Im pretty sure i could find a way to die in the game, haha i always do!

Dear Scott,

I'm attempting again to go around and make visits. Just haven't had the energy to blog lately. (I'm on my 2nd day back at work (in a row). Woot woot.) I've been dropping by here but just haven't commented, and forgive me, but I won't be commenting on this review, but on the overall impression I've got from some of your posts and vblogs.

First of all, many hopes that you either can be awarded "editor" status on the Xanga game site, or otherwise be able to exercise your ideas. I could sense the frustration in some of your vblogs about the subject, which obviously is important to you. Have you ever thought of perhaps just setting up your own website? So many people here on Xanga seem so compartmentalized. There's a whole internet out there, and Xanga is only one of the building blocks. I'm using Hostway for my main site (www.allthingsmike.com) I had great plans for this year, it's 10th anniversary online, but "real life" (having to physically move me and all my stuff, a lengthy hospital stay and recuperation) sort of got in the way of my plans.

Some of your entries deal with traffic. I find I rarely even go to the front pages of Xanga that much anymore. (I will tend to pay attention if one of my entries is "featured" but that happens only rarely, and usually if I'm writing about Xanga itself, which, if you'll forgive me, I find a somewhat tired subject. Some of my websites, even the ones which I created as "standalones" without updating, are still top of the search charts for those subjects. (Robots, The Betty Boop Pages, and Clowns, for instance, are still pretty popular among the search engines.) I've tried to use my Xanga to promote my main site, but for the most part, as with all the internet, I find that I collect certain forms of traffic to certain sites and blog entries. If I "know" someone on Xanga, then chances are I'll "know" them in this forum, and if they leave for another forum, I'll "lose" them. I don't know about the "Xangafamous" who "branch out" and create their own forums, but I'll surmise that they don't get as much traffic, or at least as much interaction, on their own URLs unless their sites are really fantastic. I speak as one who started with his own site (which I believe is one of the better personal sites on the internet) and still tries to maintain a good deal of traffic. I've put comments features on my "non Xanga" pages, to replace the old "guest books" and while I will get the occasional comment, I still find that for the most part, my "audience" remains on Xanga. I think this will prove true for almost anyone who blogs here and then tries to "branch out".

Interesting "conversation" between you and Dave in an entry below with the subject of Michael Jackson. Even though I was not actively blogging, I did feel compelled to write a tribute blog because of his originality and overall fame. I have read quite a few entries on Xanga about Jacko's passing, from reverential, to scathing attacks. The truth is that he is one of the premier celebrities of the past 50 years or so, and his passing was pretty much a shock, as he died pretty young. As a "student of popular culture" I had to write an entry about him, just as I wrote about the passing of other cultural icons. I never for a moment even thought that my entry would be "featured".  Throughout my time on the internet, which could be considered quite a while at over a decade now, I have found that my blogs/sites about popular cultural icons, such as Betty Boop, or Buddy Holly, generate the most traffic, while entries containing my own poetry or videos only attract my own "fanbase" and are not universal. My (own) artisitc videos on YouTube and Xanga do not generate as much traffic as my videos mashing up movie images of Elvis Presley or Betty Boop. This is because people search for Elvis and Betty, and not for "Michael F. Nyiri". Sad, but true. I went to the Xanga search bar the day after MJ passed away, and typed in "Michael Jackson". As you mention, I didn't see any tributes on the "front page". I don't know whether this was intentional or not. (And I guess I don't care.)

Kudos to you for being an "active" member of the Xanga community, with solid opinions, and with a real need to make improvements. I read a lot of "popular Xangans" who seem to keep blogging about the same things over and over. Heck, I've been writing "blogs" even before there was a name for them. (My 2000 "ElectricPoetry Diaries" for instance. ) After a few years, if one does not have a specific "talent" and content to post, then it must be incredibly difficult to keep coming up with ideas to blog about.

One last thought. (I've been "away" for a while, and I seem to be "ranting" here, and none of this has anything to do with your entry, apologies again.) I've always been interested in how some can create "personalities" which are false and be able to keep up those appearances on message boards, blogs, etc. One of my ideas for an "art project" on the internet  was to "create" a dysfunctional family, such as a wirter would outline characters for a novel. Then I'd create blogs for each of them, and develop a "plot" to stoke the blog entries. These "family" members would interact with each other, and develop their own "real" audience. I wouldn't let the cat out of the bag, until after the blogs had been active for about a year, and hopefully, some of the interaction with other bloggers would create some soap opera itself. One of the ideas I had was that the "father" sexually molested his daughter, and she creates a blog, but he doesn't know it's his daughter, and he tries to hit on her again in cyberspace. The possibilities are endless. I never began this experiment, because it would take FAR too  much of my time, but I still would like to see some sort of "blog novel" where the characters are not necessarily "real" but fully imagined characters as in a novel. The blogs themselves would be the content of the story.

As usual, I had a great visit.

Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool

@x_jennababy - The FBI cares. You've been reported. Ta ta, Child Porn spreader! You're still nothing more than a whore.

@x_jennababy - I have no problem with nudity. I have a problem with whores like you; and child pornography, like yours. I love Xanga, and I'd rather not see it get into trouble just because you wanted to paste that farce of an ass all over this site. If you truly had a guy, you wouldn't NEED men fawning over you on a WEBLOG. No matter how you slice it, you're a whore. You need to grow up and realise that you aren't free to do whatever you wish without consequence. And your actions could seriously damage this site with lawsuits. Or weren't you aware of the $1mil fines Xanga got for having under-13 kids on their site? Imagine what they'd have to pay if it was found out that there was child porn on here.

Go post on Redtube when you turn 18. Otherwise, stop putting this community in danger just because you're a desperate little whore.