Finally – it took ages for the internet to work its magic before I can get in. I guess the estimate of 12 to 36 hours were correct after all. So who else made it over?

And who are all these people I’m following? Where are the themes? And where’s that picture I posted of myself? (just kidding…). I thought it would have all those themes that I have in my WordPress account. But I think I’ll just take a few days to figure out how things work here.

I hope everyone is doing well and I hope Xanga will find a way to grow.

Why can’t I comment on people’s blogs?

Dear Lord,

I know you’re busy trying to heal the sick, eliminate poverty, stop wars and preventing humans from being the worst enemies to themselves.  Could you just squeeze in one more thing on your agenda?  If I could just ask you to get the crazy drivers off the road, I would be eternally grateful.  Yeah, I know I speed a bit here and there but for the most part, I am pretty careful.  But yesterday I drove behind the slowest BMW M3 driver in the world.  He almost succeeded in getting my blood pressure to a record high.  On the way home, I almost got clipped by a van.  The driver was on my left lane and I was in the middle lane.  But she was so nervous driving so close to the retaining wall that part of her van was in my lane.  When I honked at her, she decided to just dive into my lane instead.  Even F1 drivers have better road manners.  I honked loudly but refrain from saying any nasty words.  

So if you could just throw some lightning bolts on those crazy drivers, that would make me real happy. 

Finally, and I know I’m pushing my luck; if you could give the Xanga 2.0 fundraising a gentle nudge, that would be great.  A lot of folks would be happy.  You can even disregard my earlier plea about crazy drivers.  I’m willing to make a sacrifice.

Matt

#WeAreXanga

We’re just over the halfway point for donations in the Xanga Fundraising Campaign (link).  Yet, aside from a couple of posts from the Xanga Team, the level of communication is less than what I had expected.   I can only conclude that they are overwhelmed with the work before them and simply don’t have the cycles execute a coherent communication plan.  As with any corporation or organization going through a significant change, you need a solid change management plan which includes a communication plan. 

With less than 3 weeks to go, I hope the Xanga team really step up the communication. 
 1.  Take advantage of the Front Page.  Feature the Fundraising Campaign more prominently in the Front Page.
 2.  Send out mass message.  I’m not the first to suggest this.  Jose mentioned this the other day.
 3.  Change the login so that when people log in, they get a reminder about the Xanga fundraiser and the link to it. 
 4.  Move out the top blogs so that @Edlives, @RoadLessTaken, @Saintvi and anyone else who is actively helping get permanently featured there until we meet our goals.
 5.  Ask the community for help in executing your communication plan. 
 
Many members of our the community who have jumped in.  Joel (Edlives) has done a good job of describing Xanga 2.0 and how it will be radically different than we see today.  Alex has spent quite a bit of time hosting a radio show on www.blogtalkradio.com/roadlesstaken with Xangans (past and present).  One of my favorite bloggers (Chris) will be on this Thursday June 27th at 8:30PM EST.  Check Alex’s blog for the schedule.  There’s been so many good ideas expressed on that show.  Saintvi has a fundraising campaign.  Many others have offered suggestions on fundraising and alternate pricing models. I hope Xanga is listening.

Despite my concerns about the need for more communication from the Xanga team, I still have faith in the next version of Xanga.  I’ve pledged some time ago and will stay to see what the future looks like.  I’ve gotten a lot of support from my subscribers both past and present.  I’ve grown and learned a lot here.  I started my Xanga simply as an online journal.  But it’s more than a journal now.  I have no idea who will be here with me.  I know some of you are moving on and I’ll find a way to stay in touch with you. For those of you who are still on the fence, I hope you’ll make a donation.

Pledge Here: https://xanga.crowdhoster.com/relaunch-xanga

#WeAreXanga

corrected tag for Alex / Roadlesstaken & Joel / Edlives