June 11, 2013
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Let's Look at Free Blogging Platforms
There are many who want to continue blogging for free - so let's make a list of free blogging sites - and compare them to what Xanga 2.0 provides...
We'll start the initial list from what is shared on this link - http://sixrevisions.com/tools/top-free-online-blogging/ Date of this article is March of last year:
1 - WordPress.com (not wordpress.org - big difference)
- provides an ad-free experience for $30 per year - extra services cost as high as $120 per year.
- Limited free blogging tools.
- no level of community available like Xanga
2 - Blog.com
- Limited free blogging tools.
- provides an ad-free experience for $30 per year - extra services cost as high as $68 per year
3 - Blogger.com
- backed by Google - but very limited in terms of customer service.
- connects to your google+ and other google based services
- extra storage = extra cost
- no level of community interaction like Xanga, unless you utilize Google+
4 - TypePad - no longer free
- Pay to blog model - first 14-days free trial
- prices start at $8.95 per month
5 - jux.com - it's closing - unable to continue it's services
- Last post - Jux is closing =( Continue to follow me at photographybynick.tumblr.com
6 - Tumblr.com - a 'micro-blogging' platform. simple layout - quick blogging. Think Twitter, but with more characters that you can type.
- purchased by Yahoo! for 1 billion dollars
- less options available.
7. Posterous.com - No longer available - site shut down
https://posterous.com/bye.html - You can continue to login to Posterous until May 31 and request a backup of your sites. If you need assistance, please see help.posterous.com.
8. http://blogetery.com/ - a wordpress powered blogging site.
- Lack of community
- free limited services available
- prices start at $3.50 per month for premium services
9. Weebly
- Lack of community
- more for business owner
- free is available - but $4 per month start for your own domain.
10. Livejournal
- online shop - good for selling things
- community support
- basic service free - but each extra cost $
- lots of ads
also shared from this link:
--------------------------------------- from the link above--------------------------
Other Online Blogging Platforms
Here are other blogging platforms that didn’t make our top 10 list that you still may wish to check out:
- Blogsome, freeblogit and Blog Dive are other WordPress-powered blogging platforms.
- Thoughts.com is a service similar to Tumblr and Posterous.
- Blog.co.uk seems to have a wonderful community, but appears to put a lot of ads on your blog.
- MyBlogSite looks interesting but seems to lack in features when compared to other options.
- Aeonity offers free blog hosting but it looks like a dated service.
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Now, given the information from that initial link - I've went to each site and checked it's current status -
of the first 10 FREE blogging sites from last years article :
THREE are no longer in service, or are terminated and/or shutting down. - 30% are no longer in business
One changed to a Paid to blog - with a Free Trial option - 10% changed to paid to blog (and remains in service)
Of the 3 that most people are migrating to:
Blogger, WordPress, and Tumblr - there are some limited blogging options available.
2 out of 3 (Blogger and Tumblr) are backed by major corporations (Google and Yahoo)
The average price for a paid premium blog per month on any of these listed platforms runs about $3-$5 per month - Xanga falls into the middle of the road.
Now, what Xanga is offering -
- $4 per month
- premium level wordpress blog, WITH COMMUNITY interaction that we've grown to love about Xanga
- extra wordpress plugins are part of the monthly fee - some of these plugins are very pricey (I've seen some cost several hundred dollars).
- opportunity for us to help develop what the site will become - including the development of new plugins.
- people who volunteer will be rewarded (get free blogs)
Now, the choice is yours.
Personally - I choose to stay - so much can be done with what they have planned.
Could free blogging return to Xanga? I don't see why it shouldn't - even on a free trial basis.. but they have to get us all moved to the new platform. Then we can look into free blogging again.
There's many reasons I'm staying - and for the price of a cup of coffee from starbucks once a month - it's an easy sacrifice to pay to make sure it stays around for several more years.
(if you buy a combo meal from McDonald's or Taco Bell once a month - you'd be paying more)
Just some extra analysis for your review.
