This Is My Home.
Bruce, Bruce, Bruce. You are the neglectful father we want so badly to just give us attention.
It really makes me wonder. How can it really be so dire? How can OD be in debt despite all those blinkie ads, and LJ be, well, whatever LJ is. As I have no idea how they operate. It can’t be just teenyboppers, can it? I don’t run into teenyboppers on LJ. I run into people who want to get naked. Har har. LiveJournal is (supposedly) large, but is very unintimate to me. In part because I don’t know anybody, I suppose.
Open Diary is home. It’s part of my obsessive personality. I don’t like change. If I do something now, I assume I’m going to be doing it forever. You all should know how supportive I’ve been of our Kinky DiaryMaster, Bang Bang Bruce over the years. (If you think I hate him, you’re an idiot.)
I made this website. We make this website. We can take it away, if we want. Become OD refugees and go to so many other places. Poptart left for LJ. Going there will never feel like her old diary. It’s the user-interface. Something about writing in notepad or this box for OD puts me in this mindset. It’s a mindset that’s evolved over the years.
Websites have issues. It happens. I like to think we’re more aware of what happens here than other sites. Then again, this is the only website I really follow. I just assume tiny monkeys run livejournal, and occasionally one of them throws crap at one of their servers. When something happens to Livejournal, I don’t know who to blame.
It’s the little things. I can’t use special characters. Nope, I can not be Timmy on LiveJournal. I have to be TimmyTM, which just doesn’t feel the same. Notelist.asp. All the comments to YOU, in one spot. I don’t use it as often, but notehistory.asp is also handy. I don’t like LJ’s setup of having your friend’s list display entries. Sometimes I want to just see my goddamn favorites and pick and choose who I want to read, rather than have some sample jammed down my throat, and feel guilty for ignoring text on my screen.
But even I can’t deny the problems this site has been having. Thing is, the problems don’t bother me nearly as much as something else. Isn’t it obvious? I think all of us would be a lot happier if we had some sort of explanation. Shit happens. Okay. A gerbil decided to chew on the RAM. Okay. We forgive you. Just promise no gerbiling around the server.
But I think we all felt a lot better when Bang Bang updated his diary more. Even if it was to just talk about nothing.
Which brings me to the point. A plea for help. Haven’t we seen this before? I’ve been here long enough that I remember a time when new diaries couldn’t be created. You know what happened? We banded together, dusted off diaries we didn’t use, and gave them to other people. I vaguely remember something called Open Diary Plus being created, shortly after. Had to say I resented the pretentious bastards.
(Of course, I eventually realized I was a pretentious bastard myself (among other reasons) and joined the Twenty Dollah Billz Club, myself. ..Of course, it’s now the Twelve Dollah Billz Club, which just doesn’t roll off your tongue quite as nicely.)
While being a Generation C diariest gives me the distinction of having bought a diary before the Unification, I was originally a Generation A diariest. I still have my original diary (and another A diary) hanging around.
Oh right. The point. We’ve seen this before. Will this really be the end of Open Diary unless Dramatic Action occurs? I just don’t know what to think. A lifetime membership? That seems almost like a gamble. You get a lifetime membership IF the site lasts.
Something seems different this time and I can’t put my finger on it. I’ve already backed up my diary, as everybody should do. I’ll remain a 1337 5||0b until next summer. I see no point in me blowing a hundred dollars at this juncture.
I’ve been through many incarnations on this site before eventually settling on my own damn name. If this site goes under, I think it would be strangely poetic. I’ll probably end up somewhere else and take whoever I can with me. I know I have that kind of sway. (I love you girls.) But not until then. I’m here until the end. For no matter where I end up on this here internet, I will forever be Timmy of Open Diary.
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You know, the hippie in me likes the whole ‘he ain’t heavy, he’s my brother’ thing, but once you start charging me to use something, it’s a business and not a charity. People left after the hacker not because something broke, but because someone else didn’t care enough about our digital lives to back up properly. I shrug and say that’s the risk we take. It’s a consumer/provider relationship.>
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>So the site’s in trouble. What does he have to say that would indicate this won’t happen again? That in six months, when the server people want to be paid again, he’ll come up with the Multi-Generational Membership, where your granddaughter will be able to sign on as Mommy2alienTwinz or whatever. Or maybe there won’t be any more help left in us, and our “lifetime” membership will have actually >
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My issue is also the Big Gamble — if I pay $100 and the site goes down, I don’t get those precious dollahs back! I’m not sure how I feel about that just yet.
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I’m with Paper Moon–OD may be a community of source, but OD provides its subscribers with a service. Therefore this is business and you ain’t getting any more of my hard earned money. Especially when there have been several times in the past couple of years where I haven’t even been able to get on. Do you know how frustrating that is?! Gah. Lifetime membership. WHOSE lifetime?
