The Prophet Of Profit

A Story by dw817

Apparently some companies can't seem to understand how lying to their clients affects their business and potential future customers so I'm going to try and make it as plain as possible here.

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The Prophet Of Profit

A true fairytale for good little blogging companies everywhere

All images seen below are copyright of their respective owners

The Prophet Of Profit

First off, I want to clarify something. I am not nor ever have worked for Xanga, Inc. I'm just a blogger, like you, who, if nothing else wants to state, in a million words or less just what a blogger feels that is wrong about a blogging site, and what they feel is right.

The focus of this writing is about such a blogging site, who to start out with did very well for itself and made wide and wonderful promises and wishes, much like Tinkerbell and as was well in the world and everyone was happy.

But when they lost their lease, they found themselves breaking all their earlier promises and scrabbling away on all fours at the dirt for money, asking for donations exceeding what they already took away from members who wouldn't see their paying terms to completion.

No, it is not a pretty picture.

Apparently some companies can't seem to understand how this affects their business and future potential customers, their eyes seemingly blinded by years of dollar bill profit, so I'm going to try and make it is plain and polite as I can.

Meet "The Bloggers." Boy Blogger and Girl Blogger.

OMG ! Aren't they cute ? Yes, yes they are. But don't be fooled by their innocent appearances. They aren't merely simple puppets that can be made to smile by sticking your finger up their backside.

No, they are living, breathing, wonderful and highly intelligent beings and despite the way they look, you should never underestimate them cause they completely control blogger companies. They have them right under their thumb, or in their pocket, or any other quiet and warm place that doesn't see light.

Oh, there might be a few subtle differences between them and us as well. Bloggers can be a little naive and emotional and can have temper tantrums just like a child can when they don't get their way.

But most importantly when promises are made to them, they expect them to be kept.

So you are probably telling yourself, well, they're just little balls of fluff I catch on my socks when I lose one in the dryer, they're not that important. But as a matter of fact they are.

Companies, especially blogging companies are quite interested in their business.

Now, Boy Blogger wants to tell all his friends about what a great and macho fellow he is, how he swallowed 8 whole hot dogs without burping even once, or how he planted his fist upside a rival's face cause that dude said something mean to his girlfriend.

In turn Girl Blogger wants to gossip gossip GOSSIP ! My goodness it can make your head spin with all that giggling ! And everyone's happy and laughing, and that's fine, it's all fine.

Because they both PAID their way to share their dreams, ideas, feelings, thoughts, emotions, and stories with others.

They paid out of their own hard-earned checks or bank accounts - for the privilege to do this.

Now, not all blogging sites cost money, in fact a great many of them are free. And some are free - with clauses. WordPress for instance is free but won't let you access all the good stuff until you are a paying member. Some are kinna sneaky like this and you don't find out till later.

Many blogging sites charge a premium to let you store more images or media. A few good blogging sites out there however are free for LIFE and only charge if you want to get a web domain or commercially advertise their blogs.

Better ones allow unlimited posts with unlimited media completely for free. Those are the great ones to find. (This site is for instance).

But I do know a few things. One of which is that I am most definitely a blogger, and that does give me a bit of leverage to talk about what I know here.

I know honesty is a good thing. I learned that years ago - and some companies seem to have forgotten the good words their parents told them when they were just starting to ride a tricycle and wear training pants. Always be honest with yourself and others.

HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY

Lots of us know these words don't we ? Sure we do.

But some companies lie. Some companies use bankruptcy as a means to escape their debt, or they shutdown suddenly without anyone knowing where they went, or they tell us nice little bloggers that, "Well you clearly didn't understand our policy," when in fact we do. We really do.

Understand this blogging companies. We pay your bills, we feed you, we clothe you, we put a roof over your head, and we bought that cherry lollipop you're sucking on right now.

Without us bloggers you wouldn't even exist ! And there is nothing ABSOLUTELY nothing to say we aren't gonna go take our business elsewhere, especially if it's free for life - and those sites are out there, don't think they aren't.

Now, I know I've been general up to this point but let's talk about Xanga. Xanga IMHO is one of the greatest blogging companies out there. Or was. It depends upon how you want to view that.

Now I don't like to deal with legal stuff but I am understanding they lost their lease, which I know is used to pay for the company. I guess it got accidentally flushed down the toilet on a drunken dare at a company party or something and anyways - it's gone.

