Blogger vs. Xanga

59 Comments:

By merridian:

Xanga has a huge teenage population, true. However, within its membership there is also a large sector of "serious bloggers." I have never had any difficulties finding interesting, non-teenage blogs to read. Xanga is great.

posted at 8/30/2004 7:17 PM 

By Trever:

I am an avid Xanga member and after reading you little "article" I could not resist the temptation to sing up just so I could comment. Apparently you went out and just tired to find teen girls that were dumb cuz I find that very few people on there are dumb. Xanga is a place where people can go ot write what they feel; write what they want, how they want to. I am 17 and my blog is very random, yet I am a very good writer. It is place where I can go an write however I want with out being criticized by a teacher or peer for misspelled words, improper grammar, or just plain stupidity. It is a form of expression, not an college essay. Just becuase you use paragraphs, periods, and don't write in AlTeRnAtInG tExT doesn't make you an more serious, or better for that matter, and any teen aged girl who doesn't write "properly." They was never a rule on how you should write what you feel.

posted at 10/04/2004 10:35 AM 

By xangablogger93:

im both a blogger and xangan. I think both of them are really good because i can share with a lot of people

posted at 11/04/2004 5:59 PM 

By Sara:

I also have both a Xanga site and a Blog and I personally like Xanga a lot more. The set up is so much better. I can't do much on my blog so I really do nothing on it. I have it for posting pictures, and that's it. Yes, Xanga has a lot of teenagers, me being one of them. And a lot of my friends do have it so it's pretty convienient. But it's not about the other people on the site, it's about what you do with it. If you can't find anything interesting to read, search blog sites. It should be about your own personal covienience, not what others do with what they have.

posted at 12/04/2004 3:33 PM 

By Jordan:

Personally I find Xanga well-organized and easy to use. While I cannot judge blogger, because I haven't actually posted through it, I'm pleased with Xanga. I also have a livejournal through which I post sporadically. Additionally, I used Blurty for about six months before switching to Xanga and have been pleased. While you are correct that many of the bloggers on Xanga are teenagers, specifically teenage girls, that fact does not make their posts worth dismissing. I have found many Xangas which post serious content but are entertaining at the same time. Most of the more serious blogs on Xanga are not those of teenagers, admittedly, but some are, and teenage girls at that (user Schmirby, for example). I have also found Xangas which are for posting photographs (user PINKCOBRA) of very talented photographers. Satirical entries (users todaysrandomluckywinner and notagoose) are a great form of entertainment on Xanga, though the first user mentioned is a teenage boy, and the second uses personal experience as a subject more often than not. In conclusion I'm not sure you have looked at a sufficient number of Xangas to judge the majority of the population, though I agree that many of the bloggers are teenage girls who seem to have trouble forming complete sentences. If you are selective in your reading choices, you can find many high-quality Xangas just as you can find high quality Bloggers.

posted at 12/16/2004 12:42 PM 

By Brennan Keller:

ok, lets get something corrected right now. As of 12/27/04 i can not believe that xanga still has as many users as it does. I have tried both xanga and blogger and must say that from a design point of view that blogger does a much better job, not only in customizing the way your blog looks with its html editor but its default templets also are clean cut and look much better then xanga. You also get so many better things with blogger then you do with xanga. for example, if you do not want adds on your xanga site, then you have to pay for that. blogger gives it to you for free, another advantage is audio blogging, it the ways of functions and designs i believe along with the many others who used xanga and now use blogger that blogger is so much better then xanga

posted at 12/27/2004 11:39 PM 

By Lana:

Just because people don't use proper grammar or sentences doesn't mean they're stupid.The people on xanga aren't stupid. Well, not all of them anyway. Alot of those people just have them to write what they want and not have to deal with a teacher taking off points for a word spelled wrong, a sentence not connected right or any other thing like that. I know I do and i kno I'm not freaking stupid. You shouldn't be calling a bunch of people that you don't know stupid just because they can't spell perfectly. Some of those people on there could be really good writers in school who always use perfect everything on their essays. It's stupid to go putting people that you don't even know down for something so simple. It's actually really pathetic

posted at 12/30/2004 4:54 PM 

By Genie:

