May 7, 2008
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Followup on Backdating
Hey guys, this is John with a quick followup on backdating posts:
We’ve gotten a lot of requests for backdating posts over the years, especially for users who are moving their posts to Xanga from another site (which we always love). So it’s definitely something we’ve had in mind for a long time. But as davidian pointed out, there’s potential for abuse:
there’s a certain ethical question involved with [backdating entries]. for example, if there is an accusation of plagiarism that stems from something posted on xanga, a backdated entry could make things quite confusing. backdated entries should be denoted as such. or have a different color timestamp or something. otherwise, it is ethically-ambiguous.That’s a fair point, and we’ll look into finding a way to indicate when a post has been backdated (and maybe even displaying when the post was actually added to Xanga). Some people have mentioned that anything we display might be hidden with CSS; we could address that by creating a page on Xanga where you can input a link and see when it was inputted into the database. Would that address the issue?
Comments (161)
Xanga for the goddamn win!!
I think just a flag or something that tells the reader “this was backdated” would be useful.
It might be useful, although less justifiable on practical grounds, to do the same thing for future posts “this post was written as a future post” something to that effect.
p.s. — you guys rock ^__^
I like that idea. I am one of the people who are just looking into moving entries over from another site and I’d hate to have that option taken away just because plagiarists are running rampant.
the backend database would need to be secured pretty well to use that method. it would somewhat address the issue, but people would want to see it upfront instead of having to go through additional steps to look into it.
If you’re going to add a backdate feature that would be GREAT!!!
Good thing I don’t write anything worth plagiarizing.
I cannot foresee a time when I would need to use it but this seems like a pretty good way to go about doing it. Nice work, Xanga.
I don’t know much about how it would be done, but maybe some sort of flag indicating backdating would be a good idea. Something that can’t be hidden with programming. I also assume that Xanga itself has records of when each post is initially posted to the internet? At any rate, I think it’s definitely important that if backdating is allowed, something be put in place that shows that it has been done.
@japanika - It’s already included in their future posting option. Read about it here: http://weblog.xanga.com/TheXangaTeam/655730561/new-feature-future-posting.html
Wow, I never thought of that. (Of course I haven’t had any other blogging site). But I think its a great idea to mark the backdated posts somehow. With something like a little BACK Badge. Then you could click on the badge to see when the post was added.
Y’all do rock!
Perhaps something to make it easier to find these backdated posts as well. Because if some one adds posts from two years ago, we’d have to sift through two years of stuff we’ve already seen to get to the new stuff. Just a list of all the posts that are backdated so that it si easier to get to them.
One question though. Why do I have to write the post, save it, then go back and edit it, then click on the “editor not working?” in order to change the time stamp?
that sounds great! thanks for addressing this issue.
You definitely need to have some way to mark backdated posts, otherwise timestamps become completely meaningless, except as an organizational tool for the author (to determine the order of the posts – it would have no other meaning beyond that). I understand the desire to move posts from other sites, but as far as I know no other blogging site or software allows backdating.
It doesn’t matter quite as much with future posts – many popular bloggers I read use that s a tool to schedule a bunch of posts for a certain time (for example, running a few posts each day at the beginning of the day). But backdating… I think you should either drop it completely, or make it completely obvious when a post has been backdated and what the original date of posting was.
As someone pointed out on the other post, this exact type of thing was suggested by Google as an April Fools joke – backdating emails. I understand the desire to move over old posts… but it opens up a can of worms just for that one case.
@NQbass7 - I don’t know about other sites, but Livejournal has offered the backdating feature for a few years at least.
I didn’t even think about the plagiarism issue, and I can see how that can be an issue. But it’s a very hard situation to imagine.
Anyhow, I hope you guys can get it sorted out soon.
@NQbass7 - i actually have used blogger before and they allow backdating.. it is useful for moving one blog to another, especially if your readers are following you, that way they don’t get confused by you posting something today, that you posted about a few weeks, months, years ago … but i agree somehow it needs to be noted that it was a backdated post, and the actual original post date..