And this will somehow cost US THE BLOGGERS money for their mistake. To the tune of $60,000 no less. It gets worse. Anyone who paid for an account with Xanga, INCLUDING, "Lifetime Membership" has just had it revoked. Ah hah.

Why ? I'm not sure. Maybe the CEO put his underwear on backwards that morning and somehow that switched his brain around to reverse the promises he made for everyone earlier. Where is his brain anyways ? Who can tell.

And out of the EXTREME kindness of bloggers, and MAN I am surprised at this, Xanga has already raised quite a bit in raw donations alone to help fuel what could well be vaporware, a new and better Xanga.

But I have not seen one picture of this proposed site, I mean don't even contractors take those all-white corporate LEGO blocks and stick them together so people can see the biggo shopping mall or business they have in mind ? Not one brick. Xanga hasn't done this yet, I'll let you know if they ever do.

And - many bloggers aren't happy, especially those that got robbed, and I'm sorry that's the word I'm going to use. You could've bought a year's membership one day before they announced they were going belly up and they would STILL take your money and give nothing - absolutely nothing in return.

And no, I have already been told (unless they change their mind), that this money WILL NOT be applied to the new (and still non-existent future Xanga).

My my. It seems like us sweet and friendly little bloggers who have always been underestimated in our strengths have quite a bit to b***h and complain about now doesn't it ?

And while we're still small and fluffy you take a thousand of us together and we can raise a razor-sharp axe over an Internet company's head just as well as a single full-grown person can.
and we'll give you the most enchanting smile as we do it too.

Not quite so cute and harmless now are we ?

So where does this leave Xanga ? Making promises. We promise this and we promise that and we promise, oh we promise that this new Xanga will be all sweet and sparkly and the roads will be made out of strawberry candy and the bridges built from from spun sugar cane.

I like strawberries.

And - perhaps they will, I don't know. But I do know they have already broken promises with THOUSANDS of bloggers so what would cause them to suddenly get a severe case of being violently ill with the Truthies ?

I don't think they are. I think they're faking it. I think they got their rectal thermometer under that hot water right now and want us to believe they are ill with being honest.

Hmm ... Poor, sweet, innocent, insufferably cute and naive little bloggers, what ARE we going to do with this big scary company and all the lovely promises they have already broken for us ... ? The axe is already in the air. It's up to us if we decide to let it fall. Snicker-snack.

. . .

OK, let's move on. First off, I have a few questions for Xanga, and since no actual CEO has decided to address us (I guess cause we stick to the bottom of his shoe or something), we are in communication with Ed.

We focus our land of make believe now on a talk show called, "Disgust Or Discussion" where we see a glitzy host walk out on to the stage wearing a reflective blue business suit. He is quite handsome, young, with a bizarre and perhaps personal shtick hair-cut but has power and confidence in his stride and greets the audience.

"Hello out there !" he addresses them.

"HI MARK !" the audience yells back at him. There is what appears to be a large office desk with papers shuffled randomly on it. He goes to sit behind it and, squeaking his wooden chair forward. Taps on a microphone there.

He then scoots the microphone little closer to him and leaning back in his chair speaks.

"Tonite folks, we have a real treat for you. As you may already be aware, there is a blogging company out there called Xanga, pronounced ZANGA, and the say they have lost their lease !"

The audience speaks as one, "That's disgusting !"

"That's right ! And further, they have - get this - broken promises with their paying members, even those who have been with them for more than 10-years now !"

The audience is even louder, "That's disgusting !"

Mark smiles revealing flawless white teeth to the camera, enjoying the audience's reaction. "And while we couldn't get the CEO of Xanga here, he claims he was planning an early retirement - "

The audience laughs.

"We did manage to get a spokesperson for Xanga. So folks, let's give it for ED !"

An immensely handsome gentleman in a fine tailored business suit steps out and waves to the crowd.

There is thunderous applause as the name is apparently recognized. There are loud whistles and deafening clapping. One woman screams from the audience, "I want your baby, Ed !"

He walks further on the stage and smiles sheepishly to the crowd before sitting down in a large plush chair that has a plastic sign above it marked, "Scapegoat."

He gives it a quizzical look and as he sits down, from off-camera there is a sound effect added to the track of a billy goat. He sighs and rolls his eyes.

Mark then sticks his arm straight out and swings it around like on a pendulum to face in the opposite direction.

"And all the way from Texas USA, here is David, otherwise known as dw817 !"