I feel there are plenty of extremely powerful writers at xanga. Xanga makes all of us be our own self and that matters more than anything else. Why should I tolerate someone scrutinizing my work and for god’s sake why should I be careful about my grammatical mistakes and punctuations? Pleaseeeeeee I’m not giving an exam. If I can't be myself while writing my own journal then what's the whole intention?? I’m an adult and I feel that all teenagers who hold their site at xanga also have the right to be themselves. So no one has the right to comment about all these when they don't have the detailed knowledge about XANGA.

posted at 1/26/2005 3:29 AM 

By CuRoi:

I couldn't agree more, Calico. Trever, props for providing an excellent case-in-point.

posted at 1/26/2005 2:39 PM 

By Nee:

Have tried out Blogsome. Just to see what you can do with it you should maybe visit it's Site's of the Week in it's forum at Sites of the Week

posted at 3/02/2005 1:45 PM 

By Luc:

I so agree with this post. I personally have owned a Xanga and Blogger account for about the same amount of time. After a year, I have 300 posts on Blogger and 15 on Xanga. Xanga has a lot you can do with the template, but to be honest, in the end, most Xanga sites look similar in layout anyway. Blogger, on the other hand; now that's different. True, they don't have a lot of pre-designed templates, but, if you'll take a look at my site, you'll see that you can change quite a bit. Yes, you need to know a little html, but it's not bad. In fact, there are plenty of places out there to download free Blogger templates.

Overall, Blogger is easier to use and understand. Xanga, however, has a lot of users who are connected to each other, which makes for a strong community. That is a plus. However, the benefits of Blogger out-shine Xanga 10 to 1.

posted at 3/09/2005 1:24 AM 

By jonathan:

CaT BaSHiNg tIme! haha. well i was searching on google for something and i saw blogger vs xanga so i decided to click on it. you don't seem to understand what a blog is

Main Entry: blog
Part of Speech: noun
Definition: an online diary; a personal chronological log of thoughts published on a Web page; also called Weblog, Web log

ref: dictionary.com

why don't we use proper grammar and punctuation? because we don't need to! why don't we let google spider our post? because we don't want them to! who wants everyone to know whats going on in their life? you use it for more of a message board then a blog. everyone targets an audience and your audience is different from a "teenage girl." blogs are more, an expression of self so let them use whatever sentences they want. mayb dat how dey tawk! but your entitled to your opinion about xanga and you expressed it. i still think your an idiot though and thats my opinion. don't think your better than anyone else because you have no idea. i personally use live journal. why? because i'm different.

posted at 3/13/2005 10:50 AM 

By leila:

For one, we can talk "appropriately", as you put it, if we really wanted to. The fact of the matter is WE DON'T HAVE TO!!! we can type like this. Or LiKe ThIs and everyone StIlL knows what we are talking about. I'm pretty sure if the people you used in your little speech knew you were using them in such a negative way they wouldn't really appreciate it that much either. you better be careful what you are saying about others. also, xanga doesn't just have to be "your friends". it is useful for many other things. it is a good way to meet people around you or people you share commen interests in. just because YOU don't know how to use it or do not understand it, well that's your problem. instead of bashing the site AND the people that use it maybe you should shut the hell up! It just shows you don't know one thing. It's pretty pathetic that you have to make your own page to sit there and say how stupid you think people are. Wow, how old are you? Seriously, people use it to let there feelings go and say how they feel and what happened during their day. Just becasue we don't want to sit there and use perfect punctuation does NOT mean we are stupid!

posted at 3/14/2005 10:11 AM 

By unPredictable7:

For the record, I have a blogger acount now. I used to have a xanga. I personally think that blogger is much better. The only downside is that I love playlists and I can't seen to find one for blogger. Anyway, the point is, I am a young teen. I can type like this: correctly. or i cn typ like thiS fulL of gramar mistakes nd stuff...But you can still understand me? Correct? I just think blogger is better because you can edit it with html. Xanga is harder to edit. That is the only reason (and for those of you who don't want to listen to a young teen, you are pre-judging me. I am not a frat gRl...) And yes i do use elipSes...cuz ther co0l...

