September 17, 2010
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An Experiment: Frontpage Plugz
We’re trying an experiment for the next week: we’re temporarily replacing the Featured Content with four Plugz.
(haha, special thanks to litlkittykat and falconsdrummer for making xanga look so suspect in this screenshot)Why? Well I picked featured weblogs for a long time, and kept on hearing people say, “You’re picking the wrong posts!” After a while, we got to thinking: maybe we should turn this over to the community. So we swapped out Featured Weblogs (in the center of the front page) with Top Blogs, which is community generated.
That’s been pretty popular and resulted in more clicks for the Xanga community. So we got to wondering: should we try a “Featured Xangans” module that uses Plugz instead of human editors? After all, anyone can plug a post or site for any other Xanga member. So if you like someone’s post or site, you can submit a Plug for it using the credits you earn for using Xanga. Or you can also highlight your own content as well.
So we thought we’d try it out for a week. You can submit a Plug here:
You can earn credits for Plugz as you use the site. Almost nobody ever buys Plugz, but if you wanted to, it starts at fifty cents worth of credits a day. So try it out and if your Plug goes live, there’s a good chance it will appear on our frontpage!
Please keep in mind that this is just an experiment. We haven’t been able to update Featured Weblogs recently, so this will use that space a bit better in the meantime.
Please check it out and let us know what you think!
John
Comments (66)
Oh, and just a side note: we added little mouseover text to the plugz to let you know where you’ll go if you click them – just mouseover a plug to try it out.
Much better use for plugz, since paying members don’t really get to see them anyway.
This is a good idea
The mouseover text is a fantastic idea.
I’ve never bought a plug, not even when I really wanted attention for my site, because I couldn’t make an image that was the required size.
@DJ_GiNSU - I have premium and I see the plugs, just change your settings.
That’s a really good idea, featured posts weren’t updated enough anyway.
Good,I just sent it in using the one VaneDave made me…well see how it goes!
I like the idea of a featured user module, but I don’t think it should be random. I know plenty of people who buy plugs and never even update regularly. It doesn’t make sense. That being said, I’d be interested to see how this experiment goes.
Neat! Excellent idea. I also like that we can now check where Plugz are going to take us.
This is a great idea. You should also put some sort of creative spin on it where people can vote on the best plugz or the most creative.
Question: About what time did this feature go live? Since about 3:25pm EST (about half an hour ago), I’ve been getting a constant stream of footprints from “California.” Could this perhaps have something to do with my Plug being on the front page?
Interesting.
@FalconsDrummer - hmm… don’t think so (I’m running a test plug right now too, and I’m not getting any visitors from Cali). It might just be a new bot that we haven’t started filtering out yet (i.e. it could be just a search engine updating its index).
@marc - All right, I just wanted to check. Anyway, great idea! Hopefully this will get more users to get Plugz – I love finding new sites with them, but they’re just always the same ones lately.
YES!!!
@ItIsAllGravy - Right. But by default, plugz are turned off in premium, and most people leave them that way – which makes purchasing plugz a somewhat ineffective means of reaching end-users.
@TheTheologiansCafe - Dude, don’t you own like 70% of the active plugz anyway… lol
this is a good idea.
Hah… people now have to pay to be featured.
Do one those plugz for AmericanAlien, maybe it will get him to come back to Xanga.
It’s worth a shot. Featured section should still be a staple of the front page though!
I think this is a very good idea. We’ll see how it works, but it’d make plugs a bit more relevant now.
Though, out of curiosity, why haven’t y’all been able to update featured weblogs recently? o.O
Great idea! If it works out it could maybe be a permanent fixture on the front page, in addition to Featured Weblogs. Maybe even a slightly elevated form of PLUGZ, more valuable since it is likely to get more attention.
Interesting idea, this will probably backfire…
Hay, plugs are more expensive now! =P
I was wondering when those three featured blogs from July would disappear.
What’s the point if they’re on the private pages anyway?
You folks bust your butts for us. In case you haven’t heard it for awhile; “Thanks!”
I think this is a good idea. The recommended blogs were a bit redundant, since the top blogs system is working so well. Also, the plugz may actually get some use now, and I’m really glad that the mouseover text says where they link now.
Why can’t you experiment with putting the most recently updated blogs on the front page so we can actually see them?
Neat idea
Sorry, but I’d like to deter this experiment.
What I liked about the featured entries– and I’m sure other xangans did, too– was that those few were hand-picked quality entries. For every one entry that you’ve received a complaint about (and I’m guilty of this), you guys picked 9 that were really worthy of that status. I liked the fact that no matter how “poor” a person was in terms of e-props or friend networking, they could submit their entry (or have an adoring xangan friend submit it for them) and be elevated to the front page simply based on their content and nothing else.
I don’t see why you have to replace such an opportunistic feature with plugz. Those are already on each of the private home pages, and those are mainly paid for by people who have enough e-props– thus, enough networking. Once again, it seems to encourage people to comment more on other people’s sites, and while that might encourage others to comment a lot more, quantity is not always quality, and this makes it impossible for those with not much time on their hands to see their quality entries on their front page.
It’s nice that xanga is community-driven but I think we have enough of that already. I’d like to keep on reading some of the entries that the creators of the site, the Xanga Team, think worthwhile, because I’m already overwhelmed with rec’ers and pluggers and friends.