I would love to backdate entries because sometimes I don’t make to Xanga before to 12:00 am in whatever timezone, but the entry doesn’t “belong” on that day. I hope you find a way to make it work.
hi im emmy(:
“Date of Addition 05/07/2008 4:13pm for Entry Dated 07/03/2005 12:01am”
I am so going to tell Xanga about this awesome idea I had where they backdate posts so can transfer this entry as soon as they use the idea. Awesome.
Just kidding guys. The abuse question in regards to plagarism is a big thing, but perhaps a time/date stamp from what you were discussing (as above in quotes) might do the trick. Certainly free Xanga from any legal wrangling. You will need to modify the terms of use though, just to keep it all legit.
Hey guys – Yah, most blogging platforms allow you to backdate posts… but that’s ok, most blogging sites don’t have the sort of close knit communities that we have here.
Thanks to everyone for the feedback above! We’ll work on the fixes we mentioned above, and also monitor this post for additional comments and thoughts…
John
@EilisAngelos -
@makeovervixen -
I stand corrected. Just out of curiosity, how do those sites deal with it? Are backdated posts marked?
And I understand it can be confusing to repost old material – but it’s not difficult to deal with it. One blog I read (ERV) has been doing reposts, and she just marks them with an intro saying so. Again, I understand the problem, but backdating seems like (a) it’s overkill for the problem and (b) it introduces all kinds of new problems. It seems like a feature that will get far more abuse than actual use.
Years ago, when I posted a lot of poetry and photos on Xanga, a few people plagiarized my work. The only way that I was able to prove that it was originally mine was because I had posted it first. So, I see it as a VERY valid concern.
That said, I can see why people who are moving content from another blogging platform to this one would like to have the option to backdate. Still, how many people REALLY need to backdate their posts? Are there that many who would even utilize the feature? I don’t get the reason someone would use it other than the aforementioned transfer of blog posts.
The copyright question brings up whether or not there should be a notation anytime someone edits a post and doesn’t update the time date stamp. As it is, someone could modify a post they did previously and use that in a plagarism case and the date would show as if they had not entered the modifications. If we need to tag/flag one form of backdating, shouldn’t we tag/flag the currently available format?
I am thinking of putting up some of my old handwritten entries into Xanga and backdate them…I have no issue if the actual date of entry is also recorded. I think the issue of plagiarism is an important one to address…so keeping a date on when an entry is first entered will be a good feature for me to have.
You make a good point concerning ethics
Something like the date on top (like it is now) and, like in this blog, “3:12pm (backdated) XX eprops XX comments” would be less distracting, and equally as informative, as any other options. And maybe make the “(backdated)” a link that will reveal the actual date of the post.
@NQbass7 - no on blogger backdated posts are not marked, and unless someone was looking through your archive, they would never know you had posted a post (today) that was dated july 2007… so yeah i can see the concern with plagarism issues.. i like the backdating idea but if it is such an issue, then its not that big a deal to make it a new feature.
@NQbass7 - Blogger doesn’t mark backdated posts (AFAIK). LiveJournal allows you to backdate old posts, but posts are displayed/sorted based on the time of the post (at least for their group blogs – I’m not sure how individual sites work there). WordPress allows you to backdate old posts and comments, and doesn’t mark if anything has been backdated (you can even edit the actual comment text).
@soNOTcool - Hey there! I totally agree that it’s a really valid concern. As for backdating post, we’ve gotten a few hundred requests for it over the years. But I can say this: if backdating turns out to be used mostly for abuse and the technical solutions we proposed don’t address that… we will definitely reconsider offering it! We only added it because so many people had asked for it…
That makes sence. Or maybe it could just be in order, with the old date?
I figure the blog post ID# should also help. Obviously, if the post was originally posted at a later date, it would have a higher number, right?
So, if there was a question of who posted it first, you can check the post ID#.
