January 15, 2003
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XANGA IN THE HIGH SCHOOL
I got a recent comment that blew my mind:
We’re having a slight problem at my high school where a few stringent and well, very weird administrators are not only digging into everyone’s life at our school through the service (which is what we want, just not by admin’s or parents…) and actually kicking nice girls off of dance teams and cheerleaders off of varsity and such…
Posted 1/13/2003 at 8:03 pm by RockTech60
So I go to his site and read that he’s “heard admin at school is checking to see who logs on xangas at school.”
Woah.
We’ve heard that some high schools have banned Xanga.com from their computer labs, which doesn’t make me happy but what can you do. But purposefully leaving Xanga.com available so you can track down students’ journals… and then disciplining them based on what you read?!
*shudder* That’s just plain evil!
Some people will say, “well what do you expect, that’s what happens when you blog something publicly on the web”. But I’m actually hoping our upcoming Protected Posting feature prevents incidents like this in the future:
With Protected Posting, you could select which of your readers you’d like to be able to read a particular post. You could even create and manage groups of these readers, like Friends, Family, Classmates, etc.
This way, if you’d like to post pics of your kids but are worried about their safety… you can make sure that only Family members see the pics. Or if someone is pestering you on your site, you can create a group of readers that doesn’t include them – that way, you’re safe and protected from anyone you don’t explicitly trust to read your site.
In the meantime… be careful! Don’t log onto Xanga at school or at work if you think someone’s monitoring your web surfing.
Oh how life has changed in the last ten years… it’s amazing, isn’t it?!
Comments (52)
my school gets pissed too.. but at least they havent gone THAT far!!
I’m hoping the ACLU can step in and get those kids re-instated… I shudder to think how schools will be 10 years from now, if this trend continues.
= Man! That;s so unfair! thanks for letting us know about these little happenings on xanga = it’s horrible what’s happening to privacy rights nowadays…can’t do anything on the web anymore.
Man, I hope *I* don’t get kicked off the squad! I just bought new pom poms!
If they don’t want the kids to surf the web, they should monitor them more closely.. The school systems never cease to amaze me. I have a 13 year old niece who talks back to teachers..hardly ever does her homework.. is passing notes about how to buy pot.. (all lies to make her look “cool”) and being accused of kissing another girl on the bus.. and all they do is send a note home.. maybe a detention or two.. But they expel a kid for creative writing on a weblog while at school… how does that figure?
BAH THAT SUCKS. theres no such thing at my high school mainly because I might be one of the few if not the only person from Turkey to have a xanga. But I always delete the History and such when I log off. I’m way too paranoid. heh. nice option though. thanks
wow! now that is frightening……..
Heh… I can already see my protected posts will be closed to anyone and everyone that does know me.
I do believe that you are moving in the right direction with the secure posting idea. People often forget that the World Wide Web is just that. Today’s youth think of it as just another place to hang out. They do not fear the web because they grew up ON it. Perhaps Xanga.com should get a lawyer, rally the xangaroos and challenge the behavior of the administrators?
Or would that be to much like right?
Sail on… sail on!!!!
I have seen even worse situations. There are people in the real world who sometimes post what goes on around work or whatever. The people who monitor the incoming/outgoing traffic can read EVERYTHING, so it wouldn’t matter if you had protected entries or not. I’ve read about people who got fired from their jobs because they said something derogatory about their superiors, or simply because they leaked out proprietary information unintentionally. Whatever the case, the only true safe way of blogging is to have protected entries, and to read/write them at HOME. Doing so in a public/monitored facility will put your “personal” entries at risk of being accessed (by those who can monitor the traffic or keystrokes), even if they are “protected”. It is best to assume when writing public entries that your boss/your teacher/your parents can read them.
No, but it’s frightening, isn’t it? The ineluctable takeover of the world by xanga. Insidiously corrupting our youth with all sorts of evil; ranking up new users, new young users day by day, drugging them with unspeakably addictive weblogs until before we know it all the peoples of the world shall have their own xanga and
Sorry about that. I just can’t keep my five year old off the computer….
