September 25, 2009
-
For The Love of The Post – Why Did We Stay?
With others leaving and watching Xanga decline over the last few years, we can’t help but to ask ourselves, “Why did we stay?”
Why did we stay with the xanga community while others left? What is it about us or perhaps xanga that has caused us to log on every night while others have migrated to other networks?
I want to suggest the reason is for the love of the post.
Whether you get one or two comments or you get 100 comments on each post, we all enjoy that moment when we sit down in front of the computer to once again put our bright idea out or empty our soul
on to the blog. At some level, the blog represents a phase in our lives.We sit down in front of that computer one more time to place the thoughts out to the xanga community.
Sometimes that thought will be simple. Sometimes that thought will be sad. We have shared with one another the dying of our closest relatives. We have shared pregnancies. We have shared marriages. We have shared divorces. We have shared moments of great happiness and extreme depression. We have shared weight loss and weight gain. We have come off medication and addictions.
At times after surgery when we should have been resting, we crawled over to our computer and carefully typed in our password and barely seeing the screened with our altered vision we typed the words “I made it through.”
Why?
For the love of the post.
Comments (125)
The reason I’m still here is to be first to comment on Dan’s posts.
Man, now I need a drink more than ever.
awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Seems most “big” bloggers are leaving, though. Not a great sign.
@Rob_of_the_Sky - you lucky jerk! DX
I stayed on Xanga because I love blogging. Why else?
That is true…
i like this one!
i ask myself the same question all the time. I have so many better things to do, so why am i wasting my time on here? I have no idea. I just keep coming back everyday.
Yup,that and the community and you.
I really like this. I certainly have so many life memories that flashes in my head whenever I look at all the old stuff I wrote. Ah my life…
You remind me of my mom with the way you wrote this.
I mean that in a good way.
Man, I almost made to to Number one on top blogs but or course you are always on top. But I did it with funny pictures that weren’t even my own….hummmm….I guess my own pics aren’t so good.
I dunno why I stick around, maybe it IS for the love of the post. 
i stay because no one i know can find me
Word.
@joyouswind - Ha….you have her humor….in a naughty way.
@josiebunny - Who left? I have not been on much for the last 3 weeks to know what’s up.
mostly people leave over burn out,,, anybody whos been anywhere for any length of time knows about burn out,,,
some let it pass,,, some just wander off…
@josiebunny - Let ‘em. There’s greatness to grow.
@seedsower - Dave just said he’s spending more time away and just tonight Steph said the same. Wherethefishlives moved on awhile back. A few of my subscriptions (unnoticed bloggers) have left in the past few months, too. It’s depressing to see so many go.
@seedsower - i left,,, i now reside on mars,,,,
hahahahaha,,, jk
well, well. look at you. no link, this time.
i think you’re right about blogging being a phase, for some. they leave when they move on to another phase.
@josiebunny - Fish is a career blogger, now, i think. hm. he’s been away for a while it seem. no goooood.
For the love of the post, yes. Even more for the love of the friends I’ve made here, though.
And joyouswind just paid you a huge compliment. Huge. LOL
AMEN!!!!
The comments make Xanga what it is. The comments let us know someone reads those things we write- and as you pointed out here, the things we write are important to us.
I also stay for the people I know here.
this site is SO open. no matter where you are, you see everybody, it’s always moving. on the other sites you have to already be established or jump through hoops to find people. glass houses may not be such a terrible thing in the long run.
You said it, babe.
Agreed.
i just do it to release the massive amounts of anger i keep built up inside me
@josiebunny - Who cares? The “big bloggers” don’t MAKE Xanga.
I think it is silly to have too high expectations from xanga. Sure, I want better, but I am not going to leave Xanga over what I would like, or others.
Xanga is matchless.
down with the ship!!
This is a nice one
I’ve been here 1629 days apparently.
i’m reminded of http://why.xanga.com/ … but there haven’t been any new posts for a while, oh well
i’m with you here.
Not too shabby.
I like this, it’s definitely one of the reasons I’m still here.
I concur.
i have my site so i can read my life in a series of click backs. also, most people don’t know about xanga so i’m not to worried about employers finding out about it.
i post on others so i can get enough credits to change my user name.
Hear, hear!
Optimism, FTW!
i don’t know and could care less. i’m quite content here !
There was an entire competition to set it up, and yet Dan has not been crowned King of Xanga? (Or at least Royal Jester?) There’s something vile at work there. . . .
I’m finally doing. I’m subscribing to TheTheologiansCafe. This post won me over.