#WeAreXanga - contribute here: https://xanga.crowdhoster.com/relaunch-xanga
Comments (65)
This is a great review. I agree with your assessment, and while it may rankle a bit to have to pay for Xanga, at $4 a month, it's a steal for what you get. Especially the community.
quite a few I had not heard of.
It will be interested to see (apart from Xanga as well know are in trouble and could shut down) which other sites are close to turning off their servers because of cost.
I can see one day all sites you will have to pay to use.
The death of the Internet.
@cuteluvr21 - It is a bit biased - but I felt like people needed to at least think about the bigger picture on what is going on in the realm of free blogging sites.
@my_final_username - The internet is always changing, my friend.
I agree. All the positives of Xanga over other sites is worth $4 a month.
No place is like Xanga... I am worried about how different Xanga will be after the change. Thanks for the info.
@peacenow - I understand that concern. I think we may be moving into an initial interface like wordpress - then as we move forward as a community - it will change dramatically - with a much more simplified and user friendly interface that we we will all enjoy. Like moving out of an old home and into a new one - we'll have to rearrange the furniture, knock down a wall - install a door - rebuild a kitchen....
Of course, this is just my assumption.
Moving to a new platform will take a little time - but I think in the long term, it will be much better.
I thought you might be able to help me. I have sent 3 Messages to Xanga with no response. They have always been great about that and I think the Xanga management has done a good job.
My wife and I will by nothing on line with a credit card.
I bought life time by mail in the past.
I want to know where to mail at least $96 to Xanga for my contribution. Can you help with that?
frank
@HUMOR_ME_NOW - Thanks Frank. Good question. You're not the only one who asked this question.
I'll see what I can do to get an answer for you.
-joel
@edlives - Thanks, Joel That means a lot to me. I want Xanga to stay. If they get close and don't have enough, I could squeeze out a $100 addition donation to them.
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@ionlifeionizer - Glad to be of service. Xanga 2.0 however, you make a comment like this - it will be reviewed prior to being posted on my blog. And your account will be blocked. Have a nice day.
Thanks for the breakdown. Excellent point. I still can't justify another $50 a year. We'll see. I'm kinda watching to see how it goes. The WordPress base is attractive because it will be very easy for me to cross post from my .com. We'll see.
@edlives - Have you looked into flickr? I was tempted to make an account with them but I wasn't sure about how much I could blog on the site. I was really sold on using Thoughts.com but that site has more errors than Xanga. I can't even activate Thoughts.com with the account I made because I keep getting a blank page. I moved most my blogs to Classic MySpace because it's free, has music, cool themes, chatting, basic blogging features, and people can blog and socialize on it. Since so many people treat MySpace like it's The Plague even though it's a better known social media site than Xanga, chances are great most Xangans won't bother giving it a chance. With that being said, I'm not that broken up about Xanga either shutting down, or Xangans going their separate ways. Maybe by the time of next month, I'll be working and won't have time for hardly any site, including here. LOL! I have different goals for my blogging.
This is very useful info, thanks for sharing it. I think it might help people to make a decision if Xanga offers a free trial for a limited time, maybe a week or two? That way, if people hate the interface and don't make friends, they don't feel like they have spent a lot of money for nothing. But, if they find out we're all awesome (we are
) they'll stay. Some people might have trouble spending money for something when they don't know what they're getting, so that might be a way to attract new users in the future.
you are my go to guy and love what you've done here. We got to get Xanga 2.0 going! yeah!
I saw Frank's question about sending a check... I was wondering about PayPal. I mentioned it before and you mentioned the paypal credit card but I don't have one. I just use paypal to pay with my checking account for online things. Does the kickstarter program just not utilize paypal? Thank you for the time you are putting in.
I wish someone would cover, in depth, whether or not we will get the same features we have now and are used to once it switches over. In particular, footprints (because the stats on WP right now are NOT the same thing AT ALL) and protected lists and other privacy levels. Because the fact that the only 2 options for privacy on WP right now are to either lock down your blog entirely and invite people by email, or password protect each individual entry, are NOT acceptable.