I can’t wait for protected posting~!
Would this new feature allow me to block anyone from a certain domain from accessing my site? My coworkers read my site while they are at work and although I don’t write anything too personal, it makes me uncomfortable.
I’ve shut down my blog until protected posting is instated. Thanks for implementing this.
At school they wouldn’t let us visit diary type sites or hotmail. Their point was that the computers were made availible for research and schoolwork and non related activites shouldn’t count.
As for using info from someones blog to well persecute them, that is totally illegal. At least in canada.
‘Tis amazing!
i don’t think they would be able to actually kick someone off of a squad for that type of stuff. isn’t that freedom of speech??
that’s messed up lolz.. teachers are gay! xD
I think the idea of secure postings are a great idea…
I LOVE that idea of secure postings! Sure hope it makes it into the classic (free) package as well.
I used to ride a short yellow school bus to high school. Is anybody reading this? I’m not kidding!
So would a ‘Blogging Eye’ be someone paid to dig up dirt on someone through their blogs? Damn, I sense a new career coming on!!!
That is pathetic! Isn’t there a law in the states about free speech?
I don’ think anyone but my friends and I have ever heard of xanga at my school, so we don’t have to worry about that, but geez, that is rude.
And 2 eprops times infinity for the upcoming protected posting option… As long as it’s available to classic users also. Sorry, poor high school student!
xP last year a couple deans actually logged onto the blogring a friend of mine made for students that go to our school and tracked down a bunch of kids that ran away from the deans (they were drinking on school property =P which is pretty stupid in and of itself). and then they expelled them. pretty harsh.. but it’s also stupid cuz you could just say that it’s freedom of speech, just because you wrote that you did something doesn’t mean that you actually did it.
kinda off the topic but.. =[ we can’t encrypt our codes using javascript anymore??
YAY!!! Finally a way to keep anonymous subbers from reading my blog! o/
My last job had a reasonably liberal internet use policy… you could use the internet for personal stuff, so long as you were not on the clock. Still… why set yourself up for any of that? Unless you don’t have a computer at home, why blog from work or school? Ooops. Is my big brother paranoia showing?
Thanks for the heads-up.
that would be an excellent feature!
all i want is java code for the new calendar features. STOP IGNORING ME!!!
if “real” people read mine, then good for them. And if they find any reason to piss me off with it, then they will get what they deserve! lol!
I am all for the Protected Posting Policy and I hope that this is an upcoming feature that will be in place soon.
I, for one have someone from my past (real life) that is sub’ing anonymously. The part that I dislike about this the most is if someone sub’s that way, I can’t block them. Okay, so even if I could block them they could sign up as a completely different Xanga user just to log in and see what I blog. I think the this new feature would be JUST what I am looking for.
Please know that this added feature would benefit many of us. Those in the high schools sound like they need the added protection for sure. Though, its not just high school students. Some of us almost 30 somethings can benefit too!!
Thank you for all your hard work. I look forward to seeing this new feature in use soon!
Chelle
Yup, my school does that too. They track which websites you go on and if you check your email at school they actually read your e-mails! They read xangas and other blogs too. Once I bad-mouthed a teacher on xanga and the principal next day came up to me and said “So you hate this teacher?” I found out later that he actually found my xanga and read it and told the teacher I hated her. I’m all for this Protected Posting feature.
Cool, I cant wait for the protected posting, I’ve been kind of holding back on certain entries in fear of someone I know reading stuff about them. Soon, that will be no longer a issue. Thanks for the heads up!!
wOO hOO! GLad to hear about this! At last a way to rid oneself of anonymous stalkers… er, bloggers. I really like the pther aspects of this too! THANKS, JOHN! You really do care!
