I know, it's been awhile since I've updated here.

Much has been happening in my personal life, and with Autisable.... all of it good.

Personally, it's good to see and hear Short-Stack speak more and more words.  It seems also that he's been getting better at self-regulating his sensory issues.

Still, a lot of projects at home to work on, but I've been pretty focused on building a business and working.  That's the biggest reason why I haven't updated in awhile.

No news from Xanga HQ about any updates at this time.  I know, it's been awhile on that front, and I'm sure people are just reading this going - welp, no news again.

But, if you're reading this - it means the site is still here... we're still here.  At least myself and many others.

So - hello Xangans...

I'm very appreciative of everyone's response to my last post.  Honest feedback regarding privacy, but wanting to see Xanga have a viable future is something that is encouraging.

One reason I started blogging on Xanga was having the ability to make some posts to select people, while most posts I could have more 'public'.  Anonymity is respected for a variety of reasons.

In time I realized that no matter what I put online, there is a significant possibility of content I've written to be screen shot as a post on someone else's account... possibly elsewhere online as well.

Please feel free to look at my last post, and encourage those you read regularly to read the last post, making a comment on their blogs with the URL.  Would be good to get even more feedback.

For the record, if you didn't know by now, any post on this blog is subject to being shared on any social network.

I'm still making note of anyone who says "yes" to allow us to share their blog posts through Xanga's FB page.

So, leave a comment.  Share with us your xanga blog username.  I'll follow whoever comments.

I'm also making note of who doesn't want their stuff shared.

Ok... back to the grind...

It's been busy as usual here.

From the world of Autisable to the projects on the home front.

Suffice it to say, it isn't that I haven't anything to do.  I have a knack for keeping myself busy.

That being said, I'd like to revisit some things so as to make sure we're all on the same page... and that involves some questions...

If anyone has an account on Xanga that isn't connected to me, please leave comments on each other's accounts so we can spread the word.

The challenge here is that until John updates the main page, the only people that know what's going on here on the site are those of us who have accounts and are subscribed to each other.

Since we are contributing to the site, and we have blogs that we keep active - we might as well make sure we let people know it, right?

So, here's some preparation to make that happen.  Now, this is something I'll be doing - so I'm asking anyone to help if they are willing:

1. I'm not connected to everyone who blogs regularly on the site.  No one really is, so I've been told.  That being said, let's make sure that we are all as connected to each other on-site as we can be.  Leave a comment with your Xanga blog and invite people to subscribe to your account by going to the blogs that you are subscribed to and leaving a comment on their most recent blog post with the URL of this blog post.
2. In the absence of the main page being regularly updated, we do have a facebook page to promote anyone's articles.   Now, I know that this may rub some folks the wrong way, but remember that there are a lot of folks thinking that Xanga has zero members and that the site is completely non-existent.  This isn't the case!  The community here is smaller, yes, but it's still active.  Let's show them that we're still around and still blogging!  When you leave a comment, let us know your thoughts about blog posts of yours being shared on other social media sites.
3. I'd like to make it easy for us to share content on social media outlets.  So I'd like to create an RSS feed that compiles all active xanga members that would easily allow us to create status updates for the Xanga Facebook page. (sidenote: whenever the Xanga FB page is updated, the Xanga twitter account is also updated.  We don't have access to change the twitter account - that's John's thing... but we can push content out to it and it will be posted).  I know that several folks chimed in that they'd prefer to remain private on Xanga.  Out of respect to everyone's privacy - I'm asking that those interested in having their blog posts regularly shared on the Facebook page please chime in as well.
4. There is now an option on Xanga to have an official group page associated with the Xanga facebook page.  In fact, we can have multiple group pages associated with the Xanga facebook page.  I'm looking into that option as well to provide an opportunity to keep Xangans connected.

This is just some preparation work, and it may take some time to gather the information and to get some things set-up.  But once we do, I think can still keep people connected.

Now, the questions:

1. What are your thoughts regarding sharing blog posts on other sites like facebook/twitter?
2. We don't have a main page that is being updated, so do you think this is a respectable alternative course of action that we can pursue?

Leave a comment with your username, and let us know if you'd like to help out and to what level?

Again, this is just a me thing.

It's quiet in the home while I'm on a short vacation from the regular 40+ hour work week job.

Short Stack is taking a nap, and my Better Half is resting for a few minutes.

Sleep is something you have to steal to get when your child's routine is a bit off.