Whoa whoa whoa ! Good shooting there Tex, I think you might of missed a target though. Check to make sure you are pointing your firearm in the correct direction. [Image]
Writer's Cafe offers unlimited posts, unlimited images, true word search for any post, and a most active community that lists by most popular posts byline per date to newest members and newest posts with an information panel that shows an update to comments and messages per refresh (like Facebook) [Image] and a shout-line so you can send announcements to all your friends wherever they are, even if they're not logged in.
Can't imagine how you missed this one.
I knew you would forget this one. blogster.com, which is a lot like this site and has most things on it that this has. I am not sure how long it has been around but from people that have been there, a long time. And this was a great list. Bro. Doc
I am at http:www.blogster.com/brotherdoc and I am still here also. Bro. Doc
@BroDoc - Hey ! Your Blogster actually looks pretty good. It's not the first time I looked at it but I'm looking a little harder now.
I'm gonna dedicate Thursday to checking it out thoroughly and finding what all is possible in it. I like the fact they have on the front page NEW USERS. That's the best way to meet and greet people. Even Xanga never did that.
I put a default page in Blogster saying I moved [Link] (yah I always do that !)
- but I'll certainly check it out Thursday and see what all is possible in it and what kinna Online community services they offer.
@RealistMe - I'm looking at Flickr myself now. Seems to be all about pictures but no actual blogging ability. Experimenting ... Yah no blogging ability at all. You can add any picture to the 'colossus' (a long scrolling list on the front page) and include a text description with keywords, but no links or bold or anything really.
As Xanga 2.0 doesn't even fucking exist, it pretty much loses by default. You can only compare some fantasy of what Xanga could be-- if it's saved, if good developers are hired, and if the developers are actually able to produce on time and within budget what Xanga has promised.
Also, this ad is as objective and as honest as a Presidential election commercial.
I am not advocating or endorsing WordPress but the free features are pretty ok. The features for which WordPress charges extra also seems reasonable.
Absolutely agree with you on the community aspect which is pretty unique on Xanga. WordPress, however, seems to come somewhat close to it with this "favorite" thing. I mean, the Xanga community stems from a time when Social Media Networks weren't as ubiquitous as they are now.
My focus here was to show that out of 10 sites listed from an article last year - 3 are no longer around, and one changed to a pay to blog model. The fact that 40% of 10 blogging sites listed have had to change their business or go bust shows us that the industry has changed.
@RealistMe - flickr is good for photo and video management - not for blogging.
@leaflesstree - good idea about a free trial, but to be honest, I don't see that happening until after the relaunch. There is a lot of cost involved in new hardware and moving what we can to the new servers, etc...
@peacenow - Yes, paypal and check options are going to be asked.
@BohemianLotus - for those with a free wordpress.com account, yes - only two options. Xanga.com 2.0 will be similar to a premium wordpress account - for starters - and I would suspect some major improvements after the relaunch. So there's a lot more bells and wistles going to be added - AND the community can and will help in the development of the site. (unlike now - where we have to wait on Xangateam to develop it)
@dw817 - @Celestial_Teapot - my point is to address the ad revenue based model comparing with a pay to blog model that Xanga team is moving towards. out of the first 10 sites listed, 3 free blogging sites within the past year have shut down. 1 site did move to a pay to blog model and is still active. 2 sites are backed by major corporations - and 1 site (wordpress) is utilized to help build many websites/blogs.
Yes, there are other sites, plenty of them. And many of them are good, and some even have some features that Xanga offers. The key is to ask how long will they be around, how is their infastructure going to manage in case their userbase and/or traffic move on. How quickly can they adapt to the needs of their users? Xangateam has looked at the history of our community and their current business model and said, "we have to do this better in order to stay around".... and they are working at doing just that.
and I know this post was a bit biased. hey, what do you expect - I'm a Xangan.