posted at 3/27/2005 8:57 PM 

By Matthew:

xanga.com = Old Navy whereas Blogger.com = J.Crew

posted at 4/13/2005 9:55 PM 

By Lin_Hikaru_7:

Thank you for your opinions on xanga vs. blogger. They were helpful to me, but I found it a little unnerving, since I am a teenage girl, however I use blogger. Perhaps I should migrate, considering I am anything but serious in my own blog. Oh well, at least I don't type in alternating caps. Still, according to certain members of the population I am only semi-literate. None of these comments were meant to be offensive to the Author of 'Calico Cat'.

posted at 4/26/2005 1:39 PM 

By Nathan:

I believe we all now know why Trevor is an avid Xanga member.

Is it really that difficult to write in complete sentences like we are all taught to do? It makes things so much easier to read. Sure I might think in stream-of-consciousness, but most people want to be able to hear as well as see my thoughts in a clear form.

From Jonathan:
"why don't we let google spider our post? because we don't want them to! who wants everyone to know whats going on in their life?"

If there is something you don't want people to know, common sense tells us that you shouldn't post it on the world wide web. It's called that for a reason.

I sense a lot of "Xanger" out there thats completely unneeded. You people who don't know HTML and need help formatting your site, stay over in Xanga. But for those of you who are the elite, welcome to Blogger.

posted at 4/28/2005 7:09 PM 

By The Crazy One:

I have both Xanga and Blogger blogs. However, I use the blogs for different purposes. I use the Xanga when I want to talk to my friends and usually write pointless posts on how much my day "sucked" and how I believe that "school should die" (in other words, your typical teenage angst). I use Blogger when I actually feel like posting Blogs on my thoughts and posting poetry. Hence, I agree with what you said about the two sites. I also remember having trouble when I first began using Blogger (as opposed to xanga) but I got used to it fairly quickly.

posted at 4/28/2005 10:39 PM 

By smtalim:

One grouse about Blogger, is a lack of community. Xanga free blog is okay. I got an trial upgrade to Premium but their Edit tools for Mozilla Firefox sucks.

posted at 4/29/2005 12:48 AM 

By Jenn:

I do agree that blogger is easier to use than xanga. However, I believe that the object of blogging is to publicly share with friends. Most of My friends are on xanga.

posted at 5/14/2005 5:37 PM 

By Jessica:

Well I can kinda see why you'd get annoyed w/ people TyPiNg LiKe ThIs but not all people TyPe LiKe ThIs. SOME people do but some people don't. And xanga isn't only for girls. One of my friends is a guy and goes on xanga. And people go on xanga to share thoughts and m,eet new people,not to be critizied by their spelling. Yeah,my spelling sux and so does my punctuation (sp?) but its not like I am being graded on what I type.

posted at 5/21/2005 4:22 PM 

By Jessica:

*meet (told ya my spelling sux xP)

posted at 5/21/2005 4:26 PM 

By vicissitudinaire:

Ah good, I was afraid I'd have to sign up for something else just to leave a comment. I've been through all the different kinds of teenage girl blogging platforms (deadjournal, xanga, livejournal) and I can say that I enjoy Blogger a lot better than the others because of the lack of community. I admit that using the other three had a lot (ok, everything) to do with my friends using them to chronical their lives in painfully bad sentences. I got sick of the "friending" system that fueled cyber-popularity contests and the beg for more comments for the same reason. Despite the lack of feedback on my new blogger, it's a refreshing feeling to know that my writing isn't being skimmed by 100 peers only to be judged because I go beyond "lyfe suxx0rs" and whatnot.

So, thanks for the article, it only made me happier about my decision to be a more serious blogger.

posted at 6/15/2005 6:11 PM 

By vicissitudinaire:

Oh, just to follow up on some of the comments on this site, I feel that the correct usage of the English is not only a respect that should be paid to the language itself (as it is the medium of expression), but also to show your command of language and artistry. Good writers must be masters of their tool, and frankly, I laugh at the people that protest that blogs need not be written with correct English because they're not taking a test. Shame on those people that think good English should only be used for taking tests, they don't take their expression seriously at all.

