June 1, 2013
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Xanga is more than social media
I have a ton of things that I need to do, but I’m going to write this anyway. I need to go to the gym, do laundry, go to Target and get organization items for my new desk, and clean and organize my room. Then I have a family BBQ and one of my best friends is coming up to visit..so I’m going to have to write this real quick, and then hop off to do other things, I’ll check in later, maybe tomorrow
When I started Xanga 9.5 years ago, it was a very dark time in my life. My mom was abusing drugs and alcohol and abusing us (usually not physically, but the mental and emotional abuse was enough) and then I started remembering things that had happened to me as a child (if you’ve known me long enough, you know what I’m talking about). After high school, I abandoned Xanga. I didn’t have many friends here, but I had met this incredible person who helped me through a lot. Every time I needed to be talked down from suicide, he was around. I cannot ever thank him enough.
Throughout the years, I’ve come and gone from Xanga. In the beginning, I was unknown to most. What catapulted me into the public eye here was a post I wrote about tagging fellow Xangans. I took the names of all the popular Xangans of the time, and wrote a facetious post about tagging, and tagged them all. Yes, I remember this. I started making a lot of new friends, some have come and gone, and some have helped me through very trying times. I’ve blogged about very personal memories and events, and got support that I never even dreamed of. How amazing are these people? I’ve gotten the nicest comments and messages with encouragement to stay strong, that I am strong. I’ve inspired people with my strength. I’ve given just as much love and support as I’ve gotten. Xanga has helped me learn and grow as a person. I’ve left for a while, and come back, off and on throughout the years. This is my safe haven. This is my little corner to say what’s on my mind. Free from the eyes of the people I know in real life.
How can you tell me this is just another social media site? How can you compare this to WordPress, where you may get an obscure comment that’s impersonal? To Tumblr, where you just reblog pretty pictures? Sure, Tumblr is certainly addicting, I’ve spent many hours there. However, it’s nothing like the community of Xanga. How can you compare this to any kind of social media? It’s more than that! How can you justify these comments? How could you possibly?
I always thought Xanga would be here for me. How could it disappear? How could it break up with me after nearly 10 years? My soul is here, in these posts. My blood and tears. My secrets, away from prying eyes. If you think Xanga is nothing more than just social media, you might not belong here.
Also, add me on Facebook!!! Okay, I need to get ready to leave…
Comments (21)
Tumblr is crap and Facebook is too public. Facebook is great for sharing a joke or two. However, I think WordPress will be what we make of it. If you have one, I won’t just leave an impersonal comment especially if i know you and your story well.
So you were the first to do that. Its good to be a tread setter
I’ll be curious to see if xanga ever makes a come back, or fades into oblivion.
Yeah, Xanga is SO much more to me than just a website, or blog, or a place to get to know people. Xanga is like a way of life for me, it is part of my soul now. If this place goes away, I wil be hurt for life.
I jump in and offer comments on WordPress, to people I care about, though most of them treat it like a job, or something. I have had a lot of support from Xangans over the years- especially when my wife passed in 2011. It won’t be one more notch in the belt, by any means. I don’t have enough money to throw at Xanga, for more than one year at a time, but will see how it plays out. I will keep up with you on FB.
After almost 9 years I can say I really never belonged here. I think I created more enemies than friends and didn’t find a niche for myself.
I’ve been on here for 10 years myself… Also when things weren’t so great for me. This post made me tear up. I can sympathize greatly. This is the place I come to when I need to vent. I feel safe here. If this community is gone, I will lose it.
I feel the same way… I just… don’t know how to say it yet.
There’s no place like home, but it seems we’re getting evicted.
Until they shut the lights, I’m here. And Xanga is more than just a media site. It’s family. A disfuntional one at times but family. Yeah, Facebook is way too open for my tastes.
@Zoz36 - My thoughts exactly. Xanga is a family. We have a few drunken uncles, but when someone is in a crisis the community comes together.
Can I be one of the drunken uncles? Please?! Prettyplease?!Jokes aside, yeah, this post is spot on. Whether we keep it, or lose it, we’ll all be okay; it would be nice to keep it though.
I know what you mean. It is more than just social media.
I meant to comment last night but I fell asleep and now those two Xanga groups on FB keep notifying me… OVERLOAD OMGGGG hahaOkay, this post: Spot on. It also has immense importance to me. It’s seen me go from high school to college to now. I shared a lot here that people IRL don’t know at all. And I’ve made some phenomenal friends (such as you). I seriously don’t know who or what I’d be without this place.I REALLY hope that Xanga pulls through. We won’t get this feeling of community ANYWHERE else (in a blog platform).
I don’t have money to throw at xanga either, but some of the best people I have met through this site. I feel like I’m getting my high school year book signed all over again, with all the “keep in touch here’s my info” mass messages going around… I need xanga in my life. It’s the only private place I have left where the people I know in real life can’t see what I need to vent about them. No one can read my diary and tell me what they think, it just doesn’t work the same.
Xanga is the most unique of all the blogging sites.
I have tried a few blogging websites and most of theses have gone now.Facebook I have tried, but find you are always hearing references to it daily. The site has changed so much to when I was first on it.
I agree it is very personable to me too. I’ve met a lot of nice people, one that I can’t live without, online at least, and one I want back. It’s been a fun ride, with its fair share of ups and downs. I’m not so sure I will keep my wordpress acct active after I realized the personal info that is shared (see this post). It’s a protected post, I added you. I do agree about FB. I’m only there for the group. Tumblr is addicting, I realized that right away. But it definitely is not the personable site that Xanga is to me either. I really hope Xanga doesn’t go away.
I don’t know how I’m going to internet w/o xanga.Maybe b/c I don’t know how to internet period.
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