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>been a six month sub. But you already know that. I guess I just have to live by the credo, don’t love the company because the company don’t love you. Too little too late, Bruce. (going to back up my diary)
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Source=sorts. Sorry, angsty typing…
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amen. stay absent for months at a time and no answers to emails and then expect us to act favorably to asking for MORE money?! OD is home. LJ I just can’t get into, but know what? We are ALL having hard times. *goes to download diary*
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I say we all march over to godaddy.com, buy a domain name for $4-$9 a year, rent webspace from dreamhost.com for $10 a month, and link to each other and become true “bloggers”. *giggles* Home is where the Leave a note link is? 🙂
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the first year i was here there was a crisis and we were asked to click on all those bloody banner ads and such. that was five years ago. then new diaries couldn’t be created about a year later, and then there was OD+. we’ve managed to survive thus far. i have a livejournal as well and i barely use it. i find it aesthetically offensive. that being said, if OD does die, i shall be…
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..dusting off my LJ i guess, though i won’t be happy about it.
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As a Member od OD since May 12th 2001, and a C diary as well, an OD + member since Feb 2002, I chalked up the 100 jr bacon cheeseburgers, because I could. I realize, a lot of people cant, therefore, those that can, should. I do not want OD to go.. therefore, I will do what I can so that it doesnt. OMG that was so gay sounding 😉
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Brokenheartless. Been addicted to OD since August 2005. (Not that long. :P)I don’t…get LiveJournal. I don’t get how to post entries. :O
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i tried to customize my LJ and it was a disaster. i am an html-tard. also, what you said about reading the friends page is quite true. i always want to pick and choose and LJ really does shove them down your throat. i have a feeling OD isn’t going to die though. already two of my faves have signed up for the lifetime sub. and, ryn: aussieland sounds grand right about now.
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I don’t have $100 to drop right now and I’m with you on the “if the site lasts” thing – I don’t want to drop the $100 and then find out a year later that it’s going under – yeesh… I’m thinking about it.
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it is home here. I know what you mean on that. Ive had my diary for over five years. I hope this matter is resolved. I have an LJ but I dont know.. its just not like Opendiary. Xanga..got to many freaking whiny teens.
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I’ll be honest — if he hadn’t asked for this money only days after the Leave a Note function went down and he couldn’t be bothered to address it until after it was fixed, I would consider it. But as it is, you don’t go begging for coins right after you piss on the person’s shoes.
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I want him to lower it to $50.00. So maybe it’s not lifetime.. maybe its 4 years, if the site lasts that long… but I can validate myself paying 50 now rather than 100later. He should take a poll.
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right. take out that whole ‘later’ attached to 100. my brain took a vacation.
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I feel similarly — $100 IS a gamble. Sometimes, I don’t even know if I believe he’s $10k in the hole, either…..
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OD has always been a business. I have to say…for as long as I’ve been around (5 yearsish now)…I’ve seen the ups & downs…the DM disappearances & reemergances…….I can’t help but want to help out.
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I wanted to know your opinion, and now I do. Thanks. I’m glad you’re staying. I’m staying until the end too, but no way am I shelling out duckets I can’t afford. It’s too risky.
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If you leave, you won’t go to LJ will you?? Please say no. Go to Bloop. It’s almost the same setup as OD, I think. Please? No? *pouts* Wherever Timmy goes, Darcey will follow.
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Y’know, I don’t think I thought of that before. How does LJ run, adless? They sell subscriptions, yes, and icon upgrades and such, but still, it’s gotta be like here — there have to be more non-payers than payers. I’m not panicking, ’cause I’ve been through this before. That’s half the reason I got my OD+ — we had a scare on ODregular that any day, the site might not be there anymore.
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So if we’re giving money to OD for a “lifetime membership” aren’t we really becoming investors? Shouldn’t we get something in return besides deferrment of our membership dues ever 6 months? And a dinky little icon that says “lifetime member”? Jeez, even the Masons give you a bumper sticker and pin.
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Well that’s how most companies make money, they have a board that governs the movements and decisions of the company and investors that pony up some cash. What do we get for our $100? Not much. And if this site goes down tomorrow we get squat. I think he’s being melodramatic though to push our buttons and get more cash. I, too, doubt some of his claims.
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Man so much happens when I’m gone! Hmph. What the. *shakes her head* Anyway. I tried LJ once. Ran home crying to ‘mama.’ Yeah.
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I hope OD doesn’t die. I’d miss it.
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I sincerely loved this entry Timmy. Sorry, don’t know the code for the trademark sign so I don’t want to do you any injustice by throwing in the TM…because you’re right, it’s not the same. I tried to join LJ this morning, just as an emergency backup…my moniker, Melancholy, the one I’ve grown into. Yeah, already taken. There’s just so much more I could say about this entry…but I won’t
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…bore you or take up any space here. I wanted to RC this but you already have one entry on there, which could be this entry for all I know.
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i love being a gen A diarist. it makes me feel like i can say, “you know what? i’ve been here longer than most of you, go away.”i remember when going to opendiary.com was weird because i was used to freeopendiary.com. and when opendiaryplus.com was like the corner of the playground with all the sixth graders, where no one else went unless they wanted to get beaten up.only i’m too poor to
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be able to pay even $12; even if i had the money, i doubt my parents would let me. which makes me love people like you who keep it going for all of us….i don’t know what i was trying to say with this note, but i think a general “od is cool let’s be cool together” might suffice.laura
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