[Sorry, I felt compelled to rant on this matter]

posted at 6/15/2005 6:15 PM 

By Pico:

This just steams me. It's elitist fools like yourself that say things that actually discourage people from expressing themselves. Your rational? They don't talk about subjects that tickle your interest and their skills in writing the English language aren't up to your holier-than-thou par. It's not a competition to talk about your life, nor should it be about entertaining others.

So if you want to make a blanket statement and call all users of Xanga to be "High School girls with substandard grammar", then you're both stubborn, obnoxious, and ignorant of your facts. No, many may not be as tech-savvy or have as big of an e-penis as you, but they're saying what they want, when they want, while you sit here bitching.

Trust me, the folks at Xanga aren't staying up at night just because you don't want to participate.

posted at 6/18/2005 5:40 AM 

By Nikki:

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

posted at 6/27/2005 12:03 AM 

By Juliet:

Most of my college age friends, both male and female, have xangas.

Personally, I actually enjoy the blogger interface (Spell check!) better, BUT it seems to be harder to have groups-which is one of my favorite parts of xanga.

It also depends on what blogrings you check out. I am part of several knitting groups on xanga and there are scores of older women. I am part of a webcomic group that consists mostly of males...You just have to look beyond the surface to find the *other* people.

I do have more Blogger blogs than xanga blogs... But for now, my main blog will remain my trusty xanga.

posted at 7/09/2005 1:13 AM 

By Cicero:

Looks like some commentators have a case of blog envy. I have both a Xanga, and multiple blogs on Blogger--which I absolutely love.

Xanga...is a good tool for connecting with people, but is lacking in web-ness. I really hate the dynamic URL and how the posts are archived.

Furthermore, to add to Calico's assertion about Xanga posters in general--most of them aren't very interesting and tend to bastardize the English language frequently & flagrantly through the creative usage of caps and chat-speak.

As Trever seems to indicate, Xanga is really nice for catharsis--but isn't real good for much else.

I'll have to post about it later, on both a blogspot and a Xanga.

posted at 7/27/2005 9:50 AM 

By SRN Studios:

Hahaha, this made me laugh so hard because it's so true! http://www.xanga.com/stankosky

posted at 8/02/2005 6:04 PM 

By Derek:

I would have to say that

posted at 8/17/2005 5:23 AM 

By Derek:

Sorry about the unfinished comment. Accidently clicked enter. Now onto my comment.

I have been an active user of the internet sense I was 13, I'm 20 now. Over that time, I have used many blogging tools. Including: Xanga, Bolt.com, Blogger (actually my first journal was on blogger), MySpace, LiveJournal, etc. The first blog that actually had a purpose (sarcastic rants about shit such as a website on the internet) was on Xanga.

Xanga has it's down sides. It IS indeed mostly a teenage community, and yes a lot of the people on there type poorly and some of those xangas can get pretty annoying. But the reason I've returned to Xanga is that exact same reason. I still keep in touch with some of my old high school friends through Xanga. I use Xanga to see what has been up with people and tell people what has been up with me.

Blogger is better in the respect that the layouts are fully customizable. You only need HTML knowledge. Hell, I could make my own website on blogger without even including a blog.

This is where I disagree. You begin talking about "serious blogging". What is serious blogging? There is no such thing! There are INTERESTING blogs like yours that speak about opinions on things other than their own life (such as blogger v.s. Xanga). But we all have blogs for our own purpose. Some like to complain about their lifes (whether or not its with periods or without is up to them) and some like to talk about their views on religion. Some just like the blog host they use just because they can communicate with friends. And here's my opinion on what you wrote. It should be none of your concern. In your opinion blogger is better because more users use periods and commas. More people share views on things other than their own life. More people actually have a blog that is website worthy. In my opinion Xanga is better because of the community. More people I know locally. I can keep in touch with friends through Xanga. I just found an Xanga of someone that I graduated with a few weeks ago and thats how we keep in touch.

Then theres other blogs. Except Live Journal. I find nothing good about live journal, lol. Bolt.com has more features than any of these blogs. But thats why its not really considered a blogging site. It goes into more than just blogging. MySpace is more for the user that wants to show off their pictures and meet new people.