I wouldn’t be opposed to color-coding back-dated entries.
Meanwhile… How about letting us import blog posts from other Xanga (or non-Xanga) accounts? I had quite a few I wouldn’t mind consolidating with XINERGY.
heyy
i was wondering if there was a way to transfer old posts from one xanga site to another??
i like that idea =)
Displaying the actual time a post was made would make backdating moot, wouldn’t it? I think you should have some small indication that would tell whether something was back or future-posted — somewhere near the timestamp.
I agree that there should be some sort of color coding. That’s a great idea. As always, you guys rule
I think as long as it’s clear that the post was backdated, (or dated ahead for that matter) it’s a great tool…and fabulous idea. I know I’ll use it for holiday posts. The dating ahead should be clear, though, in case of deaths, injuries, or other things that the timestamp might make unclear. Kidnapping cases come to mind first of all…and the backdating for copywrite and also just to be clear on what was written/posted at what time. It’s a good feature, it just needs some boundaries.
As long as it’s easily discoverable, I don’t think the specific method would matter too much. If an ethical question such as plagiarism came up, anyone who wanted to should be able to tell the “actual” date of the post. It wouldn’t necessarily have to be on the page itself as long as it could be found out easily enough. Not sure what I’d do, actually.
I’m with Dorfman – I don’t think anyone would want to plagiarize my stuff – but I’m glad this issue was addressed as I think it’s very important and I can’t wait to bring my “old stuff” over to xanga.
I’m really glad you guys are taking users’ concerns seriously about this. It’s all to often that people bring up ways that things could go wrong or be abused, and the ones in charge turn a deaf ear. Props to the XangaTeam for honestly listening.
Entry creation dates vs ‘display’ dates is a good compromise.
Yah I agree with the new webpage for the issue
@moniet - Kidnapping cases?!
I am loooving the idea of this, but I’m with the people who’re worried about their blogs being plagiarized. Personally, I don’t have much to steal *lol* but I know there are some Unknowns around who have stuff that I’d hate to see stolen. I think there should be a page kind of like the RSS pages, but where it shows the actual post date and the backdate. Or maybe just put that on the RSS pages? Of course, not a lot of people read those, so… ^o)
Anyways, I love this backdating thing as well as the time-controlled posting option. Well done, Xanga team! You guys are awesometastic beyond all reason. XD
Wow when I first read the title I thought hmmmmm that would be cool, but I really would not want my work plagiarized.
@john - Well, that was ONE thought that jumped to my mind…just like the murder/suicide plots that were on Myspace a while ago, and the ones here a year or two ago, where the kids were using sites to plan those activities.
So, if one could backdate or forward date posts, they could appear to have been written when in fact a person might be unable to write…kidnapped, dead, whatever. Or they could be used to forge alibies when somebody was not around to post, but appeared to be writing due to the timestamp dates/times. Without a way to track those posts, and know the difference…it might get into nasty legal spots.
I’ve never kept another blog aside from my Xanga blog, despite trying a few different sites. Therefore I wouldn’t have much use for backdating posts.
I must admit, I would like to see such a link to see what was submitted to the database. It would really help deal with pages that use wacky formatting, such as white text on white background or extremely large fonts.
these measures aren’t as good as not having the option of back-dating at all, but if that’s a feature that must be implemented then it’s better to have something than nothing. thanks for taking action on this.
@moniet - Ah got it. We do get subpoenas from time to time with requests for information like that, and generally these sorts of issues sort themselves out
. But you’re right, we definitely want to be on top of this issue, both legally and morally…
btw i don’t have an edit in my time area.. so many i didn’t get it yet?
@unATTAIN_able - Is it possible that you’re using an old version of the editor?
Happy to see Xanga keep improving!
Hey, John, thanks!! If you’re going to allow back dating posts, it only makes good sense that they should have some kind of marker noting that the post has been backdated. Glad to know you’re on top of this!
