Check out Tuck's Blog

I've never been one to sit back and let something happen around me. If the reel is off in the movie theater, I'm the guy who jumps up and tells someone to fix it.

Like it or not, I'm usually inserting myself into any conversation going on around me.

Web logs, then, are perfect for people like me -- people who like their voices to be heard and who aren't content to let the story unfold around them.

We just launched seven blogs onto our Web site -- there's a navigation bar for them on the left side and at the bottom of the home page, or you can go directly to blogs.thepilot.com.

A hot topic in journalism right now, blogs are an emerging medium that is challenging conventions about how people get and interact with their news.

While taking precautions -- comments will be moderated during these beginning stages -- we think the upside of the medium is enough for us to jump in.

Blogging is something you've been doing your entire life. It's that conversation at the grocery store, behind the bleachers at the ball game, in the halls of your high school or at the local watering hole. It's a way, over the Internet, to join a community conversation -- to connect with others around an assortment of given topics.

Let me assure you, blogging is not just for the computer-savvy. Check them out. If you like something you read or have something to say, click "Comment" at the bottom of the post, write your post and you're blogging.

And that is what we want -- one-way blog conversations are just as boring as in real life.

I'm confident that this first troop of bloggers won't let you stay quiet for too long.

Editor Steve Bouser is helping bring transparency to The Pilot's news operations by blogging about editorial decisions and reader questions. Save that trip into the office for a rant -- though you're still welcome to do so -- and log into the blogs and voice your grievances there.

Columnist Andy Thomas is giving you more than his weekly column on his blog, where he discusses things he has read and other news of note. Can't get enough of Andy? You have access to him at all times now.

Matthew Moriarty -- you know that name if you read The Pilot even with passing interest. His blog musings cover the entire spectrum: pop culture to sports to his work at The Pilot.

Nancy O'Connell's weekly Fairway Notebook will continue to run each Sunday in the Golf section, but now you get her news and notes from around the courses at any time. She'll post tidbits and pictures from tournaments and around the world of Moore County golf.

Hunter Chase and Charlie Bergmann, the "Moore County Sports Guys," dive even deeper into sports news on their blog. The future of the Pinecrest varsity football program was debated heavily on the blog this week, maybe even influencing some of the decision makers. Can't get enough sports? This is your digital sports bar.

Nealey Diaz, a senior at North Moore High School, seeks to unite county teenagers through her blog, where she dispels notions that "there's nothing to do in Moore County." Join her in a digital version of the biggest Friday night hangout in town.

Finally, my blog offers a look at hot news, our online operations and, really, anything else I have on my mind. If you like news or anything that ThePilot.com has been doing in the past few months, I think you'll enjoy stopping by my blog.

And we're looking to add many more. To match the medium, we're seeking to make our operations as regenerative as possible.

If you have issues or questions, give me a buzz or drop me a line on the blogosphere.

It might sound high-tech and new, and it is. But, I promise you, blogging is just a different version of something you've been doing your whole life.

Ryan C. Tuck is The Pilot's Online News Coordinator. Contact him at 693-2507 or by e-mail at ryan@thepilot.com with questions/comments or if you would like to start a blog with The Pilot.