What my point is that it all comes down to opinion and what your purpose is. If your purpose is to make a website worthy blog that could have its own .com name and a fan base, than yeah... Blogger is good. But if your purpose is just to communicate with friends and what not than Xanga is just as good.

posted at 8/17/2005 5:43 AM 

By The Gust:

I found this post interesting, because I originally changed over to Xanga from Blogger because it had "More features" than blogger. Yet as time went on I grew more and more disenchanted with the "interconnectedness" and the stupidity of most people's Xangas. I liked subscribing to my friends. I like blogrings. Yet, Xanga was irksome. Blogger was calling my name, and I came back. I've been browsing through Bloggers and Xangas without targeting anybody, but the fact remains that Blogger is ON THE MOST PART caters towards more mature people and is USUALLY more interesting to read, whereas with Xanga, it is QUITE NOTICEABLE that most people are teenagers, and most seem to be repetitive.

I am enjoying the step-up to Blogger.

posted at 9/05/2005 9:33 PM 

By lil_missazngrl_101:

well let me tell you one thing. ive had blogger before, and i do not agree with you. the reason why most of us do not use grammar or spelling or punctuation marks is because it is usually after school and who pays attention to grammar and spelling and all that crap? number two, even if we DONT use spelling and grammar and that stuff, it does NOT mean we are stupid. i use xanga a lot, almost everyday to communicate with my friends about homework. just fyi, i am currently in a GT program and has taken the SAT twice and did pretty well on it. i feel that if you are trying to make a true comparison between blogger and xanga, then you should do it unbiased this time.

posted at 9/11/2005 7:21 PM 

By Samuel Van Eerden:

You are also wrong in stating that you cannot find entries in your xanga through a google search. But dont take my word for it--do a search for:

teenwriter xanga

And then see if what comes up is the same as www.xanga.com/teenwriter and then you will realize that I am correct in this statement. Also, google even ranked my xanga (4/10). My xanga is also found through other search engines as well.

Furthermore, you can get way cooler looks through xanga (than you can through Blogger), and xanga is far easier to use.

Have a good day.

Sam

posted at 9/23/2005 12:37 PM 

By ..::[])flio([]::..:

Hehe, you are most definately correct, but you may have skipped my xanga. I do write in correct sentences (I am also a teenager (guy)). But as I said, you are right, thats just me, and most people write like this and continue to be annoying and write and wrerint in nonwreadable lanrugage aand cannot type(.)

And those who write like that and write extreemly long things bragging about themselves get the most "eprops"

I have a photoblog on xanga, (i daresay) the most visited and the directory for my school(and other friends and family) to use as their desktop backgrounds. And yet I recieve the fewest eprops.

It's kinda a strange/weird universe, Xanga is.

I am a complete Blogger fan, and I wish everyone would switch here, but I guess thats how people like it:
restricted templating accessibility, weird pink and "square" pages, advertisements at the top of the page... blah blah blah.

crazy.

reading trevers comment, it says "apparently you went out and just tried to find teen girls that were dumb cuz I find that very few people on there are dumb."

Apparantly, I disagree. If you search any name in the user search, most likely, you will find a "dumb" teen girl. No, I don't think they are actually dumb, they are writing in a way to make people read their posts and give them "eprops." I believe it's more of a popularity thing at xanga, and the "blogring" groups people try to categorize themselves in. But I'm not saying I don't do that, because I find what is interesting, and join those blogrings.

I am pretty much in the same situation as "sara" is, but I still believe the set up of blogger is by far, better.

I'm sorry, I've written too much.

posted at 9/23/2005 11:52 PM 

By Fyda:

I was a long-time Blogger user until I lost all my hosting options outside of BlogSpot (which I was very sad about, seeing as BlogSpot wouldn't support my hand-made custom templates and also wouldn't host my other non-blog pages, eg. the rest of my site). After that, I moved to Xanga.

Initially, I hated the interface (I am a Notepad coder and I _hate_ sites that restrict users to dumbed-down layout customisation tools). Now I'm afraid I might've become a little too attached to it, as my schoolfriends (predictably) all used Xanga. Not that many of them are ever worth reading. Far too many of them TyEp LiEk DiSh. And, for whatever perverse reason, they think it's "cool." If "cool" is "normal," then I must sadly concede that they are correct.

