This is the story leading up to my, Lex Luthor’s bid to be the Dark Knight of Xanga per Saintvi’s Contest. (which will happen later today)

**************

A bald headed man, impeccably dressed in a dark blue suit arrived in
Gotham on the morning of July 23rd on his own private jet.  He was
escorted off his plane by his own private retinue including several
large men in black suits wearing shades and a beautiful and yet serious
faced woman at his side punching information into a table PC and
talking rapidly to the man about matters of schedules and priorities.
The bald man seemed to ignore her as he stepped off the plane, champagne glass in hand and a fake smile upon his face.



He was met off the plane by the Commissioner and the mayor and a crowd
of reporters. As soon as he stepped off the plane he was inundated with
questions shouted out by the reporters.



“Is it true?”



“Mr Luthor? Can I have a moment of your time?”



“How about an exclusive interview?”



The commissioner ordered his officers to force the crowd back.



Gordon: “Give the man some space! He just arrived. I’m sure there will
be plenty of time for him to answer your questions later.”



Nephyo: “Why thank you commissioner… Gordon wasn’t it? I’ve heard a lot about you.”



Gordon scowled at the bald man.



Gordon: “I’m sure you have. But I hope you know Gotham isn’t like
Metropolis. We don’t stand for any funny business around here.”



Nephyo: “Why… whatever do you mean? I’m simply here on my vacation.”



“That’s not what I heard!”



A voice chimed in from the crowd of reporters as a woman pushed her way
forward weaving through the officers with ease.  The fake smile left
the bald man’s face for the first time. But it was back momentarily.



Nephyo: “Well well well… If it isn’t Lois Lane. Isn’t a trip all the way to Gotham a bit outside of your pay scale?”



She ignored the quip.



Lois: “The rumor is that you’re here entering the Dark Knight Contest
Mr. Luthor. Do you really think the citizens of Gotham will pick you a
known criminal and terrorist over their own sworn protector!?!”



Luthor laughed softly.



Nephyo: “As you well know Ms. Lane, I’ve already been exonerated from
all wrong doing. So I’d appreciate it if you not spread false rumors
about me. I’m sure your paper doesn’t want to deal with yet another
Libel suit.”



Luthor then leaned closer to her menacingly looming over her and whispered.



Nephyo: “And you’d also be wise to remember your blue boyscout won’t be able to save you out here.”



Lois: “You don’t frighten me Lex. I — “



Just then a roaring sound broke through the buzz of the crowd. A
motorcycle came roaring through the crowd skidding to stop just in
front of the plane. A handsome man and a gorgeous woman dismount from
the motorcycle taking off their helmets.  The man gives the woman a
long and passionate kiss before turning removing his shades and
sauntering up to Luthor’s retinue.



Legendairy: “So you’re the great Lex Luthor! Bruce Wayne. I’m honored to finally meet you.” 



He extended his hand and smiled radiantly into the scowling face of the bald billionaire. Luthor ignored his hand.



Nephyo: “So you’re Gotham’s resident trust fund kiddy. I’m afraid I
don’t share your enthusiasm over finally meeting. I hope you don’t
consider us equals. My fortune was earned through sweat and blood not
like your lucky inheritance. And Wayne industries has been a thorn in
the side of Luthorcorp for far too long.”



Wayne ignored his scowling rival’s obvious disdain. He walked right up
to Lex and wrapped an arm around him still grinning pleasantly.



Legendairy: “Oh come come Lex! We two businessmen can surely settle our
differences while you’re here! Let me show you around Gotham. I’m
telling you you’re going to love the party scene around here.”



A limo appeared as if by Magic before the two and Bruce escorted his
commandeered guest away leaving a crowd of shocked reporters staring
open mouthed after them.



******



Later that evening Lex arrived in his private penthouse sweet looking
utterly disgusted. He gave his jacket to his secretary who rattled off
a list of obligations and appointments he would have to meet the next
day.



Nephyo: “Ugh. Just make sure I *don’t* have to deal with that Bruce Wayne.”



Secretary: “Yes sir, Mr. Luthor.”



Nephyo: “So how are my chances looking in the Dark Knight contest.”



Secretary: “I estimate about a 30% chance of victory at this point.”



Lex scowled.



Nephyo: “What! Isn’t my money enough to convince these groveling fools to vote for me?”



Secretary: “Well we’ve managed to purchase all the votes we can but
many of the ordinary citizens can’t be bought. They’re loyal to the
Batman.”



Nephyo: “Nonsense! Everyone can be bought. Keep trying!”



Just then laughter echoed throughout the room. Luthor turned quickly pulling out a gun.



Nephyo: “Who’s there!”



Out of the shadows a disturbing looking man in clown clothing and
makeup all over his face danced out of the darkness shuffling a deck of
cards. Behind him a woman in a Jester outfit juggled five colored balls
rapidly while skipping back and forth.



Nephyo: “Oh it’s you.” 



