May 16, 2019

• General Thoughts and an Invitation...

  This week I came across a blog post written by a Xangan who has been keeping track of all things Xanga, including taking screenshots of this very blog and writing his perspective on what's going on with Xanga, and some theories on what is going on with me.

  I remember this happened often on Xanga 1.0.  Not just with me, but with popular Xangans and with members of the Xanga Team.

  Now, it doesn't matter if what he wrote was right or wrong, but what matters is that he wrote something.

  In fact, there are a lot of Xangans who miss the old Xanga.  To be honest, I do to.

  I miss the interaction on this site.  I miss the collaboration, the insight...

  Facebook is OK, and many of us are still connected on that platform... but there was nothing like Xanga.

  It's been several years now and hears a bit of a recap of what has happened since Xanga 1.0 converted to 2.0...

  1. 6 months after Xanga 1.0 shut down (as well as Autisable shutting down)... I lost my full-time job and became unemployed.
  2. a few months after that, I lost my mom on Mother's Day.
  3. Started a new Job, and two years later the company shifted it's efforts, so back to being unemployed.
  4. Became self-employed and launched Autisable, LLC... as well as started delivering as an Amazon Flex Driver.
  - got mentioned in Business Insider - https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-drivers-say-flex-delivery-jobs-are-disappearing-2019-1
  - got featured in Money Magazine - http://money.com/money/5634561/amazon-flex-driver-weightloss/
       - ended up interviewing an owner and got highlighted in this Youtube video as a result (again, Amazon Flex related) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFmM_smJlo4
  But the first two events essentially took the wind out of my sails on doing anything blog related.  I was going through the motions, seeing what I needed to do and regrouping.

  So, why did I stick around?

  Well, it was because of you.  Because of the members of Xanga.
  It was also because of those involved in the Autism community - parents, teachers, professionals... and above all, autistic individuals reaching out to me - asking about Autisable.

  You see, Autisable wasn't my brainchild (surprised?).  Discussing Autism was the last thing on my mind when talking with Marc and John about heading up a blogging niche community on the Xanga platform.  I've shared this story time and again that I reached out to John and Marc about having an interest in learning what they are doing.  They offered me an opportunity to head up a blogging community site and asked me to create a list of what I was interested in.... and let's just say this Autism Dad put Autism near the bottom of the list.

  But the Xanga Team, primarily John, locked onto that topic and both him and Marc said that they liked my blog posts about being an autism dad and wanted to know if I'd be interested in heading up an autism site.  After some thought, and a lot of prayer, I agreed.  We talked briefly about what the site could be, and about the logo, and they designed the name and logo...asked if I liked it and a few months later Autisable was launched.

  When the site was shut down, I barely had any inspiration to write anything....

  My 'passion project' was gone.  My connections here on Xanga fled to other platforms, and my Mom passed away. I was also trying to make sure bills were being paid on the homefront.  After all, I wasn't getting paid to do anything Xanga or Autisable related.

  So, I kept up appearances while searching for a new job, pushed ahead with what I could, and waited until Marc and John let me know that Autisable was ready to migrate to its own server.
  Suffice it to say, all I did get in that transfer was just Autisable's main blog... all the Autisable member accounts remained on Xanga.... so I had to rebuild the entire site from scratch... including hunting down the authors (recreate those accounts) and match the blog posts (over 3,000 of them) with the authors.

  Now, why did I relaunch the site?  Because the community around the world reached out to me...
  ... It became a source of information for schools, for professionals, for anyone needing information about Autism that wasn't from a non-profit.
  In short, people were able to hear directly from people who experience autism in some way...

  So... I felt compelled to do the work.

  It became bigger than I thought it was.... so I have to keep it going, for the sake of the families impacted.

  But what about Xanga?

  Well, over the past few years I've kept in touch with Marc, Eugenia, and John.
  Eugenia is now my primary point of contact, and we touch base managing the site and help people with their accounts as we are able.

  Marc, well - he's moved on - no longer directly involved with Xanga.  He and I still chat now and then, but to him, the site is John's baby.

  John, he's still brewing something about the site. What it is we're not sure yet. Once he shares with us anything about the direction of the site, rest assured I'd be the first one to announce it.

  There are too many Xangans still wanting access to their content, still wanting to connect.  That's why I work on the facebook page and am still here on this site.  Is there a backlog of FB messages to work through?  Yep.  More people are finding the Facebook page everyday, and I spend more time on the FB page messenger side than I do posting content.
  People still need access to their account, don't know if it's still there... or people looking for their loved one's account because they passed away.

  Am I disappointed at the lack of progress on the Xanga website?  YES! I am!  But I put myself out there to help everyone, so I'm mostly disappointed in myself.

  I'm grateful that there are folks still here, providing words of encouragement.
  I'm grateful to be able to blog on Xanga still and to share with you any news that I can.  I just wish I had more to share besides "no news yet".
  But, I'm like that watchman on the wall, just standing guard, waiting for the word.

  So, what now?

  Well, as you probably saw in the title of this blog post - there are some general thoughts (noted above), and an invitation... so now... the invitation...

  You see, all this work that has been going on with Autisable has come to a point where I would like to invite my fellow Xangans to join the site and to let me know what you think of it.

  Although it isn't perfect, it does provide the following at this time:
  - each member has their own account (update cover photo, bio, profile pic) - you can register with either an email address and password OR your Facebook, LinkedIn, Gmail, or Twitter account.
  - Ability to follow other members on the site
  - newsfeed feature (think Facebook)
  - ability to blog and for the community to see your blog posts
  - ability to submit blog posts just for the main page (which would be highlighted on social media accounts)

  Of course, more features are available, and even more to eventually be launched...  but it's an attempt to at least bring Autisable as close as possible to what Xanga used to be.

  The reason for this invite is because Autisable was birthed out of the old Xanga platform, and the only people who knew how to navigate that platform well and could provide the best insight are... well Xangans.

  Anyways, it's an open invitation - and although the site focuses on Autism, I'd love to have some Xangans on it - helping me make the site better by providing much-needed perspective.

  Here's the link:  https://Autisable.com

  There's a lot more work that needs to be done on the site, this I know. So, thank you in advance if you're willing to join and help out.

  until next time (which should be sooner and not so long between blog posts here from now on)... back to the grind....

  • 9:15 pm
  • 3 Comments