November 19, 2008

  • Questions about Featured Content, and Xanga Feature upgrades

    Some questions have popped up about Featured Content, so I wanted to clarify a few things!

    How do I get Featured?

    We now have two different areas where we feature content.

    1) Most Discussed: We automatically feature the 10 most commented posts in the right module.  We focus on the most popular posts from the past 24 hours (we limit it to one per person).
    2) Manually Selected: We also manually select Featured Weblogs in the middle of the page.

    Ok then, how do I get a blog post onto the Featured Content module on the right?

    It’s just a matter of comments.  Also, make sure the post has been written in the past 24 hours!  If you wrote the post a long time and just updated the timestamp, that doesn’t count…

    I did write a post and it got a ton of comments, but it didn’t appear in Featured Content!

    It’s because your content is too liberal/conservative.  JUST KIDDING!

    We got some reports of this and found a a bug where Future Posting can cause a post not to appear on Featured Content.  It’s because Featured Content counts the past 24 hours from when the post was first posted, not when it first went live.

    We’re working on fixing that one… and should have it resolved soon!

    How do I get a blog post onto Featured Weblogs?

    There are a few things you can do:

    1) Submit your post to our Featured Content system!

    2) Vote on the posts that have been submitted!

    We know that not everyone likes to submit their own content (*ahem miguel ahem*), so Dan manually reviews the Most Recommended posts a few times a day to see if anything’s bubbled up!

    Why don’t you just display the Most Recommended blogs?

    There’s actually a good amount of overlap between Most Recommended and Most Commented… so we go through them carefully by hand every day.  This helps prevent gaming of the system too.

    The post you chose today for Featured Weblogs sucks!  I’ve seen much better posts on Xanga before.

    Umm… sorry about that?  Part of the issue is deciding how often to pick post new Featured Weblogs.  Sometimes we’ll be super picky and only pick incredibly awesome posts.  When we do that, nobody complains… but then we only feature one post every 1-3 days (sometimes longer).

    Other times, we’ll try and pick more posts each day  Lately we’ve been updating like crazy!  Traffic to the frontpage is up, but we are getting a few more complaints that quality is spottier.

    Please help us by submitting links to good blog posts into our Featured Weblog voting system!  We really do read every post in there.  Our system depends on people participating and voting, so please help out!

    Why did you feature my post about ____ when I’ve written much better posts in the past?

    There’s no getting around this… picking Featured Weblog is a subjective process.  Sometimes Dan and I feel like Paris of Troy, choosing which of three beautiful Greek goddesses is the most beautiful of them all!  (In that myth, he chose Aphrodite and the other two goddesses started the Trojan War.)

    What’s up with those Xanga-esque posts on the frontpage – Datingish, Revelife, Healthkicker, etc.?

    We created these sites to better develop our relationships with advertisers.  For example, if a dating post is on Datingish… advertisers will pay around 10x more for those clicks then they will if the exact same post is on Xanga.  Crazy, huh?  It’s due to a quirk of how advertisers work. 

    Anyway, that’s why we decided to host those posts at a separate URL (instead of at say, dating.xanga.com). 

    Ah, subdomains on Xanga would have been better.  Don’t you worry about dividing the community?

    We did worry about this, especially at first.  But actually, the new sites have been growing the Xanga network overall.  All the sites are powered by Xanga technology, and users of each site can comment and subscribe to each others’ sites.  We’re also building stronger sub-communities hungry to sub to more Xanga sites… which is creating more demand for great Xanga content!

    Are you considering any changes to how the frontpage works?

    Yah, we’re looking into a couple of things:

    • More clearly marking when a post is from a Xanga network group blog.
    • Making sure to ask permission before featuring a post (for the Xanga frontpage at least – we already ask for permission for all the Xanga-powered sites! We just need to add it to the Xanga frontpage too)
    • Maybe changing the list of Featured Weblog posts… into a blog?  We made a mockup and it looked a bit strange.  But we’re still considering it, just to make the site even more bloggy.

    Anything else you’d like to add?

    I saw a few posts suggesting that Xanga isn’t making money from its premium members, so it’s less likely to feature them.  We are actually featuring a ton of posts from premium members!  About 70% or so of the posts in the featured weblogs section are from Xanga members (many of whom are premium), and the majority of the posts in the right sidebar Featured Content section are also mostly premium.

