November 13, 2014

  • Easy to Be Critical - But are you willing to do the work?

    man-yelling-at-computer

     

    <beginning of rant>

    Being a part of the workforce has taught me many things over the years, one of which is something I learned early in my career.

    It's easy to be critical of what may be going on in an organization.  Usually that criticism stems from past experience, and at it's core - is a good thing.

    However, I learned early on that when you shine the light on a problem - be sure that you are offering a solution, and are willing to put your hands to make that solution happen.  Otherwise, you are just an arm chair Quarterback yelling at the TV when the team isn't doing what it's supposed to do.   You provide insight, yet you lack the fortitude to actually put work to your suggestions.  In short, you become nothing but a complainer when you aren't willing to help resolve the problem.

    I share this because there's been a lot of criticism about Xanga, and I've been more than willing to listen to anyone's issues and pass them along to John and the Xanga team.   My role here is to facilitate communication so we can move forward.

    I've reached out to those who have been highly critical of Xanga's efforts this past year - asking them if they'd be interested in actually helping out to resolve some of these issues.  After all, even the Xanga team is ready to bring about teams of people to help bring Xanga to the next level.   John shared just as much in many of his blog posts.   I've stepped up and am helping where I can, and am always encouraging others to do the same.

    But the responses from these highly critical people that I've received has been layered with more criticism - highlighting past mistakes - and that they want nothing to do with Xanga or the Team.   The irony here is that these are the same folks who still hang around, being even more critical of Xanga's efforts - yet they don't do anything to help as well.

    The option to help the community remains, and until these critical folks step up to actually assist - I'm sure we'll only read their blog posts on other sites voicing their criticism but never taking action.

    If anyone is interested in helping to bring Xanga to the next level - and actually put their talents in making Xanga better - then I am more than willing to work with you.  Even if you've been highly critical.    But just voicing an opinion and being critical and providing suggestions without actually having the will to do the work.... well....

    I can only invite you to sit on the couch and watch the game.   Scream all you want - we're getting the work done.    What are you doing?  Nothing.

    Ok... back to the grind....as I have actual work to do...

    <end of rant>

     

Comments (40)

  • I don't think I have been one of the critical ones, but perhaps I have come across that way at some time or another ~ so very sorry if that is the case. I'm pretty patient, but am certainly looking forward to improvement too.

    Not sure how I can be of help, but I do kind of know my way around a computer on the surface ~ sure don't know a lot of the technical stuff, but love learning about it. If you think there is anything a 65-year-old lady could do from her home to help, let me know. :)

    In the meantime, I appreciate you and Eugenia sooooo much ~ that girl has been SUCH a help to me!

    • Actually, you've provided some good constructive criticism and have been willing to help - if there's a place to help - and that is nothing short of awesome!

      I'm sure there's something to do when things get to the place where it needs to be. For now, any input and insight is very welcome. Feel free to get acquainted with wordpress and wordpress plugins - as it will help you with Xanga 2.0 as things develop.

      Eugenia has been a major help to me as well - always helping me learn as well.

      Thanks!

  • I am so low tech that I make gophers look high tech.

    I just liked Xanga and the people. I am just waiting to see how it changes.

    I am sorry if the critics have been mean and unwilling to help.

    Wishing you the best.

    frank

  • OH wow, your answer about made me laugh ~ because I have no clue what a plug-in even is! :) I'm willing to learn, though ~ but I about need a one-on-one teacher at my age ~ ;)

  • I do hope the negativity does not infect too many. I am not a computer person (dealing mostly with the living/biological aspects). However my soon to be unemployed husband is a programmer/ analyst. If he doesn't have anything lined up in May I'm thinking he could be of assistance - but I'll have to see before I volunteer him!

    • There has been a lot of positive response as well - just had to vent out about those who have been highly critical.

      If he's up for it - I'm sure any help would be appreciated.

  • There was way too much critical venting during the transition to 2.0 -- I really appreciated your willingness to provide some indication that there was actually something happening! I still am willing to help with user guide, or whtever else I might be able to do.

  • Please provide specific examples of Xangans who offered to help, how (or whether) the Xanga team responded to their offer, and what's been accomplished as a result.

