Update on new sites

The two new blogs that will replace this one should be up next week. The plan is to post new investment-related content on one, and everything else on the other. Initially, I was just going to keep everything on one blog, but I got a package deal on the logos, and I think there may be a way to monetize an investment-themed blog down the road. I have a thought on how to do that, but more on that later.

There will be a couple of technical differences on the two new blogs. Both will use Disqus for comments. When I first came across Disqus on Fred Wilson's blog, I didn't get the point of it, but now I think it adds value. For those unfamiliar with Disqus, it allows you to embed a reply to a particular comment; it sends you an automated e-mail when someone responds to one of your comments; and it allows commenters to rate each others' comments. The first of those features makes longer comment threads easier to follow; the second keeps older comment threads alive longer (because commenters know someone will be made aware of their comments) and obviates the need for comment moderation on older posts; and the third of those features will give me a metric by which I can encourage readers to leave more intelligent comments. I'm planning on offering a prize to the commenter who earns the most points commenting on the new blogs at the end of the first month. More on that next week.

The other technical difference will be that the new blogs will be on WordPress. I don't know if that will make a difference to you as readers, but it will mean some new things for me to learn, I suppose. The main reason for the move to WordPress is that there is a greater choice of templates there, and the one my designer picked to semi-customize wasn't available on Blogger.

Finally, the second subscription-based site is currently in development and should launch... maybe by the end of the year, if all goes well. We'll see. More on that later too.