More like it USED to have a community here. I haven't seen it in years now. Most people are talking crap about others or ignoring the little people. So I rather be little and in a place that is free. Besides all that, this site is crappy in formatting. I was loyal to this place because it was the easiest, but I have found that I'd rather be in a place where I like how my writing looks and the formatting is good and at least I get to enjoy being little.
This is just what I have seen of this place. Please don't hate on me just because I differ from your opinions.
@sunkiss111 - no hate here. There is a core community here, but I agree it isn't like it once was.
The goal with Xanga 2.0 is to address a lot of what you have shared, and then some.
Thanks for your opinion, it matters.
@BroDoc - LOL ! Blogster shut down the page I made last night cause it includes a link to a different blogging site !
Wow ! That's the first time I've EVER seen a company do that ! [Link] - sorry, Bro. Appears that Blogster can't stand a little competition or even honor a user's privacy and I in time would undoubtedly be posting links to other blogging sites for comparative reviews or even just in comments with friends if I stayed there so likely they would close my posts and account for that too.
Be careful about posting links to other blogging sites or they may go after you next, BroDoc !
Guess I won't be checking them out after all if they are that paranoid about competitor links, but I =WILL= add them to my article review of other blogging sites that posts are indeed examined for links to other blogging sites and accounts are closed prematurely for that reason.
@dw817 - I'm sure writer's cafe has a lot of benefits to it. The post was written to share longevity of a site that earning it's revenue primarily through the ad-based model.
Xanga isn't down and out - not yet anyways. We're not even 1/3 of the way through fundraising to salvage what we can and upgrade - and we've already raised over 40% of the funding needed to make this happen.
Like John shared in thexangateams original announcement post - Xanga is at a crossroads. Tough decisions have to be made in order to keep Xanga online.
Everyone's account information will migrate over, but not everyones blogposts/pics, etc... That is over a dozen years and millions of accounts (many aren't used anymore) of data. The tough call is to tighten the belt and clean house in the process of the upgrade.
No one is entirely happy, but in order to keep Xanga moving forward - they had to make some difficult decisions.
With the upgrades and more community involvement - there is more of an opportunity for Xanga to be what we want it to be.
It's a transition issue, and many of us don't like transitions.
I wouldn't be suprised if a form of free blogging becomes available down the road - even on a trial basis... but we have to deal with the move and initial upgrades first.
I think livejournal is quite cool...Ads really don't really bother me.
All in all you can buy similiar things as you could with Xanga premium (name change etc.)
What annoys me a little is that the layout is not so variable and more variety is something you'd have to pay for too. But that's no big problem for me.
On the upside, you can make several custom friends lists so the 'protected' feature is basically free, which I really love.
It has a function where you can choose to show when you visited someone's site, and also see your guests, but no footprint function with footprint lock.
I like livejournals overall concept, but I find that it is a bit
'empty'...the Xanga groups offered more of what I wanted than the
existing communities on LJ do, at least when Xanga was more popular, 5
years ago or so.
Or maybe it's because the navigation is a little
shittier than on Xanga (e.g. you can only search 'people and
communities' and not search for both seperately. The results also show
up randomly and not sorted by 'last updated' as they do here, so when I
look for a good community for cat owners, I see tons of users with 'cat'
in their name who last updated in 2005.)
I get that many xangans want to stay together, but it should be easy to create a xanga- group there, or several, in case the fundraiser plan doesn't work.
@under_the_carpet - Nice insight into Livejournal, thanks.
@edlives - I guess you can lump Xanga in that 40% ?
Seriously, Joel, I'm finding Writer's Cafe to be a good site. I wouldn't kid about that, you could've included it in your review and I know you knew about it as much as we talked in private PM about blogging.
NONE OF US know how long a blogging site will stay in business. (Hopefully) none of us knew ahead of time that Xanga would be shutting down. It happens. I appreciate the fact Xanga gave (and still is) giving us ample time to back-up our works but I'm still going to need to write a utility for everyone so that archive can be viewed correctly later cause once Xanga shuts down, those pages won't appear correctly. [Link]
I'm still not happy about what (I think and I hope I'm wrong) is going to happen to the non-paid members posts though and I know I'm not alone in this.