Never even thought about the plagiarism issue…and with that I’m now on team “no backdating” or “backdating with notation of date of original post,” as many PPs mentioned. Go Xanga Team! Way to see all the sides of the issue!
What happened to “Update Time”?
@CareyGLY - You can manually control the time now to the current time… does that do the trick for you?
@john - Can’t we have both? If I’m really just updating something, I would like to have the ability to check one box. Or at least have the correct time default in the manual fields. Also, how will this feature affect placement of postings on people’s Private Pages? If I set something for 2 hours in the future, will it not appear on my subscribers private pages for 2 hours? Is there any difference between what appears at xanga.com/username vs. weblog.xanga.com/username?
o, that’s considerate~
not bad still, thx~
I appreciate you all looking into these things. I have blogged things that may go into books later on several blogs, and have always assumed that the time stamp alone could prove I had it up first in a court of law (I’ve already pitched a product and have learned the hard way how easy it is to have intellectual property stolen). Even though I write protect my stuff, readers can still email posts to themselves and basically paste them back into their own blogs elsewhere and back date now, apparently, so you can imagine how highly uncomfortable I am with this whole idea of being able to change the time stamp on something. If it’s easily edited, I can no longer use that as solid proof in the event a lawyer does get involved.
I can see where this could also be a problem if someone is accusing someone else of a crime or doing some divorce backstabbing, stating that ‘I blogged it’ and using a time stamp as some kind of proof. I think this whole time stamp editing thing needs to be VERY carefully considered.
Also, I saw this time stamp edit thing being used on myspace, and it got very confusing since a blog post there showed up as soon as it was posted but stamped two days ahead (it was a memorial post for a death in the family), and it got pretty weird that comments showed up being stamped *before* the post date. Might have a poetic meaning to it, but lost all meaning as an actual time stamp.
Backdating is fine and all, but I really do not like that the option to update entry to current time is no longer there. I used that a lot. Now I have to type in the current time if I’m editing the same entry, and that’s a pain.
Okay, the Xanga Team doesn’t accept messages, and I can’t decide which individual team member to send this to, so though it’s off-topic, I have to tell you about a brilliant idea that just whacked me upside the head: Archives in Reverse Order. Or, I guess, Archives in Actual Order. So they could be printed like a book. Pretty brilliant, eh?
@CareyGLY - A few other people has asked for having both options. So, we are planning to add “Update to current date and time” checkbox back.
There is a difference between xanga.com/username vs. weblog.xanga.com/username. You see future posts on your weblog page when you are signed in. But your public page shows the posts only other people can see. Hence, you don’t see future posts there.
@ayca - Thanks. When you say “you see future posts”, what happens if others use the weblog url? Will they see the same thing they would see if they used the regular url?
Backdating is fine – no other site puts any kind of notation to indicate that an entry has been backdated. I would use this feature to write about an event that happened on a certain date in the past — say, a wine tasting trip in April. Up until now, I have been creating placeholder entries and marking them “private” until I had time to go back and make the entry.
Notating the entries is nonsense. If there are serious criminal plagiarism charges, there are always ways on the back end to tell when an item has been created or edited — this does not need to be transparent on the front end. At all. Ever.
One thing that I miss and would like to see returned is the checkbox to update a posting date. I keep an entry going which I update periodically through the week and prefer just to check a box when I save it to update the current save time/date. I don’t want to have to enter that manually (see my workouts entry as an example).
@CareyGLY - If they type go to http://weblog.xanga.com/CareyGLY, they will see your public posts which are not future posts. Is that what you were asking ?
@ayca - Yes, that answers my question, though I’m still a little fuzzy on all of the differences between weblog.xanga/username and xanga.com/username. It seem that, beside removing profile photos on the individual posts, it also completely removes my side columns. I’m not sure what the design team had in mind when planning this all out.
I definitely vote for both dates being shown at the post – the backdate being the “effective” one, that shows like the date normally does, and then maybe below/next to it, should be the actual date written in smaller types or in brackets or something.
