In the process of the blog's existence, I STILL haven't figured out what it's for, or how to use it.

I click on a seemingly interesting subject, and my mouse click takes me to some place else, where I have to register, or pay a fee to respond. If I try to respond to the original subject, there are warnings that say I am supposed to respond on the Small Wars Blog. WTF is that?

Is this normal? Is there some blogosphere where one can respond to an article that is NOT inhabited soley by mouth breathers?