Awesome awesome awesome
I am really irritated with recieving daily subscriptions digests every day when I have selected the subscription emails to be “inactive”. It has been inactive for the longest time and I still get emails…WHAT GIVES!? The next best thing I could do was scroll down to everyones name on my SIR list and select “No Emails” from everyone. BUT I have a really cruddy ISP, thus before I can get to someones name on my list (and my list is fairly large) the drop-down boxes get messed up and I dont see anything but the unsightly glitch of drop-down boxes streaming down on my browser window. Why do emails still get sent to me? I would block the emails but i would also block some important things like regular emails from people and important replies to “Help Emails” (sent one similar to this over a month ago and still no answer), so I won’t. HELP ME!!!!
Yep, that will be a GREAT feature!
Eh, with the current US administration I would be surprised if it’s only school admin who are checking up on people this way.
uh oh!
life has changed in the last ten years ….and it’s kinda scary….
In some ways it sounds wonderful – no more ‘trolls’… in others… does this mean we can’t search Xanga and meet new people anymore, because we can’t read them if we’re not on their list? I’m a little confused… hopefully once it’s available this’ll make more sense to me. ((grins!))
I will be a firm user of any protected-posting features you introduce to Xanga. I have two stalkers (and some anonymous subbers) that I’d LOVE to ban from viewing my site.
Oh thank god! That would be a great feature!
thanks i appreciate the support and I’m sure that many people will appreciate it and they many different ways that it can be used. Keep on. And especially thanks for listening!
i’m best buds with rocktech60 and i couldnt agree with u more–unfortunately our freedom of speech seems to end at the front doors of schools these days…and come on..i mean even if we are talkin trash on a teacher or admin. who cares cuz more than likely were just preachin the truth about em and i guess thats something that some ppl just cant accept–
i was one of the girls removed from a dance team.. my coach read my xanga
Okay…
Here’s what I’m not understanding the logistics on.
You don’t have to log-in in order to read someone’s xanga site. So therefore, how is it going to be that people can be eliminated in such a way when they don’t even have to log-in?
And the fact that you can’t just browse around and find people is kind of disturbing. I mean, the fact that people have joined a COMMUNITY yet hide behind a locked door makes little sense to me.
I feel for these kids you mentioned. I feel for those who are having problems with people… and I agree that something should be done. I know from working on neopets.com that we had the option to ban IP addresses… including the dialup ones, not just static cable/DSL/AOL ones. There’s got to be an easy way of giving the option to block an IP, isn’t there? I mean, without having to actually GIVE the IPs to the Xanganites? Kind of “click here” type stuff.
I understand that there would have to be an “invasion” of sorts before the IP could be recognized, but wouldn’t it be easier to block individuals completely (more than just block them from commenting) than to only allow certain people? I seriously don’t understand the demand for this in the first place, again, being that this is a COMMUNITY. And in every real world community there are criminals and victims… how has the internet come down to this? Are people REALLY letting themselves get THAT HURT by invisible people on the other side of a computer screen?
Again, I take nothing from the idea of doing SOMETHING to protect the freedom of speech rights for the kids… but how is that Xanga’s responsibility when there are NATIONAL LAWS protecting us?
I’m sorry, but I’m concerned about servers, and information storage about who all is able to access what… I pay to keep these things running too, and somehow it doesn’t seem feasable to me to just at more complex stuff when we can’t even hold up the old calendar format. (I’m not complaining about either, I hardly use it… just saying)
Sorry to ramble, and I’m sure I’ll get bathed in the angst of others who don’t want to really understand what I’m saying here… but again, that’s all part of being in a community, isn’t it?
Well,I’m not sure what to make of this.So many schools are always in need of money for one thing or another,so I can understand their banning students from using sites unconnected to schoolwork when it’s the school’s internet time which the school is being billed for.
But in schools where they don’t mind pupils surfing on sites like Xanga,I’m puzzled as to why they would enforce some disciplinary measure (like putting a person out of a team) on the basis of what that person had written on their site.The one exception I can think of would be if someone admitted to having bullied another pupil on their site,and given that the internet and mobile phones are something that nowdays are often used by bullies,I guess it’s not impossible for that to happen.
