I had hoped that the new log software would do better.

It's got a nicer WYSIWYG editor, but this has spell check (which I use to find typos...), and the ability to break posts into more pages.

I've started writing blog software using JSP and Struts. I'd like to have more features than these blogs have, as far as threads and continuing discussions go.

I like the Slashdot handling of conversation threads, and I also like the phpBB style of conversation threading. Both allow "tangents" of conversation without disrupting the general flow; a comment can be on the main post, another comment, or a comment's comment, and so on.

I also like the good old-fashioned hypertext way of linking thoughts and articles together. Take, for a lame example, the few observations I have here on the Vikings; I have to go to a previous article and find its "trackback" value in order to provide some linking between the two--the blog software automatically makes a comment in the old post referencing the new post, but I have to manually create a link in the article. I should be able to continue a thought from a post, or reference previous posts from a new one, as I create them.

Wiki's do this continuing of a thread with simple tags. If a linked page doesn't exist when you use it, you're invited to create the new page. If it does exist, the link is automatically made. I could, for example, create a page named "Vikings" and then any time I create a link in an article to "Vikings" it automatically finds that page... Something like that. Easier for referencing to existing pages than telling existing pages to reference new ones, but I think it's possible.

I'm working on it. A guy's gotta have a hobby, and since it's too cold to ride motorcycles, and since my trees are almost done dropping leaves...