I step out dressed in my usual shorts and T-Shirt which depicts Mickey and the gang from Kingdom Hearts.

walking out, I wave and smile hoping for a reaction but the audience is dead silent. Someone coughs uncomfortably in the back row but still there is no show of any enthusiasm. I smirk and sit down in my chair that's labeled, "Tattletale."

Suddenly I hear off-camera what sounds like pre-teen girls chanting in a chiding tone, "Tattletale tattletale, you're just a stinky tattletale !"

I shake my head and groan. I hadn't expected all this.

Mark is grinning from ear to ear though at seeing my face pink up from the silly insult. The audience laughs at his reaction. Mark holds his hands out for silence and the audience gets still.

"Okay, well, David, or should I say, dw817, you're paying for my cup of coffee for this show you big spender so I'll let you go first. I'm understanding you have a few questions for Ed here ?"

I speak but no sound is heard.

Mark grins, "Turn up the volume there kiddo, so we can hear ya."

I look down at the miniature microphone attached to my shirt and finger a control.

"Yes, yes !" my voice is too loud and I hear it echo all around.

"You're too loud !" someone angrily yells from the audience. I turn it back down hastily.

"Yes," my voice is quieter now, "Umm, Ed. You already told me a bit about yourself, your life, and your association with Xanga - and, that's fine - I'm not going to mention any of that here."

"Awww !" the audience moans.

Mark leans forward to quell their discontent, "C'mon, folks, let's keep with the program, it's Xanga we're talking about here. We all know Ed !"

There is more applause and cheering from the famous name, finally it gets quiet.

"Right, good old Ed." I add glumly after a moment of silence. "Okay, here are my questions."

[1] Xanga is raising $60,000. Can I ask where all that is going to spent ? And I mean details ! If we're gonna donate this money do we really all know where it is going to ?

[2] Xanga surely has money in their buffer from user accounts they are steal -

Mark hits a switch by his desk and there is a buzzing sound like wrong answer. Then he interrupts me, "Ah ah, David, we don't use that word here, or the word lying, just so you know. We can't have any problems with - " and he jambs a thumb sideways, "you know who !"

[2 continued] Fine, not stealing but - borrowing, I don't know, whatever, will any of the money they've already earned from open accounts be applied to the future Xanga at all ?

Suddenly Ed speaks, "David, I know you're concerned. I had just heard that anyone who has a lifetime or premium account will in fact have their site transferred to the new proposed site."

I nod, "Good, what about the money I spent ? Will those premium months be applied there additionally or will my site be transferred but I won't be able to access it ?"

Ed shrugs and is quiet again. I guess he doesn't know. I continue.

[3] Is Xanga really going to be shut down COLD on July 15th of this year ? What will happen to the site and all the work for people who have been blogging there for free ?

[4] if Xanga does NOT reach their $60,000 goal, how do they plan to pay back the people who gave them money ?

[5] If Xanga does reach their goal, how soon will the new site be ready ? I mean, we'll be without homes and -

Mark shakes his head and hits a switch causing that annoying buzzing again. "David, I thought it was agreed that Xanga is not a home, it is a business, like buying a car. You live in your home, you rent their car and -

But I interrupt him and stand with tears in my eyes and yell, "Nossir ! Nossir ! You are mistaken ! Xanga =IS= a home, and I don't mean because I love it, cause I do, no, I mean it =IS= a home. You people, you fat cats working out there may not know this !"

"But there are people who have been there for years, 10-years or more I am understanding ! This =IS= our home. What's happening here is not right ! Our homes are being taken from us, and what's worse, all the furniture, all the nice stuff we did to decorate it make it look pretty will be gone - do you understand me - gone !"

I pick up my chair and toss it over angrily, an effort, as I'm a pretty scrawny guy.

Mark has already called for security but he sees the audience is now listening intently and waives him away for a moment to let me continue my tirade. Then he nods at me that it's okay for me to continue.

"Thank you. Now, I know that Xanga has given us the option to back-up our work, but not all of us know how to work with those files, and the program is flawed anyways cause when you bring up those offline HTML, they link BACK TO XANGA which =WILL= be shutdown the 15th !"

"First off, what is a blogger ? I've said this before. It's someone that writes their life, their dreams, on the Internet. A lot of you may not know this but some of us really do put our heart and soul into what we write. We spend hours, days, weeks, months, working on stuff."

"And now you want to take it all away, and our money, AND have the absolute gall to request $60,000 in donations to continue it !?"

