I've given up on this as it's duplicate content and not a good user experience.  The technology is old and it's not mobile friendly.  Further, when they make updates on google in a few months (w/ mobile first), these sites will probably drop further.

If I were you, I wouldn't do anything here until if and when AR decide to update them and have a real strategy.  They still have not announced whether they will do this nor when.

I haven't been chrcking that box. Wouldn't mind getting an answer from AR Staff !!!

Good question.  I'm watching the answers.   

I suspect that they are largely a thing of the past.

Michael Jacobs nailed this one!

Just here to see the other answers! Thanks for the question!

They really haven't been being used for quite some time. A few months ago I requested they get deleted from AR HQ but that was before the upgrade.

I try to repost everything I post here to all my social media and sometimes my personal blogs.

Watching the answers.

Rain, There's the possibility of making them a subset of your ActiveRain posts.  We have two AR Outside Blogs, one is for all our "general" AR post topics and the other is solely dedicated to our patio home niche.  So basically whenever we post about patio homes that gets posted to ActiveRain and our AR Outside Blog with the url WarrenCountyPatioHomes.com.  While the sites aren't very aesthetically pleasing and you can't do much with them from an editing standpoint, they CAN rank well and draw consumer eyes.  It's all in how you use them.  Bill

I never fully understood those either. Hope to see good answers here.

Click the option when you blog and you will be able to view your outside blog.

Circling and reading

interesting question... I still click on the outside blog and have my Bay Blog... maybe it isnt doing anything! I will check for other answers as they come...

I do not check any more an option to post to outside blogs. It never made any difference for me. I do not really believe it adds you more comments or likes. 

When did the old outside blog go away - I am a little behind HA! I am guessing now that what we post automatically just goes out to public except for if you put for members only?

I enjoyed them because for a while I got backlinks because of other people's outside blogs.

I agree with Debbie.

I don't think they work as they should....but I'll be waiting for answers here...

I would like to know many things in AR-Land like this thank you

I still click the box, but have not visited it in months.

Desk top AR-there are just two links allocated to anyone. In my case I find G+ is a must.  AR is not a site for buyers or sellers. I doubt any customer will look on AR except spammers.  I have a blog section on my website.

Mobile AR-Wait for their response. They really need a Mobile friendly and boost its SEO.

Nota  good idea to do so if you ask me - it's duplicate content and not a wise thing to do

I gave up posting to outside blog from AR as I see others have, too.