But the idea that schools could be taking a wider interest in Xanga must be worrying,especially for people who don’t have computers,or have very little internet time,while at home…
Awh, John! I’m not taking away from you guys at all when I voice my concern over adminstering this change to the site. And I know you wouldn’t leave a hateful comment… it’s not in your blood!
I do know that you guys aren’t against protecting free speech… if I didn’t know that by now I’d have to be some sort of idiot.
But what I mean is that I don’t know why it’s YOUR responsibility, or the responsibility of other premium users, to coddle the kids and yes, the adults.
I agree that the kids need to have their rights protected… their right to free speech first and foremost. And if Xanga wanted to start some sort of national campaign, I’d be the first one to sign up to help. If Xanga wanted to send letters to the national education alliance, or any other governmental institution, I’d volunteer to write it, and be the first to sign my name (under you guys, a’course…). But I don’t understand why you guys have taken on the responsibility of adding MORE to the site which has potential to crush the servers AGAIN, when as I said, we can’t even use the old calendar format because it was wreaking havoc. I’m thinking logically here, that for every active xanga site, there would be about 25% which would take advantage of this… and I’m being SLIGHTLY generous there… due to my afore-posted ideas about this being a COMMUNITY, and having faith that the other 75% either agree with me or just don’t care either way. SO venturing to guess an actual number of people who would be using this brings me to conjuring up well… still a LOT of people. If ALL of those people are blocking out everyone on xanga but say 15 of their closest “friends”, then that means that there has to be some sort of information added to EVERYONE’s user file, to distinguish if they’re allowed there on that person’s site or not, right?
I know of one person who is eager for you to “implement” this. I’m quite sure she’ll be blocking out all but maybe 4 people. Now, why is it our responsibility to pay for the fact that this woman can’t just email her 4 “friends” her posts in the oh-so-trendy thing we call EMAIL LETTERS? I mean to put that kind of pressure on the xanga servers for FOUR PEOPLE?
And no, I’m not saying that it’s going to crash the servers the minute it’s implemented… I don’t profess to know a damn thing about programming stuff like this. But “going too far” meant something to the effect of taking too much responsibility on to “protect” people from the baddies out there in internet land. I have a very real problem with people who come to a COMMUNITY to put themselves behind a locked door. What do they call those people who like, never come out of their house for YEARS? I know there’s a psychological term for it… and yes, I’m kind of equating that to wanting to be on Xanga but being so afraid of the “bad man” that you lock the whole world out. Why must we coddle these ADULTS? THAT is going too far… the babying of adult users of this site.
Again, if someone is habitually harassing someone, something IP related NEEDS to be done… I agree wholeheartedly. IF these things are really happening to these kids, Xanga needs to take a stand, but it’s up to the PARENTS of these children to stand behind their own kids’ rights. We are not America’s “Mommy” here… we’re a small operation, which we already know is growing at an exponential rate… xanga deserves some kind of support for just GIVING the opportunity to the people on the ‘net to be here, and to USE their rights. Not make it harder on yourselves by feeling that you have to absorb time and space on your servers so that Little Timmy doesn’t get kicked off the football team for SAYING he wished he had some beer or something like that. As long as he’s not threatening lives, I’d take it with a grain of salt ANYWAY. Little Timmy probably doesn’t know what drunk really feels like in the first place, and if he does, well, that’s another parenting issue I won’t get into here.
*sigh*
I’m sorry to be so long winded about this John… I guess I’m trying to understand the need for this ability to lock ourselves away… and why the need is best met by the owners and operators of XANGA.
Again, people reading this in a rush will misunderstand me… I appreciate the fact that you, John, read the first long-winded comment in it’s entirety, and then came and read my own post, and inquired what you did. It truly means something…
another step taken by the thought police… bastards
Ok well people need to realize how many people read their “online diaries” because if it was something you REALLY didn’t want anyone to find out about, then why would you write it on the internet anyways?!