I’m not saying that the Golden Age of Blogging was back in 1997 when the only way to really do it was to laboriously edit and transfer HTML files to a Web server manually, or to write your own software to turn words in a text window into words on a Web site.

As a method of letting the world know what you thought of last night’s episode of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," it really wasn’t much more efficient than just phoning a few hundred people at random and telling them.

But at least it kept the blogging population down to manageable and sustainable levels. When every Tom, Dick and Courtney was suddenly able to publish on the Web 10 seconds after setting up a free account with Blogger or LiveJournal, well, I imagine it was like when the Bee Gees started recording covers from the Sergeant Pepper album. Part of the greater concept died, and we knew it was never coming back.

The savior of blogging has been TypePad, an online service from the creators of the ubiquitous MovableType blog software. Blogger and LiveJournal were the first to make blogging easy and accessible, but in the months since it came out of beta, TypePad has quickly made blogging easy, accessible and professional.

And honestly, if you haven’t thought of yourself as The Blogging Kind, you should reconsider. As a mechanism for publishing information, whether personal opinions or official announcements, nothing’s more efficient than a Weblog, or as easy to establish.

You don’t need to set up your own Webserver or create a whole Web site, either: just visit www.typepad.com, ask for a free trial account and you can be publishing inside of 10 minutes. It’s all Web-based, so you can post new articles, comments and links from any Web browser, and even post text and photos directly from your cameraphone.

TypePad isn’t free, but with rate plans ranging from $4.95 to $14.95 a month, it’s certainly affordable. And the features available to you as a TypePad blogger underscore the maxim that sometimes, a free service is worth every penny.

A TypePad blog can have multiple contributors (all of the coaches in your kid’s soccer league can post news and info to an official league blog, for example). You can password-protect the blog so only certain folks can read it, and each post can optionally feature reader "comments." If you write that you’re not sure if the family reunion should be at Six Flags or Universal Studios this year, posting a discussion-starter on your blog is such an efficient mechanism for discussion that in no time, long-forgotten grudges will be unburied, dusted off and cited as the reason why once again it’ll just be you, the wife, and Cousin Iris this year.

The commenting feature makes TypePad the easiest way to build a simple online community, and unlike similar commenting features on LiveJournal, the system doesn’t degenerate into bloggers rallying allies to complain about other bloggers.

TypePad can also host your online photo albums. There are a bunch of online photohosting services out there (lately I’ve been playing with flickr.com; the beta is already showing signs of possible star quality), but when an album is bundled with a blog, it takes a more prominent role. Digital photos are fast becoming the fundamental mechanism for communication between friends and family.

But the fundamental advantage of TypePad is simply that it’s based on MovableType. MovableType is steadily becoming the Microsoft Office of blogging software: a standard synonymous with power and features that everyone’s eager to support.

It’s compatible with existing third-party desktop MT software and with Web site plugins that add new functionality (although installing and configuring them properly is often way beyond the skill level of the intended TypePad user). And with its flexible and intuitive online layout editor, it’s easy to customize any of the built-in blog layouts or create a new one from scratch, or hand-code your own layout directly through HTML.

So it’s no problem to put your own unique stamp on your blog.

A Blogger or LiveJournal blog limits you to basic, straightforward blogging and, worse, every Blogger or LiveJournal blog looks more or less alike.

Disseminating news and fostering discussion about the potential impact of casino gambling on your community is hard enough. When the blog you’ve created as a one-stop clearinghouse is indistinguishable from the one that a 12-year-old girl uses to complain about how her Mom totally won’t let her get her belly button pierced, you’re just making more work for yourself.