Joker: “Lexy poo. How’s ya bin old man?” 



The Joker laughed maniacally. Luthor knew well the madness in this clown’s eyes.



Nephyo: “What do you want. Clown.”



Joker: “I couldn’t help but over hear you’re having a little itty bitty problem with a certain Bat. I think I can help you with that.”



Luthor grunted in disgust.



Nephyo: “You? How long have you been dealing with Gotham’s bat
infestation with minimal results. And he’s just a man with no super
powers. Pathetic. What do I need your help for? Besides I don’t care
about the Batman. I’m here to win the Dark Knight contest.”



Joker: “Oh why do you want to win that dusty old contest anyway?”



Harley Quinn: “Yeah why? why? why?”



Nephyo: “As any idiot knows that winning the Dark Knight contest is the
key to controlling the land of Xanga which has enormous power and
influence. Through their power I will be able acquire all the Kryptonite
I need to implement my plans.”



Joker: “Hohoho! You think the Gothams and the Xangans will vote for
*you*??!?!?  Hahahahahahahaaaaa!  You’re crazier than I am old man.
Isn’t he Harly? Hahahaaa!”



Harley Quinn: “Yeah you’re right Mr. J! He’s crazy! Crazy! Batty! Off
his rocker! A few cards short of a full deck! A few screws—”



Joker: “Shutup!  No you need my help Luthor old boy. You’re new to this
town. You don’t realize the Batman’s got them all wrapped around his
little finger. No if you wanna win this contest you’re gonna need me.”



Nephyo: “Alright I’m listening. What exactly do you propose.”



Joker: “It’s simple. Kill the Batman.”



Nephyo: “And *you* can help me with that?”



Joker: “Oh of course! Of course! I know all his weaknesses. Together
with your wealth and  my… uh… hair, how could we lose?
HA! hahahahaaaa!”



Just then the sound of thunder crashed through the night sky.



Harley Quinn: “uhhh uhhh M…m…m… mr. J!” 



She was pointing and gesticulating wildly at something behind the two super villains.



Joker: “What is it Harly out with it! Spit it out!”



Harly: “Ah… uh…. ah!”



The Joker looked up and then without a word ran and jumped behind the
couch. Crouching down shivering. speechless and  wordlessly pointing
toward the large glass windows behind Luthor. Luthor didn’t even bother
to turn around. Instead he walked to the nearby table and started
pouring himself a glass of brandy.



Nephyo: “Oh it’s you. Can’t a man go on a vacation in peace and quiet these days.”



Outside the window floating in the sky was of course Superman.



Superman: “Oh I just thought I’d stop by and wish you a good time on your vacation Lex.”



Nephyo: “Why thank you. Now kindly leave.”



Superman: “If that’s what you want. But you should know you might as
well head back to Metropolis. You’ll never win the Dark Knight contest.”



Nephyo: “And what would you know, Boy Scout? I suppose you overheard
this clown”, he pointed to the shivering pair cowering in the corner,
“and now you’re going to try and stop me and save your precious Batman.”



Superman: “Oh no. I could stop you. I could haul you off to a Metropolis
prison right now. But that would be far too kind to you. I’m going to
do something much much worse to you.”



Nephyo: “And what exactly would that be?”



Superman: “Absolutely nothing.”



And without another word Superman flew off.  Luthor spit in disgust.



Nephyo: “Oh stand up. Coward.”



The Joker got up acting as if nothing had happened.



Nephyo: “So how exactly is someone like you going to be of any help to me? Speak quickly or you’ll be following Superman out the window. My patience is just about out.”



Joker: “Well I have connections in Gotham. I know all the inmates in
Arkham asylum personally. And I’ve got spies inside all the major police
forces. Trust me. As long as that Superman fellow isn’t around this’ll
be child’s play. The Dark Knight title will be yours in no time!”



Nephyo: “And what do you get out of it.”



Joker: “Chaos of course! Anarchy! And the end of the Batman. I’m a man
of simple tastes Lexy boy. I just want my explosives and I’ll be happy.
Anything to put a smile on my faces of others. That’s all I want”



Nephyo: “Figures. Freaks. Of course I’m sure you’re already planning to betray me.”



Harley: “How dare you insult the great Mr. J!”



Nephyo: “Oh shut up.”



Joker: “Lex. Lex. Lex. I wouldn’t dream of betraying you. I mean I’m
your bestest pal. Your greatest friend in this city. You and me we’re
going to go far. We’re—”



A horrifying scream ripped through the night.



Joker: “W…w… what was that?”



Lex calmly pulled out his gun.



Nephyo: “Oh now what.”



A series of screams and shouts could be heard resounding through the building.



“Oh no! Oh no!



“AHHHHHHHH!”



“IEEEE!!!”



“Get… get… get away from me!”



“HELP MEEEEEEE!!”



Thunder crashed again and again through the night sky, punctuating the
screams. And then: silence.  The Joker and Harley were cowering again.



