October 10, 2013

  • Looking at the Positive

    As I've shared before - we are still in a period of transition.   I've dealt with many transitions in over 20 years of my working career, and one of the challenges that many people experience is that phase where people are 'over it' or 'want to give up'.

    This is what is called the 'valley of despair'.   It's that point where people don't think the transition was ever worth it, and they don't see the benefit from it.

    It's also a time period where people may speak out against change, or when frustrations about change come at an all time high.

    Let's face it though - no one likes change.

     

    I know I don't.

    But, we have to remember what this change is about.    It's about providing us the tools we've been asking for as a community.

    It's a big move to transition control from Xanga team to the community as well.   So, suffice it to say - we're in a strong period of growing pains.

     

    But - it's going to be ok.

    I'm not ignoring the past history some would want us to continually bring to the forefront - but I am taking that history under advisement while I'm focusing on what is ahead of us.

    We have to look at opportunities and options - and not dwell on the past.

    OK - here's a couple of tips for the day:

    - A comment on my last post asked about how to post photo's into a blog post.   I suggested that you find the URL of the photo - and insert the photo by that method for now.

    - One of the most commonly asked questions I've fielded through the facebook page is how people can obtain their archives:

    For those who have archives to download - here's how -

    Go to their main page -http://username.xanga.com/ they just need to sign in and it's on their dashboard.

    Step 2 of this page: http://en.support.wordpress.com/import/import-from-xanga/ has the info on how to log in and download their archives.
    Until later - keep looking to at the positive.  :)

Comments (30)

  • we need more people

  • I do like change.

    But it isn't occurring.

    What I hate? Perpetual stasis and unmet promises. Even nature knows stasis is death.

    • There is change occurring, just not as fast as people would like it. After all, 6 months ago we were in Xanga 1.0 and many were complaining that the Xanga Team wasn't doing anything to improve the site. Now were in Xanga 2.0, and the team has changed the site - and are continuing to improve it.

  • No. I just don't see that evidence of change. I haven't seen one dot or dash of a difference since I noticed the pswd post protection option Sept 15. Prior to that (on Sept 11), another user noticed the comment notification bubble (although that had always been present on my own site, I'm giving that maybe for some that was a change). At some point also prior to Sept 15, our photos became an option on our dashboard.

    Other than that, we are the same as our go live on Sept 3.

    We haven't been updated by thexangateam since Sept 5.

    Yep. I paid for this.

  • Thanks for being here, Joel ~ I agree Xanga should be out here talking to us too, but I can be patient as long as the site is at least working, which it is. Talking to us would alleviate some anxiety maybe. I hold no illusions that it would stop people from complaining ~ because many will never be satisfied to enjoy what they currently have ~ will only always be wanting something more.

    I like that they will, with our input, work on one thing at a time to improve things, and that it will get better ~ it has already. I remember the first day I got on here and just wanted to throw up my hands,
    but now, at least, I can find my way around and actually put a halfway decent post together. Sure, I'd like it to be easier and better ~ and I'm hopeful it truly will be ~ I can wait. But in the meantime, maybe they could take a few minutes to talk to us and then they will just have to ignore the complaining, except to use it as a guide for a longer to-do list ~ :) Keep up the good work, Joel ~ you are much appreciated.

  • The problem is, Xanga has taken people's money, so they have a responsibility to either update the members or show some kind of significant, visible progress. The whole "it's free, so quit complaining" line doesn't apply anymore. I suspect the reason the Xanga Team didn't offer a free trial or test run is because nobody would pitch in $48 for this.

  • Again, thank you Joel for your input, but I tend to agree with coolmonkey. I'm not going anywhere but I do miss the community, and with what we have now I don't see the community growing. Sometimes I feel like the xanga team took our money and now their just waiting for us left behinds to get discouraged and go somewhere else too. If they would just communicate what's going on themselves it might assuage our emotions somewhat. I know it takes time to build a village...or rebuild a village...whatever. I
    feel at home here, but I do miss my neighbors.

  • Let's be realistic and honest about this-

    Yes, this is a "transition", and sure, change can be messy- but the main problem has nothing to do with the valley of despair or anything like that.

    Here's some straightforward questions I'd like you to answer-

    Do you see anything wrong with the fact that the ONLY updates in over a month since the relaunch are coming from someone who doesn't work for Xanga and is only volunteering their services?

