June 3, 2013
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10 questions for the Xanga team starting with “do you really want to be saved?”
PLEASE RE-POST THIS ON YOUR SITE IF YOU WANT THESE QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
Before any of us donate a penny to the “save Xanga” fundraiser I think the Xanga Team needs to answer some basic questions:
1. Why have you ignored mobile for so long, and why, when you finally created an App, why did you never update it or fix the bugs?
(will you promise to focus on mobile if Xanga is re-born?)
2. After hundreds (thousands) of bloggers grew frustrated with your “ish” sites, why did you continue the failed project and alienate so many of us?
(will you eliminate the ish sites and focus on ALL bloggers and not just topical keyword-friendly bloggers?)
3. Why has the website been completely ignored and seemingly unattended for months and months on-end?
(will you promise to retain the absolutely amazing customer service you had years ago?)
4. Why are we using the same exact user-interface we used when I started my first Xanga blog in 2002? Where’s the updated UI?
(what plans for a new and streamlined UI do you have?)
5. Why haven’t you demonstrated a basic model for what a new Xanga would look like? Is this plan real? Where are the mock-ups? What will it look like? Have you tried to implement a small-scale beta?
(what really happens if you reach your $60,000.00 goal, we don’t know, you haven’t shown us.)
6. How is it that sites like 4-chan and reddit still exist without being as heavily monetized as yours?
(Could it be possible there has been quite a bit of mal-investment?)
7. Why is the minimum donation $48.00 when the basic principal of crowd-source funding is getting as many people to pitch in whatever amount they can?
(Will you reduce the minimum contribution so that more people can contribute?)
8. Where are your investors? With a halfway decent business plan you should be able to find $60,000 extremely fast, (99% of SMALL business loans are over 100K). What does your business plan look like? Do you have one?
(This is the most serious question here, who DOES have faith that Xanga can succeed?)
9. With the obvious failures in Xanga management, why have you not hired new leadership?
(Who’s in charge these days anyway?)
10. Will you, on the record, admit that you have absolutely no plans to continue with Xanga in any way after July 15th?
(nothing in your recent blog post seems to indicate any sort of passion for rescuing this community, what are your real plans?)
**EDIT** Please rec this post and comment DEMAND that the Xanga Team answer every single one of these questions. ****
Comments (46)
My main question for the Xanga Team is what would the new Xanga offer than WordPress currently does not (and it’s free)?
Perhaps they are doing all they can do.
i agree with @Super_Rob_of_the_Sky - why should we PAY for something that dozens of other sites offer for FREE?
I too think saving the site its not what they want. so sad.
I’m really skeptical of Xanga’s managers and have been for some time.
I feel really sorry for all those people who are out there organizing and fundraising for a business hell bent on going out of business.
Hallucinating alternate realities doesn’t work. Real reality always comes crashing down.
I’m with Curt on this one. The fundraising drive, despite being spirited and earnest, seems doomed for failure. The two things that kept Xanga going is its community– largely remnants from its heyday– and the steady trickle of new bloggers. As a pay-for-blog service, Xanga will drastically shrink its community and raise a paywall in the face of potential new members.
If you want a WordPress blog, go to WordPress and do it for free. No need to dole out money for redundant, privately operated servers. No need for the uncertainty of a cash-strapped, stagnant, over-the-hill business. Rather than going away gracefully, the Xanga Team is emotionally conning its members into supporting a dying business. Circa 2005, the blog wars were over. Xanga lost. The reality of it was only delayed by the site’s long-term data server contract.
@TheTheologiansCafe - Given how incredibly inept they’ve proven to be, this isn’t far off the mark.
Every single one of these can be answered in this way: “We’re totally inept, have absolutely no idea how to run a viable business, and we’re completely ad-libbing everything in hopes something magically works out because we really don’t have any sort of plan or any clue how the social media industry works anymore.”
It is not that difficult to integrate xanga with wordpress. I basically could understand the model and help to create one. I have many ideas on it and really hope could be one of the volunteer as a programmer. I like xanga particularly for the network of subscribers and the homepage which shows top posts and different categories. This is brilliant and I think it is possible to make it into the new wordpress.