Suddenly the door to Lex’s penthouse sweet crashed in and the biggest of
Lex’s bodyguard came charging through. He gripped Lex hugging him and
shaking like a baby.”



“Keep him away from me boss! Please! He aint human! Those eyes! Those eyes!”



Luthor matter of factly clocked the incoherent man on the back of his
head with the butt of his gun. The bodyguard crumpled to the ground
unconscious.



Just then the lights went out in the penthouse and the world was lost in darkness.



Next thing you know Luthor heard a girlish scream from right next to
him, It was the Joker. The glass window shattered open and the Joker
went flying through it quickly followed by Quinn both screaming at the
top of their lungs all the way.



Luthor grunted.  Warily he circled around gun raised looking for an intruder.



A hand came out of nowhere and easily batted the gun out of Luthor’s
hand. And then standing so close to him as to be able to breathe on him
and looming over the bald billionaire genius stood the one and only:
Batman.



Luthor was not intimidated.



Nephyo: “If you think some cheap theatrics are going to scare me. You’ve got another thing coming.”



The Batman glared silently into Luthor’s eyes. Unmoving. The silence stretched.



Nephyo: “So what do you think? You can waltz in here and intimidate me into giving up the Dark Knight contest?”



Silence.



Nephyo: “I’ve dealt with intergalactic creatures, alien super heroes, mob leaders, and presidents. I’m not afraid of some Bat.”



The silence dragged on.  A sweat drop appeared on Luthor’s brow and he gulped lightly. He continued bravely.



Nephyo: “As far as I understand the Dark Knight contest is a legitimate
contest. I’ve broken no laws. Of course you know this penthouse sweet is
wired with numerous cameras, recorders, and infrared sensors.
Everything that happens here is being recorded and at a mere wave of my
hand or in the event of my death or unconsciousness it will be piped
into every television in every home in Gotham.”



Silence.



Nephyo: “How do you suppose your precious citizens will react when the
see their hero attacking an unarmed man and upstanding citizen who has
donated millions to hospitals and elementary schools in Gotham. What do
you suppose the chances of your winning your precious Dark Knight
contest will be then huh?”



Silence.  Luthor backed away. He turned and took up his glass of brandy
again taking a long swig. He spoke while pouring himself another glass.



Nephyo: “So there’s no need for these theatrics. Let’s just let the
citizens of Gotham decide who their Dark Knight protector will be
shall we? Will they pick a heroic billionaire like me? Or some freak in
a bat costume.”



Luthor looked up his glass poured. And almost dropped it. The Batman
had vanished. Luthor let out a looong breath. He walked to his couch and sat down heavily.



And then the Batman was there again. His masked nose less than a millimeter from Luthor’s face. The Batman spoke for the first time. His
cold voice so loud it made Luthor’s ears ring.



Legendairy growled: “Get out of my town!!”



Lightning flashed and the sound of thunder rang through the heavens.
Luthor dropped his glass in shock. It shattered on the carpet. And the Batman was gone.

The deal was in store only. That was my first mistake. It was Staples. Mistake number two. Well it’s not like any of the others would have been much better but still.

I came there armed with SKU I needed. I found the laptop immediately. It was the cheapest laptop in the store. But still more than powerful enough to suit my brother’s purposes. Exactly the one I wanted. And so I asked to buy it. Should have been a simple two second process. Grab laptop. Swipe credit card. Grab receipts. Out the door. That’s what I *thought*. But oh no. It’s never quite so easy now is it?

They came as a tag team pair you see. First person said I’ll go get you the laptop, while such and such answers any questions you have. 

Mr. Employee Number 2 starts asking me a bunch of meaningless questions. “Is this computer for yourself?”  “Is this your first laptop?”  “What are you going to be using it for?”  My inclination is to say “None of your business”.  If I want to buy it and sell it on ebay, give it to a homeless man on the street, or whatever, that’s my business. But I don’t. I answer politely with noncommital vague responses.

Mr. Employee Number 1 returns. Hey wait a minute… he’s not carrying a laptop! Instead he’s carrying a booklet of “coupons” which he hands to Number 2 and walks off again. 

The Number 2 barrages me with a bunch of “offers”.  Take this extended warranty, or that extended warranty. Don’t you want this cool metal cooling fan? How about some screen wipes? Do you have any blank DVDs? A spare battery doesn’t hurt? Would you like to upgrade your RAM? How about this software?

Gah!

I make my lack of interest pretty clear in my demeanor and soon he runs out of steam. The last thing he tries to foist upon me is this “Free Setup Service”. It’s totally free, he said. And they’ll come setup and configure my laptop for me!

Oh wow! Free configuration of my laptop! whoop-di-do.

Let me ask you this Number 2, how hard is it to setup a laptop? How many steps are involved? As far as I know there’s exactly ONE step. Turn it on. There. Done. I’ve worked with dozens of laptops, hundreds of PCs. It’s not rocket science.

