notforprophet

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The Updside of the Biancas…
Someone has moved the boulder. Bianca has returned as the many-headed Hydra.

The Hydra, in Greek mythology, was a gigantic water serpent with nine heads, one of which was immortal. She was defeated by Herakles who buried the immortal head beneath a boulder.

"[The Hydra] throve on wounds: of all its hundred heads I cut off none but from its neck two more sprang to succeed it, stronger than before! Yes, though it branched with serpents sprung from death, and multiplied on doom, I [Herakles] mastered it, and, mastered, I dispatched it." -Metamorphoses 9.69-74

So we have now Bianca and Bianca_ and Bianca_bianca and what more to stick their necks up soon!

Should we act like Herakles and sever these necks? Drive the monster into the ground and plant it under a boulder again? I say: No!

I write not to attack, but to take note of the spectacle and stay clear of its flagellations...

First: Bianca

Loopdeloup and Pixelpusher have substantiated that Bianca has resumed her recruiting activities here after 2 ½ months cessation.

I was worried when Bianca ceased her recruiting activities on behalf of Xanga. I felt that we all drove her into seclusion, and secretly I hoped that someday she would return as a recruiter. Should we stop scrutinizing her every move? No!   Should she stop her recruiting activity? No! Yes, it is a ruse, now uncovered—but, from my vantage, appreciated. As if I were a 14 year-old virgin boy seduced by a beautiful 35 year-old woman under the pretext of love—but really only done for the initiation of sex and naught else—I am chagrinned, but appreciative.

I do, however, think that the manner in which her posts were simply updated by timestamp and weeded of certain eProps and comments is overly deceptive. I believe one of her posts had at least 60 eProps (I think it was the “meaning of names” one which now displays only 37 eProps), so what is the ploy?

To make current and more modest Bianca’s stance?

This weeding and the fairly coincidental disappearance of the “all time” eProps/Comments feature (where you could search for the greatest number of eProps/Comments since Xangan time began—for a further description, see my post here) have something in common: Bianca would have noticeably fallen in rank in the list. And while erasing comments and updating timestamps is possible by us mere mortal Xangans, erasing eProps is a sleight of hand only the Xangods are capable of. So no longer can we point and say: ”Look what has happened!”   History is effaced and along with it, Bianca’s historical rankings, and all evidence of manipulation—except for our memory!

But why else, from the Xangods perspective, would they prune her eProps and make unavailable the “all time” eProp feature? So that those who had ranked historically at the top, Jewels with 74, Holly_Green with 70 (yes, I was up there somewhere, too) wouldn’t have grounds to get obsessive and say: “Look, the new wave of recruitees have lavished Bianca glowingly with more eProps than us! She’s now taken the lead--all of our glory effaced by a recruiting tool! Arghhh!”

Not that any of us would—I’ll dare speak for all and say that we would not!

But the Xangods feared this possible ugly head of jealously, so made Bianca more modest and also furthermore incomparable to us. Which might also explain why there are no new Bianca posts, only updated ones. New posts by Bianca that might become lavished with new members' ePropped gratitudes could stand out at the top in the current weekly rankings. Old posts—time updated only—so seemingly current but not, yet available to new members as an outlet for their appreciation and affection—don’t rank. Ah! The Xangods reformed the marketing tool and proactively anticipated possible negative reaction. Bianca is alive (current time stamps) and passively available for praise (necessary for adulating newbies) yet not contesting with the rest of us! Brilliant! It’s brilliant!

What we must keep in perspective, however, is this: While we assume that Bianca is a para-Xanga tool, nobody has hard proof of that! Indeed, Bianca could be just the fantastic creation of a freelancing Xanga-loving blogger entirely unrelated to the Xangan management (except for her ability to erase eProps). That isn’t likely, but it is surely the position the Xangan management would take if ever challenged legally. In fact, the reappearance of Bianca leads me more confidently than ever to deem that her tracks are effaced: there’s no tracking back! Bianca is dead! Long live Bianca!

Next: Bianca_ and Bianca_bianca

Bianca_ is a spinoff, namesake copycat of Bianca. And Bianca_bianca, the most recent same-authored spinoff yet.   Both aliases, acting like Republican or Democrat candidates on the stump, carry their own cohort of self-propping adulators (as described in my last post). So the ploy is that Bianca_, or now Bianca_bianca posts a weblog, the author logs in multiple times with his/her own aliases, eProps the post incessantly, then poof! the post appears from nowhere at the top of the Featured Content list!

I really admire all the frenzied effort involved in this and suspect the author is a manic/depressive releasing the mania! Furthermore, I strongly suspect the author is Heresmy2cents—his/her appearance coincides and is strongly integrated with the rest of the ePropping Pack. But so what? Who cares? As James notes, the writing is brilliant—though hack-filled political diatribe even if humorous, I find not too appealing.

Of course, I don’t have to read it—and I won’t. My appreciation here is what the manic effort does for Xanga. The Xangods, no doubt, monitor Xanga statistics for activity and growth trends with a view to the future and, of course, the economic bottom line. Bianca_ and Bianca_bianca in their self-flagellating flurry of self-fashionable passion are a flying circus of commotion—a spectacle indeed! So if they are a Xangod creation to infuse more seed activity into the arena, they somewhat succeed. And if they are just Heresmy2cents’ manic self-backslapping creations, they also succeed in making Xanga look more lively, more active. More activity holds promise in making Xanga more viable and, hence, in the long run, truly sustainable. Do I object to their effort that leads to this effect? Hell no! Let them run rampant! Let them go!    But knowing that it’s feigned and somewhat pathetic, I’ll merely watch and not take part in the spectacle.

So unlike Herakles, let’s refrain from boulderizing these Hydra! The necks we cut off main be our own.

Now that I’ve spent my own manic analytical energy thusly, I feel a need to return to some things of the heart… such introspections that await me, psychic inklings that dart about, probings into soulfulness that promise to carry me away! So coming back to you next time from the other side….