"Blogs are composed of everything from links to cool and interesting sites, to commentary about other web sites. People also like to write about news items, their collections of stuff and random experiences. So in short blogs can be diaries, mini-essays, editorials and simply links to fun stuff found on the Web."

Hyperspace Blogging was announced around March or April of this year; however, blogs.starwars.com - the thing that you're looking at right now - didn't actually materialize publicly until May 16th.

That means that there was a month there when none of us outside the Lucasfilm circle really knew what to expect. It could have gone either way, honestly: stunningly good or stunningly bad.

Would any of the blogs be worth reading? Would it be anything like LiveJournal.com, overrun by suicidal bipolar teenage girls who can't type? And what exactly is the point, anyway, if sites like LiveJournal and Blogger exist? Is that really what starwars.com is for?

Personally, I was at first concerned that moderation would be impossible, but that's not a problem after all. New entries are posted fairly often, but slowly enough that it's easy to keep track of all new posts in the "Most Recent Blog Entries" section. Somebody posts something innappropriate, it goes right to the front page and stays there. Even if a mod isn't watching at that moment, somebody is, and Blog Feedback makes it a cinch to report things.

Surprisingly, we haven't even had any Blogging trolls yet as far as I know, which is rather odd if you ask me. Only providing blogs to Hyperspace members would have largely eliminated trolls, but now that we have the free 7-day trial, it seems like we're wide open. Now, there has been a bit of confusion regarding the purpose of Hyperspace Blogging, but the admins and mods have begun a site-wide awareness program of sorts; hopefully more people will begin to use the blogs as blogs and the the message boards as message boards.

On the whole, Hyperspace Blogging has turned out to be a spectacularly good idea. Many of the blogs are brilliantly written, and VIPs such as Karen Traviss (author of the Star Wars: Republic Commando novels), Tasty Taste (keeper of the "Holocron") and others provide priceless information and insight in a way that's just plain fun and pleasurable to read.

And as if that wasn't good enough, many regular fans have started fantastic blogs as well. I mean, look at me, for heavens sake. "Links to fun stuff found on the Web"? Yee-haw. Always there as encouragement to write well and write interesting and write often is the "Featured Blog of the Day" box on the blogging home page, and entries can also be featured on the "What's New" section of the main site and in the Delta Source email newsletters.

Not too long ago the message boards were the first thing I checked online after my email each day. Now it's proving more interesting to check the blogs. Will it get even better as more features are added? And will the next thing to hit Hyperspace be even cooler than this?

So to Bonnie and the other folks at Lucasfilm behind Hyperspace Blogging I say: Kudos for the fabulous idea and thanks for keeping Hyperspace interesting!

:-D