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<p class=MsoNormal>Hi Folks,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I am looking for someone to help us get our blog section up
and running.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The idea is for the blogs to provide us a platform we can
offer to staff, freelancers and other writers out-with our regular news. Often
we get people looking to contribute but the topic, time or style just do not
fit with our mainstream content. Other uses are the likes of coverage from
festivals and other short-term events. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>So I want to have an network of blogs within the site with
each one loosely tied to our main categories. I guess the functionality
required is somewhat like many of the blog networks on the Web, except all the
blogs will be identical in design.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Possibly we will need a photoblog theme in addition to a standard
one. Both would be based on the main site design, so not looking for an
original design. However, we will welcome ideas regards functionality and
cross-pollination.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I also want to be able to create new blogs without having to
configure every setting each time. Furthermore an overall portal page would be
required showing the latest posts etc. Possibly some categorization here to
match up with the main site, I am guessing this could be done by aggregating
associated blog RSS or such.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I have also been looking at moveable type and Expression
Engine but I think MU might be a better option as it seems to moving forward
with paid support options etc…again maybe you can let me know your
thoughts on it being the right choice. Note although we need that sort of
multi-blog functionality users will not be allowed to create blogs themselves,
it will be manual on application.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>The site is a fairly busy independent news/entertainment
outlet, monstersandcritics.com. So optimization, security and spam protection
are very important.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>No doubt additional work after the initial rollout as we
have a German version of the site launching in Q2-3.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>If you are interested please drop me a line with your
thoughts. Please put Blog Development in the subject.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Many thanks<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>James<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal>James Wray<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Editor in Chief: Monsters and Critics<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.monstersandcritics.com">http://www.monstersandcritics.com</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>james.wray@monstersandcritics.com<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Tel. (44) 141 423 6564<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Fax. (866) 654 6541 (USA number)<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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