I get the problem, but not the solutions. The terms are too professional for me!
I just want to kindly urge the xanga team to add back the “update to current date/time” function because the new time selecting bar doesn’t work really well in my opinion.
Having both will definitely be a great idea.
Thank you! I was very worried about this.
I think that supporting backdating is a good idea and I think there is no reliable way to ensure that a post gets publicly marked as being backdated, anything that can be displayed on a web page can be hidden with CSS. For _real_ cases of plagiarism, like ones that go to court, I think it makes sense for Xanga to be able to determine which one was first and provide evidence to that effect. But I don’t really think this sort of issue would come up very often.
I was wondering if you could put the “update to current date/time” option back up there. I liked it, and found it helpful, even now. Thanks~
wooooh
hey, you are from the xanga team right? are you still working with the 2,000 credit surveys? ’cause it says that our country doesn’t have available surveys and i need credits right now cause i want to have premium
and i guess this is the only chance that i have to have premium.. 
i need help
but then it sounds like that defeats the purpose of backdating in the first place…
…why would someone plagiarize a blog post? This concern doesn’t make any sense to me. LJ has far more creative work on it, and they’ve had the backdating ability for years.
@Agreus - Though I see what you are saying about modifications I can see the reversal to the argument as well. My stories on my jimmythecricket site I occasionally go back to edit for clairity or other purposes. I keep them on the same dates they were posted to keep them safe from pladgerism. So I can prove what day I posted them on. If I do minor editing I don’t want xanga saying they weren’t posted till later than they were!
@soNOTcool - Just to answer your question If you’re out of town for the weekend and write some blog but can’t get to the computer you can go back and backdate to the day you wished them to be on.
You guys got rid of Xanga Dash within the last 5 hours. :O
Why would there be a problem with backdated entries? Last year, I created a mirror site on LiveJournal, and I copied all of my old entries from Xanga to LJ. And they were backdated to match the original posting date here. LiveJournal doesn’t use any anything to indicate that an entry has been backdated; why should Xanga need to do so?
Backdating sounds like hooking up again with someone from your past.
Perhaps the issue is thinking in posts based on chronological order of posting. I would have personally separated the viewing order and posting date dynamics. This way there is a much finer control over site order. It would be much nicer to have various options to post order while maintaining posting/editing dates as its own entity. For example, you could have a drag-n-drop interface for post ordering, or base it on tags or even just a default order based on post/edit date.
backdating sounds awesome.
but i agree, some kind of flag or notice to indicate that the post was backdated would be good. just for precautionary purposes. keep up the good work!
Wow, if only this feature existed years back.
I’ve had a few Xanga sites and always wished for a way to keep my old blogs from old Xangas.
Xanga ftw.
I would suggest that a person bringing a post from another blogging platform simply add a line at the top of the post: “This post was originally written on date”. Historical accuracy is preserved, and other potential issues do not occur.
seems like good solutions.
The important thing is that there is a retrievable record somewhere of WHEN something was added on Xanga. And making it easily available to anyone would save people from getting suspicious of each other,
I like backdating, so I can post publicly, but not on my fron page.
HEY PEOPLE CHECK OUT MY XANGA.
LOL. :]
Brilliant solution.
geee thanxxxx
pass by* :]
cM.;]]”
Why not just allow importation of another RSS feed? If a person just wanted to transfer entries from another blog to this one, the backdating issues wouldnt exist that way.
This is off-topic, but I couldn’t quite think where else to put it.
You know all those “Take a Survey – get 2,000 credits!” that are pretty much everywhere? Well, is there anyway to have those disabled for people who have already taken the survey? I took the survey, I got my 2,000 credits from it and I’m set. I mean, you can only take the survey once, correct? So, hopefully you can understand my frustration with it being everywhere I turn, so to speak.
Thank you for your time.
I would like to have this feature for a long time. Thanks there!