Why would I want someone to come to my house and configure my laptop? Or is it done in store? Why would I want to waste even *more* of my time than I’ve already wasted while you futz around with my laptop and probably screw it up. 

And you say it’s free. But I don’t believe that for a second. The price will almost certainly be an endless stream of employees trying to sell me more garbage I don’t need.

Ugh.

My annoying ordeal alas was not quite over even then. Number 2 hands me the coupon book and says something about a form I need to fill out to get my name and address and phone number: “just so we can call you in three months to make sure everything is working out ok with your laptop and again in six months.”

I shrug and Number 2 walks me up to the front of the store pulls out the paper and hands it to me. Number 1 is there too and Number 2 says “All you have to do is fill out this form and Number 1 here will answer any questions you might.”  Then Number 2 walks away. My thoughts. Good riddance. No I didn’t say it. I’m a nice guy.

The form is asking for quite a lot of personal information. Home phone, cell phone, name, birthdate, address. wtf. I start to fill out my name and Number 1 starts rambling on.  I was hardly paying attention just wanting to get out of there but then I just barely catch him say:

“We just need your number so we can call you and check and see how it’s going in three months and maybe let you know about any special offers or promotions we might be running.”

“Hold up”  I said. My hand freezes, my name only partially filled out.

“Do I have to do this? I just want to buy a computer.”

“Yes it’s part of our policy.”

“But… I don’t want to be called up and having someone sell me some crap in three months.”

“Sorry sir, we need to get at least a name and a phone number from you.”

“But… I just want a laptop. This is dumb. Why do I have to do this?”

“It’s our policy.”

“So can I at least make it so you don’t get the stupid phone calls?”

I scan the form. I don’t see anywhere on there where you can say “Don’t call me you boneheads.”

“Sure”, says Number 1, “I just need you to write your name and phone number and write OPT OUT down there at the bottom of the page and you’ll be good to go.”

I sigh and mutter while filling ito ut: “This is one of the dumbest things I’ve ever heard of.” 

OK I’m lying. I didn’t mutter it. I said it rather loudly and obnoxiously.

Number 1 replied:

“It’s part of our policy. I mean look at it this way, you wouldn’t go into a dealer and just walk out with a Car would you?”

“This is $500. My car is $20,000. There is no comparison.”

“Well it’s just part of our policy. We can’t sell you the laptop without at least a name and phone number.”

Sigh. And so I gave it to them. I didn’t like it. I’m sure that OPT OUT isn’t going to do shit and I’ll get a phone call in 3 months about garbage I don’t care about. I should have given them a fake name and number.

So why is it that EVERY store has to collect tons of personal information about you these days? Why must our entire lives be in ten thousand databases around the country? How is that safe for us? How does it make sense?  I hate this. I hate getting the stupid discount cards at grocery stores. I hate how radio shack asks me for my phone number so they can look up my account every time I try to buy something. I hate it all.

I mean I understand that a lot of people aren’t as knowledgible about computers and they might find that sales associate rather helpful. And not everybody is buying a cheapass laptop like I am (but if you’re spending more money and buying it  from staples you are almost certainly wasting your money).  But still, even if you were buying a $3000 Laptop and didn’t know anything about Computers most of the stuff they were trying to sell me was just a load of BS. I feel bad for the people who don’t know anything and might buy that stuff. Some useless piece of metal sold as a “heat fan” for a laptop that has no problems with overheating. Way overpriced screen wipes that you can make yourself for pennies. Useless software you can find better equivalents of for free online. A horrifying over $200 four year extended warranty.  Basically junk.

Let me ask you, if you were buying a brand new car and it cost only $400 to $3000 would you put up with all the crap a lot of the dealers put you through? What if your car became so very obsolete in a year or two that nobody would pay you twenty bucks for it? What if your car did not need to protect you? If there was no meaningful risk of injury from using it? What if prices were dropping so rapidly that you could reasonably expect to buy a hundred times more powerful car for half the price is two or three years? Would you put up with the wheeling and dealing and trying to foist nonsense services and warranties and extra products and crazy payment plans on you? Huh?

If not then why would you put up with it when buying a computer?

It makes no sense to me.

Xanga, more than any other blogging or social networking site I think revolves around the “comment”. You get credits for comments. You cross advertise through comments. You get eprops usually through comments. You leave minis on comments.  Comments are the measure through which people judge how popular a blog entry is or how interested they might be in reading it.

For many, Xanga is basically all about the comments. It’s not uncommon for a user to spend more time commenting on other people’s blogs than they do writing their own!  This is very different from a lot of other blogging sites where comments are sort of incidental and people barely use them. In a way, Xanga feels more like a big gigantic Forum than it does a blogging site. And that also leads to the sense of closeness between users that permeates Xanga. It’s something very much akin to what you see in a lot of online forum communities.

