Drupal is designed to be a community site, but it is entirely suitable for a personal blog. I use it for my blog not only because I am a rabid Drupal fangirl, but also because I have quite a few sites and it is just easier to learn one system, stick to it, and develop a method to maintain them all.

At the same time, each website is an individual with specific needs. This is a checklist of the modules I use on my personal blog. I do try to limit the number of modules I use to make things easy at upgrade time, but I am not so strict that I will not try something new on a lark. And so without further ado, here are the modules, in not too much of a particular order, currently installed on my Drupal blog site.

1. Comment An obvious choice, and a core module, this is the module that makes the blogosphere go round.
2. Akismet Can't have one with out the other. Actually, I have tried the Drupal Spam module and Bad Behavior as well as Akismet, and all seemed to work. Akismet does require you to set up a free account at wordpress.com for the api number.
3. Admin Block and Fast toggling round off the spam fighting team. Admin block shows up when a comment has been filtered by Akismet and gives a link to edit or delete the comment. There is also a link to a page listing all the filtered comments which is handy since spam tends to travel in packs. When one clicks through to this page, Fast toggling will offer a choice to select all the filtered comments. Hit delete and you are done, no more clicking individual squares. Fast toggling also works in other situations where a select all feature would be useful.
4. OpenID URL is very handy to have around if you will be commenting on Blogger blogs. It is still necessary to register with an OpenID provider such as myOpenID, but once you get everything set up you can simply enter your own blog's URL to log in at the blog you wish to comment on.
5. Comment RSS there are a few different ways your blog can set your blog to alert you when there is a new comment. I prefer a feed reader to an email, and this module also gives your readers an additional feed to subscribe to.
6. Comment info This is a convenience for repeat commenters. It might not cause them to comment more, but it is nice to have one's contact info filled in automatically.
7. Live discussions The default recent comments block provides a snippet of the comment with a link. The Live discussions module provides a list of most commented threads again with a link. Sometimes bloggers put more thought into their post titles than commenters think about their first few words, and it is also helpful to have the comments grouped by post.
8. Similar entries I like to see this feature on blogs I visit. In fact, it is my favorite means of navigation. I am not as fond of it in RSS feeds.
9. Twitter I have found that saving a draft before publishing overrides this module. I use that when I post something I think my fellow Twits won't be interested in.
10. Pirate Filter Saving the best for last? This is a filter that will turn all posts and comments into pirate talk every September 19th. Don't wait until ITLAPD to install it, it only works on posts that have been created or edited after the filter was installed. Yarrr.