To me, I think showing that the entry is backdated will be enough. Other sites like bloggers don’t have such kind of problems right?
hi
I’ve always thought backdating would be handy, especially for those times when I’m away from the computer and write an entry by hand, or for when I’ve got the computer but no internet access. I’m surprised that backdating should be a potential cause for so many problems… I never ran into issues with it on Deadjournal. If you’re looking for a way to note that a post is backdated, I like vwagenjetta’s idea.
@ayca - I am glad to hear that. Sometimes it takes me a couple sittings or days to work on a post, leaving it private until it’s complete. I saw the pain it was today not having that option. Look forward to its return.
im not true yet but… do yall think yall cand send all of my old websites to my email
im not true yet but… do yall think yall can send all of my old websites to my email
Hey guys. I am trying to just use the classical Xanga with no theme but to custome design my colors as such on my other xanga but it keeps trying to force me to select a theme. I do not wish to have just a theme but I do not want white either. The themes offered look too busy for me. I prefer just classical Xanga. Any help would be appreciated.
I have an idea I’ve been meaning to share with you:
Easier blog entry management. What I’d like to see is an easier way to delete entries or manage them in a grouped format. What this means is something like you’d see in your email inbox. Boxes to delete multiple entries, previews of posts, multiple posts viewable per page minus the HTML you put in the site. Basically, like an inbox but for weblog entries. I’ve been searching for DAYS for some of my older entries with some vital stories on them, but it takes way too long to find them. Also, it helps if you want to delete all of your entries and start over.
@Sadiana_SaDiablo - You can take multiple surveys. It’s a way to get credits faster for better stuff.
PLEASE give us back the button to automatically update time stamp!!!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, show when the post was originally added and what it was backdated for. Like:
Dated: 12.12.2003 (posted on this Xanga: 11.05.2008)
Or something like that. I think it should be see-able right when you look at the date, nothing like a database where you have to look it up, it is complicating things.
)
(even though you could add that as a feature of course.
I totally agree :]
cool page thing. :]
im new to xanga n tryina meet some people. would you liek to be my friend?
this backdating feature is great– I love it! thanks so much!
I think i’ts REALLY good.
But please, add the “current time” option you had before… I loved it when updating an entry. I hate having to chage the time to the current one manually.
Awesome.
mmm o.o yea plagiarizing may be an issue
I don’t have the time to read through all 100+ comments, but I think the proposed solution is the best. It keeps backdating useful for those who want the feature, while directly addressing the issue of plagiarism, etc. In my opinion, mandatory flags would partially defeat the backdating feature, and are unnecessary because any case where a dispute arises would warrant the extra step of post date/time verification (and as you mentioned, people could find some way to circumvent any information you post with code). There is no need to always force people to see a whole post’s history just for the special case of resolving who posted first disputes. To prevent loopholes such as editing old posts, the database should also store information about when posts are edited.
P.S. Just noticed the “You can now edit comments for 15 min” thing. You guys rock. Seriously, the only step away from perfection that I can think of now is the fact that the replying to comments system isn’t as good as one with nested comments.
can i request that for those seeking just to update entries and update time stamps, that there be an easy button that says like ‘change to now’, so we don’t have to manually put in whatever time/date corresponds to ‘now’
I NEED TO TALK TO A XANGA TEAM PERSON. MY OTHER XANGA WON’T LET ME IN, IVE TRIED DIFFERENT BROWSERS, DIFFERENT COMPUTERS, AND I KNOW I’M USING THE CORRECT NAME AND PASSWORD. I AM ONLY 500 AWAY FROM 100,000 CREDITS FOR XANGA PREMIUM FOR LIFE. THIS IS NOT OK!!! HELP!
My personal feeling on this situation is just to have it so that if the user flags it for plagarism it can just note to the user that the post was back-dated. As truly wouldn’t you guys have to be contacted whether it says it was backdated or not due to their would need your records?
@lyn622 - I wouldn’t post that type of question on here.