    Do you believe Xanga should be taking a more active role in keeping the community updated on their progress?

    • Do you see anything wrong with the fact that the ONLY updates in over a month since the relaunch are coming from someone who doesn’t work for Xanga and is only volunteering their services?

      Do you believe Xanga should be taking a more active role in keeping the community updated on their progress?

      For both Questions, yes - of course I do.

      But being a bit closer to the team in communication allows me to understand their perspective as well.

  • I have not been charged yet (thank goodness) but I would like to know how do you shut down your whole site? There are not options anywhere.

    • I'm sure the team will provide those options in due time. One way to go about it is to contact the team yourself and ask for the site to be shut down.

  • The main issue with xanga is not the tools: It's the community. When it was time to save xanga it should have been if we reach $60 000 everyone who's been active can keep writing. I would have donated for sure, but knowing that the donation scheme would divide the community and most people would leave, what was the point? It looks like almost everyone is gone now.

    • I know it looks that way. To me, however, it's been very active.

      The team had to raise funds somehow, and the old way of doing business just wasn't making them enough money to keep it going - so something had to change.

  • I see it ironic that a shut down option isnt readily available yet. I cant find a way to mass delete photos either. We thought the transition was happening over July and opening a new website starting August. It is now mid October and not much change to the basic bones of this operation. Maybe I will rejoin Xanga 2.0 in the future.

  • Where is the customer contact information???

  • "But being a bit closer to the team in communication allows me to understand their perspective as well."

    Please share what their perspective is that would justify their lack of communication?

    As Coolmonkey and others have stated, now that they have taken money from people, do they feel they have any obligations, and if the answer is yeas, what are they?

    • Of course they feel as though they have an obligation to deliver what they promised. So far they've delivered on some of it, and they are providing updates where they are at now.

      They are proceeding, and when they are ready for the next step they will let us know. This has been their process all along.

  • I intended to support the transition with a one-year commitment, but my bank statement shows 3 payments. I have no idea how this happened; if I intended 3 years, I'd have made one payment for the total amount. Can I please be refunded 2 of those duplicate payments?

    I'm finding this process extremely confusing. I'd like to support Xanga, but other than that one year commitment, it's not clear to me what comes next.

    • You need to contact Crowdhoster.com to address the duplicate payments for your refund. They handled the transactions.

      For your site, contact help@xanga.net and let them know what has happened. If you are still running into issues, please touch base again.

  • Check out the Alexa rank. Around the second half of Sept Xanga's traffic dives almost all the way to the bottom. For the first half of the year it was around 5000 but then it dropped to 20 000 around mid September, falling almost directly down when the switch took place. It couldn't go any lower on the graph than it is now. It's not busy here, silly. It's close to dead.

    http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/xanga.com

    • I don't really rely on Alexa, personally. A more reliable source for traffic info is Quantcast. Either way, you are correct - traffic has dropped to record low levels.

      But, I call that the valley of despair. It will take some time to get things back on track.

  • Joel,

    Just trying to be patient and get used to what is Xanga at present. I had a WordPress account before, and used it a little. Yet, Xanga has been my personal blog since 2006. I do miss the community we had and many friends. It was easier to communicate and know what is going on.

    Eugenia helped me to get my personal domain name transferred to another company. They seemed to have finally got my personal url to work correctly with my Xanga site. Going to the WordPress servers seemed to have caused some glitches they didn't anticipate. Nevertheless, we are working through them, LOL.

    • Glad to hear things are being sorted out. There's always unexpected things that develop as a result of change. Thanks again for keeping me in the loop.

  • Joel, haven't heard from you in awhile ~ anything new you can post/inform us about? :)

    • Sorry, been rather swamped at my regular job, along with being sick (or taking care of Short Stack - who was also sick) for the past few days.

      I have a scheduled call this week with Marc. Hope to have some updates by end of week.

  • Never fear. Do not despair. At some point, I'm positive my archives will be updated. As I have been a paying member in the past who has bought a subscription for a friend, I'm sure I will be granted access complete in full, right?

  • According to my Xanga Account Management on my Dashboard, my subscription expires one week from today. How do I make sure that it doesn't expire? I don't see a tool or a method of continuing the subscription. Thanks for your help.

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