BTW, tried to create an account to Blogetery (as that was one I'm not familiar with) and it crashed along with a technical support key ID. Tried it twice. I think they're having problems.
Thoughts.com gives a white page for me once after you login. It did this for another user I was talking to in PM. He's been giving me blogging sites to check out additionally.
As for Blog.Co.Uk, I don't see any ads, of course I'm using Firefox's AdBlocker Plus [Link]
I wrote a post in BCU, looks like a nice editor. Tried out their search, there's a problem. Searched for, "Star Trek" and "Fuzzy Pickles" and nothing came up. It may be another blogger site that only uses 'voted-on' keywords.
Tried to search by keyword and it said it was a malformed syntax I typed. Hoo boy.
That's prolly good enough for now. As with ANY good blogging website, community is key. If you can't conduct a proper search to find other pages, logged in or not - that's notta good blogging engine.
@edlives -
The revenue (as near as I can tell) for Writer's Cafe is they offer commercial publishers for your stories and using your credit card you can have your posts advertised - really silly since they treat noobers and new posts with the same relish as top posts (hope they never see the flaw in their logic there)
No other ads appear to my knowledge and I've been writing on there a week now.
As for being at 40% for the donations to future Xanga², that's good. I hope it happens !
Now as far as backups, you and I both know there is no need to transfer 1-million accounts. All you have to do is write a program to bring up every account and look at the newest entry written. If their newest WRITTEN POST entry is before 2011 (meaning they've been gone for 2-years without so much as a visit), toss it. Simple. I write databases so this sorta thing is done all the time.
Recover all the other entries and transfer them, free accounts or not, that oughta cut down the numbers. Obviously you can determine unused accounts too and toss those - this really isn't that hard to do, Joel.
And yes, I was never good at traveling myself and always packed a tin of peppermints. I hope Xanga considers this and creates the virtual equivalent for the worried members when it's time ...
@under_the_carpet - And yep ! I liked LiveJournal too, nice little editor, good HTML raw coding, but - as you said, their community features are a bit on the skimpy side and they favor commercial companies and highest paid blogs more.
Blogging IMHO is never about profit, it's about reaching out to people, making new friends, sharing similar ideas, and building a strong community and fellowship.
@dw817 - Thanks for a cursory write up of Writer's Cafe.
I agree that it may not be hard to do - but with my guess of 100 million plus accounts over 14 years, there has to be some available space issues. In any event, I'll see if I can share your insight with thexangateam.
@beowulf222 - What's the "favorite" thing on WP?
@dw817 - I cannot agree with you more! I personally never understood why accounts are allowed to exist that are essentially unused, and having such an ability written into a database should of been a no-brainer. Even email providers cut the fat when you don't use them. Do we even know how many *active* accounts still exist on Xanga? I've also been a little intimidated by Writer's Cafe. It seems like a place that isn't for writing general commentaries about life or daily lives, but more for those that want to write short stories and novels. Personally I have found WordPress to be a good platform, easy to use, and has just as much of a community as Xanga did (which isn't a lot honestly after membership died down here. there are people with blogs that I have common interests with, on WP same as here).
If you include the following factors in the comparison: network traffic volume and likelihood of survival, it makes it much harder to make xanga look competitive.
Xanga's current lower traffic doesn't make for a good prospects in attracting more users. Add the fact that a paywall is now going up and traffic is sure to drop even more. Charging everyone admission isn't good policy to growing the community.
Not having at least a free trial also separates Xanga from the other pay models - and not in a good way.
We don't even know if 2.0 will be launched, let alone make it- so it's on much shakier ground than the top free blogging sites.