Mark has walked over to me and puts a hand on the back of my shoulder and speaks quietly, "Ease up there, son. Let's not make a big scene now."

I nod and apologize to him. "I'm sorry." then I look back to the audience who is still quiet and listening. "I'm sorry about that, but THAT is what bloggers are all about. EMOTION ! Raw pent up emotion."

"We pay to have our lives and dreams out there in the open. We pay to have the pretty lights around it, to have it show up where other people can find it, and we pay to continue to do so."

"It's not fair what Xanga is doing here ! I don't care if it is policy, or whatever they say. It's not fair - it's - it's - " and I'm at a loss of words.

Someone from the audience speaks quietly in a knowing tone, "It's disgusting."

Others nearby him start chanting, "It's disgusting - it's disgusting !"

Soon the whole audience is standing up and stomping their feet and yelling, "It's disgusting - it's disgusting !"

Disgusting ! Disgusting ! DISGUSTING !

Mark waves his hands and they are quiet again.

I murmur quietly, "Yah thanks. Anyways. Yes, it =IS= disgusting what they are doing here to us bloggers. But, I don't think they are all bad."

"Why is that ?" Mark asks. He goes over and puts my seat upright, scoots it back into place, then prompts me to sit back in it again. There are no candid sound effects this time as the show has taken a serious edge.

I sit but lean forward and hold my hands out in front of me to show my determination to get this point home.

"I think Xanga, I want to believe anyways - that the people working there - are good people. I want to believe they do have our best interests at heart and that - well - that they LOVE us !"

The audience smiles, "Awww ..."

Mark returns back to his own chair behind the desk and smiles broadly.

I continued, "Yeah, well, maybe not love - but - you know what I mean, anyways. Companies need to love their clients and LISTEN to them ! And ultimately, we need to love them. And I've just found that to be very difficult of recent."

"I'm human, I make mistakes, sure I do. But I don't charge something for someone and THEN make a mistake or lie about it later. I pay them, whatever is owed. That's how you keep friends, that's how - you keep clients."

"Lemme tell you something. What is most important in a business ?"

There is no sound. Mark points to the audience and someone raises his hand. A white light streams on him from the ceiling above. "Go." Mark prompts.

His voice speaks, "Money ?"

"Siddown." Mark adds darkly. The audience laughs at this.

I speak then, "No. It's not money. I mean I know you think money makes the world go round, but money is not that important - what is important, if you're a business is WHERE that money is coming from. And it doesn't grow on trees - despite being - ahhm - paper, look you know what I mean."

The audience titters slightly but lets me continue.

"Right, no, what is important is where the money comes from, and it comes from US, the clients of a company. From US ! If it wasn't for us, you businesses wouldn't even be there. If we didn't wear shoes, we wouldn't have shoe companies. If we didn't eat yogurt, there would be no yogurt companies."

"No company, anywhere in the world, cannot sell a product if it does not have clients to sell it to. And what one thing can a company offer a client that causes them to believe in them ?"

"Pretty websites !" someone from the audience yells. There is laughter on that.

"Well yah, I love seeing a well-designed website too, specially with Flash themed games. But no listen, it's not that, what really sells a product is a PROMISE. A promise. That is in iron-clad contract you have between the business and client, and when that's broken, trust is broken, skepticism is revealed, contempt follows, rumors, and eventually abandonment."

The audience murmurs, some agreeing to what I said.

"Right. It's natural. Now, I say if Xanga is just going to take the money and run, they have that right I guess. I sure hope they won't. I hope they do make this new system they have planned. But, if not - then - well - I want them to know what they're going to miss - us."

"We, the people, of Xanga. If the whole game of business is REALLY just about making money. I put it to you that they will earn MORE money by keeping their promises NOW rather than breaking them. If they want our trust and our support, they have to earn it."

"You may be able to get your new Xanga website up for $60,000 in donations. That is a distinct possibility. But think about how many promises you are breaking, how many hearts you will left broken and how EMPTY your halls will be !"

"We already paid out of own own hard-earned cash. You earned that, Xanga. Now it's time for you - to pay us - with HONESTY ! We earned that, the bloggers. We expect that, and we should get it !"

The audience starts to whoop in unison and shakes a fist circularly in mid-air. I look at them perplexed, I never did understand that strange motion, but I know it's a positive one. I hold my hand up tentatively and half-hazardly swing it in a loop.

