You can’t go home again.

 

 

I’m going to write about my OD experience. I hope I don’t get flamed for it. It’s not meant to be insulting, it’s just how I feel now that my 30 day trial is coming to its end.

I want to preface by saying two things.

Firstly, I love Prosebox, and I made a home there these past four years. However I didn’t let that influence my feelings to a new OD. None of my bookmarks from PB seem to have come back, which both surprised me, and also in a way didn’t. Prose box got me through the hardest times of my life. Not to say anything, it just so happened that way. It was just the luck of PB that when I was almost dying, Prosebox was the site that was there. When I had my first child, Prosebox was there, and when life fell apart and I thought everything was going to come crashing  down on us, Prosebox was there. OD was there for things too. When I met Sam, when we got engaged, and when we got married. But life moved on, and I just settled into a different home. I’m a nomad, and in all honesty, OD is the place I lived the longest.

Secondly, I don’t hate Bruce. I never hated Bruce or held any animosity about OD going down, or how it happened. I gradually moved to PB, and although the adjustment wasn’t easy, it happened. When OD went down the first time, it was a bit rough thinking it was over, but I had already set up elsewhere as did most of my bookmarks.

In the time I’ve been away from here, I’ve kept up with the people who I read here (the ones who moved over) as well as I started reading a whole slew of new people, that even though they were on OD, I didn’t know them here. Possibly because we didn’t run in the same OD circles.

What I like about OD is that finally, finally all of my old entries have been restored! Periodically I’ve been reading through them. Access to one even came in handy today, when a movie I once wrote about came up randomly in discussion.

What I don’t like about OD. A lot. Honestly, and I mean this with all of the love. What I missed about OD was all of the feature that never came to Prosebox. SM always said he wanted Prosebox to be Prosebox, and not a second OD. Which I totally respect. But I honestly feel like the new OD is so much like PB, but not as easy to navigate. It’s definitely not as user friendly as either PB or the OG OD. Though I do have to say that OG OD was definitely not as mobile friendly as the new one!

Don’t even mention the notifications to me.

Also, almost right away I sent a request to change my email and I still haven’t received the email link to confirm the change. I had to bring that email address back from the dead to re-activate my diary, and I also don’t plan on keeping it just for the purposes of OD.

OG OD was awesome. There were so many features. I totally get that the new OD is in its infancy and I’m sure there will be a lot more to come. But, since I have to think about paying to go forward, I had to look at what would make it worth it.

I also don’t understand how to use this yet and it has been almost 30 days. Like, only three of my bookmarks came back. One I can’t access. I know she’s still writing on PB, so maybe she’s not writing here. But, she could have also gone members only, or taken me off her friends list, and I have no idea how to send a request in that event. That goes for any user. If I don’t have access, I don’t even have the option to send a request or see a diary page like olden days. Before the only time you couldn’t access a user was if you were blocked.

It’s all a bit confusing.

One suggestion I would make, is that since the trial period is only 30 days, give users full access for 30 days. I can’t rightfully pay for this based on the access I’ve been given.

I only have 2 friends who came back from OD who didn’t go to PB. Between the two of them they may have written 4 entries in the 30 days I’ve been here. Paying just to have access to walk down memory lane, or periodically read two people doesn’t feel worth it.

Get ready to be upset, here it is.

There is one HUGE thing that I find extremely upsetting. I don’t come here everyday. It’s honestly too hard to keep up here and PB, especially since my life has changed so much and time is much more limited. But it seems like every time I do, there is some entry about how if people don’t like it they should leave. Why write here, leave it to us. Get out if you don’t like it.

I may have written this before, but it fucking upsets me to know end when people have such a privileged attitude towards something.

Growing up, as a child of East Indian immigrant parents, people said this to me ALL OF THE FUCKING TIME. Maybe to you, it’s NBD, but to be honest, stop being jerks to people because they are upset, or not as in love with the new OD as you. People say this when they feel like they have more of a right to something than someone else. It’s a really fucking privileged thing to say to someone, and it’s awful and it makes you an awful person when you say it.

Yeah, I’m mad.

I was born in Canada. I was raised in Canada. I’m just as Canadian as the next Canadian, and this is my home too.

The same goes for OD. We were all born here, and raised here in our online journaling life. This was home to all of us for a very long time. It means a lot to each and every one of us. It also means something different to each and every one of us.

Some people are loyal to a fault, and some people felt abandoned. That is life, and EVERYONE is entitled to feel any which way they want to about it.

Some people forgive and forget, and some people need to voice their hurt.

Some people moved on, and haven’t even given a second though to coming back.

Thats how it is.

Just don’t forget that the money from your 4+ year old lifetime memberships isn’t there to float the site anymore. So let people come back and bitch, and complain, and maybe they’ll get it out, get over it and reacquaint themselves here and pay to use the site, and keep it afloat. You know, so that you may also continue to use the site, and also to ensure it gets to the best version of itself it can be.

That’s all. I have 5 more days, I will check in periodically to see if my old bookmarks update. But that will be the end of my OD chapter, for now at least.

Take Care OD’ers. And try to be nicer. You catch more beers with Honey.

This may not be goodbye forever, but it’s goodbye for now.