I know "positive" folks will get mad I'm spelling out the problems, but this is what people are thinking, and these are real challenges, so it doesn't make sense to not bring these up. Xanga can't change it's traffic, but they can change their "paywall for all" policy before the deadline..the sooner the better. Suggestions that the site may have a free blog in the future won't sway current folks jumping ship now.
@edlives - Is it safe to say that blogging will eventually become extinct at least in America? Lately, I've been getting the impression that people don't care about blogging anymore. Most people today seem to care more about posting pictures whether it be selfies, memes, vacation and/tourist scenes, along with the so-called micro-blogging.
@edlives - Thanks ...
@Cagey - Hi Cagey. Welp, I'm definitely gonna test the envelope here pretty soon. I have noticed some people write about their days and call them stories and have been there for years and no problems as of yet. There is a good chance I'll be going over some of my older blogs and reiterating some of the topics in them before long in Writer's Cafe.
While they may not in themselves be stories, I can categorize them as such.
Also, Writer's Cafe DOES have a BLOG button where you can add specifically blogs. [Image] They are organized according to date like Xanga does it, but I'll probably make a custom index for my writings and future blog entries before long.
Days now - are pretty quiet and slow and good, and that's fine - however a good chunk of the 'exciting' stuff in my life happened before 2013 and some of it I believe is worth reading, especially if you're new to it.
I've received no warnings or any other mention from anyone really - of the posts I've made thus far and one of which has no writing at all, it's just some nice music to enjoy. Reading the rules they said they will only delete a post if it contains mature content and it is rated Everyone.
I have seen some mature posts other people have written there already but they are always rated (18+) so I anticipate no problems with them, and in turn I've also seen some rather adult posts written by writers that say they are 13 or 14-years old so - wow - I don't think there is too much checking going on in there after all.
@SoullFire - You understand the situation well ! *KUDOS !*
@RealistMe - I don't think blogging will ever come out of style - that's like saying people will no longer post silly or personal or endearing pictures in Facebook just to get a buncha ☑LIKES and that will always be wanted I think.
For some it's not just writing about one's personal life but gives you a chance to write out your ideas on subjects. Blogging is not just about one's life, but about one's ideas, hopes, dreams, and philosophies. I'm always writing about philosophy and theology and I always have an entourage of comments and opinions for it.
I'm fascinated by our place in the universe - interested in others who can read my stories and see the unique viewpoint or even be amused by them - and I am there for them when they reach out for communication for some event in their life that is causing them distress or they just want to talk.
That is what blogging is all about - good communication. If blogging was just like a diary, only the writer would read it. Blogging and bloggers desire to be read by others and have their thoughts and feedback received on it.
Blogging is the greatest dating and friendship and introduction game of the century - and it involves the sexiest organ in the human body - the brain.
@RealistMe - I think it's safe to say that blogging will be around awhile. Businesses see the value of having a blog for their website, people who want to market themselves will need a blog as well.
That being said, sites offering blogs for free are starting to diminish.
Let's say a blogging site gets a billion users, that's fantastic! But if it costs $20,000 to keep that site up and running and you're only pulling in a little more than that in revenue... You're really not making any money.
When your revenue isn't enough not to just sustain your overhead, but also not enough for marketing purposes and future growth development... your site won't last long and people will jump on board the next free blog site.
So, what bloggers need to do, if they want to really have a blog - is to pay for a service - to provide a layer of safety for their online work. So, people have opted to buy their own URL and have their on blog.
What Xanga is offering with 2.0 is for us to keep blogging and connect with each other, without having to rely on ads.
Hope that makes sense.
@edlives - The main reason why I joined Xanga earlier this year was to get back into blogging. I used to have Yahoo 360 and a few other Yahoo blogging pages. Since every blogging feature Yahoo creates is constantly being discontinued, I searched around for other free blogging sites and decided to join Xanga. When I was on YouTube earlier, a user mentioned a site called "friend project." I have to look more into that site and experiment with it.
@RealistMe - feel free to touch base and let us know how the 'friend project' is. We're hoping to reach the goal of $60,000 so we can continue Xanga and upgrade it.