    I’m not sure where this rumor came from, but just wanted to address it.

    What’s next for Xanga?

    Actually, we’re making a monster list of every idea we’ve ever gotten for Xanga features and bug fixes… and coming up with a way that you guys can help us prioritize them.  Then we’re gonna slam through those suckers.  Personally, I’d like to be able to see protected posts in my universal inbox, delete subscriptions more easily, and search my own posts.  But that’s just me – you guys will be able to submit your own ideas, and vote on what you’d like to see come up next.

    More on that later — mostly just wanted to respond to some of the questions and feedback we’ve gotten lately about Featured Content!  Let us know what you think…

    John

Comments (125)

  • I’d like links inside of pulses to be hyperlinked.

  • you guys are fantastic and have been doing a monstrously awesome job. people should just stop complaining about everything that went wrong with their life and blame xanga. heh.

  • Does this have anything to do with a couple of my subscribed stuff that seemed to have disappeared? o.o

    No big deal, just thought it was odd.

  • Sounds great! Glad to see you all enjoy the whining and constant criticism coming at you guys!

  • Now this should clear it up for one and all.
    <3 Xanga!

  • sounds like y’all are working on some good ideas!
    i’m excited! :)

  • Thanks for the massive clarification post, guys.

  • thanks for all the hard work you all do. =]

  • I think a blog about top blogs could work, if it was something put out maybe once a week or so.  Maybe a quick recap of the top blogs of that week, and keep it to a max. of 10 for the week, so that way it doesn’t get too boring. 

  • oh, sweet. You’re a rolemodel of patience.

    I thihk you menat to say that a Datingish about dating post pays 10 xmore than a Xanga post

  • @iamthebella - If people are voting for stuff without even paying attention to content then shame on them.

  • I don’t really like the voting system because then some xangans might advertise themselves or another person (shoot, I’ve already seen it happen)… I don’t think it’s fair that they publicize themselves and people might not actually read it or read the other entries… I dunno… I’m just saying.

    But then again, I shouldn’t complain because I don’t even vote for the featured content… hahaha

  • when are we gunna see “Asianish” i’ll volunteer to Mod it haha

  • @TossedUdon - Huh?  Not sure what you mean…  if you give us details, we can try and troubleshoot.

    @iamthebella - Yah, that’s why Dan goes through the posts manually to make sure they’re feature worthy!

    @wherethefishlives - Feedback is good.  Sometimes it gets a little personal, but I understand that it’s meant for the best.  Also, I get that more strongly worded posts will get more traffic .

  • Wow, I used to see the theory that all or most of the featured posts were written by Premium members… now the rumor is Premium members don’t get featured? XD Ha, I love Xanga conspiracy theories.

    Seriously, though, I really have only one thought on this post….

    Letting people vote on which posts get featured? This strongly favors bloggers who have made lots of friends on Xanga. Those who haven’t been so social probably have a harder time getting noticed than ever before….

    To be honest, I was surprised when this move was made. I kind of miss the FeaturedWeblogs chatboard. :/ But that’s just me.

    I’m not complaining, just expressing an opinion. But meh, it doesn’t matter overmuch. Whatever keeps traffic growing, just keep traffic growing for Xanga proper, that’s all I ask.

  • search own posts! what a great idea!

  • @ClockworkBunny - We’re actually coming up with a system to track who is giving voting fairly versus just self-promoting.  So hopefully that should keep fraud to a minimum.  Plus, a human checks the results before we feature posts (well at least, I think Dan is human).

  • oh yeah! how about the ability to rotate photos after they’ve been uploaded? kinda like how facebook lets you do it. i forgot that xanga didn’t have this option and ended up with a post like this – how awkward.

  • @john - I think of few items from the people I subscribed to have disappeared, but it’s no big deal, plus I don’t even remember what they were. I’ll let you guys know if I have more problems though. XD

  • @TheXangaTeam - Ah, sounds good. ^.^ Thanks for letting us know!

  • i am going to shamelessly plug my poetry jam/festival here.  come check it out, and send in your submissions….all entries are to be posted anonymously, then judged in the comments section. thank you for playing.