This is why, any features that enhance the commenting capacity of users can create great dividends for the community. These features are empowering for users. They encourage users to  interact more in the community and become closer.   Why was the online status feature such a success? Because it encouraged more comments. Why was the “reply” feature a success? Why were minis a success? Why is the credit system working? You can tell by the features Xanga has been implementing that they value greatly the importance of comments to the functioning of the Xanga community. It’s largely one of the aspects of Xanga that most makes Xanga stand out in its little niche of the internet.

So I’d like to suggest a rather obvious feature that I think would work very well along the same lines: 

Blog Replies

How would it work?  Well it’s really a rather simple idea. Imagine you are wandering through Xanga and you come across an entry that inspires you to write not just a small couple of sentences but a whole essay or a whole presentation in reply. You’ve got a lotta things to say about this! And what’s more you want others, your subscribers and friends to *read* what you have to say about it.

Right now what are your options?  One option is to leave a crazy long comment expressing all your ideas. Chances are… nobody will read your reply. Maybe the person who wrote the blog will, but passerby’s probably won’t take the time.  What’s more your giant reply disrupts the flow of conversation, clutters the comment history and generally just annoys people.

Or you post your own blog entry about it. Here you don’t disrupt the comments on the initial blog, but your entry is completely disjoint from the original. And chances are nobody who read the original would ever come across your discussion. Even the person who wrote the original entry them self!  And users who follow your blog don’t read the original either.  So you have to post a link on your blog entry back to the original, explaining that you are replying. And then you have to leave a comment on the original with a link to your new entry.  And people look at you weirdly for leaving a link as your comment. Most are too lazy to follow it. Maybe you solicit the original writer and that person endorses your entry and writes about it in his or her blog which gets people to read it. But even then, it’s a lot of work.

Blog Replies automate this whole process of dual linking between separate writers blog entries. Basically you’d have a “blog reply” button you can click to reply to a blog entry instead of comment. When you click this button you get the standard blog entry editor and you can write your own full blog entry. That entry appears on YOUR blog with a link on it pointing back to the original entry to which you are replying. And then on the entry you are replying to there’d be a special section that shows the Blog Replies that have been made to this entry.

Actually…

Xanga Already Has Blog Replies

But only in a very specialized area. The Featured Questions.  These are blog entries in a special blog and everyone who “answers” the question is effectively writing a blog reply to that entry. And it links back to the original.  So probably the easiest implementation of Blog Reply would be to somehow generalize the Featured Question system. Basically every blog entry would have an optional link that says “blog reply”  much like the “answer it” link on featured questions. And then there’d be a line at the bottom of the entry you write that says “I am replying to <entry name> by <user>. You can too!”  Or something like that.

That’d be the simplest implementation.  Personally I’d make it a more comprehensive system. Indeed, I’d make it so there’s a section at the bottom of each blog entry with a scrolling list of all the blog replies that have been made to this entry. Each blog reply would appear as a uniform size horizontal “banner” like running across the screen.  The list would show: the profile picture of the replier,  the subject of the reply,  a couple of line snippet of the reply entry, and a link to the replier’s blog entry.   It would also show eprops left and mini’s left since you’d still be able to do that in a blog reply just like you could for any comment.   Also possibly it might show whether the replier recommended the original entry and/or the number of recommendations and/or star rating of the blog reply.

Then on the other end there’s similarly be a banner at the top of the blog reply entry on the replier’s blog that shows vital statistics about the original entry to which you are replying with a link and the profile picture of the original writer’s post.

Basically what I’m talking about is a very visible way of cross advertising each other’s sites while allowing a conversation to “branch” out into other people’s blogs.

I’d also make it so that in the subscription browser a blog reply entry shows the entry to which it is replying, and every entry that has blog replies shows also a list at the bottom of the links of all blog replies made to it.

Lastly I’d create certain user controls to prevent problematic situations. First, just like with comments a blogger can manage the blog replies to his or her own blog.  He or she can’t delete the reply as that’d be like going into someone’s blog and deleting their entries, but he or she could delete the blog reply link so that the reply entry is no longer advertised on their blog.

The only other control I’d create is the ability to optionally disable or enable blog replies independently of comments.  That means you could write an entry that allows blog replies but not comments, comments but not blog replies or both or neither. Featured Questions could then be reimplemented as Blog Replies with regular comments disabled.  And Xanga could implement other new features like Featured Questions in much the same way.

One last possible control would be to allow restricted list blog replies. Like “protected” you could have an entry where only certain users specified by the writer are allowed to post blog replies. I think that control would probably be more trouble than it’s worth to implement but it’s definitely a possibility to keep in mind.

And that’s pretty much it.

One particularly good application of Blog Replies that a lot of Xangans in this day and age would be particularly interested in I think would be the ability to use them in Contests.  It would make contests a lot easier to create.