I was watching some of our local news anchors online, from WTKR Newschannel 3.  Kurt Williams was doing a live broadcast on Facebook, answering some questions to the people watching behind scenes.

This brought back some memories of when I was diving into the world of broadcasting, pulling my hours doing broadcast radio at a local radio station in Hampton Roads (88.7FM).  The format was Classical Music, which allowed for me to learn the boards and keep track of time.  That is broadcast time.  Let's just say that a lot can happen in 5 seconds.

While there I obtained my FCC license, which was my goal.  Don't know if it's still there as it has been many years.

I also had the chance to talk with a couple of other News Ancor's, Alveta Ewell and Terry Zahn.  I still remember them sitting in a classroom setting answering questions from several other 'students' such as myself.  It made me pause for thought as to what I wanted to do with my life.  Did I want to go down the road of broadcasting? Or did I want to stick with my initial plan of adventuring onto becoming an apprentice at a local shipyard?

It was around that time I was looking at graduating High School and wanted to be sure that I had a good plan of action for the foreseeable future for me.  At least to carry me another 5 years.

Life has a funny way of providing these opportunities to you, presenting you options that on hindsight really wouldn't make a difference either way which direction I would've taken.... career wise.

I asked both Alveta and Terry a couple of questions, mostly surrounding the issue of the balance between family life and career life.

You see, I've seen how a career can impact a relationship - and I wanted to make sure that whatever path I chose allowed for me to be able to make that balance.

Sure I had the ability to do voice-overs and be on the radio in terms of broadcasting.  Of course I enjoy doing PSA's and commercials.  But, let's face it, radio broadcasting doesn't pay a lot and doing voice over work can be a challenge by itself.  Longevity in the world of broadcasting is something you have to consistently strive for, and you have to regularly be subject to public scrutiny - especially if you mess-up.

I was young, still trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go.  But, that time spent with Alveta Ewell and Terry Zahn required me to think forward... to think long-term.

I was told I could be a great journalist, an excellent broadcaster.   "yeah, right" was (and is) the response I still give.
I know enough to know I don't know anything, even though I put in some hours as a late night classical music DJ.

The decision to adventure down the road of apprenticeship made practical sense.  I could get my associates degree, a journeyman's certificate, and have enough experience that could carry me to any career I chose to do.

The apprenticeship program promised a lot.  But, after a year and a half, the shipyard laid off all of the apprentices in the program - thus changing the course of my life once again.

Am I angry?  No.  Disappointed was more like it.

What happens when your plans are changed beyond your control?

You move on.  You move forward.

Since that time I have had a few other moments like that, either by choice - or not by choice.

I was asked how have I dealt with these life changes.   How do I deal with the past?

I'll put this as plainly as I can.  You learn from your past, you recognize how going through those moments made you who you are - and move forward.

We are all products of our past, the influences of those life experiences help us to make decisions - but they should not be shackles that bind us to what 'could have been', but rather keeping us in the direction of 'what will be'... providing hope to help others in their journey called life.

I have hope.  Let's keep that moving forward.

For those that are unaware, here's a little bit about me...

I've spent over 20 years in the world of inventory and logistics analysis.  For the past decade, I've been blogging and entering into the world of digital content marketing.

If you are curious about what this all means, in short - it's a major career change.

I'm loving it!

There are a lot of elements of logistics in what I do now, but instead of physical products I'm purchasing and analyzing... it's content and audience.

Working on Autisable and blogging here on Xanga has helped me understand content marketing from a blogging and social media perspective.  Where I work regularly now is helping to hone and craft my skill set to be even better at what I enjoy doing.

Suffice it to say, I have a lot to still learn, and I'm grateful for the opportunity to do such.

Enter Hubspot and the world of Inbound Marketing.

To share the difference between regular conventional marketing as opposed to inbound marketing I could take awhile to dive into the minutia.

But, Inbound at its core is about developing trust and building customer relationships - and not about being intrusive with 'you must buy this now!' stuff.

Let's just say for over the past year I've been learning from a firehouse... and I don't expect this process to slow down.

In fact, I expect this effort to speed up over the course of the next several months.

As good as all this sounds, it still a lot of hard work and effort  - and much to still learn.

Now, as promised, here is a few small updates about Xanga...

1 - nothing to report about the site - (surprised yet?)
2 - Feel free to email 'help@xanga.net' with your username and email address associated with the account.  IF you don't have access or don't remember the email address - send whatever info you can to help the Xanga team confirm who you are.  It's a verification process so you can gain access to the account.
3 - Just out of sheer craziness - I'm still managing the Xanga facebook page with Dan and Maurice.  This is more of an effort to keep the community lines open.  However, I think we'll try some fun on the page to keep it active and moving forward.