    • Read some of the comments in this post - or other posts in my blog. There are folks interested in helping. And I'll be talking with a few others via phone over the next week.

      We are at a phase (more specifically phase 3 and 4) and we are gathering interest from those who are willing to do the work.

      Xanga Team's response right now is wanting to know who is interested - so when it's ready (the site), we can go into Phase 4 - teams that manage the site.

  • Oh I've read those offers. In fact I've seen people offering for over a year. I was more interested in how the Xanga Team responded. As you've confirmed, they didn't.

  • Not sure who this was directed to, but I think most of us have every reason to be upset and to express frustration with how Xanga has and is is running, since we have spent cash for use of it. A free service is one thing, you get what you paid for there. Once I've handed over cash, I expect something more...much more than the past year gave us.

    I've volunteered to help with so many things in the past, and also not so long ago right here on your site...and no one made use of me in any meaningful way, other than the defunct and never really fully developed "Themes" stuff that made the html we used to be able to use break, without giving us viable replacements.

    So, once again, I'm over here, volunteering, so I can be overlooked in favor of others. Hopefully remarks about those not offering to help will not be directed towards those of us who have been offering for 10-12 years.

    • Not directed at you, no worries.

      Everyone's frustration is understood.

      This rant is for those who have been highly critical, beyond what most of us have been feeling.

  • @moniet - Of course no one made use of you (or anyone else that made the same offer). Seems to me the Xanga Team's strategy is to dupe Joel into stringing everyone along as long as possible in the hope that the remaining Xangans will eventually get tired of waiting and just leave, forgeting to demand that refund they're owed.

    • Not true. Things are just taking longer than expected. I do have a list of folks who want to help and as I said before, I will be talking with a few more directly later this week.

  • When it's proven otherwise I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong and apologize for my negativity.

  • Code the site so we can read on mobile, make a social front page so there's some semblance of community, post updates weekly, allow us to respond to one another, and allow more functionality for people who are not paying. The site's success is dependent on the quality of its content and most high quality content comes from people who are either profiting from their work or doing it for free. Few people are going to pay to post their craft, especially when there's nobody here to share it with.

    The xanga team needs to realize it made some mistakes with its current model and correct them. The goal of a social network is to create a social environment where users are able to share and interact with one another. The current model is half broken and antisocial.

    The problem seems to lie in the management since several of these issues are easily curable by coding up the proper structure and functionality, but if they're unwilling to implement them, the site will continue to sink.

    Show us the effort and give us the tools to grow the site, and we'll help, but right now there's not much to work with. The site will never work the way it's structured because it's an antisocial network. Lose the classes and encourage growth through your user base.

    • John at Xanga already noticed that the site need better mobile readability and access, so that's on the list.

      The front page is being addressed. As a community we're trying to gather people to help manage the site - including the front page.

      The team has recognized it has made mistakes and is working at correcting them - but it has taken longer than expected.

      The rest of the items you listed are already in process of being addressed - as it has been an echo in the community that I've passed along to the team.

      Thanks for your input!

  • Everything milky_vampyre said. All of those issues have been brought up time and time again, but it seems like they are falling upon deaf ears. We'll never know because the Xanga Team NEVER UPDATES. You say they hear us and understand, but if that is the case, then why is there still no direct communication from them?

    One of my main suggestions is for the Xanga Team to actually, you know USE THEIR OWN PRODUCT. Maybe if they actually started blogging on Xanga, they'd realize that it's garbage. Heck, I think even John's wife is an avid blogger, and even she avoids Xanga like the plague. Seeing some activity from the Team might rally some troops back, but for the time being, why should we put our faith and trust in a group that doesn't have the respect to acknowledge us?

  • Hi Joel, I see you left a hello on my friend, Beadbrat's xanga. Will you help me too? As you can see, my name isn't a hotlink to my blog. THANKS!

    • Send a message through Xanga's FB page with your username. Let's see how I can help you.

  • +1 for all that coolmonkey, SKANLYN and milky_vampyre said.

    You keep saying they/John will update...but we're still waiting. Every day that passes without the promised updates from John chips away at our ability to believe ANYTHING we are told.