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@marc - I like the look/feel of the way the plugs look on the front page. Have you considered increasing from 4 to 8 plugs being shown?
@edlives - we actually tried some mockups with 6 instead of 4, but it started to seem a little busy with the frontpage layout.
@marc - interesting. good to know.
*checks front page* … It may work for some, but what about people like me who see that and immediately push it in the “ad section” category of our focus and never see it?
I think I like this idea.
wonder if it’s just me but the photos in my weblog entry are not displayed after they are made public.
Tried it in both Firefox and IE.
Anyone has the same problem???
Thanks.
Any word on a Xanga smartphone app?!
I’m not a huge fan of this idea. At least include featured posts with the featured sites plugz. Plugz cost, and some people either don’t have the credits/money, or are reluctant to spend them. Also, I prefer the idea of featured blog posts because it’s like the reader gets to see a writing sample before deciding to look at the rest of the site.
ooooh, thanks so much! i just realized today that my “PLUG” was part of the featured plugs. This is amazing, and I hope my “request” for something similar of “RELATED POSTS” (where related posts pop up at the end of each entry) can come true!
Thanks XANGA
-watermoolen (CRYSTAL)
Although the new private page consists of many great features such as the one mentioned above, it proves to be extremelyinconvenient for me…
For some reason I just can’t get my head around it, and when I do edit my themes– It takes FOREVER to load the CSS code… or load any change I make on my theme actually.
Can’t say I’m not a little teeny wee bit disappointed about that.But thanks for trying so hard, I hope you fix it soon. x
The mouseover text was a wonderful idea, thank you!
I’m hoping someone from the Xanga Team can help me. I have sent 3 messages to the Help email with no response. I had hoped to move my website domain name over to Xanga but I can’t get anyone to answer my questions. The Help Board doesn’t have any answers, either. Now I’m concerned that if I move my domain to Xanga I won’t be able to get any kind of support. Is there a specific email I can use to get someone to talk to me?
I like your blog, check out my reality show “Asian guy and white girl” on my profile. If you like my show, then you can feature it on Xanga so everyone can see it
Can I give an opinion here? I think that the Xanga IM feature has made Xanga die more. I loved it at first, but I realize that people are ignoring commenting blogs and sometimes will IM people instead. I don’t know if this is the reason why but it seems to be that after we got Xanga IM that people suddenly stopped updating their sites or commenting others. Not to mention, the chat bar at the bottom has gotten kind of annoying. I’m not sure I like this feature anymore. You should consider taking it off, I think. I never talk to anyone on IM hardly and I feel it’s a waste of space on the page. As for the plugz idea though, I like it.
LOVE THIS!!!
This is probably a poor time to comment here because I’m ticked with xanga.
I used to be proud to link to and recommend xanga to my real-life friends and colleagues because I truly believe xanga has the best combination of features between blogs and social networks. Yet I haven’t felt proud of xanga in 3 years, and I certainly don’t recommend it anymore; both have their cause in the increasingly invasive way the sleazier content (including titles and the cheesy-risque-candy-sex pictures to go with them) is invading my blog space. I used to be able to bypass the embarrassing Front Page content by typing my url directly and logging in there. Now the Front Page, like a randy dog made of lollipops, follows me to my log-in page.
My use of xanga reflects on me and my reputation. I’ve been active here 6 years and have sworn in the past to never throw in my xanga towel. I have even been known to try to dissuade friends who were leaving. Now when they announce they’re going elsewhere, I feel like congratulating them on a decision well-made.
And now this. My only way to try to improve the Front Page, by recommending excellent posts by bloggers who are not part of the standard Front Page rotation, is gone. These temporary experiments almost always become a permanent part of the xanga landscape.
I have loved xanga deeply. It has been wonderful to me for a long time. I don’t want to leave it; I still believe it has the best of both worlds! I just wish the persistant randy lollipop dog wasn’t the public face of xanga, and hence a reflection on me as a xanga user.
@christykim - I agree with you. I already miss recommending posts, even though they seldom actually were featured.
@SoapAndShampoo - You can use the edit feature on Photobucket to make a graphic 120×90
I love this idea!! I might have to make more plugz =]
So no more featured questions?
Nice!
Off topic…..The Photo lightbox is cool! Thanks!
why is the front page redirecting to hk.xanga.com?
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Hay Xanga can’t I upload photo,video or anything else that want to Upload please get back to me as fast as u can I need though for my web site!so I can get ready for the next ppv!
We Xangans are getting restless. Does anything work right on Xanga? Only your hideous epileptic fit inducing ads?
the troubles on Xanga are getting pretty annoying. What’s going on? It would be nice if you guys posted something to let us know what’s up and that you’re working on the problem. As far as I’m concerned, I’d like to see you guys drop all the frufru stuff like chat, and stick to a simple blogging site that I don’t have to worry about being down. : /
This is a great idea. You should also put
some sort of creative spin on it where people can vote on the best
plugz or the most creative.
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the plugz are hard i have spent hours trying to create one but i cant get a pic to the correct size
How’s this for an experiment: STOP IGNORING YOUR USERS and LISTEN TO THEM when they have a problem! I WANT SOME GODDAMN SERVICE.