April 1, 2009

• Xanga Drama: Recommend This Post!

  Introduction to Drama (A Xanga pastime) and other things this April Fool's Day

  I've been "on the internet" for a little over ten years now. I'll be turning 56 years old on May 1st, so I'm finally convinced I'm an "old man", even if I don't feel too much like it until I look in the mirror or attempt to stand up and walk around. As I've written so many times, I made a concerted effort to learn HTML, establish a "web presence", and start creating web pages back in 1999 because I found that 12 year olds (who are now 22 year olds) had websites, and I didn't want to live in a world where I didn't speak the dominant language, that of "cyberspeak".

  In those ten years, I've attempted quite a few times to "make a name for myself" online. I've created graphics, videos, written reams of words (well, "reams" is the wrong word for the internet, but you understand the metaphor) and self promoted myself to infinity. I use my real name, in hopes that those who wish to "find me" can easily do so. My "online life" is inextricably coupled with my "real" life. Unlike those 22 year olds, with whom the internet, cell phones, and the dozens of modern conveniences which didn't exist back when I was 22, are thought of as needful things, I can "shut down" the internet at any time and not really miss not having it around. I might be a relic, but I'm a wired relic, who, through the wisdom of age and experience, knows that the cyberworld is not only a great boon to communication, and a blessing to agoraphopes, but a vast "place" where differing opinions, snarky commentary, ill advised put downs, and quarrelsome ideas all live side by side. Again, as I've written before, "truth and bullsh*t coexist side by side on the internet, sometimes on the same website."

  One can find pretty much whatever he wants on the internet, and social networking sites like Xanga have made it easy for pretty much anyone, including the populace at large, and wired old geeks like me, along with people who don't really "know" computers, to create blogsites, show the world their opinions and observations, and participate in this vast cyberworld of opportunity and disappointment.

  Sometimes, in an attempt to promote my "art and literature" online, I really spend a lot of time with social networking. Over the past few months, I've been "busy" what with the move, and the always hectic work schedule, so I haven't really followed a lot of the bloggers in the Xangasphere. Because I've been on this service for almost half a decade, and have lots of "friends" and subscribers, the few entries I've written or posted (about one or two a week) do get comments, and I can still feel part of the community as I respond to those comments, and visit a few "regulars". Now that I'm settled in the "real world", I've begun to promote and to socialize again, and therein lies the rub.

  I want to talk a bit about some of what I've experienced since I've been "back" on a full time basis.

  When I joined Xanga, in 2004 (hence baldmike_2004, my Xanga username) Xanga had been around for four years. From doing online research, I believe I can say with some veracity that Xanga was the first "blogging community" in cyberspace, which allowed  bloggers to  communicate with each other using comments. I already had a few blogs on Blogspot when I came "over here", and I immediately forsook writing them to concentrate full time on my Xanga, BECAUSE of the comments. Most of the folks I came in contact with, for the most part, are still actively blogging and are still subscribers or readers to this blog, and vice versa. I think for the most part, that's how Xanga blogging works. A person starts a blog, and if they wish to be social, they visit others whose blogs they think are interesting, and develop a dialogue. This dialogue can last for years. I "met" my last girlfriend on Xanga, and we're still friends. Most of us keep this small coterie of "friends" for our "Xangalife". When someone in a group of friends leaves the service without notifying anyone, the others in the group start to worry, and one can view dozens of "hope you're allright' messages and comments on the abandoned blog. I really like this sense of community among friends. A lot of Xangans have confessed, in their blogs, that they offer up more of themselves on Xanga than they do "in real life". Recently, when Xanga added the "publish this entry to your Facebook profile" feature (I already had the RSS feed sending blog entries to my Facebook account) I could sense some grousing about the feature, because a LOT of Xangans use their blog to "let it all hang out" and have "real" friends on Facebook who they don't want reading their blogs.

  I find this fascinating. So there ARE boundries, even among those 22 year olds for whom the real and cyberworld are more enmeshed than for me.

  The Xangaworld has a meeting place on their "front page". A lot of you don't even visit the front page, and are content, like I am most of the time, to visit our own friends, let it all hang out, and reciprocate without ever having to read or care about what might seem "interesting" or "vital" to the blogging world at large, or at least it's Xanga constituency.

  Four years ago, the most "famous" Xangan I could name would probably be the regal Lord Pineapple, the nom de internet of "real life" poet and writer Terry Cuthbert, based in London, England. Terry passed away a few years ago. In 2004, he wrote multiple blogs, using multiple personalities, and was well known amongst a large group of Xangans. Since I wanted to become a "popular" blogger here, I befriended Terry, and got to know some of the people he knew pretty quick. He told me in comments that I would definitely become pretty popular, because my blog was one of the better written, and more interesting around at the time.