I’d like to see these questions answered too.
i would love to see these questions get answered too. i never even though to ask them, though they seem like perfect questions to consider if i am thinking about paying to use this website. thanks for posting this!
@ImNotUglyIJustNeedLove - @Celestial_Teapot - Agreed. Despite everyone’s complaints, this is the best place to blog. I don’t think that will be the case if they go to the new model though. We’ll basically have the less-than-ideal WordPress but with a monthly fee which really doesn’t seem to make this a worthwhile cause. I don’t have a lot of confidence that Xanga will be saved by July 15th but even if it is, how long before they have to run another one of these fund raising campaigns? Keeping Xanga alive seems like it will only be prolonging the agony.
business plan? we don’t need no stinkin’ business plan
These questions have to be answered, and
corrected
so that if Xanga does succeed in re-starting, it does not flounder again.
I was wondering why the xanga team is making the fundraiser last for only a month (or 5 weeks….) kinda seems like the xanga team wants the fundraising to fail…if this site was dying, and I was a manager I would have made the fundraiser last longer, and also answer these questions.
All good questions. I think xanga was asset stripped and left to bleed for as long as it kept kicking. Even now it is the community that is up in arms. Xanga only posted on message… They are still not engaging with everybody. If they wanted to do something there would be daily updates and engagements with Xanga. Why have Xanga continued to ignore so many ideas put to them time and time again. You can not remain a key player if you do nothing to stay in tune with technology advancements.
Great questions!
I think they should reduce the minimum contribution so that more people can contribute…. a few $5 contributions add up fast.
Good questions to think about.
@seedsower - Agreed. $48 is WAY out of my budget. But I’ve got some quarters.
Obama raised millions on $10 donations. How much less would he have raised and how many people would have turned away if it had been $48 minimum? I don’t care anyway, I haven’t blogged here in years, got fed up with Xanga John’s support for a friend of his who was racist and anti-semitic and targeted me (among others?) but this blog interested me. Very well posed questions.
I have some questions too. You addressed quite a few of them and I think these are justified. How did Xanga fall into this economic state in the first place? How likely is it that this scenario will repeat itself? Are we going to have to pay again next year and the year after ad on to infinitum? I paid for lifetime premium. I haven’t died yet, isn’t termination of my blog a breech of contract? Why would I want to enter into a new contract where I pay again? Xanga hasn’t been free for me. I paid. Yeah. On the one hand I am willing to donate to help Xanga upgrade, but being blackmailed to contribute, or lose my blog is disturbing to me, especially since I paid upfront for their product. Is Xanga an NPO? If so then I can see the need to have fundraising event such as this. I am really bothered, not that Xanga might be shutting down, but that they have failed to employ due diligence in maintaining their operation. Just some of my thoughts and questions.
Great blog. I’d subscribe to you but that seems doomed now.
@Aloysius_son - You have captured precisely what I tried to express in my most recent post.
Good questions.
I completely agree. I have yet to see anything on the main page about any of this. The only reason anyone knows is because of word of mouth. I’ve really only been here for about six months now and I love it. I really think that they just don’t want xanga to exist period.
As much as I’m optimistic here, I don’t see Xanga answering these questions directly.
The -ish sites have always bothered me. Good questions.
@Zeal4living - Very good points
@boxedwine - I agree.
i’d just like to see an item-by-item budget for what they plan to spend the $60k on. chances are, they aren’t going to use it to fix anything that’s really wrong.
I want to save Xanga but I am sceptical about the fact that they’ve given us 6 weeks and it was the first update in a long time from them.
@Aloysius_son - I didn’t pay for lifetime, but just a couple of months ago, I paid for another year. I don’t think that I will be throwing good money after bad!
All really important questions that should be answered. I’d definitely like to see an itemized list of what exactly the money will be put towards.
Excellent questions- won’t get answered. And after all of these people who are getting screwed out of their lifetime memberships, I’m sure as hell not paying for one.
This is the best entry I’ve seen yet about the relaunch.
Xanga stiffed me for premium 2 days before their announcement. THAT is good enough reason for me to go. Why they would do something that crappy when they KNEW the end was near just totally evades my ability to reason. I hate that they are leaving a sour taste in my mouth.
