27 June 2013
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Xanga Crowdsourcing Matching Offer
Just finished with a fun BlogTalkRadio interview with Alex (aka @Roadlesstaken). You can listen to the podcast by clicking this link. One of the things we talked about is the positive aspects of Xanga. I’m a big believer in this community and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is.
This is where our fundraising stood as of 9:30 pm Eastern Time, Thursday June 27th – right as the radio show ended. Some people are complaining that a $48 fee to blog on Xanga 2.0 ($0.13 a day!) is too expensive. Now, I’ve already pledged $240 for five, one-year memberships. Even though I’m only working part time, that’s how much I want Xanga to survive.To help increase contributions to relaunch Xanga, here’s my offer:
For the first five people to send me proof of pledging $48 after 9:30 pm Eastern Time on Thursday June 27th, I will match your pledges with my own additional pledge totaling $240.
Those additional memberships I pledge will be made available, first-come, first-serve for people who feel they cannot otherwise afford to remain on Xanga.
Have you already pledged? Feel free to pledge some more?
Haven’t pledged already? Here’s the chance to double the impact of your pledge!
Let’s relaunch!
Here’s the “fine print” of the details – pardon my lack of experience writing legalese:
- The intent of this offer is to drive at least $240 in new pledges to the Xanga Relaunch effort.
- To qualify for the match, you must send me proof of your pledge that was made after 9:30 pm Eastern time on Thursday June 27th.
- Once I have received five proof of pledges totaling $240, I will make an additional pledge for $240.
- When Xanga 2.0 successfully launches, I will invite people who feel they cannot afford to pay for the blogging to contact me for a one-year membership. This process will be subject to whatever steps Xanga management sets up for assigning memberships to other people.
- Any questions? Feel free to send me a message.
Thanks for supporting the Xanga community! #WeAreXanga
Comments (28)
Please help me spread the word by recommending and sharing this post!
I sincerely wish you luck in your campaign.
I’m with you, have pledged $96, might dredge up more after my Social Security comes next week. Recommended, and shared on Facebook.
You’re awesome!
You’re too good of a man, Chris. I’m still saying it: WOW. Hopefully more people take notice.
Awesome! I just got home. Will have to listen to the podcast of tonight’s show (and one or two others I missed).
Time is running out. We need to be 70% by fourth of July and also push harder if that goal is not made.
Desperate times requires desperate measures, ordinary word press even though free is not really half as good as the old xanga.@SuSu - Thank you for your support. I gave last Saturday and by fourth of July I will see if I need to redouble my efforts.
I applaud your efforts and contributions.
I have not pledged yet, maybe I should do it now! lol
That’s great that you’re doing this.
It’s not the money that makes me shy away from pledging $48. Heck, I spend that on junk in a jiffy. But what does one get for $48? Ability to blog and subscribe to people’s blogs and maybe write them messages? Well, all of this I can get for free somewhere else. Someone posted a graph on how the number of visits to Xanga declined over the years, and it mirrors the impression I have … a lot of people I follow vanished and on weekends you can hear crickets chirp. Very few new blogs are coming up. In my opinion, the pay-wall will keep new people from signing up.
Another aspect I dislike about the pledge initiate was the way the Xanga Team handled the whole thing. First, no one can tell me they didn’t know earlier that the server lease was coming up. So why not prepare a little in advance. Second, the entire focus is on upgrading the infrastructure. No one thinks about the business model of Xanga 2.0.
If I am new to blogging, I wouldn’t look to paid blogging versions first. If I want social media, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are what people talk about and they are all free. I am not saying that Xanga cannot find its niche but what niche is that going to be. At the moment, it sounds a little bit like it will be a walled-garden for long-time members, which is an option. But is this the direction? Is this what the $48 are for?
The argument that we will have to see where Xanga 2.0 is going is flawed. If you go to any bank as a business and ask for a loan without a business plan, you won’t get a loan. The Xanga Team (or the owner of the site) should come up with that plan *first*.
Thanks for that Chris. Very generous of you. I had pledged and also contributed early this month. But I couldn’t resist your current offer, so I went ahead and pledged $96, so some others who cannot afford can take the advantage. I hope you can get three more people to pledge. I am like you, totally dedicated to Xanga.
I am going to pledge two more accounts
I really want Xanga to make it :/
If only the XangaTeam were 1/5 as creative and enthusiastic with seeking funds, they’d have all the money they needed and then some.
KEEP IT UP!
Thank you for your generosity!
HUGS!!!
@beowulf222- ICAM! This pledging is pointless for the most part, if you ask me and other people.
:] I’m proud you’re fighting for this cause.
It’s also crazy how long Xanga has been around
@Devilzgaysianboi - I hope you are helping out, Kevin! Need your support, too!
that is great!
@RealistMe - Well, you are certainly entitled to hold that opinion but for at least 379 people, it has a point.
@SoullFire - A lot of people share similar feelings, curious what exactly the Xanga management team has been doing (or not). I look forward to hearing John speak on Alex’s radio program this coming Sunday evening.
@beowulf222 - From what I’ve seen of the free blogging sites, you get what you pay for. I think $4 a month is a very small price to pay to be a part of the Xanga community, especially if the infrastructure can be built into something better.
@CurryPuffy - Would be a great time to lend your support! Much less than the cost of a ticket to Hong Kong.
@adamswomanback - @CaKaLusa - @TaleOfAScale - @ZSA_MD -
@LSP1 - @armnatmom - @PPhilip - @saintvi - @Roadlesstaken -
@ElusiveWords - @SuSu - @Inciteful - Thanks to everyone for their support and encouragement. We talk about how much the Xanga community means to us. Well, this is the time for the community to step up and do their part. Let’s keep the enthusiasm high and reach our goal!
@Texasjillcarmel - Thanks Jill!
@christao408 - I have been toying around with Word Press and the free version gives me pretty much everything I need. Actually, it gives me so many options, it’s a bit overwhelming at first. Migrating my Xanga Blog to Word Press was a piece of cake.
Awesome.
I really admire Xanga ecosystem.
@beowulf222 - Well, that’s where we all might end up one way or another!
@YourOuterCritic - Thanks!
@cceerpp - It is a fantastic community, one that I think has a lot of value.
This is an awesome offer
. What a generous spirit. peace
@christao408- Out of those 379 people, how many of them are paid users? If they’re not paying to use this site to blog, they’re automatically excluded from being on Xanga. With that being the case, it’s like what another Xangan said on another blogger’s wall; it makes us free users feel unwelcome. I’m not saying this to spark a fight. I’m only saying this because that’s how we feel.
Since, I already transferred my best Xanga blogs to Blogster, I’m not the slightest bit worried about my blogs being deleted. I’m going to miss my Xangan friends and subscribers because realistically speaking, we’re all going our separate ways. Most Xangans are already on WordPress, whether they like it or not. However, there are those of us, who dislike WordPress because it’s too complicated to work and other reasons. I’m really hoping that some of my other Xangan friends, who know NOTHING about Xanga’s announcement, return, before I’m ousted. If they don’t, it will really suck. I’ll not only have a way of contact them, but also they’ll be in for a bad surprise, when they return and see all these changes being made without knowing about them.