Journals Vs. Blogs - Is There Still a Debate?

Before there were blogs, there were journals online. The journals were just that. Personal diaries of various people out there in this brave new world called the internet. I was one of those journalers. In the beginning there wasn't much software to help. I personally wrote each html page from scratch - all the code - and FTP'd each individual page that was changed (i.e. archives etc) each time I wrote an entry. My editor? Nothing - my journal was created in Notepad.

After several years came the new debate. What's this blogging thing? The debate was, what constitutes a "blog" versus a "journal?" There was a lot of elitism that went into this debate. The common consensus was that "bloggers" just listed the happenings of the day, while "journalers" actually had something to say about it.

With the advent of various sites and software that made journaling easier and then blogging easier more and more people entered this new world. People had something to say, regardless of the format. Eventually, it because a personal preference ease of use issue. Blogging came to be - at least for me - just easier. Before, I used to struggle if I only had a snippet of something to say. Should I take that time to write, code, ftp, edit the archives, code, ftp, for just a snippet. After all, this is a journal, there should be something significant there, right? So I'd skip it. I really think I missed out in those early days.

So now... With the advent of user friendly software, websites, and tools, I now have a blog. In my head the only reason it's a blog versus a journal is the format. The daily, all on the same page, perhaps more than one entry in a day format. It is still my journal. It is still my diary. I still put myself out there. It is still a record of my life, my thoughts, my adventures, and the evolving personality of my family. So. I now struggle with what to call my little space in the cyber world.

Do I have a journal or a blog? The lines have gotten very blurred. Does this make me a "jogger?"