I totally agree with this I have wondered the same thing I have an old blog spot but ya know I really really like it here…so what is a girl to do
For those that have not gone through this before. Here is my take. I was on Multiply and they said some of the same things too us.
Then they went to an e-trade site. And some Muslim person(s) now own the site and they do e-trade (buy and sell).
Multiply didn’t say for a long time they were going that way. I get the feeling Xanga is going to end up the same way.
I am sure with those of us whom paid 25 dollars for the prem. It has not been much different than the free, except ads.
So what do you plan different here.
Bro. Doc
1. Why have you ignored mobile for so long, and why, when you
finally created an App, why did you never update it or fix the bugs?
Why? Because it makes no sense to blog on a smartphone or tablet, that’s why. It makes as much sense to blog on these as it would to write a term paper; these devices aren’t meant for word processing (and it shows). It would just be a waste or resources that Xanga can’t afford.
-netnguy
@netnguy - Almost every serious blogger I know on every other blogging platform updates from mobile devices such as the iPhone or iPad. Every single news syndicate, every tech blog etc….
You might add an 11th question, JustFine, WHY did you NEVER update security and continue to permit spammers and trolls to run rampant through your system ?
Now, I am just gonna guess it’s cause you guys LOST the main programmer to the system and you had NO IDEA how to add further security. I’m suggesting this cause the last job I had years ago was this exact and very same situation with a disgruntled programmer leaving the company and the guys left behind having no idea how their main code worked.
It was my job to rewrite their code from scratch and explain how stuff worked in it, which I did.
@Aloysius_son - I, too, feel that them terminating paying members and lifetime members such as yourself is a serious breach of contract and should be addressed.
JustFine, I’m working on an article today detailing another blogging system I’m moving to until the fate of Xanga is known, but I like your hard-hitting questions here so I will definitely be linking you.
I HAVE BEEN GOING ON FACEBOOK TO HELP GET PEOPLE TO SUPPORT XANGA!
I HAVE BEEN TRYING SO HARD TO GET A HOLD OF SOMEONE ON XANGA TOLET THEM KNOW ABOUT WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING TO HELP XANGA! I HOPETHE XANGA TEAM IS READING MY MESSAGES BECAUSE I NEED FOR EVERYONE FROM XANGA, FACEBOOK, AND TWITTER TO HELP SUPPORT XANGA!!
I DON’T WANT TO XANGA SHUT DOWN!!!
I HAVE BEEN XANGA FOR YEARS!!! IT BREAKS MY HEART TO KNOW THATXANGA WILL BE SHUTTING DOWN UNLESS WE CAN GET AS MANY SUPPORTERS AS WE CAN TO HELP SAVE XANGA!!! I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO DO JUST THAT.I NEED XANGA USERS TO DO THE SAME!!
XANGA YOU NEED TO KICK SERIOUS BUTT TO KEEP YOUR SITE GOING!!!
IF YOU CAN GET THAT $60,0000 BY JULY 15 TH I’M HAVING A BLOW OUT XANGA PARTY FOR ALL XANGA USERS IN PORTLAND!!! AND I WILL HAVE PICTURES ON MY EVENING XANGA!!!
PLEASE XANGA GET OUT THERE AND KEEP KEEP XANGA GOING FOR ME AS WELL AS OTHER XANGA USERS!! SPREAD THE WORD!!! TOGETHER WE DO THIS AND KEEP XANGA GOING FOR MANY MORE YEARS TO COME!!!
ALL XANGA USERS!!!
I KNOW ITS TOUGH BUT WE NEED TO BE STRONG FOR XANGA!!!
THEY NEED TO STOP TELLING US FINANCIALLY WHAT THEIR GOING TO DO AND DO IT AND TAKE THE $60,0000 TOWARDS KEEP XANGAGOING! THEY ARE ANNOUNCING IT AHEAD OF TIME TO LET PEOPLEKNOW THIS IS IT!!! WE NEED TO COME TOGETHER AS A TEAM ANDWORK TOGETHER TO KEEP XANGA GOING!!!