For example let’s say I wanted to run a contest called “Xangan Philosopher King”.  All I’d have to do is create a post saying “Think you got what it takes to be Xanga’s next philosopher King? If you do submit your entry by Blog Replying to this Post!”  And that’s all I gotta do. I don’t have to get messages sent to me. I don’t have to edit and keep re-timestamping my entry personally making links to all of these blog entries of the contestants. That’d all be done for me right through the Blog Reply system!  People who want to read through the contestants entries just read through the blog replies. Easy! 

And say some bonehead comes along and posts a blog reply that says “Your contest is a simple and elegant design. Come visit my site so I can tell you  how to lead your life according to my own screwed up ideals.” Well I just peruse through the blog replies and delete the link to that entry and to any other blog replies that aren’t official contest entries. My contest maintenance would be a LOT easier wouldn’t it?

Cool huh?

Similarly you can do all kinds of cool stuff through blog replies. You can run polls through blog replies. You can do sort of collaborative choose your own adventure stories with branching story lines. You can do “tagging” like occurs in deviant art (someone posts an entry with a task to complete, completes and says that “tags” others to reply and do the same). You can work on joint projects more easily using blog replies. The Xanga Team could implement a suggestions and ideas forum that works through blog replies. The possibilities are nearly endless. Users would find all kinds of ways to utilize blog replies to their advantage. And of course if users don’t like them they can just never enable blog replies for their entries. In fact that could be right there in their options screen an ability to disable all blog replies by default.

I must admit this idea is not *entirely* original. In addition to its roots in the existing featured question system, it also would be rather similar to Youtube’s Video Responses feature. Only, in my opinion it would work a lot better for blogs and way better for Xanga’s blogging system just because of the importance Xanga puts on comments. And since Xanga allows videos, pulses, and blogs, it becomes sort of a more powerful generalization of the Video Responses feature of youtube.

Another Good Idea

What if not only could you blog reply to someone else’s blog, but you could also blog reply to someone’s comment.  One of the only problems I have with the current reply system is that everything is flat.  Nothing is segmented. That means that it’s very easy for a thread to get hijacked and go off on divergent tangents. With a more traditional forum threading system, tangents all fall into their own thread which other users who don’t care can ignore.

Blog replies to comments would enable this same benefit only in a manner that fits in more with the Xanga system. That is someone leaves a comment on your blog or on someone else’s blog and you have a lot to say in reply to it. Instead of hijacking the entire discussion about the original entry you Blog Reply. An entry appears on your blog and a small reply is placed in the original entry as a reply to the comment in question. And an email goes out to that commenter as usual saying someone has blog replied to their entry.  Then if the person you are blog replying to wants to follow up with the discussion they can go to your blog and leave comments. And anyone else interested in this side discussion can follow suit.

Between blog replies of this kind and the existing flat multiple entry replies I think you’d have a really powerful comment system that has all the benefits of a threaded forum and much more utility besides. It would, I think, make Xanga perhaps one of the most powerful discussion forums on the internet, if it isn’t that already. 

Interaction With Existing Systems

The last question to ask is how blog replies and blog comment replies would interact with existing systems. There are some possibilities. A blog reply could auto-recommend the original entry, having a message pop in the feed that says “<blah> recommended and blog replied to the entry <bleh>”.   Blog replies could show recommendations and overall star ratings as I described above as a sort of form of cross advertising. Blog replies could show up in the subscription browser and/or feed.  Maybe even a tree’d view could be used.

The hard question is how does this interact with credits?  Should blog replies give you or the person to whom you are replying a lot of credits or a small amount of credits or even no credits? The argument for a small or no credits is that you don’t actually want people abusing the system and “blog replying” everywhere. A low credit count could discourage empty idiotic blog replies. The argument for giving more is that blog replying takes more effort than regular commenting generally and it does add quite a big to the discussion when used correctly. It can also drive more traffic to the original site which is a big benefit. Experimentation I think would need to be used to determine the right implementation. It would depend a lot on how popular blog replies become once implemented.  But I think getting a credit bonus for writing blog replies at first would be a very good idea. It could also be used to give you a nice bonus for answering the featured question which would encourage more users to answer them.

How About A Mod System

OK, one last last idea. What if users have even more fine tuned control over the blog replies placed on their blog to the point where they can control to what extent they are advertised by the writer. For example you can mod a blog reply up if you like it or down if you don’t like it. The ones you mod up appear higher up on the list of blog replies to your blog and stand out more. Hence again you can kind of prevent excessive abuse of the blog reply system by limiting the benefit users get from posting silly or irrelevant blog replies.

In a very real sense blog replies serve two very powerful purposes for the Xangan community. They would strengthen and empower the existing comment systems adding more flexibility and opening up new possibilities. And second they would encourage more actual *blogging* on Xanga at the same time. Users can effectively be blogging and commenting at once  No longer would you have to choose on which of these two activities you should most spend your time.

Your Thoughts?

