So you are staring at the computer screen thinking "wha?" Your Xanga is busted, and you have no idea what do to. Now before you send an irate help email, don't panic! Here are some steps you should keep in mind when composing a help email. (Although this is Xanga specific, most of the points are useful when sending any email to any customer service department).

Before sending an email off to us, take a few minutes to analyze the problem yourself. Sometimes issues appear that are unrelated to Xanga. Understanding what is going on will help us solve the problem faster. Here's how to go about doing this:

• Take a deep breath, and look at what you are doing. Now if you are getting a horrendous error message, there's probably nothing you can do to fix it. But if something isn't working the way you think it should, retry it. Read the instructions and make sure you are doing it correctly. A lot of the help issues we receive are fixed before we even read the email.



• Be aware of the programs your machine is running. For example, if you have ad-blockers running, the xTools editor might not appear. If you have a personal firewall, you might have issues with certain components. Be aware of your browser settings; make sure you have cookies and javascript enabled.



• When in doubt, restart your computer. Especially if something that was working before suddenly stops, or if programs other than your browser are acting funny. I know; it doesn't sound like the ideal solution, but lets face it, sometimes things just get out of wack and need a good reboot.



• If you are using IE, and you are getting a "Server 500" error, go into Tools -> Internet Options… -> Advanced and uncheck the "Show friendly HTTP error messages" option. Then reload the page. If the error occurs again, it should display an error message which you should email to us.



• If you put some bad HTML or Javascript code into your Look & Feel section or in a post, and now your site won't fully load, don't worry. Just log in to Safe Mode and you can fix the problem.



• Browse the links on the left-hand site of your private page. Often times the answer to your question lies in one of those links



• Don't send off an email without investigating the problem yourself. If you do, we are just gonna ask you to try the same things as above.



• Don't email us asking for help learning HTML. Though Xanga provides facilities to add HTML to your site, we can't tutor you on using HTML. Here are some resources to help you learn HTML:
  
  A Beginner's Guide to HTML
  WebMonkey's HTML Cheatsheet (WebMonkey has many great HTML References)
  Adding Music to your Site



• Lastly, take a look at our help section, you might find your answer there.

Now you understand the problem a little better, but it still won't go away! Here's what you should send to us:

• State the problem clearly and concisely, with as many details as possible. If possible, include the date and/or time when you first noticed the issue.



• Include any error messages that appear. Read the section above to learn how to turn error messages on in IE.



• Include the steps required to recreate the problem.



• Include your username in the email.



• Make your subject line very descriptive. This helps us organize the emails we receive. Sometimes we can tell what the issue is, or know the appropriate person to forward the email to, just by looking at the subject. It is also very easy to spot a virus because they have the stupidest subject lines.



• Don't send one line saying "My Xanga is broke please fix it". We are just going to email you back asking you to follow the steps above.



• Do NOT send any javascript code or attachments in the email. Any email with an attachment or with unsafe content will be deleted immediately without being read.

Now that you've sent your email off, relax. Be patient. It takes a while to get through all the email we receive. Expect to receive an answer to your question quickly, but be prepared to wait up to 2 days.

Hopefully the response will fix or tell you how to fix your problem. If we require more information, we will send you instructions on what to do next. When replying to our questions, please include the entire email thread in your reply. We get so many emails that it's hard to follow what you are talking about without the thread.

Now in an ideal Xanga world, we'd never receive help emails. But next time you do run into issues and find yourself sending one, please keep the above points in mind. It will help solve your problem quickly and painlessly.