Use the Xanga help portal at: http://help.xanga.com/ From there it should help you with your problem and if not it will give you an option to contact the Xanga team. Official support is not given over their web blog.
Best of luck!
I sometimes do an entry ahead of time, and dating it ahead is fine with this new feature. But sometimes I want to go back and update the time stamp if I’ve edited an entry. I guess it’s not a big deal to change the time manually, but couldn’t you still have the old ’update time stamp’ button too? It would make it alot easier and faster.
“we could address that by creating a page on Xanga where you can input a link and see when it was inputted into the database”
LOVE that idea. Absolutely genius! :] Xanga wins again!
It does address the issue, more or less, but I’d like to see the actual posting time on any post, even those set to be made public after they are originally posted. I can think of a few legitimate reasons to want to write a post before I am ready to have it read, but I can’t think of a single legitimate reason to want to mislead anyone about when it was actually written or first posted. Lots of nefarious, deceptive reasons, but not one good one.
The ability to untraceably backdate posts is prone to probably more kinds of abuse than I can imagine.
This doesn’t have anything to do with backdating, but I have had a couple of thoughts Re: xanga in the past few weeks that I thought I would pass on.
1) It would be cool if a xanga user could search for a specific post from another xanga user’s site. Ex: One of my xanga friends did a post with a recipe, but I don’t remember when or what it was called. It would be cool to be able to search her site based on subject matter or something.
2) It would also be cool that once someone earns so many credits they can get something better than minis, like 1 month free premium or free xanga wear or something like that. Also we need to get some cuter minis, I mean I like the ones we have but we need more options and I would give them more than I do.
Btw-I LOVE xanga and I’m grateful for this outlet, so thanks for all you guys do!!
fix the damned update button already. hell.
thanks for continuing to make things work well here in good ol’ xanga-land.
hmmm…?
I’m thinking of backdating all my old stuff as well, it sounds a good idea to me.
hihi,how are you?
Unrelated suggestion:
(Don’t know where else to submit.)
I use the “new” private page, that gives me an updated feed of my friends and subscription’s newest blogs, pictures, and comments. However, while I – for the most part – enjoy all of the material posted by my associates, there are occasionally items that they feel necessary to share that I would choose, or rather /like/, not to have to see over and over again.
I currently have no option to remove a single picture or story update from my feed if I felt it necessary, and I think removing said person from my friends/subs completely is a little overkill.
Perhaps just an “X” at the far right side, near the time stamp that would allow me to remove single unwanted stories?
Thanks!
hey guyz and girlz whats up
I love this new feature. I have used it on other blogs and I’ve missed it over here. There were a couple of times when I wanted to write an entry on a certain date and by the time I posted it, it was past midnight and so it showed up on the “wrong” date.
Plagiarism, really? Somebody would go through lentth like that? What is this world coming to? I hope you can work this issue out, because I’d hate for this to be ruined for all, just because a few can’t behave!
Question: I looked up xanga on google and i saw someone’s site. How do we get our xangas on google?
Good idea
This whole backdating process confuses me.
I think you should conclude more xanga features like job search,games etc.what do u say?
how do i put a layout on my xanga?
i totally agree.
hey
how can we link other people’s blogs to ours?
can we link those whose blogs are from other websites?
is the web-cam show coming on again?
hi xanga love the site!
the only thing i ever do [or used to do i guess] is make the time stamp current when i’d typed something weeks, sometimes months ago and never got around to posting and/or finishing it. [whether from plain forgetfulness or whatever the reason]
the new time thing has me confused at the moment but i’ll figure it out after i stare at it long enough.
sounds good to me.
Dear Xanga Gang!
First off, love Xanga, big fan because I’m a photographer and it’s the best application for photo journaling out there!
But now I have a problem because you’ve change the look of the email feature. I use colored back grounds, borders and colored font,
and it no longer comes through on the emails..the backgrounds are now white and if I used a light border or font. it doesn’t show up. Is there any way I can get the old style back? It was wonderful for emailing to friends and family because the colored framing completes the post. Check out my site to see what I’m talking about.
