Bloggs and such and access in China

[David S]

I was thinking of starting a personal Blog.  It seems blogspot.com is quite popular but I want a blog site that can be accessed by me as well as friends and members of the brotherhood who are in China.  I was wondering since blogspot is part of the Google empire if there is an issue with this there.  Or maybe someone has a suggestion as to another blog site that is available in China and the rest of the world.

David

[Willy The Londoner]

Just carried out a test on Blogspot.com and cannot get into it with straight connection.    Can get into it ok with proxy server but not every foreigner uses them here.

The blog may need an independent IP, such as this forum now has and that should allow it to be visible to all.

Willy

[Pineau]

One of the ways that access to certain websites is blocked is that they configure the local DNS servers to return non existent IP addresses for  banned websites. You  may have some luck if you configure your internet connection to use a dedicated DNS server that is located in the USA.  That will sometimes work unless they have blocked the banned website's IP address. In that case you will need to  use a VPN or proxy connection as Willy mentioned.

I tried blocspot too and had identical results a Willy.

The company that hosts my website is not blocked in China. they offer a lot of features including blog software that you can install on your account    B2Evolution, pMachine, Nucleus, TikiWiki, PhpWiki, WordPress

If your interested goto webmasters.com

[Mikael_Shim]

Blogspot is blocked by the root both by China Mobile and China Unicom which means its universally blocked in China. Google and China dont go hand in hand and although some of Googles services do work (Gmail, Picasa partially works, Google search with some limitations etc). Only work arounds are as previously said VPN´s (preferred) and proxys or change of DNS but not everyone use.

I can provide blog hosting with full customization abilities and blogs based on Wordress, B2 Evolution, Nucleus etc based on my own dedicated server in the US with a dedicated IP. Its ofcourse not blocked in China. You can also register and use your own domain name with my service, like www.david.com (however that one is obviously taken). You can contact me if you are interested.

[Martin]

You can post on your blogspot blog from within China, but it requires you to set up the email to blog option.  Basically, you send your blog an email, and the contents of the email are posted onto your blog.  Downside, is you can't see the blog to make corrections unless you are using a proxy site, or a VPN.

Another option, is to just create your own blog, on your own web page.

[Irishman]

There's loads of freebie web hosts out there to try and set up your own blog.  Look for one with about 200mb space minimum and no ads or banners. Ftp support is a bonus but not necessary starting out if you're not familiar with that.
Its really quite easy, "Wordpress" - http://wordpress.org/software is free and dead simple to use. I'd suggest setting up one and then asking one of the guys in China if it can be viewed or not and take it from there.
My own personal blog (linked in my signature) uses this software as an example (I really should post something there again one day !!) .

[David S]

Well I went with wordpress.  Let me know what you think.

http://digging2china.wordpress.com/

[David S]

I hope I set it up right so you can choose to follow it.  I'll tweet here when I post updates. (I know these aren't officially tweets, but I use it generically to mean a short posting with maximum impact.) 

[shaun]

Good show ole boy.

[Arnold]

Yes .. nice setup David . Must of been coated with Honey , for the Bee ( ShMiFeng ) find it sooo easy .
Hope you enjoy my Blog as well ?

[David S]

Arnold,

I will add you to the links on my blog page.  I am a firm believer that the more information someone has the better informed they are to make a wise decision for their own life.

David

[shirely_66]

Hi David,

just read ur wonderful"digging 2 CHINA" in Shanghai, so , u never been China, and what kind of tirp u expected?

have a nice day...

[Pineau]

Great start. I like your style of writing. I started a wordpress blog too but I lost interest when I found my wife. Keep it going. I will follow it.