OD 10th Anniversary
This week marks the tenth anniversary of Open Diary. Tell us about your OD experience – how long you’ve been here and how your life may be different because of OD.
After being unfairly banned from the online Tolkien community, The One Ring.Com (TORC), on February 4, 2004, I began thinking about sites where I could share and continue the articles I had posted there. Since I have an easier time writing facts, such as essays, news, and research papers, I also wanted a place to post essays on public issues. That’s when I realized that online journal communities would be a good idea.
On February 27, 2004, after searching for and exploring some online journal sites, I chose to sign up at Open Diary (OD) because I liked the features. Soon some members commented and welcomed me. I also began reading other OD members’ entries and commenting, and met some good people. Unfortunately, I have come across some unpleasant people, but didn’t hear from them for long.
At first, I was more active, because there were quite a few essays I had planned. However, as time passed, real life became busy, especially with school, so my time at OD dwindled. I would still return when I could. I also began using OD to tell my side of the story in conflicts.
After some bad experiences at more online communities, I began to fear stalkers, because I always used the same screen name everywhere online. At the same time, I suspected that my family also knew my screen name, and I didn’t want them tracking me around. I then changed my OD screen name, but my OD account would still come up in search results for my old screen name. However, I still didn’t want to go through the hassle of starting a new account, and copying and pasting all those entries.
In May, 2006, after much thought, I decided to start a new OD account with a different screen name. I also decided to have alternate online journal accounts at Xanga and LiveJournal (LJ) to prevent stalkers from finding me at OD. If I wanted to share one of my entries, but felt suspicious of the person, I would direct them to those accounts first. Now, I am really glad I did. As suspected, family members knew my usual screen name and found one of my online accounts, and I also had a stalker.
Unfortunately, as time passed, I began to spend more time at LJ, probably because it has more convenient features. At times, I’ve considered leaving OD because of time constraints, limited features, and the site often going down, but I have met some nice people here, and don’t want to lose touch. I could direct them to my LJ account, but some of them don’t have LJ, and it would cause them inconvenience. That’s why I am still checking back at OD.