The audience stands and applauds at this simple motion of mine.

Mark gives the hand signal for silence.

"Ok David, that's fine, we're still on the clock though. Did you want to add any more questions to ask Xanga before we go on break ?"

I wipe my eyes, "Yeah, but I can't remember what number I was on."

"Five !" someone from the audience yells.

"Sure, okay, right - "

[5] If Xanga does reach their goal, how soon will the new site be ready ? As bloggers, we =WILL= be without homes - we will be without a place to even tell our friends where we've gone to or how to find us. You can't just kick us out !

[6] These donations, are any of them being applied towards a down-payment of the new home in the 2nd Xanga ?

[7] What is going to happen to the sites that decide not to pay (either donation or down payment ?) I don't think it would be a good idea to remove them cause a good chunk of Xanga and exploration in it is made up of these people who have blogged free for years.

Do you really want to remove our homes ? Why not leave them all open on the new site and give us a month to decide on what we wanna do with it.

[8] What is going to happen to the sites that =DO= decide to pay (either donation or down payment ?) Are they to be 'saved' and the others washed away ?

[9] Why aren't we being offered the same nifty thing on the new site we were here ? Where all new members get premium for a month and then we get to decide from there ?

[10] Why isn't the CEO or some super-important person answering all these crazy questions and showing us models of stuff being built and junk which I know has gotta be on Xangan minds ? Where is he !?

The audience suddenly yells in unison, "Yeah !"

[11] Encouraged, I continue - Wow, okay, and how is it -

Mark taps his microphone for attention, "David, I'm sorry, we need to go on station break." Then he faces the audience, "Folks, we'll be back after these short words from our sponsors."

The audience gives applause for the show up to now and the screen fades to black.

. . .

SUGGESTIONS

Okay, this part is directed for Ed and the owners and employees of Xanga.

Now, I've told you what a blogger is, and I can sense even now you are still utterly confused and even want to pat me on my head or chuckle and say something like, "Isn't this cute, but that isn't how a business works, boy."

And to this I say, you know, what ? That doesn't matter ! Contracts don't matter to children ! Coca Cola once put cocaine in their soft drink. President Clinton lied under oath in court about the unique oral report he received from Monica Lewinsky. It doesn't matter !

You can take your policies, all 5 billion of them, and give them a nice flush down the toilet, because you are not the only people to have lied and cheated to others. Okay ? We are not businessmen, we are not lawyers, we are not the congress, and we are not lawmakers.

Once again, we are bloggers. And many of us - MANY think and react much as a child would, especially if something grossly unfair happens. If you want to win in this business of blogging you had better get that in your head. Honesty.

You wanted some suggestions for what I believe a successful blogging company to be. I will tell you what these are now.

GET YOURSELF AN ARTIST

Remember us bloggers ? Nice friendly little people ? Yah, well we like mascots. Yes we do. After you've all bought premium latte's with that $60,000 you should have a bit left over so hire yourself a nice artist to make a super-cool mascot for Xanga and maybe some neat designs.

Look at DeviantArt ? They have FELLA. Look at Pokemon, they have Pikachu. Look at Nintendo, they have Mario. Look at Sega, they have Sonic. McDonald's has Ronald tho I like this girl better [Image]. The fact is, the nicer your site is and the more kid-friendly it looks and INVITING, the better chance you are of having paying customers of all age groups.

SECURITY

I want to get this one out of the way early. I will tell you now, if you still have the same sorry excuse for security at this new Xanga site, you can kiss my powdered blue undies right outta here. There are a few things I want you to consider, some of which you may already have, but many you don't.

[a] Friend's Lock - you have this but it locks out all visitors so it's not very good, next

[b] only friends can post comments, optional for all or single posts. I require this or I'm not going to your new site, period, I don't care how nice and pretty it is. I spent WEEKS preparing this crazy program to try and do your own work for you. [Link] Totally totally unnecessary had you of just taken the time to read your suggestions !!

[c] moderated posts, at your discretion you can have one or all posts require your approval before they actually appear publicly, simple check-mark or trashcan icon oughta get it. Also nice, I would like to have this.

[d] NO RATINGS, if a site is deemed unpleasant to look at, someone can notify you through the proper channels (inform). Many sites in Xanga were rated EX that clearly contained rated G material cause trolls and bullies were messing with them. Not good.