Not much else at the moment, except the usual.   Until later, back to the grind...

It's been awhile since I've updated this blog, but that's ok - there's still plenty going on behind the scenes...

First, let's address some of the items that are Xanga related so we can knock those out of the way...

A.  I have never been an employee of Xanga.com, LLC.   I have, however, been paid by Xanga for my work on Autisable.  I was paid from whatever google adsense and blogads.com generated.  Let's just say I never made a lot, and what I did make was poured into helping to build and develop the site... and an odd meal or two for a date night with my better half.

B. Mark and John at Xanga have given the Xanga Facebook page to us Xangans to manage.  Yep, it's not run by Xanga.com, LLC anymore.  It's managed by me, Dan and Maurice.   We do not have access to anyone's accounts on Xanga- so we cannot help you out regarding your xanga account.

C.  Our standard response, if it's a Xanga account issue, is to email help@xanga.net and to include your username and the email address associated with the account.  IF you don't have access or don't know/remember your email address associated with the account - do what you can to provide information to help the Xanga team verify who you are.

D.  There is a rumor going around regarding Eugenia no longer being employed by Xanga.   Let's address this rumor directly.  It's true.   However, Eugenia is still helping with that level of site and account management out of the kindness of her heart. Although she isn't employed by Xanga.com, LLC. She is still providing oversight for official Xanga team needs while John figures out what he's going to do.  She's still our point of contact to make sure accounts are updated/upgraded and any other account questions/concerns.

For now there are no worries or concerns regarding any major issues regarding the overall website and/or management thereof.  I'll be talking again to Eugenia soon to make sure everyone's accounts are taken care of and as many issues are addressed as soon as possible.

Ok... that's it for the moment for Xanga.

Now...another side of things going on...  the world of autisable....

Autisable has officially moved to a new server and is now SSL certified.  The server that it was on was provided by a fellow autism dad.  But, it had to move in order to grow.

We have over 270 members on the site, and syndication is now officially back online.   This past week marks the point where Autisable is essentially back, functionality wise, where it was prior to Xanga shelving its proprietary platform.  Although there is a lot more work to do, people can now join, connect with each other socially and submit blog posts for the main page.

I'm looking into another feature for the site to allow people to 'journal' for their own account - which would make it more Xanga-like.  But, it's finally at a stage where we can state that Autisable is back in full force.

I'm sharing some notes regarding Autisable so that we could look into doing similar things for Xanga.

Ok... until later, back tot he grind...

FINALLY!

Ok, I'm able to take a few short breaths to sneak onto this blog to provide a couple of updates...

First, don't get too excited about any news on Xanga right now.

That being said, if you're on FB, the Xanga FB page is getting more active - with more people liking and following the page.

The irony is we're not really updating it with new content at the moment.  But I try to chime in now and then to answer FB messages.

Suffice it to say, feel free to read previous posts on this blog about commonly asked questions regarding Xanga.

In other news, a lot is going on with the homefront.  Autisable is rising out of the ashes and has some paid advertisers, and I'm in the middle of writing a book about being an autism dad.

I've also been at my new job for a bit over a year now.  It's all good.

Ok, back to the grind.

Taking a quick second to let everyone know that I'm still here.

That thing called life is pushing me to focus my writing and blogging on other efforts for the time being.

But, no fear, I'm still here on Xanga - and am still monitoring and coordinating communication between Xangans and the Xanga Team.

Eugenia is working at responding to emails, so if she hasn't reached you yet, she will.

Will share more soon... back to the grind I go....

Have a great day!

The Holiday season is over, so... what's next?

Well, with things moving at a steady pace on all fronts now - I'm able to slowly get back into answering all the questions and thoughts surrounding Xanga...

First - a common question that comes from all places....a spammer...

Let's first recognize that I'd normally answer this question in a comments section of a post.  However, this spammer provides a unique opportunity to provide a post.

So, what's the answer to this spammer from the Netherlands?

You can't.  Not yet anyway.

Yep, you can't join and create a new account on Xanga at this time. (I know, that sucks, right?  Well so do spammer account creators like you!)

It isn't that we don't want new Xangans to our Xanga community... it's just that it's not currently possible for ANY new account to be created at this time.  We also would NOT like to have spam accounts and spam comments... go figure)

But, if you've previously had an account on Xanga... there's a good chance you already have an account on Xanga 2.0.

