May 31, 2013
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Save the Historical Xangans…
Losing Xanga? How can that happen?
I’ve been here off and on since March 2004. Archiving my stuff isn’t a big deal. I have been backing it up most of the time I’ve been here and will add a couple zip files or two before July 15th arrives…
but…
this is what I’m having a hard time with…
my friends here who are no longer with us on earth. Some days when I’m feeling very sad, I’ll “visit” an old blog and it’s like they’re still with me. This one is still writing poetry, this one is in the middle of a piece of art, this one is planning a new story, this one is talking about his walk along the beach. Those won’t be saved.
You old timers, remember the time that the boy blogged about his sister’s boyfriend trying to break in the house right before the boyfriend killed him and his sister? His xanga helped put the killer behind bars. It’ll be gone. That’s one example of many.
Let’s start collecting links to the xangans who are no longer with us and see if there is a way to save them. If you know of someone’s xanga that is still up even though the author has died, link it in the comments to this one.
How many Terry blogs do we know?
Comments (31)
here’s the first Terry- More Than Just Crabs
more telling less showing
At times the demise of xanga looks like a slow motion glacier. Looks like things are heating up and the deadline to save stuff will be in July.
Sorry I did not met “Terry”. also I am kicking myself for not saving the pdf xanga cookbook one girl who is no longer here assembled.
zimbo zimbo redux
@PPhilip - Terry was this insanely talented poet who had like 20+ blogs and it was kind of a game to find one that no one knew about… same with more telling/less showing… he’d write amazing stuff, shut down his blog, and reopen as some new reincarnation of his old stuff and then one day he’ll leave this comment to let you know he was back in new form… and zimbo died this March… a real friend to the end! these are just three!
@seedsower - jstickman was next on my list! broke my heart to lose him!
Our much missed jstickmann
another Terry Lord Pineapple
another Terry The Clowne from Clown
Oh, that dear man Terry. I knew him first as Empty Chairs. He was so encouraging when it came to the nuts and bolts of writing.
And jstickman. I miss his work too.
There were some folks who just….stopped ……writing.
It’s sad.
I am alternating disbelief and denial.
@WordFaery - you knew him long before I did, and I miss jstickman too. he was always a cheerleader for my writing.
@suzyQ_darnit - not sure I believe it yet either
Lord Pineapple. So sad.
This is a good point. Many people had hoped that blogging would help to immortalize their friends and families. I guess that was just a pipe dream….
Oh boy. recently I deleted some of those subscriptions. These people probably won’t be remembered but I think about them all the time. Dropofblood, alittlesquigglegoesalongway, theredandblackL, and narcissisticmartyr. Then there are the popular ones that I know are still around just not here like DMV.
If you’d like to capture some of your favorite old blogs, you might want to try SnagIt screen capture software. It can capture screen shots as image files or it can preserve the editable text, or it can save an entire page and keep the html, including links, intact. There are a good selection of output options too, including Word, PDF, HTM, MHT, JPG and so on. It’ll do just what you want it to for this purpose. Peace
@jerjonji - I had no idea Zimbo died! How did you find out?
@Roadkill_Spatula - I was away at the time, but a good friend of mine let me know when it happened so I’m guessing something showed up on his FB account.
@Aloysius_son - I think I thought they would always be here- for ever and ever!!!
@Erika_Steele - I am not so insane about the ones who shut down their accounts and left – like DMV, etc because I know that he probably archived his stuff and then left, but the friends who are gone from this earth- who will save their stuff?
@AOK4WAY - that is a brilliant suggestion! thanks! now, if only I had a ton of free time to do so!
mommarose
@jerjonji - that’s a good question. I don’t know. I guess their stories will live on with those that remember them.
ToTo247- our young friend who blogged about his sister’s ex trying to break into the house right before he was killed. The police used his blog as evidence. The blog is still open.
The whole thing is sad, I agree.
Lord Pineapple, Sophie Morgan, blackie fortuna, Horace Smith Esq. Wee Duncan D. Ingar Gorse, Jacques du Lumerie, The Rev. Tobias Trontby, “Empty Chairs”, Tiffy Witherington, Three-Headed Sarahs’, Marie St. Denis
Not sure about the punctuation, but I just snatched those names from a sidebar at LordPineapple
Also:
All_the_Presidents_Birds
And I believe More_Than_Just_Crabs has been mentioned. The photo, if I’m not mistaken, is of Terry Cuthbert himself next to Bev Crook (Sojourner_Here), taken during his trip to America just before he died.
LP and a few others of his sites were saved by a campaign to raise funds for lifetime subscriptions after Terry passed away. I credit LittleEgypt (who I think has only one active site left, and it’s under a different name), and Sojourner_here, for helping to raise the money.
@twoberry - that’s a great list! thanks! now, how do we keep them?
@jerjonji - Short of forming a committee to capture some or all of their pages, and I wish I had the time to volunteer but I do not, I can’t think of anything else to try.
Dear Jeri,
I’ve been a cheerleader for the Internet Archive for many years. As you probably know, I’ve been writing memorials for Xangans, friends, family, celebrities, for years. I’m always talking about how our online worlds are our legacies.And I still leave comments on the blogs of fallen Xangans, Terry in particular, and anyone I suspect has passed physically as well.Even if Xanga disappears, the Internet Archive has been getting better at finding old pages. A lot of my old Homestead website, which I had to shut down five or so years ago, is still online in archived format.Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
Thanks for visiting my site and leaving your comment.
I am very much alive, although the power has been out all weekend where I live.