Jack, all seven points are good ones but I was particularly struck by the one I have quoted above since it hints at what I always hoped discussion boards would be -- self-regulating, occasionally self-deprecating but never self congratulatory.

Of course, some will use blogs to vent their spleens about their employers but such people will always find outlets for their dissatisfactions and, equally, perhaps there may be a common thread running through such irritations that are not voiced elsewhere in organizations.

Blogosphere is evolving -- there are no rights and wrongs but there must be more experiments not the controlled type best suited to the laboratory. Instead explorations of trying out new things to see what fits and what doesn't, what attracts comment and what blocks it. This comes back to the point I quoted since it seems blogs are succeeding where discussion boards have failed -- they invite comment and provide a place where both the egotist and the humble can have their say if not their day.

David