THIS WEBSITE IS IMPORTANT TO US AND TO THOSE ON XANGA WHO MATTER MOST!!!
WE NEED TO THINK POSITIVELY! FOR US THIS IS IT, THIS IS OUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE XANGA!!!! AND WE NEED XANGA!!! THEY NEED US!!!
YES WE HAVE FACEBOOK AND TWITTER. I USE FACEBOOK FOR COMMUNICATIONBUT I DON’T USE TWITTER. I USE XANGA FOR MY WEBSITE. I ALWAYS WILL.!!ITS BEEN MY MOST FAVORITE WEBSITE AND I WILL NOT SEE IT SHUT DOWN!!!
I’M SPEAKING OUT ON BEHALF OF XANGA BECAUSE I LOVE XANGA. AND NOTHING IN THE WORLD IS GOING TO CHANGE THAT……EVER!!!!
I WILL CONTINUE TO STAND WITH XANGA!!! THEY HAVE MY BACK AND THEY ALWAYS WILL!!
IF YOUR A XANGA USER YOU’LL DO THE SAME!!!
XANGA IS THE BEST WEBSITE YOU’LL EVER HAVE!!! I CAN VOUCHEFOR THAT!!! I WILL CONTINUE TO SUPPORT AND BE THERE FOR XANGA!!! FOR NOW AND ALWAYS THEY WILL HAVE MY BACK!
THEY HAVE TO MAKE A CHANGE AND KEEP XANGA GOING ANDDO WHAT THEY CAN TO HELP THOSE WHO CANNOT AFFORD TOPAY FOR XANGA AND MAKE SOME CHANGES SO WE AS XANGA USERS CAN ENJOY XANGA MORE!!!
I DEDICATED MY XANGA SITES TO THOSE FROM HORSE ABUSETO THE LESS FORTUNATE LOW INCOME FAMILIES, FAMILIESWHO HAVE LOST THEIR HOMES TO TO BLIZZARDS, HURRICANES,AND TORNADOES!!! SOME OF THESE XANGA USERS HAVE LOVEDONES OVER SEAS THAT NEED A XANGA TO COMMUNICATE WITHTHEIR FAMILIES. THEY NEED A XANGA SITE JUST FOR SCHOOLPROGRAMS TO HELP YOUNG CHILDREN TO YOUNG ADULTS TO HELP THOSE WHO HAVE DISABILITIES TO HELP THEM COMMUNICATE BETTER WITH THEIR FRIENDS AND FAMILY.
I THINK IF XANGA STARTS PUTTING MORE EFFECTIVE ANDEDUCATIONAL XANGS PROGRAMS FOR YOUNG SCHOOLCHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS XANGA WILL WIN THE WORLDOVER!
I USE MY NIGHTLY XANGA TO INSPIRE THOSE IN THE SPACE PROGRAM!!!WHEN YOUNG CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULTS THAT CAN’T AFFORD LUNCH MONEY MUCH LESS A TICKET TO SPACE CAMP I USE MY XANGA SITE AS AN EDUCATIONAL TOOL TO TEACH KIDS ABOUT THE SPACE PROGRAM IN TRYING TO HELP INSPIRE THEM TO STUDY HARD AND REACH FOR THEIR DREAMS!!!AND TO CONTNUE TO REACH FOR THE STARS!!!
I ENJOY USING MY OTHER XANGA SITES FOR FUN!!!
WHEN FACEBOOK HAS PROBLEMS WICH I HAVE DEALT WITH BEFORE!!
I HATE WAITING TO LOAD PICTURES AND POSTS AND PEOPLE AREJUSY RADOMLY POSTING STUPID STUFF AND IT GETS BORING. HERE ON XANGA I DON’T GET BORED BECAUSE I LOADPICTURES FASTER. I CAN PUT MUSIC LINKS ON IT, I CAN PUTMY OWN SIM’S VIDEOS ON XANGA!!
ITS FRIENDLIER THEN FACEBOOK, AND I CAN INVITE MY FRIENDS AND FAMILY AS XANGA MEMBERS.
I CAN TAKE XANGA WHEREVER I GO ON MY KINDLE FIREAND I CAN SHARE MY XANGA WITH OTHERS.