  • Thanks, John. Your team, Dan and you are the best. I totally agree with you on the wanting to see protected posts on the univ inbox. Also is there a way to each users to pick which ones they want (or not) see. Sometimes I am more interested in posts and not pulses… and I don’t care for knowing when my friends upload photos. Also I sometimes I am more interested in my more ‘lofty’ friends and ‘fun ones… and vice versa (i.e. edit univ inbox by username instead of post/pulse).

    LOL You read my mind, as I was wondering if there was a monster list… or a suggestion box.  Thanks, Abby

    P.S. I agree too on the new networks causing the Xanga community to grow. Good work.

  • On deleting things: there should be an easier way to delete pulses.  They are mostly meant for what’s happening at the moment (at least for me), so there’s no need to keep them after a long period of time.  Maybe mass delete or even an option to auto delete after so many days. 

    I think that’s the only thing I have a problem with ATM.  Oh, and the searching thing is a good idea, but would that work only on the blog’s tags or on the whole post?

  • @LyricallyCharged - How would you want it to work?

  • Can we end this whole sentimentality streak, though?

  • @john - Want the searching to work?  I think it would better for whatever keywords it can find within the post b/c sometimes I don’t add tags to my posts, but I would still want to search for it.

  • Thanks for clearing all this stuff up John. I’m tired of all the whiny posts about featured content and what not.

  • First thanks so much for your hardwork, xanga has gone from great to greater in recent times. Good job you.

    I would like to be able to search my own posts, and search within other individual blogs…like go to a users page, and there would be a search bar, and I could type, “purple kangaroos” and it would show any posts that that user has written containing that phrase. Same bar on my page, so if I’m like, now where is that rant about purple kangaroos? I can find it instantly.

    Also, I’d like to be able to easily and clearly delete people who have subscribed to me so that they can’t get the emails if I so choose.

    Thanks again, you guys have given me such a great xanga experience thus far, and I look forward to more.

  • @Drakonskyr - why don’t u say what u really mean…

  • If you could, please, make it so I can just TEXT my Pulse to my Pulse blog. I found out I have to subscribe to the cell phone application…even as little as it is, that’s money I can’t afford now. No big deal in the long run. But on days that I’m out and about, I would like to be able to send posts to my Pulse just as easily as I can text a friend.

    Also…

    Deleting messages in the Inbox could be made easier by offering the options to “delate entire thread” or “deleat [# of most recent] / [# of oldest] messages in this thread”.

    An option to control how much of a particular type of undate comes through (similar/same as what Facebook has). For instance, allow the Xangan to set how often Pulses come through or how often updates from a particular subscription/friend come through.
    OR!!! If a particular person updates with several Pulses or blog entries on right after the other, then group them together in a drop-down list.

    You also need a page where we can make submissions just for update ideas. If you have one already, WHERE IS IT?!

  • =D

  • @john - Not all users tag (I know I don’t) so the search would be best if it was for the whole post. Thanks again.

  • Looking forward to it all….(let me know how the BFN can help… :) )

  • I like the idea of being able to search through your own blog!

    I am still looking for that feature where i can I can open up my entries to specific friend lists….like when I write about the Tarot, I want my tarot friends to see my Tarot entries. If I write about family, I want only my Family to see those entries. It means that every friend will get a focused and particular view on my blog. Thus for the Tarot reader it would seem like a Tarot blog and for the Family it will seem like it is a family related blog only.

  • More and more, all that the Xanga front page appears to be is the portal to the ‘ishes’ sites.

    The ishes have taken over the top rotating box full of posts. They have the center stripe. They have the whole footer. You’ve put ish posts ito the featured content. The Xanga part is disappearing.

    Why can’t the rotating posts in that box be all the ish stuff, and Featured Content be about Xanga? Let’s have more Xangaish.

  • I think you should promote the site and bring in moar traffic/people.

    If not that, then at least put random ninjas on the front page for no reason for the lulz.

  • Thanks.  Are you EVER going to get rid of the terrible intrusive and annoying “Subscribe” popup?  I was promised that months ago!

  • I <3 Xanga.  Seriously, you guys are doing a good job, although I never get to see the Xanga frontpage because my browser takes me directly to my private homepage.  It’d be great if I could get the featured posts on my xanga homepage.