Good idea? Bad idea?  Comment. Reply. Star. Eprop. Recommend. Message. And/Or Blog Reply with your thoughts or opinions! I’d love to hear them.

I’m just writing an entry so that I can say that I wrote something today. Perhaps later tonight I will be inspired to write something more meaningful. For now it’s just random thoughts.

- all people’s should be allowed to be independent if they wish (that’s my politcal point that makes this post a monday post)

- mario kart for the wii is hard to find. sold out at target. damn. missed the $5 gift card!

- if that nightmare i had proves true…. well not going to follow that thought after all I think

- Staples sales associates are rather annoying

- working til 3am wasn’t so bad since i finished the project. procrastination is fun. but i gotta drive all the way to work in ten minutes to do something that will take ten minutes. it ain’t even worth the gas!

- fear is stupid

- i’ve gotta read more. but i can’t read like i used to. i’m too easily distracted by too many thoughts

- i think i need some sort of a break. a distraction of some kind.

- i hate it when people call leave you a message sounding all “official” and manage to not tell you who the hell they are. i mean they say they’re name but don’t give a clue why they are calling, who they work for, or how they got my number. “I received your file”. What the heck does that mean? My inclination is to ignore them.

- there are certain kinds of people that I just can’t seem to relate to. I try, but I can’t. They’re just too… content…

- i’ve really gotta clean up around here

- i have a great idea for an amazing funny story. i’ve had it for months but i finally thought up the missing piece to make it perfect. now i just have to make myself write it. it’s going to be soo great.

- fear is really really stupid

- i’m opting out of a lot of the bs i’ve been involved with lately. just not going to spend one more iota of energy or thought on it. waste of time

- just to make this clear in case there is anyone on the planet who doesn’t realize it yet but THE DARK KNIGHT IS AWESOME!!!!!

- i’m goint to start watching season 3 of Avatar soon.  Also want to start watching xxxHolic. But I feel bad becasue I should watch the anime I borrowed first so I can return it.

- 80 gb is a heck of a lot of music.  I regularly copy people’s entire mp3 collections not to mention all mine and I still only managed to get it up to 36 gb full.

- i really hate fear

- one last political/social thought for you:  it’s clear that most people don’t have any comprehension of the differences between bias, prejudice, racism, inequality, and unfairness. So I tink we need to scratch the entire language tree and start from scratch.

- have a good week xanga!

- move along…

If a mysterious number calls you and you miss it… probably not a good idea to call them back at 3 am, no matter how worried you are.

I’ve been hearing things like this a lot from several people:

Stop worrying about me.  Don’t think about me. Don’t pay attention to me. I’m nothing special. There’s nothing important about me.  I’m just plain. I’m only ordinary. I just wish people would stop caring about me so much. I wish I could just blend into the crowd. I want to be forgotten. I don’t want to stand out. Stop paying attention to me. Stop wishing me well. I wish everyone would just leave me alone and forget about me. Why do people care so much about me?

Why can’t I just… disappear?

I guess I understand where this sentiment is coming from. I suppose I do. It seems easier doesn’t it? Nobody wants to have high expectations placed upon them that they feel they have to live up to and that they fear they might not be able to. Nobody wants to feel bound by these obligations to others that they didn’t ask for because those others decided to put some special stake in them. If we could just be ordinary and simple and blend in then we’d be alright with the things we are going through. Because whatever the outcome we’d know we weren’t disappointing anyone. We’d know we weren’t letting anyone down.

And we’d know we weren’t responsible for anything either. The impacts of our choices. The changes that other people undergo as a result of knowing us. Or the negative consquences our actions might have on other people’s lives and other people’s thinking. Nobody would care, so nobody would be hurt by us. And nobody could *hurt* us particularly badly either. We don’t exist to them. We’d be safe.

We’d be free.

So then you could you know be ok with failing and losing at the things you are striving for. It’d be alright to not succeed if it’s only yourself you are disappointing. And you don’t have to pretend to be happy or sad or put on any kind of a show because there’s nobody else who gives a damn about how you appear. You’re the only one you can disappoint and you’re the only one you can please. That’s sometimes what we want.

I’ve felt this way too. A little. I’ve felt the burden of external expectations and hopes to get good grades or to be successful or to be happy in life. To get married or to have children. To find a job I love. To make enough money to help people. To be significant to the world and make a difference. I’ve also even felt as if my choices have changed someone for the worse. As if for knowing me their life was worst than it could have been had I just stayed out of his life. Their lives really. It’s happened a number of times. Too many.

So I can understand where it’s coming from. I think. It sucks to think you are letting anybody down. And worst of all the people you care about. It’d be easier if they just saw you as some sort of insignificant lump of flesh the same as everyone else.  Then when you fail to meet their expectations because you weren’t good enough or weren’t bright enough it won’t be so bad.  Because you were just being yourself and they didn’t want so much more from you.

