The Reputability of Blogspot Blogs

I've had a look through all my current subscriptions in Google Reader, done some reflection on some blogs I've read in my life, sources I've seen referenced in articles and come to ask: Can a Blogspot blog ever be taken seriously? Maybe I'm just not looking in the right place but most Blogspot blogs I've stumbled across in my internet life (seems like an oxymoron!) tend to be a bunch of pictures, links or other things that are not really substantial by any means. For the sake of this blogdump I will shorten Blogspot blog to BSB. I was going to go with BS blog but that causes all sorts of issues that I don't particularly want to deal with.

I'm only starting out in the world of serious-ish (insert a snicker or two here) blogging but I'm already starting to question whether I've picked the right platform or not. Most of the big blogs out there have their own domain name and are powered by some sort of popular CMS (Content Management System) or other blog system like WordPress or have been written from the ground up forming a completely custom site. Apparently I can get a free blog on the WordPress site now. Looks interesting... Wait, can I say that on here?? Too late! Goodbye readers!!! ... Oh, I'm still here :)

Could it be that there's just so many BSBs that the good ones get lost and forgotten in the massive ocean that is the blogosphere. This isn't exactly hard when they all tend to follow the standard templates. Let's face it, they all look very much the same: title up the top, footer down the bottom, content in the middle with a column on the right. I can't exactly talk seeing as my very own BSB is one of those, for now anyway. I have written custom templates before but nothing grand, unfortunately. There will be one for my BSB but further down the track.

Maybe people just don't trust a Google-owned service. There's a lot of paranoia about Google keeping a lot of data about every single one of us. Prime example: Collecting Wi-Fi data while capturing data for Google Street View. But then this doesn't work so well when you take into account the popularity of YouTube.

Is it just too easy? Are there not enough options for the advanced users? This would explain the lack of quality in some of the content I've experienced across many BSBs. I know that I've gone looking for some features or settings to change before coming back empty-handed and defeated. The other option is starting to look attractive...

I probably just haven't seen any of the good stuff on some of the better BSBs out there. Feel free to grab some links and whack me and my blog post over the head in the comments section... or just leave me and my BSB to sink down into the depths of the blogosphere where a lot of the other BSBs are fighting for dear life.