  • Hah, so it is all about the comments. People keep telling me and I wouldn’t believe them… until now. Thanks for the confirmation. 

  • btw: what about those who ASK for recommendations in their posts? Do all the rec’s they get really count?

  • FANTASTIC

    You guys are amazing.  You take so much into consideration trying to input what everyone wants.  I personally want to thank all the Xanga Team for making this place a wonderful blogging environment.  V

  • I admire your patience and patience and patience.

    Yes, I said that three times.

  • Ohhh – my only concern is that there is a mate-ship within xanga and people will only vote on friends blogs  based on that friendship and perhaps not necessarily based on the quality of what was written.  Therefore not giving other maybe less popular content a chance. 

    Just a thought!

  • oooh.. search my own posts… yesssss.

    thanks for the updates and the good work.

  • @GreekPhysique - your ideas were far more…. hmmmmm creative?

    Thanks guys  another great update guys.

    I love the idea of protected posts being displayed, I am always forgetting about them.

    x

  • thanks so much for coming up with this and sharing with us! : )

    i was wondering if overseas Xangans can verify their age with something other than a credit card (but that doesn’t work for us anyway).

    i also suggest that the text ‘top blogs’ and whatever’s next to that should be made smaller, because they look as big as the xanga logo, and new-time visitors won’t remember the site at all. just saying.

  • Thanks for explaining this to us.

  • hah! I knew all these…and I figured there was something wrong as to why I wasn’t showing up on top blogs.

    Oh…it’d be sweet if I could delete plugz I’m extremely tired of seeing.

    *coughlesbiansinlovecoughsarahpalinishot*

  • Picking posts to be featured based on the number of comments results in an utter waste of space and reader time.  Why?  Because it is usually the dribble that people comment on, not the posts that have any real merit.  I’ve seen blogs featured that do no more than ask how people feel about the latest report on Paris Hilton, because every dummy out here on the web has an opinion.  Hundreds of comments are submitted that don’t even have any value in and of themselves.

    Now I ask you, does that really make good material for a “Featured” page?  You would be better off having a featured blog once ever week, and doing it right, than pretending that what is now in place has any really merit.

  • Why all this fuss about featured content, where other people’s choices are being forced on us?  Why can’t you bring back Recently Updated, so we can look at fresh content ourselves rather than just those with the big ego’s that get huge numbers of comments or those that the Xanga team tells us we should like?  

  • Man,  you guys rock.  I’m not positive what you mean by the right-hand featured content when you say “turning it into a blog”,  but I’m assuming you mean displaying the whole entry,  sort of like the main page? 

    I think the changes are helpful,  and not to sudden.  Just don’t make getting Featured (on the front page) easier,  because then it won’t be as challenging/fun.  I mean,  I can get frusterated after trying with ten different posts that don’t get featured,  but that’s the fun of it.

    Maybe you guys could have a module here at TheXangaTeam’s site that displays the most recommended posts of the day?  That way,  it’ll rotate quickly,  and the little sites will get more recognition, and-wait,  the big sites might be fighting over that.  I can just see theblackspiderman,  TheTheologiansCafe and wherethefishlives all up there at once. 

    But overall,  I think this whole thing is great.  I don’t hate the ish sites,  they’re just not my preference of blogging because on Xanga I can blog about anything,  and I love that freedom. 

    Keep up the awesome work.  And thank you so much for not writing a post that just says “SCREW YOU,  XANGA HATERS!!!”  That would be funny,  but a little mean.  Haha.

    @theblackspiderman - Hey that’d be cool!  Like,  blocking a plug?

  • Thank you, John! This is all good information 

  • Ah, this was a good post.  Informative, too.  Thanks for all the hard work you all put in.

  • Well, you mentioned everything I would’ve brought up.  Excellent work!!  w00t!!!

  • Great job, guys! 

  • Bang up job. Keep up the good work.

  • How about you also look at the ‘quality’ of the comments.  Not just the number of them.

    I get a lot of flyby comments of “Just stopped by, no time to read, come comment and recommend my blog please” . . .   Uh, no, I won’t.   I delete those comments, and summarily block the offender.  So I guess I’m out of the running.   

