You are one of the great leap takers, Christine, setting a great example for all of us. Part of blogging is understanding how it works, as well as how it doesn’t work, for each individual and company. Luckily, there is room for great diversity!

No matter what you blog about – the whole platform teaches you exactly what you need to learn. Even if you get the perfect niche/topic/etc, you’ll still be challenged. But damn, that’s better than being bored! Blogging is making everyone into a professional. I see this as a big positive. I’ve been frustrated here and there – but I’m so glad I keep taking the leaps and trying new things too.

While that isn’t a good example of how to use WordPressMU, it is a good example of how to think through the process. Separate blogs can work, but some want to connect the dots between their favorite subjects rather than add to the work load. It all depends upon where you want to go and how you want to travel the path. There are no right or wrong answers, but there is planning and that makes, or breaks, the difference in blogging satisfaction.

Like the last example you use, I knew when I revised my site (for the third time due to a lack of forethought the previous two times) that I had five rather different topics to talk about and, therefore, my readers might not be interested in all five. Therefore, I went with a self-hosted WordPress-MU site so I could theme them all the same, bringing cohesiveness, and manage them all from the same backend (making updates easier), but still have five separate blogs with five separate RSS feeds to make reading/subscribing more individualized for the reader.

I think there are times when having separate blogs is a must, but it’s important to develop the site with that in mind so it all flows together smoothly. Otherwise, you end up with the nightmare(s) I had in the past