Frankly, I'm appalled by the community of teenyboppers on Xanga. I'm still uncomfortable with being a Xanga user simply because people label such users as dumb, self-absorbed, infantile illiterates who are pathetic enough to believe that writing bland, choppy, utterly BORING summaries of their daily trivialities and in-jokes is somehow interesting to people other than themselves... well, basically, because people like _you_ label Xanga users that way, and hell, _I_ do the exact same thing (bashing the mess of stupidity that is the Internet), even though I'm a 17-year-old Asian girl and, demographically speaking, I'm supposed to be one of _them_. Thing is, I've never written anything in chatspeak. Ever. It has never been an attractive idea to me to write using 'Net-popularised shorthand. I've always been a stickler for grammar and spelling; this puts me well outside the norm. But I guess respectability doesn't appeal to everyone, and if chatspeak is the norm, then chatspeak goes...

You were far too merciful in your selection of quotes to use in this post. I have seen far, far worse. I have seen bratty teenagers launching quite incoherent (yet still offensive) verbal tirades against others over petty vendettas. I have seen the endless whining of the spoilt, the materialistic slander of the superficial... and what I have seen, you, no doubt, have seen as well.

Oh well. If there's one thing I've learned from being on Xanga, it's that the idiots are just making complete fools of themselves - they don't need "smarter" people to come and prove it to them. The truly wise intellectuals know to leave the "little people" alone. There are plenty of perfectly smart, witty, original, insightful people on Xanga; haven't you noticed, though, that people in that category tend to be loners or otherwise isolated from the mainstream? How can you judge them by the standards of the masses, then? It just doesn't seem to be an instinct for such people (well, at least not the younger ones, who typically have well-justified feelings of isolation from their peers) to seek out communities of like-minded people. Sure, I'm a member of a Xanga blogring for people who can "spell and form coherent sentences," but I feel that joining it was more of a defensive, reactionary choice - it's easy to become overdefensive of your outward "superiority" if you feel surrounded by netbabbling bloggers with no sign of "intelligent" people like yourself.

Still, having said all that, I can't help but laugh at the people who so readily claim that grammar and spelling aren't important, and proceed to classify it as "crap." To those people, I would pose this series of questions: If you had to read a book written completely in netbabble by an author who obviously couldn't type, spell, or punctuate, and who had the vocabulary of a nine-year-old, just how much would you respect that author? How about if all your printed correspondence was in netbabble? What about your resume and cover letter? Your marriage certificate? The letter in the mail that tells you when a family member has passed away?

It's very sad that students these days take the language for granted and treat it just like any other school subject: once you leave the building, you don't need to use it any more. No doubt they'll lead unfulfilled lives because they don't grasp the value of learning. And, of course, they've been brainwashed by mainstream television - which, by the way, specifically panders to an audience of below-average intelligence - to believe that "the value of learning" is a dumb and cheesy catchphrase used only by aging school administrators. Oh well. Their loss. In a way, it's not really their fault. Most of them never had a fighting chance...

posted at 9/25/2005 2:05 AM 

By Magz:

They are both good places to write at and i love them both...they each have things about them that are better then the other

posted at 10/05/2005 9:28 AM 

By spence:

I myself am a blogger, and have never used xanga but of course since im in such an age bracket Ive seen many. As it was mentioned before, your examples were not the worst, not even close. Theres some seriously crazy stuff out there. You should go into this topic further and debate myspace, etc. I'd love to read something like that.

posted at 10/08/2005 8:56 AM 

By Mary CLaire Kelly:

i have an xanga....and they r awsome! we will rite like this on the internet to each othe and stuff but...in school we will rite properly....i no this is written rite either...

posted at 10/28/2005 9:58 PM 

By Mary CLaire Kelly:

by the way....why do you just refer to only teenage girls on having xangas....i have lots of guy frineds who have xangas

posted at 10/28/2005 10:02 PM 

By Mary CLaire Kelly:

only*

posted at 10/28/2005 10:03 PM 

By OSAKA:

This article is a contradiction of itself. You claim that Xanga and blogger are completely different and cannot be compared, yet you compare the two throughout the entire article.

