June 5, 2013

  • My blog hosting site might close

    Relaunching Xanga: A Fundraiser

    So Xanga is in a money crunch.  This sucks.  Though I can't say I'm very surprised.  It's just really hard to make money as a blog hoster.

    As a general rule, I don't pay for web services.  Same goes for mobile apps.  I only use web services (blogging, photo hosting, etc...) or mobile apps that are free.  But Xanga, is one of the few things where I did pay.  I used to blog a lot.  I used to have a lot more to say.  Or maybe I just used to make more time to say what's on my mind by formulating a story and including references and pictures.  I'll admit that it was my transition to Twitter that led to my sudden, almost complete, blogging silence.  It's not that I don't like blogging.  I just got lazy.  It was faster to scream 140 characters (including spaces) into the void than to properly compose a compelling story.

    And were it not for the sheer fluke of seeing coolmonkey's most recent blog at the top of my subscription screen, I might not even have realized that Xanga was in such dire straits.  And then when I read his blog post before that, I realized he'd already scooped me...cuz his rage was basically my reaction.

    Anyways...I was one of those who paid $100 for a Lifetime membership (I don't even remember when I paid, but for sure it was way more than 4 years ago).  So I was wondering what would happen if Xanga achieves their fundraising target.  What would that mean for me?  It wasn't in the blog post where they announced the fundraiser, but sifting through the comments, I eventually found this.

    "At various times over the past decade, we've sold Lifetime Premium memberships for $100. Because we normally charge $25 for a year-long Xanga Premium membership, this means that after 4 years of Xanga Premium service, your Xanga Premium has been free.

    As mentioned above, the current Xanga Premium program is being shelved. But we will be offering credits in the new system for all Lifetime Premium members, at the rate of $25/year. If it's been a year since you bought a Lifetime Premium membership, we will give you a credit of $75. If it's been two years, you'll receive a credit of $50; three years = a credit of $25. If it's been more than four years, you won't receive a monetary credit but we will find another way to offer you something special as a thank you.

    If the fundraiser is successful, then all Lifetime Premium credits can be used towards Xanga blogging memberships."

    So...$25/year, eh?  Honestly...considering how much my blogging has dropped off, I couldn't possibly justify it.  It's not a lot of money.  I waste more money on my gym membership by not going enough.  But the fact that I pay a gym membership motivates me to go...or makes me feel guilty about not going.  A blogging fee would just annoy me...especially since I have so many other options for blogging that are free.  While I vastly prefer Xanga to Blogger (yes, I've also had one of those accounts for years), I wouldn't be willing to pay $25/year for it. 

    My blog hosting site can't be a charity case.  While I understand the struggle, Xanga is a business.  And if the business model isn't sound, then the business will fail.  The charity part will just delay the inevitable.

    While I hope that Xanga can find a way out of it, I can also see that their vision for the future isn't aligned with mine.  Considering how many other true charities their are out there, I simply cannot justify contributing money to a failing business that will implement a model of which I don't wish to parttake.  Especially since they saw the writing on the wall years ago and basically did diddly-squat about it.

    Quite frankly, I would rather donate my money to saving polar bears.


    Source: http://www.naturepl.com/pictures/dpb.jpg

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