    • I know they will update. And YES, I know we are waiting. I'm waiting right there with you. In the meantime, I hope you and everyone else can bear with me as we move forward. A lot has been going on behind the scenes, and I get just as frustrated as you and everyone else - but I direct my frustration privately to the team.

      It has been received, and that's the best I can pass along at the moment.

  • Coding a site based on wordpress to do the same sorts of things the users were used to (and hoped for when asked to pay the money for a 'new and improved Xanga') is a lot of work.
    Expecting the users to also be the developers is unfair.
    Wordpress doesn't easily provide the community feel we had grown accustomed to.
    Heck, even replying to comments made on my posts is more glitchy than reg free wordpress. And once i've commented Im unable to get notifications of future replies or comments.
    As well, members with follower's lock turned on have no way of being contacted.
    Old Xanga, we could at least request friendship so we could connect.
    Xanga was bright, easily interactive, fast paced. I see no way for this version of Xanga to ever be like that. It simply isn't built on code that can DO that.
    Ive had to return to LiveJournal for that same sort of quality. That makes me sad. And sorry but I have a lot of online things im involved with as well as a job and children. I can't also volunteer to do any sort of team stuff here.
    My additional 6 months was given to me --- and im thankful that i happened to find out about it by randomly stopping by Xanga after my account was closed---but unless there are vast improvements there is no way i can justify spending 50.00 on another year. That is grocery money.
    Sorry.
    *cheers*

    • I agree, it is a lot of work.

      Users would help manage the site and if they want to help develop - they can... the choice is available and is theirs. Preliminary functionality upgrades will still be done by The Xanga Team.

      Correct, WordPress doesn't easily provide the community feel. The issue regarding comment replies has already been passed along to John and the Team, thanks to the input from the community. Many of the other things we have grown accustomed to with xanga 1.0 have also been addressed.

      As much as we all loved Xanga 1.0's simplicity - the reality was that there were a lot of limitations to it as well... hence why 2.0 is being implemented.

      Glad you got 6 more months. Hopefully some vast improvements can be made in that time. :)

  • I just want to share two links to show what CAN be done-
    I am a PsychCentral member. It is a multilayered site with blogs and community forum. After being a forum member a while one is allowed to request a blog. Their blogging system is wordpress.org. It is the latest wordpress.org. Sleek and stylish admin panel etc.
    The main site is here: http://psychcentral.net/
    And as you see it shows the blogs etc highlighted in the community. If you then click on the actual Blog link on top, it takes you to the blog page that has links to discover blogs about certain topics , recent comments etc.
    http://blogs.psychcentral.com/
    We have themes to choose from for our blogs as well as able to customize - but the best part is the main page that lets us see what everyone is writing about.
    I offer these two links as examples of how the community can still be brought together feeling like a community while using wordpress as our base. Not sure what would be involved in it, but it's a pretty good system.

    • Thank you very much for your input. Ideas with examples are something I'm sure will help out a lot.

  • Joel, I've had a Xanga blog since August 2000. While it wasn't always called James Anonymous (that's just since 2004), and I'm not a Daily Blogger or anythjng even close, I'm upset like the others with the general lack of communication from the Xanga team. About a month ago I logged onto my blog, only to see that it looked radically different--bare bones--from before. For many years I was a Premium subscriber, but admittedly the last few I have left that lapse. After some digging I learned that my Xanga subscription "expired January...2014", and I could no longer edit or post to it, only read it.

    It would have been VERY NICE (!!) and ethically proper to have received some sort of notification that this was going to happen. Nothing, not a word. Instead, I have a dead blog. Nice.

    I'm writing to you today not to complain, as like you I was taught that you shouldn't complain unless you have a better way of doing it. All I want now is a way to download/copy my blog (and all of its many entries that collectively I spent much name creating) to WordPress or my own website that I create. I'm fairly proficient with HTML and have a good authoring app.

    For now, at least, I'm done with Xanga. Their inability to inform me of my site's shutdown is enough for me. At least, as I said, for now.

    I don't presently have the functionality of downloading from my Dashboard as the WordPress tutorials suggest. Can something be done so I can get this all moving again?

