If for some reason some of my entries seem “random” or have nothing to do with anime, I apologize, but each entry I write very much so has to do with at least one aspect of anime. I’m not sure if I have told anyone this or informed those who read my work, but I LOVE technology and even have the domain, “techsplicit.com” registered to my name along with a logo created for it – you know, the works. Techsplicit comes from “technology” and “explicit,” with the goal of making confusing/interesting things easy to understand. All in all, I’m a technophile almost as much as an anime lover.

Unfortunately, with my weird schedule, and this anime blog taking up all my time, I can’t really post all the “tech” stuff I want. And I mostly believe anime blogs should stay fairly close to their main subject matter…anime obviously. The line at which this ends or begins for an individual predictably varies, but I think I eschewed the line as soon as I started randomly posting hentai pictures. In general, I just want a blog that exudes my passion for anime. It might not come out initially from reading my writing, but a little should be gleamed off this visual layout and how I try to keep everything simple and pretty for everyone to simply click and read. Do you get my drift? Of course, mixing simplicity with optimal functionality is a balancing act my virtual self is still getting the hang of.

In the midst of this proverbial balancing act resides a nagging question I’ve thought about for quite some time: is photobucket more efficient, or is using wordpress smarter? This isn’t to say I don’t have an answer, because I already do, but wanted to explore the subject some more. Below, I’ll list the positives and negatives of each one (from my own experience). And if there are any more positives and/or negatives I didn’t cover, please comment and let us know.

Uploading to WordPress Library

Positives

• Have COMPLETE control over which pictures you keep and discard
• Don’t have to worry about too many people beside your webhost (if that even) going through your pics
• Can have as many images as your host will allow and avoid image hosting restrictions
• Don’t have to worry about an image (or images) being removed due to some copyright issue
• Don’t have to worry about an image being removed because of nudity or explicit material
• Allowed to have images as big as you want on there without limits
• Stays with you at all times

Negatives

• The more images you have, the slower your blog might get depending on certain scripts you might have or the dynamic nature of your site
• Takes up precious webhosting space if you don’t have unlimited space
• Can help contribute to filling a bandwidth quota you’re trying not to fill
• Images might load slower
• Editing the exact size of an image proportionally can sometimes be a pain in the ass
• The “gallery” function is a blessing and a curse: allows for showing of current uploads, but you CAN’T edit out pictures you also uploaded. TERRIBLE for people who want to put a gallery in after the fact

Uploading to Photobucket

Positives

• Easy medium to edit photos in realtime, and quickly mind you.
• Don’t have to worry about annoying lists of nonsensical file names since you have a thumbnail list to look at
• Space used is not yours, so you can free up more space for other media on your blog
• all photos can be accessed by whomever you want
• Photo galleries ARE editable and highly customizable

Negatives

• Have no control over pictures which are deleted at photobucket’s whim
• No weird pictures containing nudity are allowed
• Entire library could be removed without warning and all the pictures you have erased from their library. NOT COOL
• There is a limit as to how big your pictures can be
• This is a longshot, but if photobucket is shutdown or even down for a couple hours…or even an hour, it could seriously cost you because your images will be blank, losing important viewers in the process.
• EVERYONE can look at your library and download pics you searched so hard to find.

See, pictures like the above would get deleted. Sad Face.

I tried my best to give each service good positives and negatives, but in my heart of hearts, I strongly believe using the wordpress library built in with your (wordpress) blog is the best thing to do. Trading off a little convenience for extra control wins in my book every time. Though don’t think your web host can’t shut you down either. I’m sure half of my readers already know about the little incident I’m talking about. In any case, I love having complete control over my files. If you think different (or the same), lemme know what you think