[e] posts, one or all can only be viewed by your friends, I think you have this already

[f] posts, one or all can only be viewed only if you are a member, that should be simple enough

[g] IP logged for all comments, while IP spoofers are still out there, they are not easy to use and for sites like Charter, they don't work at all, let's nail those bad people and ban IPs if need be

[h] better spambot. If someone starts out with their comment as, 'Praise Allah !' and then adds proceeds to post 700 words and 20-religious links in that tiny input area - there's a good chance that it is wholly (and holy) spam. Just be looking for crazy idiot posts like this with a robot, even I could write one with my code to locate this stuff.

[i] this is one of my own ideas, ban by LINKED comment. If someone posts a comment that has a link to a known site that has been advertised in the past as spam, "http://spankmymonkey.com" (lookup in Xanga's database), that message mysteriously doesn't get saved when you click SEND, but this is not actually apparent until the page is refreshed.

You might need a human at the switchboard for some of this, but the option for only friends can post comments will definitely cut the workload for finding spammers to par minimal here.

[j] block and unblock. Some sites have this, I don't think I blocked enough people to ever know if this was the case. Some people will write something nasty on a page and then immediately block them. Later they unblock and write them again then block again viciously. (Insert stupid giggling from the perp, you know who you are).

Facebook has this done right. If you block someone they let you know ahead of time that you won't be able to unblock them for a week. Good policy, Kudos.

[k] posts that are deleted by a writer can always be recovered by Xanga staff to track cyberbullying. In fact anyone harassed by a cyberbully should have the option of tracking their history. (that's not security but a feature below)

LOGIN

Right, let's get to a login process. Currently Xanga allows anyone to create an account and doesn't even verify the Email. Oh aren't you the trusting souls !

Now while many of us bloggers are sweet and nice people and want nothing more than happiness, there are absolutely hateful and devious people out there called spammers and trolls who live for lax login security. Let's beef it up fellas.

Notify during sign up that their IP will be logged and recorded. Their Email must be verified, (click link to return back). Re-type the words, "I agree to the following" on the verification page to a nice long list of rules you should have and off you go to Wonderland.

Now for bloggers like me and others, we might smirk a bit at this but for trolls and spammers that will greatly slow them down as the name of their game is to create as many bogus accounts as possible.

PROFANITY

An idea of mine. Xanga can be viewed by minors, unfortunately yes it can. Suggest that unless you are logged in all profanity, those colorful 4-letter words of F and C appear as a small cartoon bubble, perhaps with "!@#$" in it. Silly, but also allows logged in users to view profanity this way if they like.

SEARCHES

Searches in some blogging systems will make or kill the crowd. What's gotten familiar and immensely unpopular is the ability to only do searches for keywords that are voted on. I will tell you now if I'm searching for a post that contains, "Wacky Wafers" I most definitely want to pull up a post that has that exact phrase in it, especially if I enclose it in quotes.

DO NOT go the route of keywords solely or you will lose members.

Suggested search hierarchy can be, sort by relevancy, most popular, least popular, date (newest), date (oldest), alphabetical, reverse alphabetical, and add to that a checkmark option for friends only.

INFORMATION

[a] What you have in current Xanga is quite good. You might add to that though the ability to view new posts, messages, comments, all appearing as tastefully done icons in the top-right-hand corner of your screen which you merely click on and it brings you right to the item in question.

[b] The ability to track someone's history, and I mean ALL of it. If I login, someone can backtrack like videotape exactly what I did that day, what I posted new, what I commented on, etc. everything except private messages. Lurkers will love you for this. Obviously you have an option to turn it off. This would be better than footprints which you currently have.

[c] view your log by country or IP. Most people would be interested I think just in country to know if they get any friendly foreign visitors. Others might be more interested in IP, your choice.

FRONT PAGE

You have a nice front page, there isn't really too much I would change about it. I would add to that a column for randomly selected articles (by page refresh) to ensure everyone gets a spot in the limelight.

POP-UPS

Yes, I mean YOU Xanga ! It's bad enough we're paying members you have to have ads that appear on other pages as well ? There was one about TED that goofy movie where he jumped out of his frame and did something weird to my screen. Scared the peeled grapes out of me. I think you may have forgotten what a regulation size ad-window is ? I'll refresh your memory.

468x60 pixels. Yessir, that's what they are supposed to be, and at a fixed location. And they aren't supposed to be animated .GIFs or Flash or what have you. Just plain still .PNGs or .JPGs, your choice. Hurts to find out the truth.