About the gramatical and spelling errors, Xanga is a place of self expression where it shouldn't matter whether you use correct punctuation or whether you capitalize the first letter in a sentance.

It really shouldn't matter. My friends and I all have xangas and we use them as a direct form of communication about our days and events. I dont capitalize anything unless i'm pissed at someone, But I do have the capability to write formally.

Judging and speciffically linking to someones xanga which "you dont like" is unfair to the person writing/creating it. If they were informed that they were going to be judged on what they wrote they would probably write in a more formal manner.

posted at 10/30/2005 10:29 AM 

By Zachary:

Both xanga and blogger have their strong points, but I definitely agree with this article. Xanga sucks from adesign and real blogger point of view which is why I just use it to hook up with my friends. There are a few well made layouts for xanga but the cool stuff with advanced javascript and rounded corners requires premium. For now I use xanga to challenge myself, for example right now I am trying to create a Xanga layout that is both readable yet nice and is baed off of the aqua them of Mac OS X tiger. In Blogger I could do this in maybe a week while in xanga I might have to edit all my posts and then add the layout, Blogger is definitely better, but Xanga has blogrings which definitely adds to Xanga's "points" in my book.

posted at 11/12/2005 3:40 PM 

By Maria:

I have a xang...but personally I like my blogger much better. Maybe that's becasue this is where I have started..or maybe it's because EVERYONE seems to have a xanga and i just can't help but rebel against them. But you are right about it being for teenage girls and Blogger being for more serious bloggers as far as I'm concerned.

posted at 12/04/2005 4:11 PM 

By Bob Erickson:

I've just moved from Xanga to Blogger. If you're a high school kid Xanga is ample. If you're a scene kid, livejournal is the choice. I am glad these exist and aren't search indexable providing really crappy HS/Scene text to overpopulate search engine results with lame randomness.

posted at 12/08/2005 10:27 AM 

By esther.:

This post has been removed by a blog administrator.

posted at 1/08/2006 8:21 AM 

By esther.:

i cannot believe i signed up just so i could comment your article. all i really got out of your whole article was your point that described all teenager girls who use xanga are dumb. you're right that some xanga girls tYpE lIkE tHiS, but that doesn't mean ALL girls type like that. it was really unecessary for you to go out of your way to find a random girl's xanga and use it for your article. as a matter of fact, it could have been any girl. but my point is, they probably won't like the fact that you used their xanga in a negative article like this. i see you have too much time on your hands to be doing all this. please, keep rude things to yourself and learn to appreciate other things just like xangans appreciate bloggers. it's a free world! who cares how teenagers type! that's why they're teenagers! i've been a xanga user for quite a while now, and it's amazing. i haven't used blogger yet, but i have no problems with xanga. it's simple to post blogs and even pictures up.

posted at 1/08/2006 8:23 AM 

By Katy:

I agree with your post, I recently started using blogger because I didn't want everyone I know to read it. I have all my highschool friends and college friends on xanga, and my family on myspace. I like Myspace's easy use the best, I stink at HTML but they have an easy design place that you fill in the blank. Xanga's not as cool a little easier than blogger but I think only because I have been using it so long. I am starting to love blogger and will just have to get over the fact that I can't make my blog look perfect!

posted at 2/02/2006 2:09 AM 

By Andy Brown:

Keep tucking your jeans into your go-go boots, because eventually blogger and those boots will come back into style.

posted at 2/04/2006 9:24 AM 

By Amber:

I think someone has to much time on there hands!! But, Cool site... Umm, Xanga is better.

Amber

posted at 2/23/2006 10:26 AM 

By Amber:

Whats the point in this site again? To get people away from Xanga!? HA! It's to late for this site.. Xanga is well used by so many people! And they love it.. Come check out my site on Xanga!! FckItGetStnd__xx It don't matter to me if you like it or not.. I LOVE XANGA!!!