But at the same time I can’t really say I like this sentiment. I can’t really relate to it at all. In fact here I’m going to have to diverge from the expectations of anyone who might be reading this and might be thinking up unto this point that I’m going to be a person who can understand them, whom they can relate to.  I’m not. In fact I’m going to be rather belligerent from here on out.  I don’t accept this desire to disappear. I don’t understand it. Not at all.

You see I just can’t help but wonder if when people say things like this if they really understand what they are asking for? I can’t help but think… do they have any idea what it would really feel like to have their wish be granted? To be really and truly cut off from the good regards, the sentiments, the hopes and fears of others? To be just a faceless member of the crowd wholly forgotten? I don’t think those who hope for it have ever experienced anything like that. I don’t think they’ve even been anywhere close. 

So I just have to ask sometimes when people say “stop worrying about me” and “I’m nothing special” and “I want to just be ordinary”, I’ve got to ask them…

Do you really want that?

Do you have any idea what that really feels like?

To be that alone?

Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe some of you know full well what it’s like and still want it anyway. But I can tell you with absolute certainty I *don’t*.  To disappear is in fact and has been for a long long time… my very worst nightmare.

So for me I say go ahead and worry about me and think about me and give me your regards. Give me your high expectations and your low expectations and your disgust or your love. I don’t want people to think I’m ordinary or insignificant or irrelevant.  I don’t want to blend in. Let me stand out a little. Let me matter to someone. Let me make a difference to someone. Anyone. If even just one person. I couldn’t stand to be forgotten. Please let me never just be forgotten.

That doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes need to take a vacation. Oh yes I’ve often felt the need to run away from other people’s sight for a while and go off by myself and scream and scream. To run so far that it can at least give me the illusion that I’ve escaped those feelings of my own significance. Sometimes I need to trick myself a little into thinking I’m well not entirely alone… but a little more independent and with a little less others to worry about.

But to truly be cut off? To not have friends who matter to you and care about you and are always thinking about you? That’s not something that’s easy as all that to walk or run into.

It isn’t freedom you know.  It doesn’t empower you. It doesn’t make any
of your hardships easier. It doesn’t make your failures any easier to
take. Not really. That’s the illusion you feel when you are surrounded by people who care, or at least pretend to care. But it isn’t the truth. Being alone is harder by far. Because then it’s all
on you. And you become sole owner of your own inadequacies. And there’s
nobody to lie to you and tell you you’ll be ok.

I wouldn’t wish that fate upon my worst enemies. If I choose to make it so that someone matters to me, I’ll keep caring about them no matter. And even if they meet my hopes and expectations a thousands time or fail to meet then a billion times, my feelings won’t change at all. I’ll care just as much. I’ll keep rooting for them until the end.

So I apologize profusely to my friends if they feel as if I am caring too much for them. Paying too much attention. I’m sorry if I’m interfering with your plans to go quietly into the night and vanish without a trace. But I can’t stop caring about any of you just because you tell me to. I won’t. You’ll have to cut me out of your life entirely and banish me from your friendship. And even then… I’ll still care. And I’ll never forget. You just won’t have to hear me say it anymore.

It’s Sunday. You were warned.


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For without thee I would be so very very bored…

Today is Saturday. Journal day. And since I missed writing a Journal
last saturday you get two weeks worth of my life for the price of one!
Be honored.  This won’t happen often.

Honestly though my life isn’t all that interesting so I can’t imagine
why any of you will be reading this. And I don’t have a clue how to
make this at all entertaining. But some of you will read it anyway.
You’re just crazy like that. Still for the rest of you I’ll use my new
favorite tool the cut-tag to prevent you from being bored out of your
minds. You should really thank me.  Feel free to shower me with
gratitude in the form of gold bars, crude oil reserves, or small
nations for me to rule.

Oh and let me know if you don’t like cut-tags. If it bothers anyone, I’ll stop using them.

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One of my subscriptions, TheWhisperer08  left this on her blog and I thought it was incredibly awesome. So I’m putting it on my blog too! 

MyNiceSpace.com

These days I’ve had lots of cause to think a lot about our online
reputations. What forges them and how fragile they can be. Online we
are particularly vulnerable to misunderstandings, confusions, and
uncertainties.  And online, there is this undercurrent of perpetual
fear of stalkers, perverts, and psychopaths that influence our every
interaction.



But then I never used to worry about that or give it any thought at all
you know? But these days I look back at a lot of what I’ve said and
done online and I just wonder how I was perceived by others. And I have
to admit, a lot of people probably did think I was sort of creepy. It’d
be really easy to think so. I haven’t been particularly cautious in my
words or deeds. Honestly, I really didn’t think it was that big a deal.
If I said what I thought was true and what I thought was nice and a
good thing to say, I figured it’d all work out somehow or another. But
of course, now I wonder quite a bit about what sort of friendships may
have died before they could have ever been forged because someone for
some reason or another was unsettled by a poor choice of words on my
part.


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