  • thanks team for this informative post.  it really does help. 

  • @dan - me too!

  • “If you wrote the post a long time and just updated the timestamp, that doesn’t count…”

    -groans loudly-
    you missed most of my good stuff!

  • Thanks for clearing up all of that.  Glad to see you guys are working hard to make this place the best that it can be.  Keep up the good work.

  • Hopefully this will stop the drama for a while on Xanga.

  • Thank you for all the hard work you do.  Xanga is always changing a bit which keeps it fresh and interesting!

  • sounds great

  • Whoa! I was wondering why my footprints were up today, even though I’ve been a lazy bastard about posting. Thanks, John!

  • This explains A LOT!  Thanks!

  • Excellent work, as always.  You and the whole team put so much into this site.  Thanks.
    @dan - Me, too!  Oh, and I’d love pulses to be about 20 characters longer.  I always get cut off, but not enough for a blog.

  • thanks for the info…

    i won’t ever get featured haha

  • BLOG SERCHING!?!?! YEEEESSSS!!! DO IT, DO IT!! i will LOVE you FORVER!

    also, kind of off topic, i am having truoble seraching for a new layout… is there a way to search for a keyword besides the tags?

    ps THANKS!!! YOU guys and gurls ROCK!!!

  • Keep up the top work Xanga.

  • Cheers!

    dont forget about the auto-save feature. *cringes*

  • This is great information.  Thanks for sharing!!

  • Great stuff guys! Keep it comin’! <3

  • Thank you, very insightful!

  • Why does most featured content suck?

  • Loving what’s next for Xanga.     Things are going get more interesting now on Xanga (like it always have been) over the next few months. 

  • oh, do i love xanga.

    <3

  • i’m naming my first baby “john…” wait, i’m a girl lover – maybe my next cat then! ~sarina

  • Ha I didn’t even know you could vote for featured content 

  • What about the idea of Xanga letting us but protected for our pictures? I need to work with that a little. I hope that’s worked upon sometime.

  • @theblackspiderman - haha!!

  • add more theme options! :D

  • Dear Xanga Team,

    I tried to send you a message but you don’t accept messages. I am upset because someone requested me as a friend and I can’t view their xanga untill I snail mail you proof of my age. Is there anyway I can just scan a copy of my license to my computer and mail it to you?

    Thank you,
    Kristin

  • someone does not know their greek mythology

  • great job, guys!

  • is fixing blogrings so that they actually have a point again on that list? 

  • What an odd little glitch, the future postings thing.

    Thanks for the update! You guys are doing a wonderful job!

  • Screw Xanga haters. Xanga is and always has been an amazing refuge for a lot of people!

    <3

  • Hi xanga team!
    I was wondering if there might be a way to tab out the universal inbox into different sections for comment replies and comments, recommends, and posts and pulses? I know it would be a lot of work, but it would help me out a lot! Just a suggestion though, thanks guys!

  • I get really annoyed with constantly getting my universal inbox filled up with recommendations. I have resorted to defriending or unsubbing to these people who make a lot of recommendations but some I would really prefer to keep. Could you please add an option to not show recommends in the universal inbox.

  • I think you should take away the crap spam you get in your universal inbox from “friended” people… and only get updates from people whom you are friended to! Less spam!

    Oh and thanks for being awesome btw! almost 4 yrs of daily blogging and still enjoying!

  • @moniet - I agree.

  • How does Top Blogs work? I see people with less comments then i have ahead of me.

  • “delete subscriptions more easily, and search my own posts”

    YESSSSSSSSSSSSS agreed

    Other suggestions

    1) moods things the girl was talking about!
    2) your blog ring descriptions are getting cut off… it doesn’t show the whole thing anymore

  • I love my Xanga.  Just thought I’d comment and say that. Thanks Xanga team.

  • Good job on everything, guys! Though  I do have one question: Why do some of the Plugz have stuff that is very sexual, etc. Isn’t that against the guidelines? I don’t exactly enjoy seeing those alongside my home page. Thanks!

  • I still love Xanga, in case you were wondering. 

  • I currently have no problem with xanga; maybe because it’s not my life’s goal to get featured. I’m happy with the modest readership I have.