Help~please,
Broncomom
Hi. I wanted to add that while I think that this is a great feature, I do kind of miss being able to start a post, put it on private, finish it later, and then click that handy little “update time stamp” button. Do you think you could make that option available again?
Sounds good.
Well, join my blogring if you like…
:: Crying Out ME,In the Center of the Friends ::
http://groups.xanga.com/groups/join.aspx?id=2459754&t=
You make a good point concerning ethics
hey there. i had noticed that you guys had put up an option where you can post earlier or in the past! that’s great! thanks. but i was wondering if you guys could make an option where if we decided that we wanted our past posts to be private, and i mean a large number of them, that we could switched all of them at once. i’ve been putting alot of my posts on private, but it becomes a hassel when i want a large number and have to go into editing and then press private and then save each one. can we get some boxes next to the weblogs, like our pictures, and choose either to put as private or public? well thanks alot.
That does sound like a good idea.
If you do have backdated posts, would the posts show up in chronological order from the backdated post time or would they break inbetween all of the posts that you’ve recently done, say on the private page.
I hope that makes sense.
For those transferring to a new site,
there could be some kind of password
entry thing to avoid plagiarism .
HI . How do i add a custum picture from my computer to the background of my xanga? Thank you.
-Keri
I honestly am against the idea of backdating, being as I see it pointless or whatever.
Couldn’t someone just state when the post or whatever was originally made.
Thanks for the quick [and helpful] follow-up on backdating! It’s nice to know that the Xanga staff actually takes its readers’ opinions into heart.
On that topic, it’d be nice if there was a way to search through your own archive. Sometimes, I want to reread about a particular topic I wrote about years ago. The current setup has me blindly searching in random months of my archives hoping I’ll recognize the entry. But being able to search for it within my archives would make it a lot easier.
What time-zone is the future-posting clock in?
request: introduce a feature that makes it possible to categorize entries!
i’ve been writing on xanga for yearsssssss and ive never been featured
boo =(
i must suck at writing haha
@cherilyn_l - hi! i tag my entries to help categorize them by giving descriptions of what i wrote about, like “popculture” or “friends”. you can add tags when you add or edit a weblog entry (it’s under where you’d type your entry in the editor under “extras”) and view your total list of tags at xanga.com/yournamehere/tags. hope that helps!
Nooooooo don’t mess with it. I’d rather just be able to make it whatever time I want and have people see it as that and only that.
Guys, I adore everything you do to xanga,.. but PLEASE, I need my “update time stamp” option back.
I used to love starting post, putting them on private, and then finishing them later and switch them to public and clicking on the “update time stamp” box..
Please, could you at least tell me if you are considering getting this option back or will I have to get used to the new setup?
Cause I wll if I have to… I would never leave xanga.
Guys, I adore everything you do to xanga,.. but PLEASE, I need my “update time stamp” option back.
I used to love starting post, putting them on private, and then finishing them later and switch them to public and clicking on the “update time stamp” box..
Please, could you at least tell me if you are considering getting this option back or will I have to get used to the new setup?
Cause I wll if I have to… I would never leave xanga.
so i’ve decided that
i’m going to graduate from ucsb in four years
pack my bags
go to your xanga building
and work for you guys.
that’s the plan
i can’t guarantee anything
haha, no but really- i love the idea. the suggestion is great. woo!
Did you know that when you press the Disk (Save) icon from the editor bar, it resets to the current date and time, even if you’ve already backdated an entry. If I go in and add a link to a previous entry, I have to save it, to get the html code for the link and change it from “new” to “blank”. When I do that, it resets to the current date and time which I don’t want it to do. I thought you were adding the Update to Current Time checkbox back in?
just say hello
well it can solve the problem by have additional date attributes to have when the post was created and when the post was last editied….
I would love it if you made backdating available. I would love to transfer all my entries from my old blog onto here.