@s_a_r_a_h_1 - No, but they bring in traffic (which is good for Xanga) and some wrote quality posts that I will honestly miss.
I really most definetly …agree
My question to you, Dan, is why do YOU stay?
I honestly want to know!
Well done.
I mean, out of all the blogsites, why Xanga?
Most people don’t even get 2 comments…
That’s legit.
Thank you for writing this.
Awh! I would agree, except that you can do that on any other blogging website.
What makes Xanga unique is the actual community of bloggers and how it’s a close-knit group. :]
Xanga is a place for the long haulers…those of us who make freinds here are good friends…like extended family in some cases…we can generally post about what we want without the fear of being rejected for whom one is…and no hoops…it is an open and caring community…I’s not moving on are you?…oh I’ve forgotten you have so many other sites to visit too…how do you find the time between it all…smile
A blog with heart. I love it
Somethings just can’t be ‘tweeted’.
I like the people here and it feels to open up when in real life I have a really difficult time of doing that
Oh… and, XANGA is my ESCAPISM and MY PUNCH BAG.
Because XANGA is my first love and I still very much in love with XANGA. I really love XANGA, that why I do my best to make newcomers felt welcome, I want them to stay with me in this XANGACITY.
Cause unlike other networking sites, you can not ignore the personal aspect on a profile. You see a persons heart poured out right in your face. You can’t skip to the impersonal random facts, or silly pictures you wanna see. I like Xanga because of that. I can connect with so many people, I can read and understand more about a person, and know that someone is reading things I want to say.
I blog because it is a place that is mine to say what I want and to share a part of me with others of they want to know. I enjoy Xanga and stay here because I prefer it.
Mostly.
For Post. For the Memories.
People come, people go. Some follow fashion and will always be moving on to the next ‘best’ thing.
I enjoy the interactive ability of Xanga, and as I’vyet to discover – there is nothing better.
Why do you stay Dan?
very true… xanga has its merits and its place. I love being able to blog here and enjoy the e-pals found here.
@stixandstonz - Well said!
@MilkyWhitesezMoo - Agreed,
@SilverBird_Loves - I didn’t think of it like that.
aw. I really really enjoyed this post.
it’s so very true. it is indeed for the love of the post. ;D
I’m here because I can be honest here. In person it’s really hard for me to open up so most of the time I end up by myself but on xanga I feel comfortable sharing my thoughts sometimes I privatize them and sometimes I don’t but at least I get them out.
Awww I really liked this post!
Hm, I feel like most people stay because they’re part of the community and like comments and the like– I’ve stayed on xanga for so long because I’m crazy and need writing as an outlet, and form illogical attachments to things. To each his own!
(I do, however, like xanga because it’s more about ‘the post’ than a lot of other sites, which try to spice it up with doohickeys, thingabobs, and other ambiguous nonsense terms. Yeah xanga!)
But wouldn’t for the love of teh post mean that it does not matter where you post it? It would mean you could log on anywhere to “put our bright idea out or empty our soul on to the blog”. So why then Xanga? I understand your post rather that it is for th elove of the (Xanga) family/friends you/we made. The sharing all the events with these people, even if the reason to post as such is just to post. But the choice to stay here while could just post anywhere?
whats the secret to getting so many comments.
@Rob_of_the_Sky - Me too
Agreed.
Although I do not blog much at all I stay to keep up with what is happening with members of my family that do. I also enjoy reading others posts. I envy those who are able to put on screen what they are thinking in a way that that both informs and entertains and makes a person come back again and again.
Xanga has so much of my life recorded on it’s pages, it would be insane for me to leave that all behind to start over again. Xanga is my place, and forever will be, so long as she stands.
for the waters.
That’s really a pretty good reason. Xanga is by far the best audience I have for my philosophical questions or technical ramblings. Most of the people I know in real life would just as soon write me off as too much of a goofball and not take anything I say seriously. I throw in some humor here, but that’s not what my readers know me for. This is a place where I’m not written off as an idiot right off the bat – at the very least, people get to read my work before coming to that conclusion.
Xanga will always be my number #1, Blogger #2.
Very well said. I actually only arrived early this year but the people here are what keeps me around.
I’ve been on xanga for years… since 2003, I think, if you count my old account. It used to just be my more personal friends who had my page. It was a way for us to keep in touch and for me to sort out my life and let out of feelings on what was going on.
It’s only recently that I realized there was a whole “world” of xanga. My friends have continued keeping to themselves but I decided to go out and comment more. I started with the ish sites and I slowly moved my way to frequent commenters. Eventually I’ve come to love a lot of the xangans here.
