I understand your frustration…

Let me start by telling you, my fellow OD members, that I completely understand your frustration.

I’ve watched with dismay as Open Diary has been losing members right left and center. Despite my love for this site… I can hardly blame them for going. If I was a paying monthly charge and I was getting service this shitty, I’d not only ask for my money back but start looking for a new place to blog. Right now the site hasn’t worked consistently for weeks, if not months. Last night when I tried to load my notes or bookmarks, all I got was a search page telling me the page I wanted couldn’t be found. I was not amused.

I have invested a great deal of money in OD, so when I say I’m very disappointed in how things are being run here… I have every right to say it. When Open Diary first started charging prices for what was then called OD Plus, I paid the fee and did what I could to support the site. When OD suffered a hacking that almost caused the site to go under, I answered the DM’s call for help and purchased a lifetime membership to inject extra cash into the site to keep it afloat. As a paying member and 13 year resident of this online community, I have every right to be pissed about the way this site has (or hasn’t) been working.

Not only are people with free diaries jumping ship, so are paying members and even those who are lifetime members. They’re jumping ship to Prosebox, frustrated at the lack of service and upkeeping going on at Open Diary. It takes more than just an occasional peek to run a website and I don’t blame paying members for being really pissed off. I really hope the DM is going to refund OD+ members for all the crap they’ve had to put up with for at least the last two months. If I was paying a monthly fee, I’d expect nothing less.

I also think the DM needs to explain what has been going on as well as apologize for how crappy this site has been working lately. I realize the big man is busy but we deserve to know why all these errors are happening and what is being done to stop them from continuing. If it wasn’t for the undying loyalty of this great community, this site wold have gone under a long, long time ago. I just wish the DM would give his loyal followers the respect and attention they deserve.

As for me, I’m not going to bail on OD. I still like this place and am sure things will get better. I’m not stupid however. I’ve already secured a place on Prosebox and two other sites, just in case. This is my preferred place to blog but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t take precautions in the event the worst happens.

My first entry on Open Diary was June 14th in the year 2000. Thirteen years is a long time and for over ninety-five percent of those years… this site was working very well. That deserves a little patience and understanding during these difficult times. I understand the frustration of users who are getting errors or search pages and hope that you will be patient with me as we all hope the DM takes care of this current issue so that we can resume writing and continue to make Open Diary one of the best blogging sites on the internet.

So the best I can say is carry on people, things will get better (knock on wood).

Peter