Amber

posted at 2/23/2006 10:30 AM 

By hoogli:

you obviously have not seen xangans, such as argumentsfromtheleft, argumentsfromtheright, and trotsky311. the majority of xangans are crap, but i only visit the other 10%

posted at 3/17/2006 4:51 PM 

By Pedro101:

I'm 24 and post on Xanga regularly. If you look hard enough you can find blogs worth reading. Also, Xanga has added many new features, such as a Photoblog (still in Beta), upgraded profiles, and archive searches for classic users. My site is http://xanga.com/pedrothepoet if you are interested. Take care.

posted at 4/14/2006 9:00 PM 

By Kelly Siew:

I think stereotyping is generally not a good idea. I've used xanga for 2 years now (blogger for 3 and now another blogger account since i've forgotten the old one, but i hardly post anything there)

I've found a lot of xangarians with interesting post. And there r a lot of people in their 20's using it.

It's true that xanga is much more userfriendly than blogger and u don't need to know much html to use it. but it doesn't mean it's for stupid people.

features like subscribing to ur friends' blog so u can read them all at once, playlist listing, posting protected post (only ppl on ur sub list can read it), and the most important of all xanga tracker, are the reason I chose to post regularly on xanga.

just my 2 cents.

posted at 5/08/2006 10:39 PM 

By Clay:

So true.
I have a Xanga and a Myspace, but only so I can comment on others' Xangas and Myspaces. All I do with them is post a hyperlink to my blog...

posted at 5/09/2006 5:36 PM 

By Clay:

"/"???
What is that?
I typed "only" in italics...

posted at 5/09/2006 5:38 PM 

By HawaiiDerek:

both are helpful to fostering online community. as for criticizing punctuation .. language changes. deal with it.

here is some english from 1418:king henry V as an example. you can correct the grammer if you'd like - i got lost:

By þe Kyng: Worshipful fader in God. We sende you closed herewiþynne. two supplicacions taken vnto vs þetoone yn name of
Thomas Brounflet knight Robert Wiclyff clerc / and Iohn Ellerker / and þe toþer in name of Robert Wiclyff person of þe
chirche of Rudby and William Reson chaplein. to þat eende / þat we wolde yeue hem licence to enfeffe
Iohn hohom knight / william ake and Robert Constable Escuier yn þe Manoirs of Baynton. Birdsale. Doncastre. Rosyngton &
Bramham in yorkshire with þappertenances so þat þey beyng in possession / þerof might enfeffe

posted at 6/05/2006 5:38 PM 

By desolate beach:

Iam quite tempted to do blogger. I've have been a Xangan for years now, and yes there had been multiple issues as you mentioned above why I want to do blog on blogger instead.

Xanga is easier which is true and is accessable to other Xanga users, but terrible to outsiders. The fact and only premium users can have archives is Hell! useless without it quite honestly. I hope someday the Xangateam, who I have much respect will give thoughts about the archiving capability of their blogs.

I have just build my own blogger site today with a first entry that goes with the same topic such as this, but in a more doubting view.

If you have time you can check my site out.

http://www.xanga.com/desolate_beach
I promise you I am not a teenage girl.

posted at 6/20/2006 8:32 AM 

By Hrodwulf:

I agree with your post, Calico. Blogger is much more professional and for "serious bloggers." The fact that people get so bent out of shape over Xanga is just evidence of their immaturity. The whole scene of teen angst present on Xanga (and even a few on blogger) is utterly pointless and an excuse for high schoolers to waste time. believe me, I was there. I had Xanga, LiveJournal, the whole nine yards. Suddenly I asked myself a purely dialectic question (once I got to college mind you). "Self," I said, "what are the purpose of blogs, anyways?" I didn't have an answer. In other words, face it, emo high schoolers, NOBODY CARES ABOUT YOUR DAILY PATHETIC LIFE. It's true, it shocked me as well. News blogs, blogs by serious writers, these are things others want to read. The other argument, that you just want to keep in touch with friends, doesn't hold either. Blogs are too impersonal for this weak excuse. why not call your friends? Preserve human interaction? In their worst form, blogs are the epitome of vanity. We want people to see our black-backgrounded, ObScUre, pseudo-complex lives and the thought of that further feeds our ego. Anyways, by all means, write what you feel, write what you want. Get a nice paper journal. Ressurect the art of hand-writing. But if you insist on using the internet to talk about your gym class, don't expect anyone but other people with gym-class blogs to care. Otherwise, try and write something worth reading.

posted at 7/25/2006 1:51 AM 

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