    But I did just accidentally switch from the universal inbox kind of home page to the OLD xanga private page… and I HATE it. It’s like downgrading… and I can’t figure out how to get the new home page back! Can anyone help me out with this?

  • thanks for the good news

  • I forgot to thank you guys for featuring me, so Thanks, better late than never right? Being featured makes u feel like u have something to say that people want to hear, and by featuring my Letter to the Lung Donor’s Family post, u really helped me get the word out on organ donation! Luv ya, M

  • I submitted a post that was moving up the page but then it never appeared on the Front when the others nearby and further down did. I thought about it for a while and I guess it’s cuz I have Xanga lock on? So if I write good stuff but still want to keep away stalkers (yes I have a few IRL) it’ll never make front page?

    I can live with that. Just curious if that’s really the reason. (guess: it is)

  • But, thats not fair when you dont have a lot of readers YET!..
    I wanted my post “She bit his Penis” to get featured. ..

  • I JOINED HOODSTARS LAST YEAR IN DECEMBER.  SOME HOW IT WIPED OUT EVERYTHING ON MY SITE INCLUDING MY 200 FRIENDS.  IF I CAN’T GET IT BACK CONSIDER ME NOT COMING BACK TO THIS SITE.

    I HAD 360 MINIS AS WELL.

  • Thanks for the info! Much appreciated

  • Aren’t you guys also working on Google Adsense for classic users? I read that it’s coming soon, somewhere in my personal. It would be great if you can give us more details on that! I’m looking forward to it!

    If anything else, it would also be nice to see the number of footprints I got for every day of the current week, so I can see what days I had a lot of visits, etc, instead of just today. If those numbers were saved, I’d be very grateful.

    That’s all I have to say, thanks for all you do! =)

  • WT*F* howcomew I can’t find a link back to xanga from Datinhish etc when I’m not signed in on my xanga account??

  • I want recently updated back.  This featured crap is starting to suck.  I’m tired of the -ish stuff.  I just want plain ol bloggers, not a popularity contest.

  • I need friends!

  • @Drakonskyr - yes please…

  • asses!

  • oh OKay sooooo im sooooooo happy to be apart of xanga!!!!! thanks so much for making my dreams come TRUE. you and your team are my new BEST FRIENDS

    THANKS AGAIN… I DONT WANT YOU TO KNOW MY NAME SOOO IM GONNA MAKE ONE UP KATON!!!!

    yeah katon is my name DEAL WITH IT.
    BYE BYE BESTFRIEND

  • ｃｏｍｍｅｎｔ

  • I am trying to change the country in my profile, but it wont change. What do I do?

  • Xanga Plugs are NOT showing up!

  • not that this is really on-topic… (if there’s a better place for this kind of thing let me know)

    Is there a way to google-block or even xanga-lock for only 1 entry? I’m well aware of how to make my whole site either of those, but the thing is, I’m cool with my site showing up on google for most entries.  There was an entry I wrote, however, which somebody pointed out shows up very high on a search that I probably don’t want it to be so high on.  So basically, I want to prevent google from hitting that specific entry.  In the meantime, I have turned the entry to private, but I’d like for the entry to still be available to people reading my site.
    Thanks for any help!

  • xanga’s changing so much these days..  for better and for worse..  ;0

  • rawrr xanga

  • here one for the thinkers.what happens when them cocrete blocks break open i next 5 years .you no the ones margret thatcher dumped in channel between jersey and france.just wondering bryan. radioactive waste

  • please upgrade your tag system

    i now realize that it is a bother… might as well have folders instead of tags to put every entry in the right place.

  • I suggest you have a section for the most recently updated blog posts…maybe updated every few hours so the little people can be noticed too.  I see the same people every day being featured which is great, don’t take me wrong..They deserve it.  But I would love to read others as well that don’t get noticed or commented on, etc.

  • I know you guys are trying your best! Xanga is wonderful! Keep it up 

    and you actually listen to what we people complain about thanks for your patience!

  • Alot of my friends stopped using xanga…i guess cuz they thought it was starting to get boring…but with all this new stuff, xanga is fun again…I’ll  make sure to let em kno ; )

  • @I_Am_Twilight - Same here!!

  • LOL can we have more emoticons?

  • @theblackspiderman - Agreed on the plugz idea. :)

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