@edlives - Okay, I will continue to keep you all posted!
@musterion99 - I don't use WordPress yet but from reading it sounds like a feature similar to the "subscriptions" feature at Xanga.
@beowulf222 - I'm using WordPress and the subs is called "Following".
@RealistMe - Before free blogs, people used to set up their own servers to blog, and for others to make and received comments. To speculate that blogs could go extinct is like asking if people writing book or other forms of the printed word could die off. There will always be folks all over the world that will want to express themselves - their feelings, ideas, or thoughts in general to those willing to take the time to read. As long as man has the ability to communicate there will be scrolls, books, journals and blogs.
@musterion99 - I think it's a replacement of the Google Reader. Read here. Sounds like you can follow non-WP sites through this feature.
@SoullFire - I can see your point.
@beowulf222 - Yes, I know about Reader. You said Favorite so I wasn't sure what that was.
@musterion99 - If you follow the link I gave, you would read how WP phrases it: " Follow Your Favorites
- Keep track of all your favorite blogs and discover new ones with the Reader.". Apparently, WP considers following your favorite blogs the "Favorited".
@beowulf222 - Right. Thanks
@edlives - Okay, I started using friend project tonight. It seems pretty user friendly but it's a bit teeny bopperish and on the clunky side. I don't see somebody in their early 30's like myself assimilating too well over there. LOL!
@RealistMe - lol... Thanks.
@edlives - You're welcome. LOL!
What about Writers Café? It's free and seems like it's set up like Xanga (although nothing can replace Xanga). Also, I question Tumblr's effectiveness for privacy. Last year, a hacker went through and created havoc which made world news. Went there to update my account last week and my account was hacked again.
@HUMOR_ME_NOW - Why should you have to pay at all? Ask the powers that be to respect your lifetime membership. From what I can tell you haven't died(it is LIFEtime afterall) so it should be valid if the site continues on in a new incarnation.
To the OP: Good summary of the other sites. I hope Xanga can eventually find room in its' new house for those who can't afford rent.
Thanks for the review. I hope the WP powered 2.0 will have equivalent features. I'm still considering the annual fee. I wish I could donate to justfinethanku's fundraiser in addition.
@hesacontradiction - this wasn't a comprehensive listing... just a list provided from an article that selected the top 10 free blogging sites of last year.
@Shadowrunner81 - I hope so to. Lifetime members do get in, but there are some qualifiers for how long afterward and discounts. the FAQ's at the bottom of the fundraiser page goes into details some.
@jasonwl - the WP powered 2.0 out of the box already has more features than Xanga 1.0. Do what you can. If you think you can afford $48 by july 15th - make the pledge.
@edlives - Thanks!
Great post; Here's hoping Xanga carries on!!!
JUST making a statement here, but does anyone remember Kiwibox?!? I haven't been there in YEARS, and it was huge when I was in middle/high school (about 12 years ago), and it's STILL AROUND ASDFGHJKL. If Kiwibox can make it, why can't Xanga?!
Wish I could recommend this a hundred times. Thank you Joel. I am not going anywhere. I will stay with Xanga through thick and thin.
How do we volunteer? What can I do. I am not computer savvy and am really a klutz when it comes to talking internet lingo, but oh I want to help s SO much. Please let me know what I can do.
It looks like people are moving to either WordPress, tumblr or Blogger. I can live with ads on my blog. I don't know how much of a community will be there after 2.0 goes live. (I'm assuming it will) I suspect there will be a core group and I hope there's going to be a lot of effort to rebrand Xanga and attract and develop a new community. I've pledged for a year and will see how it goes. But I've also set up a WordPress account just in case.
GReat analysis! Helps put everything into perspective!
@dw817 - Thank you very much. You will see it very similar to here, just that somethings are named different and the platform is lots like. Thanks for looking at it. Bro. Doc
Can you tеll us moree about this? I'd care to find out more details.
Eventually I will. Been pretty swamped lately with Autisable related things.
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