Where do bloggers go when they stop blogging?  How is it that life can get in the way of what once was a passion? 

I miss your soul searching entries.  Usually they were simple things about what you did today.  It wasn’t terribly exciting but I got to see a wisp of what you do.  I laughed when you shared a funny moment or a joke.  Your wit & your dry sense of humour helped me unwind after a long day.  Sometimes you don’t even mind if I laughed at you.  I knew it was a good entry when I was still smiling after I commented on your entry. 

It was always interesting to read about your travels, your love of food, travels, books, planes, photography, music & art.  I loved how you carefully crafted an entry.  Each word had a purpose.  Your entries triggered memories, emotions and moods.  I saw what you wrote.  I felt what you felt.  Your words carried me away to your mind.  It was intimate and beautiful.  Your video entries captivated me.  So that’s what you look and sound like. 

Sometimes though, you were angry or sad.  The burdens of work and life took a toll on you.  You poured your heart out when you had relationship issues.  You were inconsolable.  The worse was when darkness descended on your life.  There wasn’t anything to do but to pray and hope. 

I marvel how tough you are and how resilient you can be.  I envied how some things can be so easy for you.  How did you cook that dish?  How did you write so well?  Even with the same camera and same lens, I know I can’t capture images as well as you can.  I cheered as you lost another pound, ran another mile or met someone new.  It was heartening watching you conquer your fears or marking another milestone in life. 

So why did you stop blogging?  Or did you move elsewhere?  Was it tumblr, Facebook, Blogger,  WordPress or gasp… Twitter? 

I wanted to let you know that I missed you and hope you are doing well.

It is a bit disheartening seeing how quiet Xanga has become.  Yes, I know some folks have moved their blogs elsewhere or have simply stopped writing.  Others have hit a busy period in their lives.  I can certainly relate to being busy.  But I wasn’t expecting the decline in activity to be so startling.  Although I subscribe to almost 200 blogs, a lot of them are now dormant.  About 30 to 40 are regularly active and another 10 to 20 somewhat active.  I just did a quick check of the front pages (ok – I know Xanga is usually even more quiet on the weekends), but blogs that have 8 comments are now getting to the front pages. I can’t say this is good or bad.  I suppose it’s good because it gives exposure to others that don’t normally get exposure. 

But sites need traffic in order to attract ad revenues. I hope financially Xanga will fine. I don’t know what else the average Xangan can do to generate more traffic aside from writing, commenting and recommending.  I thought this might be a good chance for other bloggers to be discovered.  But this is so diverse of a community that my favorites and recommendations won’t necessarily be your favorites & vice versa.

Recently one of my dormant subscriptions, neo_plasm suddenly popped up after 2 years.  I never knew him but he always had something interesting to say and his comments were often insightful.  He wrote:

“I wonder if anyone will ever study the early era of blogs in the pre-facebook era.  It was a short span of only a few years, but I think it was a distinct time (maybe 2002-2006).  People were pretty naive about what they put on the internet.  There was a lot of sharing, and it made for really interesting reading (well, sometimes).  In 2010, there’s more awareness of the drawbacks of putting so much of yourself out there, and also of the limited returns you get.  Hence, the graveyard of purged/abandoned blogs that I used to read.”

I think he’s probably on to something.  Maybe people are a lot more conservative with what they write.  I used to read a lot more intimate details about people’s lives.  There was an air of innocence and trust (misplaced perhaps) back then.  That’s pretty well gone now.  You don’t want that stuff out there where your employers, family, friends and stalkers can find them. 

So maybe we’re seeing a shift in attitudes?  What do you folks think?

Bloggers come and go.   There are some that I miss.  I couldn’t quite list them all as it’s now getting late (thanks to the time change).   I wish and hope they will write again.  Some of them were bloggers I came across when I started on Xanga and I have good memories of them. 

1.  Absolutmichael:  one of the first Xangans that I thought would be a writer in one way or another.

2.  Blizzardi:  I hope Harold is doing ok.

3.  Bennykan – always fun to read

4.  caihwei – loved his photos, food and car.  I think he’s set up shop in Tumblr. 

5.  DivaJoe – sort of your typical journal / blog but I enjoyed reading about his life.

6.  dynamiqvision  – Sion, I hope you haven’t faded away. 

7.  enginerds:  I’ve always enjoyed his photography.

8.  epup:  not sure what happened to him.

9.  hijack88 :  pretty good writer chronicling his adventures and sometimes misadventures with sensitivity and wit.

10.  jasonbasin – food, fun and sharp wit.  I still can’t figure out how he stayed so slim after eating so much.

11.  JCFans – he popped up when I restarted blogging.  After that, I’m not sure where he went.  But he always had a kind word to say and was very supportive when I started to blog.

12.  JerryMonkey - sort of faded away, I’m sure like others, he’s probably on another social networking site.

13.  JonasApproved  – Jonas used to have tons of traffic, now he probably has 7 or so other blogs including his own site. 

14.  jx2_66 – Jon or the Poofer.  I’ve always enjoyed his drawings and adventures. 

15.  junshien -  he had a lot of good photos on his site.  Over time he became a very good photographer and is now a wedding photographer. 

16.  liquorman8 – I always thought he was a pretty good writer.

17.  Len_Q – I wonder what happened to Len?

18.  NanYu – another guy that I followed and he sort of just stopped. 

19.  neo_plasm – I think he’s an oncologist now.

20.  spacerboi – he was on Xanga long before I came on.  I would put money on him becoming a writer.  Except he’s a lawyer. 

21.  GracePrince – lovely woman who’s fought through quite a few hardships in life but continues to smile.

22.  ZenPaper – I hope he comes back to Xanga. 

23.  zozoyork – probably very busy with his photography.

And of course the late Kelvin who encouraged me to explore writing more seriously. 

I hope new bloggers will find a home in Xanga and discover this community.   Sometimes when I look at the traffic, I get a bit discouraged.  This is a pretty decent site