Individual bloggers can monetize their own sites by added Google Adsense ads on their own (using a Google Adsense Widget or a Pay Pal Widget). Individual bloggers will need to set up their own accounts.

Is there anything else that bloggers need to run on their sites?

I recommend that users who want to know who is visiting their site to install a Site Meter button.

What are the terms of use?

We don’t have an official “terms of use.” If necessary, one will be created. Just don’t use any site to commit a crime, rip anyone off, promote White supremacy. Avoid these areas, and you’ll be fine.

So, who owns my blog and the photos I upload?

You do. You can move your site at any time. WPMu comes with a nifty export feature that will let you download posts, comments, categories and tag and load them up on any blog that will take them. Fair warning: Bloggers have to maintain responsibility for their own photos. If you upload a bunch of them, it would strain my bandwidth and server to download them and they upload them to you. Users are strongly, STRONGLY urged to keep copies of the image files they upload to their Blog Peoria sites. They should also use file names identical to the ones they upload.

Can I move from Blogger or some other platform onto The Blog Peoria Network?

Absolutely. Remember that some platforms don’t make it easy. It’s nearly impossible to move a Type Pad blog to WPMu. Some Blogger blogs are difficult to move, especially if they are older blogs that started before Blogger 2.0.

UPDATE: Blogger has initiated an export feature, that will let Blog*Spot users more easily move their sites to Blog Peoria. Just follow the instructions you can find here: Export your posts and comments to your home computer and use the WPMu import feature to more them to your new Blog Peoria blog. Just remember: Do NOT delete your old Blogger blog, especially if you’ve uploaded a bunch of photos and filed. Your photos will remain on Blogger, and will still appear on your new Blog Peoria blog.

How to I link to all other Blog Peoria bloggers?

This was once mandatory on all sites, but it discouraged users. It’s now recommended, but not required. Simply activate the “List All Blogs Widget” in your Plugins screen and drag the Widget into one of your sidebars. It will display the list like any ordinary blogroll. The most recently updates blogs appear at the4 top, the least recently at the.