May 29, 2011
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Five Old Xanga Features I Miss
1. This isn't a feature, but I kind of miss the old days when, in order to respond to someone's comment, you would leave them a comment on their page starting with "RYC" (Response to Your Comment). Sure, it's convenient just to reply to people in one place, but there was something nice about seeing RYC comments on a weblog.
2. Photos.xanga.com and Videos.xanga.com. Xanga used to feature the top-viewed photos and videos of the day via these directories. Of course, it was easy to abuse those lists (hello porno!) but it was also very cool to see what was popular on Xanga in terms of photos and videos, too. I understand why it's gone. But I did meet some of my Xanga friends via using that.
3. Metros. Another idea that had lots of potential for abuse. Hey there, people in my area, I see you! But I loved that if, say, I was moving to a different town, I could just check out the metro for that town and see if any Xangans who lived there seemed interesting.
4. Xanga TV. For about a year or two, a lot of folks did Xanga TV shows. It was cool to broadcast oneself via webcam (look mom, I'm on TV!) and then have your Xanga friends chat with you in the chatbox below. It can still be done via other sites, but I miss the initial charm of it all.
5. Hand-picked Top Blogs. Yes, some featured content was better than others, and there were always people complaining that they never got chosen. But some posts were so beautiful, and it was nice seeing what THE post of the day would be.
Ah, how amusing to be nostalgic for technological features. Your own choices?
Comments (51)
I have a little nostalgia for the starred rating system, but mostly because I have this nifty "Five Star Blogger" pillow, that no one gets anymore.
Well, they get it, but it's just not an active feature.
I definitely agree with 2. I don't agree with the last one because I think people picking featured were pretty stupid.
i remember the RYC, hah. it took me a bit to catch onto the reply feature
Why did they get rid of XTV, anyway?
Those festures sound like they had lots of advantages.
I totally miss searching by metro
I feel like no one even knows where Kansas City is, let alone lives there.
M
Man, RYC is what made my older blogs popular haha. It was nice cos it forced people to go to your blog if they wanted to reply.
I was wondering about XTV too... I didn't even know they'd taken it out for quite awhile >.>
I liked when Top Blogs used to get 300+ comments every time, because it was more selective. It felt almost like an honor to be put up there. Now, it's just whatever.
I miss hand-picked top blogs SO much.
I forgot about some of those things. I just miss xangans that use to be on here.
i dont know about any of these, but they sound awesome.
they should have a feature where if you don't actively comment on at least half of the people that you've added/subbed to, then they will automatically be deleted from your friend list within 1-3 months, which you can pick the time span to give them time to catch up and read/comment. sometimes you don't have anything to comment on a blog, but at least swing by sometimes to say hi or something to know that they are paying attention, so that people can't add people to collect names or be conceited by not reading/commenting on others' blogs when they read/comment on theirs
like some people add me but have not visited my blog once, which reminds me that I'm going to delete them now.
Agreed.. I miss the old Xanga. Now, it's just a little too much about everyone wanting to be popular and not blogging about themselves or what matters to them. It sucks
i do miss xanga TV.
I miss xanga tv. I did it once. it was fun.
also i miss RYC.
@P0RCELA1N_D0LL - Yeah, sometimes I kind of wish there was a way of keeping my list fresher. It's such a pain to delete people, I normally don't, but it can be annoying when you realize some people never leave you comments, right?
@methodElevated - I think not enough people were using it? Not sure.
Yeah, I know what you mean about #1.
I've been on here since 2003, is it bad that I have no idea about the other four? -.-
I miss coming on here more and understanding who everyone was and what the gossip was. And I actually miss some of the annoying bloggers who used to be here- it was kind of fun to have drama occurring on one compartmentalized place that I could leave for any amount of time any time I wanted to. I don't miss the rec things though- towards the end that I observed it (I've been hiatusing on and off for the past year in terms of doing more than just updating my own blog) it would have the same blogs up for way too long, and the content was often just trifling fluff (no offense to writers of trifling fluff) that wasn't particularly amazing or really a good way to advertise the general content of the website. And even when there was good stuff, it was just up for *too long* -if someone hasn't seen it in the first three days it's on the front page, they won't be seeing it ever!
I totally agree with the Xanga TV and the hand-picked top-blogs. Making it to front page seems less of an accomplishment and more of an idle moment of 'nifty'.
Xanga used to have a metros feature? I do wish they still had that.
I sort of miss the Xanga TV feature. I kept wanting to try it out but decided against it. You seem to be my most frequent visitor lately so i thought I'd better return the favor.
I'm nostalgic for a comment editor that really worked, and the old CLAF/skins
i still use the super-old home page, so i'm good
I miss Xanga using all the html and stuff. I hated the themes when I first saw them and I still don't like them as much.
I miss when i could see people accessing my xanga through facebook on footprints. Now i can only see it on suhock.
I miss the old Look & Feel editing... my old Xanga was so pimped out, haha!
Number 5, for sure.
And Xanga TV.
Oh, hand-picked top blogs. Back when I actually cared if I made it up there.
Not really a feature, but when I used to rely on HTML for my blog apperance.
Gah, this brings me back...
I really, really miss #2. I miss the old Xanga.
I think a lot of people left when it changed to it's current format.
I miss the old Xanga so much.
I don't know any of these features, hah. the xanga tv sounds fun though!
I miss the featured posts,photos and videos too.
Funny, I don't remember any of these features, and I've been a member since August 2001. I guess I was just stuck on blogging.
It appears to me xanga was once a better place. How did it get worst?
I miss the metro too. it was nice to know who was on xanga from my area. shore we can join groups but many of the people apart of groups don't stay active. :/
I miss RYC and Xanga tv and metros. Those are the good old xanga days. =(
Hand picked top blogs are the big one for me, imho.
Featured Weblogs should definitely make a return! Apparently it's time consuming for the team to do it, but it's worth it.
I only recently realized Xanga TV was gone. Why did they take it off?
Seems like we used to be able to click on a screen-name on the front page and be taken to the individuals main page rather than a particular entry. That way I could check out a controversial poster without it looking like I incredibly interested in their current nonsense-filled post AND I could check out several of their most recent posts.
Xanga was good circa. 2005, 2006 days.
i feel sooo young reading this
I miss the metros as well! ): And while this isn't a feature or anything, they've changed "blogrings" to "groups" now. That kind of pisses me off. Blogrings was so cool because no other site called them that [not that I knew of, anyway].
I miss when people blogged about their lives instead of blogging about random issues that everyone else has blogged about.
@RulerofMasons - The demographic of bloggers on here completely changed.
I'm new here and know nothing about those features, I just wish I could build up a readership! lol
I definitely agree with number 5.
I don't really remember 2, but the others I do miss. Oh, and the old groups / web-rings.
good morning sir! I was bored this morning and kind of procrastinating getting ready for my cousin's graduation, soo.. http://dailybooth.com/CampCutie91. yayzzz.
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