If you shut down your account prior to Xanga 2.0... well, you can't rejoin... your account is gone by your own actions.

If you don't remember your password to your Xanga account, but do remember the email address associated with the account and the username - you can email that info to Eugenia at 'help@xanga.net'.
Same information will be provided if you are wanting access to your archives or are having challenges with your account.
(many have said that they don't use their old email anymore... but like I said, if you remember the old email address that is associated with your username... just send the info to Eugenia and she can help you out)

Sorry folks if my tone is a bit off today, but spam account creators strike a nerve with me - as it's these people who contributed to the destruction of many a website by devaluing them through extremely poor SEO techniques that rob a websites ranking and user experience.

Ok... back to the usual craziness....

(oh, how do I know that this spammer could be from the Netherlands?  the IP address... feel free to look it up)

A common discussion in regards to Xanga's changes over the past couple of years is "why" John opted to make Xanga a pay to blog option.

This decision was not done lightly, and after several discussions over the past couple of years - along with managing Autisable's advertising efforts - I can see where John is coming from on this topic.

If you run a blog and need to cover overhead, you need some form of revenue to 'keep the lights on'.

For Autisable, the annual overhead to keep it running keeps increasing with each plugin I add - or each upgrade or business level add-on.   This doesn't just pertain to the site itself, it could pertain to the PO Box I have to rent out, or business licenses, etc...

One major thing I noticed in terms of site level overhead is that everything costs either a lot of time... or a lot of money.

For example, I want to launch an App for Autisable, but haven't been quoted less than $2,000 to just have a basic one to start with.... and that's the lowest quote I've received so far.  Could I do this myself? Absolutely, but that still costs a lot of time to devote to development and upkeep, and money to deal with it's launch.  And that's just for one app to be available on google play or apple.

Now, I'm grateful to Rob at The Autism Dad.com for him hosting Autisable and not charging me for it for the time being.  That can be very expensive, especially if you need to regularly upgrade due to bandwidth needs of a particular site.  But that aside, the monthly cost to run a basic site like Autisable as a business is still a little less than $50, and I have less than 300 members on the site.

Xanga still has accounts in the numbers of millions that still remain on thousands of servers. Autisable is just on one server (not on Xanga's servers), and is sharing that server with half a dozen other sites.  Cost wise, no matter how you slice it up, is a decent amount.

The old Xanga platform was based on web 2.0 tech.  The old platform used a crap load of server space, and did so inefficiently.
When we asked for new functionality on one part of the site, another part of the site would crash or not work properly.  This led to them not being able to fulfill obligations to us in delivering what we wanted as a community.

If a company isn't able to adapt, it will die.

Xanga, at it's core level in the old platform, wasn't able to adapt to the level it needed to - so a major change needed to take place.  Hence, Xanga 2.0.

By changing to being powered by wordpress, it has an opportunity to adapt and become what it needs to be.

But why pay to blog?  Why not have advertisers pay for the site like the old platform...

I can sum up this question easily:  "advertisers were not biting".

Xanga was paying it's bills by using Google Adsense and periodically major advertisers would come in and pay to be on the site.

But, google adsense changed their metrics, and thus revenue dropped.  Also, advertisers needed to see click through rates and return on investment options.  Why would they pay where their audience isn't?  People were moving off of Xanga and onto other platforms (like facebook).... where they'd have a greater return on their advertising dollars.

As someone who deals in marketing and ad metrics, I can tell you that the only reason I would've purchased ads on Xanga was because I knew the community would benefit  - but not my business.  (see where I'm going here?)

Also, advertising on sites can become rather annoying to look at and jumble up a users experience.

To ensure long-term success using a proven business model, John and the Team changed the business model from advertising revenue, to pay to blog.

The terms and conditions we all agreed to when we first signed onto Xanga then changed, as is their right to do so to maintain a solvent business.

This was the reason for Xanga's upgrade to 2.0.

Is it where it needs to be?  Absolutely not!

Let's be honest here in stating what we all know, "Xanga as a platform is on life support".

John and the team have been addressing what needs to be done in-house, to get the site what we expected it to become.

And although it's been a few years, there are still dedicated Xangans still on the site.  Still calling this place their home online.

The community is still strong, albeit displaced for the time being.

We're still here, still blogging, still sharing our thoughts and ideas online here on Xanga.

...

Please share your URL where you blog now, Xanga or otherwise....

Let's keep the community active wherever we are at... while John and the team keep things clicking on their end.

Until later... back to the grind.