That is the standard size for an ad window. Not all this weird flash and javascript crap you had earlier. And for Dawn's sake get rid of that pop-up window CHIME ! That horrid thing appeared when I hovered on a friend's link and only appeared in Xanga.

If the 2nd site of Xanga can only be used by paying members, we are NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY if you have any ad windows at all. Please remember that. If it turns out to be open to non-paying - then I think you're entitled to a little ad space, but not until then.

BAD BOY POLICY

There are all kind of bad boys out there. Maybe girls like 'em. Maybe girls like those boys to be nice and honest with them more likely tho. The fact remains Xanga has only very nasty and ugly thing in it. If someone is banned ALL the crap posts they made REMAIN in the system !

If you are deemed to be a troll, stalker, bully, or spammer, in the new system, an option should remain so Xanga can and will at their discretion REMOVE EVERY FLIPPING POST YOU MADE as well as your own account. I like the wall of shame they have when you try to bring up a banned member, but their filthy posts need to go too.

Xanga ATM is chock full of horrid and nasty comments from all over from users banned years ago. It's a gross ugly mess and Xanga you need to face up to it and realize, when people HATE someone cause they are just their to hurt them, you need to take ALL their posts no matter where they are located throughout the server, archive for legal purposes then flush 'em.

POSTS

Ok, nicer subject. Here is the magic, this is the most critical part of any successful blogging website. You don't win us over in this area, we're outta here. One reason I believe Xanga is so successful is because they have the BEST EDITOR ON THE INTERNET.

See, I'm not always a grouch. Twould be nice if when editing HTML you didn't cut out cool stuff like our custom Javascript, CSS, and sometimes HTML, but - really it's not so bad and I can carry on my business around it. Maybe for a premium allow Javascript and CSS for the die-hard bloggers. It could happen.

I would add to your editor the ability to create HTML tables, and I mean NICE tables so you'll have to build something impressive that covers every single aspect including frame color, background, cel image, the works.

VERY NICE JOB for allowing edit of HTML. I require this for my work and I imagine some serious bloggers out there do too. I definitely want to see this in future Xanga.

COMMENTS Hmm ... This is me looking down on you darkly. You never allowed the ability to include true HTML coding - like even images in our comment posting. Lots of sites do this, not sure why you never did but it's a NEGATIVE in the book of Xanga. You ever and always want to allow people to include images in their comments. You can limit their size too, that's not hard to do, you could even limit them to no more than 64x64, 128x32,256x16, and what have you - pixels if you like as a .PNG so you can send neat and friendly little icons to your friends. When I first logged into Xanga before I even knew about MINIs, I already had my own set made up - only to find I couldn't use any of them at all. Very disheartening.
PRIVATE MESSAGES

Seriously disappointed that you could not post any images or HTML in private messages, but you took it even a step further. You couldn't even post clickable links. Oh for good grief !! I would like to see private messages have the same interface as Comments, where you can still include a 64x64 image or make clickable links.

CHAT

Xanga really hasn't had much of a chat base. I don't mean where there are 100 people in a room and you can't hear yourself think, no I'm thinking of a more personal and intimate level like Yahoo Messenger where it's one-on-one.

That's a nice little Chat system right there. You have that and the ability to send pictures and files from your own Xanga archive easily, that would be a nice bonus to have.

You could expand this so one actual honest-to-goodness staff member could chat with a client. Wow, what an idea. It's been done before by other sites (like the pet shop where I bought my hamster), it's great, it would help.

AFTERWARDS

I can't think of anything more than that to write here. Obviously I have lots of ideas on what I think the perfect blogging website should be like and I've only touched on a few of these elements.

Xanga - the ball, no BALLS are in your corner now. We've ALL kicked them to you and we're still kicking empty air cause we're mad you've never returned ONE.

So it's time for you to extricate yourself from them and get to work doing what you said you would and LET US KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING WITH PROOF.

For money, if that is your love, or for us, who provide that money. Our dreams rest with you and your future rests with us ...

If you would like a copy of this document for your site, especially if it is for Xanga, please let me know and I will send you the entire thing with all images and tabulation. I only expect it be printed exactly as is, word for word, with no changes made to it whatsoever.

If you need to reach me or comment, you can either do so by creating an account in HERE (and I welcome your company) or befriending me in Xanga before it shuts down.

If you are already a member of Writer's Cafe - you are certainly more than welcome to express your thoughts on this now.

Return home HERE.