  The next most famous Xangan to emerge was, and is, to this day, Dan the Theologian. I don't even really need to tag him or link him. Everyone on Xanga, even the newbies, have heard about Dan. His early "blogging style" of asking questions amongst his readers, which fueled all the wriing challenge blogs, and the "Featured Question" of the day, hit a nerve among bloggers on this service, and with each entry, Dan seemed to become more and more the "king of Xanga". He also, from the very beginning, would offer advice to bloggers like me who wanted to become more "famous" and get more readers and comments.

  Another "famous" Xangan is Daniel Vacerrelli, or Drakonskyr. I'd call him a "nihilisitc blogger" who is popular in spite of the fact he regularly berates his readership. He's a true individual, and doesn't appeal to everyone. I admit it took me a while to "get" Daniel's blog, as it took me a while to "get" Terry's many personas. But this is the internet, and we can "be" whomever we want to be. That's a blessing and a curse.

  In early 2008, I began to notice a group of Xangans, some pretty new to the service, who began to rack up large readerships. Utilizing the featured status generated by "stars" then prevalent on the front pages, this group of "Xangalebrites" fed off of each other, and befriended Dan the Theologian, who mentioned their entries on his posts. Popularity ensued for a select group, and now one can troll the front pages of Xanga (Now there is "Most Rec'd", "Top Blogs", and "Featured", and again, I'm not going to supply links, since they're all listed on www.xanga.com anyway.) and see the same profile names appearing again and again. A lot of these bloggers probably get their news from Jon Stewart at the Daily Show (or on tmz.com) and could be classified as humorous/satirical writers. A lot of the time they write about Xanga. (blogging about blogging is known as "metablogging") They link to each other, and they've developed vast followings instead of small friendships.

  A lot of what gets "featured" doesn't interest me or a lot of my readers. What does interest me, as a student of sociology, is the general tone of "drama" that some confrontations, observations, and discussions seem to generate, coupled with the mention of such drama on these "popular blogs", with their large readerships, who in turn keep the "drama" going.

  For instance, a while  ago, a blog appeared seemingly written by an internet celebrity blogger called Perez Hilton. (No, not PARIS Hilton, this is a guy, and he writes celebrity gossip on perezhilton.com.) His blog was introduced, spread around the xangasphere, and the big question of course was whether or not the Xanga was written by the "real' Hilton or one of the Xangalebrities as a joke. For some, this generated "drama". See, it's quite easy for somebody to create multiple blogsites, then recommend the blog entry they want to be on the front page of Xanga. If they get the eye of Dan the Theologian, or any of the Xangalebrities du jour,  and get linked or mentioned on those blogs, then a firestrorm of popularity ensues, or lambasting, name calling, etc.

  It reminded me of all the Miley Cyrus sites that started popping up on Xanga a few years ago when the young pop diva first became a household word. I don't watch the Disney channel, and I didn't even know who she was, when I began seeing dozens of people claim to be Miley Cyrus.

  I don't think there was too much "drama" surrounding this, because there wasn't a network of "Xangalebrities" pointing fingers and promoting "drama".

  Well, the circle has revolved completely around, as it is wont to do. This is April Fool's Day, and I decided to take a gander at the front page again this morning to check out if there were any Xanga Fool's Jokes being perpetrated on Top Blogs. There, at Number 7, was Miley Cyrus' first entry. In it, she mentions the "if Perez can do it", so can she.

  To add insult to injury, her entry is linked by none other than Dan the Theologian himself.

  I have nothing against anyone who wants to play around with the system, to create multiple blogs so that they can recommend their posts to the front pages. Go have fun. It's April Fool's Day, so act as foolish as you want.

  Those of us with real content and substantial histories here on Xanga will still be doing what we do when all the fake sites and drama disappear. We'll be content with 15 comments an entry because those comments will be real and truly heartfelt. Who will be the "last blog standing" as it were? I doubt if it will belong to Perez on X or Miley on X.

  It might just belong to Baldmike_2004 whose been on "X" for a while now. No drama, no lies, no foolishness.

  ---

  Again, I want to point out that I'm using the Miley site entry for a point. I don't know who set up the new Miley site. (it's got a generic Xanga 'theme' whereas the real Miley would have a brand labelled background, etc.) The 4/1 entry on Dan's site is an April Fool's joke. But seeing what the Perez site generated in terms of vitriol, I can assume that there will be "drama" generated over the Miley site. But this is just speculation on my part. MFN/ppf

  • 11:03 am
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