My apologies for the lack of updates...
This past month has been incredibly hectic.
Not just in Xanga's transition, but also with what's going on in the rest of my life. I won't bore you with the details, this time. 
It's all good, don't get me wrong, but I will say that it has pulled me away from blogging in a considerable way.
-------------------
Here's a few updates:
I have been able to catch up, for the most part, with getting answers and information for Xangans who are needing it through Xanga's facebook page. There's still a lot more that needs to be done, I admit, but rest assured that the team, and myself, are getting through some major hurdles.
During the transition, however, my xanga/autisable e-mail went down. This oddity has caused quite the challenge in our usual procedures. I mean, how in the world can a gmail based e-mail account go down.... right? In any event, the team had to fix that - and we're waiting for things to sync up again. I do have other accounts that we're using to get things back on track - but I wanted to share some of the strange hurdles even I've had during this transition.
There have been several Xangans who have stepped up to the plate, providing help and practical tips on using this very basic version of Xanga 2.0.
I'll be talking with a few folks who have stepped up on the Xanga FB page soon - seeing if they can help moderate and answer questions. This will help spread out the work load some more so we can help even more Xangans get back on track sooner. A couple of Xangans have already shown a serious interest.
Still - other Xangans have posted tips on how to navigate the upgrade and to set up your account a bit better - here's one that Michael posted on a Xanga FB group page - and if you haven't read them - please do so:
--------------------------
NEW XANGA POINTERS (quick tutorials)
(I posted this on another Xangacentric group. Perhaps it might be appreciated here as well for anyone who's interested.)
Has anyone noticed that the "cheerleaders" and "naysayers" seem to have disappeared , and have been replaced by a bunch of confused Xangans who are just (either calmly or frantically) trying to figure out what's going on?
Here's some things I've found out, (thanks to various Xangans who I read and who read me. NO help from the Xanga Team)
1. Turn you username into a link. Go to edit avatar, and insert your URL (address: yourname.xanga.com) into the box marked "website"
2. Sub list. Dashboard/reading gives you the old list of new entries to sites you subscribed to on Old Xanga. If you want to reconnect to a new Xangan, click "follow" under their avatar (profile pic)
3. Not being able to "see" your images in the entry editor. If you keep clicking "visual" but see nothing, Go to Profile (your name in the upper right hand side of the blue taskbar) and make sure the little box which says "disable the visual editor when writing" is unchecked.
4. Your photos. I just found this right now. Dashboard/Xanga Photos. They're arranged chronologically. The last few entries you posted prior to the changeover will have "image not found". You'll have to go back to your entries and manually reinsert them.
5. Moderate comments. You'll have to "approve" someone on your friends list or who subs to you only the first time they visit and comment.
6. The comment screen. ALL comments on the history of your blog are archived here. You can easily spot spam and delete it (en masse per page, which I love). You can click on the little series of numbers under a user and get a screen of the comments they've left you (which I've asked for for years, but you only get comments on "new Xanga" I DON"T like the fact that this is in fact the user"s IP address and it shows the email address too. I hope I find a way to turn this 'off' and I'll let you know.
7. Pin a post. If you'd like a post to constantly appear at the top of your blog, without having to "update the timestamp" (I'm doing this since my HTML header disappeared) go to the right side of the screen when in the ADD NEW POST or EDIT POST click "visibility and check "stick this post to the front page."
Hope this little tutorial helps. I will post more as I find out more. I've already got a little coterie of "readers". I was never a "Xangacelebrity" anyway, but I've been on the service for a decade and like blogging on Xanga.
Michael F.Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
--------------------------------
Now, suffice it to say that we have to remember that Xanga is - and will be - COMMUNITY driven. As we all move forward, our input in the development of this site will be necessary to it's improvement.
This was the goal that John and the team shared earlier this year.
We're still in the transition phase of moving Xanga 2.0. A lot of our fellow Xangans are still playing catch up to what is going on.
There's up to 2 million accounts and account holders/members that the team has to make sure are taken care of in some way. There's still a lot of work to be done, and this has been a major change for all of us.
A comment on a previous post of mine by @notforprofit reads:
"You are a guileless apologist for xanga’s incompetence. You aren’t even participating in answering the thousands of appeals for Help where exiled xangans are so hurting because this has become a cash-f***up. thank you Pontius Pilate for washing your hands."
I have responded:
"Real life has interrupted my regular responses. However, I have been in constant contact with numerous Xangans seeking help, and working with the Xanga Team on getting folks the help they need.
I have not gone anywhere, except have been rather pulled away from what people usually see. Most of my responses as of late have been private and through e-mail.
You and I may disagree on Xanga’s level of compentence, but please don’t mistake my lack of open answers for washing my hands of this transition. I’m still here for the long haul.
I do thank you for your blunt honesty, as it serves as a reminder to me that I do need to provide some quality updates that will help folks."
-----------
This has been a very hectic year, all around. I thank everyone for your encouragement - and in the case of @notforprofit - blunt honesty.
If we are to move forward together - we'll need all the creative insight on how to improve and help one another we can get.
Some folks are waiting on the Xanga team to 'fix things'. They are working as hard as they can to get everyone up to speed on 2.0. Until then, and by all means, please help each other as Michael did. Provide posts, tips, ideas. Do what we can NOW amongst ourselves, until the team is ready for the next phase.
Things will change rapidly as the team gets everyone up to speed. So any tips are very helpful.
Stay tuned! I'll have some more updates as well.