I just wrote on this same topic. I’m wondering if the reason why some stay and some leave might be found in their different blogging expectations.
Amen to that!
I just love to post!
I love the friends I’ve made on here too!
Good point. Until recent times, I barely cared about anyone outside of the tight group of people on my subs list whom I’ve been ‘blogging’ with for over a decade. But I’ve reached outside of that group this last year. However, the main reason I still come here? Just for me. I have never been an entertainment blogger trying to gain readers and I doubt I ever will be.
Also, it seems blogging has become a trend of sorts. I remember when people used to laugh at me because I had an online journal (before it was called blogging, circa 1996) and now EVERYONE has a blog. I think people give it a go for awhile and then give it up.
mmmhmmm, definitely something special.
Excellent post. Very profound.
Well, finally. This is your first post in a LONG time.
I just stay for the hot chicks.
I think it has to do with time commitment. If you’ve been here a long time, and have thousands upon thousands of journal entries which cannot be easily transferred elsewhere, you feel like you may as well stay here until it ceases to exist.
Gah.
Dan, you outdid yourself with this one. [:
Great post, Dan. Posting is a great outlet, whether anyone reads it or not; I don’t really care how many people read my blog, few or none or many; I don’t care how many comments I get, although it is nice to hear from people every so often. I do it for me, and I like the relative privacy Xanga provides, and also the community we’ve come to know here – they are good people.
Amen!
Yayyyyy!!!!
Yay Xanga. 
I am a loyal person and I like it here. Even when I don’t get footprints or props or comments. I am not here for the popularity.
Dear Dan,
I’m always saying I don’t blog like most folks. In fact, I just recovered from surgery (on my hip, last June) and I didn’t blog that often while recovering. However, I did blog my recovery, for the benefit of those who follow my blog.
I don’t think of Xanga as in decline. I’ve been “here” since May of 2004, and I’ve never really detected as much of an ebb and flow as some “top bloggers” have decried in their posts. In point of fact, while I always seem to read such drivel in the posts on the front pages of Xanga (when I’m even paying attention) that Xanga is “dying”, I know that this has never been true when it comes to my own blog. If I’m actively visitng and commenting, then I usually get visited and commented in kind, and if I participate in writing prompts for some of the groups , I get new subscriptions and “friends”.
That said, you make an eloquent point. I do have a “love of the post”. While recuperating, I just wasn’t all that creative. And since I create content from my creativity, if I’m not creative, I’m not posting.
And I love comments. The more the merrier. I even “answer” each one, with more like a letter than a one line “comment”. I do sometimes feel as if the “reply” feature has made some bloggers a bit lazy. I always liked to leave comments in hopes that people would return them by visiting my blog more often. A lot of bloggers just “reply” instead of visiting. But that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy those who do visit.
As you say, it’s the “love of the post”. And those of us who love our blogs will never leave Xanga. I purchased a “lifetime subscriptioin” a while back, so I can proudly wear that “badge” on each comment I post here.
I also know you won’t be going anywhere soon.
Michael F.Nyiri, poet,philosopher, fool
Totally true.
Yes! I noticed that those who stayed are people who write for themselves, not for others.
That’s why I have had Xanga for almost 5 years, even though the ones who introduced Xanga to me have moved on to other networks. Xanga has helped me get through so many things in my life.
I <3 Xanga.
No other site is like that!
Good question. I still spend quite a bit of time on Xanga, but I often wonder why.
Habit, I guess. I rarely post. Most of my friends have moved on. I do like the exchange of ideas and opinion, but when few people even acknowledge that I’ve commented on their site, I can’t even say that much of an exchange takes place anymore.
Yeah, must just be a habit.
awesome!^^
I just stayed because I wanted to become more popular than that damned theologianscafe guy
i stay in xanga because i love how the community is so encouraging in your decisions (be it good or bad). i love how people post good/funny things. i love how the people make me feel like i’m not alone in any situation. i love how i can make friends from all over the world. i love the cute emoticons
. i love reading other people’s life, how nice people can actually be. yay for xanga!
That’s awesome Dan =]
This weekend I’m going to write a huge post about how awesome I think Xanga is =] With more positivity, I hope more people start staying instead of leaving.
Definitely, it’s catharic. Sometimes you just need it.
For some reason, and I know that you probably did not intend it, I felt very loved in this post! Thanks Danny boy!! U R a really nice guy!
Because I have 6+ years of posts, and I’m nostalgic and sentimental… I could never just let all that go.
I very much like this. Although I rarely stay at the same username for much more than a year, I’ve been on Xanga for a while and it’s just awesome. There’s something theraputic about posting sometimes.
@crazy2love - I look forward to seeing that. I never get sick of posts about this place.
You usually make people talk (or sometimes the online-equivalent of shout) with your posts. This time, you left me completely speechless.
*Xangan heart melts* This was really nice.
Yes. And also, I’d like to think, for the love of each other.
because its like my life never could let ot go
Xanga is… too home-y.
“Whether you get one or two comments or you get 100 comments on each
post, we all enjoy that moment when we sit down in front of the
computer to once again put our bright idea out or empty our soul
on to the blog. At some level, the blog represents a phase in our lives.
We sit down in front of that computer one more time to place the thoughts out to the xanga community.”
Very well said, Dan!!!! Couldn’t agree more.
Well, yeah.
I also love commenting!
this is the best post i think i’ve ever read by you, dan.
well done. no snarky comments in this one, just appreciation (:
Yeah, it is the love of the post… and I am guilty of the after surgery crawling over to scrawl some little blurb.
This seems far more beautiful to me then it should be. ♥
hi
Everything has gone fuzzy and every rain makes things so
muddy. I’m left with yesterday again today, because time
i havent posted in forevers and i rarely comment but i still look at xanga and check it and love it in my inbox for a breif moment everyday i am reminded i am still connected to these random almost strangers by there thoughts there emotion there blogs and i am happy many of you stayed.
Andy Rooney said (on 60 Minutes) that every writer has such an ego as to believe everybody wants to read what he/she has to say, or words to that effect. Maybe that’s part of it. I remember back in CB days, everybody was mic-happy. Here, we get to say just about anything that’s in mind and we’re participating, communicating. Now if we could just get the world leaders involved, peace would be a possibility.
Speaking for myself, I got here by accident born of ignorance. In early 2006 (when I first came online) I saw a post originating from Xanga that I thought I had to comment on. The site said I had to register to post. I figured it was like other sites, so I did so. Then- surprise, surprise- I soon found out that I had just acquired my own website! Since I was still too ignorant about computers to know what’s what, I decided to make use of what I had in hand. Question for other Xangans: What online blog service is best?
I have totally done the crawl-to-the-computer-to-get-on-Xanga-right-after-surgery thing! Right after eye surgery, in fact. :]
Some Santas
Coach Outlet Online
are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness
Gucci Belt
thrust upon them. And then there are those happy fellows who take a week-long class in all things
Coach Factory Outlet
Father Christmas, and come out the other side with a coveted B.S.C. degree
Coach Outlet Store Online
(Bachelor of Santa Claus).Such was the fate of those
Coach Factory Outlet
who, for years, chose to take instruction at Charles Howard’s
Coach Outlet Online
Santa Claus School in the upstate New York town of Albion, not far from
Coach Online Outlet
Rochester. In fact, the school still exists today, 75 years after it
Coach Outlet Online
was founded by Howard in 1937; since the mid-1960s, it has operated
Coach Outlet Online
out of Midland, Michigan, and remains the world’s oldest Santa
Hermes Belts
school.In 1961, LIFE’s Alfred Eisenstaedt visited Howard’s school for would-be Santas,
Coach Factory Online
and made a series of photos chronicling the evidently quite fun process
Coach Outlet Store Online
of learning to be all the Santa Claus one can be. (Many of the pictures
Coach Outlet Store Online
here were not originally published in the article that
Coach Factory Online
ran in LIFE.) In its November 17, 1961, issue, LIFE shared the lighthearted
Coach Outlet
goings-on at the school with its readers
He teaches
Coach Outlet Store
the history of Santa Claus, make-up and costumes (“Don’t use false
Coach Outlet
eyebrows — let your own grow”), Christmas stories and how to be jolly. He tells how to cope
Coach Outlet Online
with young hazards Santa may find in his lap. There is the tear-spiller
Coach Factory Outlet Online
(“All you can do is get his mind off what’s bothering
Louis Vuitton Belts
him”) and the shin-kicker (“Santa is no reformer so don’t spend much
Coach Handbags Outlet
time with him”). Most dangerous of all is the beard-yanker. “When
Coach Outlet Online
you see a devilish gleam in the eye,” he says, “you know you’ve
Coach Factory Online
got one. So you grab your beard underneath, hold tight and when he
Coach Factory Online
yanks, holler Ouch.Finally, we’ll end with one of Howard’s more
Coach Outlet Online
memorable quotes about St.