    Thanks for all your help in advance,
    --Forrest

    • James - You should still be able to log in and download your archives. If you're still having a challenge, please e-mail 'help@xanga.net' and the team should be able to help you out further.

  • I just really wish they would update ~ I know they get a lot of flak and negative comments when they do, so then they disappear for another six months. I think the answer is to update EVERY SINGLE WEEK or TWO ~ make a habit of it, even is there is NO progress for the time period ~ just please, GET in touch and STAY in touch ~ encourage us, instead of discouraging us by staying away for what seems like forever.

    Now, it sounds like I'm ranting, and I'm not one to usually do such a thing, but seriously, how hard can it be to just TALK to us?? Please pass this on to them ~ I love Xanga and don't want it to go away, but neither do I want the rest of the people on here to continue to leave ~ it is just so frustrating, Joel! I appreciate so much your help and what you do, but please plead with them again to BE IN TOUCH REGULARLY with us ~ please, people!!

  • Like what fwren said, an update about DDOS attacks and bot spam are acceptable if they are from a weekly or bi-weekly status report. This is NOT acceptable for an annual report. It's been over a year already and Xangans deserve to know more about what's going on besides routine site maintenance that have absolutely nothing to do with Xanga.

    • For the most part I agree with what you are sharing. Now, what will you do to help out?

  • Joel:

    I'm sorry, but I thought YOU were put in charge of contacting the Xanga team FOR us. Based on what coolmonkey just wrote above, IT"S BEEN A YEAR since anyone has heard from them. Does that mean *I* have to wait a year for an answer to my question?

    I did email them, as you suggested. While I remain hopeful, I'm starting to believe that I have a better chance of winning the Lottery than getting a response.

    Thanks again,
    --Forrest

  • Thanks for the article. I liked it.

  • Well, SHUT MY MOUF, to employ some slang from about a century ago.

    It looks like I owe the Xanga team an apology. (And, it looks I better run right out and buy a Lottery ticket). ;)

    I received an email today from the Xanga team--Eugenia, to be precise. Here's what it said:

    "Hi Forrest,

    I'm not sure if you follow thexangateam.xanga.com blog but we're giving all Xanga 2.0 members an additional 6 free months of service. I added 6 months to your subscription so your new expiration date is 6/2/2015. You can now download your archives. For more information on how to import your archives into a WordPress account you can go here: http://en.support.wordpress.com/import/import-from-xanga/.

    When your subscription expires you can pay for another year of service here: http://bit.ly/1dcERuj

    If you choose to do this please forward your Paypal confirmation email along with your username to help@xanga.net, we will get your site upgraded ASAP.

    Thanks for supporting Xanga!

    Eugenia at xanga.com

    On Fri, Nov 28, 2014 at 11:39 PM, Forrest wrote:
    Hello,

    I've had a Xanga blog since August 2000. While it wasn't always called James Anonymous (that's just since 2004). I'm not a daily blogger or even have a schedule, but I have posted quite a bit. About a month ago I logged on, only to see that it looked radically different from before--no graphics, just text.

    For many years I was a Premium subscriber, but admittedly I let that lapse a while ago. After some digging I learned that my Xanga subscription "expired January...2014", and that I could no longer edit or post to it, only read it.

    Couldn't you have contacted me telling me that was going to happen? You have my email address...I might have contributed to Xanga 2.0 had I known.

    Anyway, I've learned that I should be able to download the site's data from my Dashboard. I've been all over it and can't find anything close, so I must conclude that I don't have this option. Is there a way I could do that, or can you do something on your end?

    Thanks,
    --Forrest"

    Sure enough, I logged onto my site and, while it's still not as attractively laid out as it once was, I can add photos, follow blogs, post new entries and edit my content...and much much more. There's many other options that I might have had before my account expiration, but definitely didn't up until today (I had few if any then).

    So, all I can say is--they came through for me. I know that might not be much comfort to some (many?) of you, but in the interest of fairness I had to share this experience. Perhaps there is some hope for Xanga after all.

    Thank you Xanga (and Eugenia). I hope for and wish you the best of luck as we move forward with 2.0.

    --Forrest

  • yes, Eugenia is top notch ~ has NEVER failed to answer my emails ~ bless her heart ~

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment