June 4, 2013
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Xanga: How it All Began
People have been sort of nostalgic the last few days on xanga. They have been talking about their time on xanga and how they got started.
My brother in law helped me get started on xanga. He asked me if I wanted a blog. I had never heard of a blog but he walked me through it. He told me that he always got more comments if he put a question at the end of the post.Who got you started on xanga?
Comments (94)
I was in middle school and all my friends had one, so I had to get one too.
College, was drinking, saw my buddy had called me a “jew fuck” on his blog, was like WE’LL SEE WHAT HE SAYS WHEN I COMMENT ON THAT
I was 15, and my best friend at the time had one. We basically just ranted about life and such, and it was the two of us and her (then or future) boyfriend just reading each others posts. Many years later, my blogging style is completely different.
My cousin. She kept saying how she thought I should get one since she had one. Funny thing is, now I update more than she does!
I had several blogs on blogger/blogspot (wow, so long ago I forgot) – and yahoo geocities. But I wanted more functionality and reliability – blogger lost all data to my blogs – and geocities was shut down. I found a coworker who had a blog on xanga and asked about how well it worked. Then tried it out myself – and I’ve been here since. I think they shut down their account or something. LOL
My church youth group friends had Xanga accounts, as well as a HS friend moving to a different state. I wanted to keep in touch with her, so that’s why I joined Xanga.
I actually have no clue how I discovered xanga, but it was probably during high school when I wanted a blog to write…I remember having deardiary blog (or something along those lines…) but xanga was amazing and enjoyed it here ever since
My son got me started. He was in Afghanistan for the Army. He was a member of Xanga then. As a way to keep in touch while he was overseas, he suggested I join. Where I also got my username
In 2009, I was looking for a Blog, as an outlet for the increasing stress fro, as my wife’s slow decline in health. The actress Saorise Ronan was here, briefly, as TheLovelyBones, and sent me a friend request, somehow, though I have never met her. From there, @slmret, @seedsower and @bonmots (aka Helao) served as my anchor friends.
My daughter, @joyouswind (although she was trebelclef402 back then).
All the girls who were at girl scout camp with me had xanga, and it was popular during middle school. I made my account at the end of 7th grade as a way to track my poetry and one-sided love affair with my first crush.
I found it through a friend’s aim buddy profile.
My childhood best friend and I started on xanga together, back in the day when we were pretending to be lesbian lovers on habbohotel, trying to have cyberthreesomes with poor unsuspecting perverts. Wanna bobba?
Ahhh, nostalgia. It’s definitely hitting me pretty hard lately, too. I think my VERY FIRST xanga name was something like, funkymonkeyxoxo … that was when I was 12. That’s 8 years ago. Over the years I’ve probably gone through 6 or 7 accounts, which I would shut down every time someone IRL would find it. With this one I couldn’t care less who discovered it. With the transition to wordpress, I might put a link up on my facebook so people can find me and read if they want. I’m a much more confident blogger than I was when I was 12, that’s for sure!
My Chemistry professor. Ya see, for some reason he would give tests. In fact, most of my professors gave tests for whatever reason. Well, studying sucks, so I did as little of it as possible. One night, while studying for the chemistry test, I decided that starting Xanga was more fun, so I did that instead. I failed chemistry for some reason.
I had a Teen Open Diary but then it shut down. So, I came here.
Living near Laguna Beach, I had several friends in the Sawdust Festival. @broncomom was a Xangan, and explained it to me — she now blogs as @MaryHurlbut. It seemed a way that I could obtain feedback on my photography and gain confidence. At the same time, my mother was ill, which was a stress producer for several years. Xanga helped to reduce that stress, and the feedback provided me with the confidence I need to go forward with the photography.
Everyone during my junior high years had Xanga. It was all the rage. Then they all left and I stayed. Glad I did, too.
A girl I met on Yahoo told me about Xanga and I had decided to join just to see what it was all about. I was hooked on it the first 2 years I’d say.
My friend Nikki introduced me to it in 2005 as a way to keep in touch. She’s long gone from this place but I may have to send her a PM letting her know the site is going away.
The people I met on BDF.
I just got my first full time job and it was in admin so I got a little bored, but facebook and hotmail and youtube were all blocked so I googled something (I can’t remember what) and ended up on here. I had never blogged before and it started off as a weightloss blog and has turned into more of a diary/support system!
I was failing a web design class so I would just browse bands websites and somehow found this place. Then everyone I knew was getting one it became pretty popular in Omaha. I have met a few people from xanga actually.
I got started in here I think because of well organized Xanga was. It encouraged me to build, and I’ve always been examining blogging systems and to this date, Xanga topped them all.
It was very well designed, you could have folders of images, all carefully categorized by name, and Xanga had the best ability to determine when you were visited.
With footprints, feedback, comments, and personal messages, all carefully tallied and calculated. It was a system you could eagerly and earnestly login every day if not every hour to find something new and amazing in and you knew exactly if and when you were visited and how to work that into your blogs.
…
Theo, your site IMHO will be missed most. You have brought out some amazing topics and subjects to talk about. You were witness to me being empathic, sympathetic, considerate, silly, cynical, sarcastic, crazy, and even melting down and perhaps only days apart from each other.
I am only human – and sometimes I have to tell myself that each week.
It’s been a great ride you have provided for us – I know there are still days left before the countdown – but I’m just sorry to see it end so soon. It’s almost like it’s raining outside. I will miss you …
My wife, when I was a senior in high school… before we were married of course!
Poor Xanga. It’s my childhood. Loved the community.
anna.xanga.com. I used to read her all the time and then decided to start blogging myself. She’s still here too, and I still read her.
A college friend named Shawn. He stuck around here for a couple years, then shut down his site without warning.
I started one in 2006 I’d forgotten about when I was recovering from anorexia and dealing with a breakup. I deleted it a year and a half later. Then I returned in February of 2009, and except for a month in ’09, I’ve been blogging here ever since.
My son’s biological father(S8nshallenge). As far as I know he gave up on Xanga a long time ago, it was something he did and encouraged because his fiends were signing up. I’ve made a lot of connections here, put a lot of history on these digital pages. Best community I’ve been a part of in a lot of ways.
I don’t even remember who. It’s been so long and I was so young. I do remember when I realized I wanted it to be it’s own thing instead of part of my “real” life. I had just had my first kiss, and I was fine blogging about it. I blogged the shit out of it. Then some of my friends and I were having a sleep over and they were talking about what I had posted and it just wasn’t something I was ready to
talk
about. Not with them. Writing is an escape. Writing to complete strangers who you’ve grown to adore is somewhat of a crutch for me.
My best friend from middle school got me hooked. She stopped using it in 2006 but obviously I stayed
A girl
it was a friend my sophomore year of college.
tim: “i’ll have to talk about that on my xanga”
me: “wtf is a zanga?”
tim: “dude! you HAVE to get one!”
me: “ok… maybe…”
My husband, then fiance, got me blogging here. He’d found it in a search for blogging sites. He thought it would help me connect to other military girls while he was off training for seven months straight.
It did. And it became so much more over the years.
I Googled a topic and one of the hits that popped up was a question. I thought I could shed some light so I clicked. I had to create an account to comment. Afterwards I received topics in my inbox and commented on those that interested me. This went on for months before someone messaged me and asked why I had no blogs. I didn’t know what a blog was much less that I could create one. I clicked around and saw I had a home page. Around the same time someone who had read a comment of mine suggested I write about my experience of being at ground zero when the planes hit on 9/11 so I did. I’m pretty sure that was my first blog. Still, I preferred commenting on blogs than writing my own.
It was at least a month before I realized Revelife is a Christian site though I’d commented there almost daily. A year had probably gone by before someone informed me Xanga was a site for writers. Next came an invite to a debate site somehow connected with Revelife because the person/people who created the site took note of my knowledge of religion and debating skills, I guess. It took me months longer to get there was a connection between Revelife and Xanga. I still didn’t know I had a feed page that showed replies. I relied on my inbox to know if someone replied to a comment.
To sum it all up, it’s not easy being me.
People were talking about it on asian avenue
My real life friend kept pressuring me to write more and encouraged me to start a blog last year. I tried other sites and didn’t like them. Somehow ended up here–it’s great!
It was a voice in my head. He told me that I was a persecuatory Roman in a past life, and that Xanga would be fertile fields for the hunting of Christians.
@Celestial_Teapot -listening to a disembodied voice of questionable origin that no one else can hear…. One that tells you of your own beginning while leaving his own a mystery, hmmm.
What denomination did you say you belonged to?
Some of my friends in middle school had them, so I got one too. Finally had a place to put my poetry & for people to see it
I left for a little while, but I came back !
A friend!
My daughter. She had a blog. I just read at first, and then I slowly began to discover the glorious joys of blogging.
I started mine 11 years ago. Can’t believe i’ve been on this site that long. Time flies. I found it while searching for blogging sites back then. I had originally used some weird diary blog but it was not as fun or as easy to use. Xanga had it all…
((( O people Say No God But Allah, Achieve Eternal Salvation )))
” Laa illaha illa lah .” (There is none worthy of worship except Allah.)
( I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant and messenger )
( Introduction to Islam )
http://www.blogger.com/profile/00783655376697060967
It was on a forum I was on, I think now I am the only one who still blogs on Xanga as everybody else is on Facebook or does not bother.
This was back in 2005. I have tried so many blogging websites (sadly a few have closed)
A girl at my church. I didn’t know what blogging was either and I was very intimidated at first.
I don’t remember exactly who told me about Xanga, but I know I started blogging back in high school.
Back in 2007 I was just looking for another social network to join. Xanga confused me a little back then so i didn’t end up actually blogging here until a year later. I am glad I joined, it is amazing.
I’ve only been here for nine months. Not sure how nostalgic I can get after that short of time.
Way back in 2003, a couple of my friends had xanga blogs so I got one too. Didn’t really get involved until 2008 or so.
I have absolutely no idea. When I wanted to make my blog I had already known about it from a source I still can’t remember.
a best friend of mine
It was 2001, and this one time at band camp…
for real. Band camp is the reason I have this blog.
I stumbled across it.
My daughters…wakeup0sleeper and
S_MT, they went to Europe after graduation and set my account up so I could keep up with where they were and what they were doing, well probably not every thing they were doing =/ They don’t blog anymore either, but they still read me once in awhile.
I read about it somewhere back in like 2004 as a good place to post dirty stuff.
So, the idea of putting a question at the end of a post is not yours. You didn’t even think of that yourself? I’m impressed. LOL!!!!
An old friend of mine. I don’t even know if he is still on xanga anymore. His username was thetuesadayspecial I think….
we had a high school reunion and one of the gals ,”Lana” who was a little younger then myself told me about it and got me started.
My best friend had died and we had been friends since 8th grade and it made me realize that I really lost someone my age beack in 2006 so I started here in jan 2007
It was in the end of 2003 for me under another name. I found it because I used to visit a now defunct chat site and some of the people I chatted with there had accounts. So I checked it out and have been here since. I closed my original account in 2006 due to a crazy ex. But have had this one since. I have strayed here and there but always end up back here. I have friends here I have known for 8 years or so. Some I’ve met in real life. I even had a five year relationship with someone I met on xanga. So it has been huge in shaping my life.
Co-workers.
There was a co-worker friend of mine who wrote on xanga for awhile and we had a mutual friend who I was really attracted to. I found her blog, read her material, and I lmao’d. My first entry was a story I heard from my psychology prof at the time about the “Bob War” which is a funny story. So yeah, I joined for creepy reasons and kept with it.
I was looking for a place to write my songs and poems and came across xanga. It turned out to be so much more and I met some awesome people!
I got myself started on it. I really like it. I tried other ones, but this one just seems more pleasant. I’m going to miss it if it goes!
IRC friends were moving to Xanga, but they’ve all moved on now.
Holly Green best expressed, back in December of 2000 how many of us old timers originally got here.
http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?user=holly_green&tab=weblogs&uid=5348
Speaking of Holly Green. We should remember what xanga once was by honoring the once Queen of xanga.
http://prometheus.xanga.com/43294/item/
And let’s also sing together the Song for xangaites by xangarelix (though she was a mere 17 when she started) vickyvix (http://prometheus.xanga.com/77351/item/).
Friday February 9, 2001
Song for Xangaites (by Vickyvix)
It’s time to go to bed
I know it’s getting late
But still something keeps me here
I know it must be fate.
I know it must be Xanga.
Something’s urging me to turn on the comp
And sit and type a while
Something’s making me log on
I know I need a smile.
I know I must find Xanga.
I need to find James and Freebird,
Litboiler, Sallyann and YuYu.
I need to reach out to sophieavis,
Prometheus, Jacob and pjfweb, too.
I know they’re there, in Xanga.
KayMacMahon and lcsaph must be there!
I seek Abaxial and holly_green,
Aaron and notforprophet, as well as
Loopdeloup and seldomseen!
I know Xanga is the key.
Woodge, zarathustra, LadyOneill
Poptardis, Bluemoo and such.
Wilshak, s_bankester, and JobyCudo.
I need the Xanga touch!
I know Xanga will take me there.
Standwithafist and be brave I thought.
Deevaa and darklove will be there too.
Soon I will be there among them.
Soon I will be among the chosen few.
I know Xanga will make us one.
It’s time to go to bed
I know it’s getting late
But still something keeps me here
I know it must be fate.
I know it must be Xanga.
I know it must be Xanga.
I got on Xanga to keep tabs on my teenagers’ blogs. They are long gone, but I’m still here.
My brother’s online girlfriend kept linking me to her blogs and surveys. I decided those were pretty interesting so I made an account for myself! That was right and a half years ago..
I used to have a blog at dead journal but I let it die. In 2007 I mentioned to a friend that I was thinking of blogging again. I didn’t remember the password to my dead journal and didn’t use the emails associated with it to have it reset. She suggested xanga. I’d never heard of it. For a long time I just wrote and she was the only one who commented, on occasion. Slowly I started to read other people and other people started to read me. Then more and more. My original friend never comes here anymore that I know of, but I met lots of new people.
JJJohn445…hey my aunt makes $15.45 hourly working at home on her computer. Her check was $2800 last month. She does easy typing work and they train you. No exp necessary. CHeck out the website http://www.jobk3.com
i was 13, and my older sister introduced me.
i was wondering if anyone knows a way i can sync or save my xanga page. i’m having a hard time letting my xanga go. my writings and responses over the years just vanish all away. makes me want to cry nearly, this site has meant so much to me
Once upon a time a couple of AznAlly members decided they wanted people who were not Asians to also blog. They started Xanga. I joined later. The end.
I see what you did there
Some of my friends in college had it when the cool and hip thing to do was blog. later they left for myspace, the facebook but i stuck around, blogged, and met interesting people. 
like Elizabeth answered I am stunned that a stay at home mom able to get paid $7104 in a few weeks on the internet. have you read this web site http://www.rev24.com
My ex-bf.
@SasGal - AznAlly? I’ve never heard such thing lol. Maybe Asianavenue…
@MzKeekz - Maybe that’s what it was… I’m not asian, so I didn’t get to play in that club.
Found a friend’s Xanga and started because at the time I wanted to be a writer.
God, I read some of the shit in notebooks and on my account and laugh at the thought.
I found it back in 8th grade, which was 10 years ago. I used a different name for quite some time, then made a new one to get rid of all of the high school drama on mine. I never walked away, even though there were times I didn’t post for a while. If xanga goes, I’ll be horribly upset.
my son wrote an entry saying I lost his laundry, I started my own to dispute this
My friends did.
I’ve forgotten by now
Was trying to date a girl who had a xanga site, so I followed her over. 9 years later, I am not sure where the fuck she went.
One of my friends told me after I moved to this town. It’s been 10 years.
Wow. My best friend at the time, Aislyn, got my onto xanga. She also introduced me to who is now my daughter’s dad, Caleb (divinitus7). She and I no longer talk, and he and I are no longer together. Emily is now five. I am just amazed and stunned and hiw much things really have changed. I missed xanga but didnt know how much. This really was and is a community that brought people together. Crazy.
I first heard about Xanga at my college. I didn’t know anyone on it, but read about it in the campus Asian-American magazine and it sounded interesting. Didn’t actually join until 2 years after graduating in 2005 when some significant things were happening in my life.
Hey Dan. My first love brought me to xanga in 2003. She takes the cake for most ridiculous xanga name ever – immortalpunkrockerdiva
I quite like the questions at you pose and reading all the responses. Your refusal to respond to these comments, however, has always bothered me about your blog. It’s like you won’t dignify anyone with a response.
I can’t believe this place is dying.
Take care, leader of xanga.
I was going through a really shitty time in my life and Xanga helped me through it. Not once, but twice…
friend’s sister
@bakersdozen2 - =D
I started on here back at the end of High School…in 2005…Then, I left xanga, a couple years later and came back in 2009.
p.s. I left a question in my last entry and I had 22 views and no comments.
Friends in middle school.
Believe it or not I have no idea……
Someone suggested that I start a Xanga account… and when I came here to do so I found that not only was my pet name taken (JulieMillerFan) but also that my standard password was in use. You can go back to my very first post and see the incredulity I expressed over finding I had an account I had no recollection of. Glad I started though… 8 years and running and it’s challenged me to some incredible Christian Apologetic work.
I found out about it through a friend/former crush on AIM. At first I wasn’t really impressed with the site because it seemed like a cheap knockoff of LiveJournal. Plus, most of the people on the site at the time wrote blog entries that would have made Charles Manson look like a clean-cut gentleman. I originally signed up just to comment on blogs, namely hers, and it wasn’t until almost a year later that I decided to run my own blog despite there being practically no audience for it. I was a junior in high school at the time. Now, almost 12 years later, the rest is history.
My need for anonymity was why I started so I can’t really say who brought me over.