How much for just the database? **
Two weeks, huh?
Okay. So there’s no residual value to you. Want to make a last bit of cash? Sell me the site. I’ve got cash and I’ve got looming unemployment to give me time to play with making a go of it.
So how much? How much for the domain and the site? Or if the domain is worth too much to you, how much for just the database and current codebase?
I can’t see where you have a single thing to lose by selling. You say you value this community, so give it a chance to live. Talk to me.
To my friends and defacto family here, you’ll be able to find me from prosebox under the same name.
*EDIT*
Just to set expectations here, I don’t expect much of this.
Looking at basic economics, I don’t know the state of the site. I don’t know what costs are already committed, or what debts are owed. I’d have to get at least some sense of the traffic and data volumes though I have my guesses. I don’t think the last few years have done the site any good in terms of the value of the property. Which means what I’m prepared to pay may not be even close to what the DM thinks the site is worth.
Equally, I get to be a bad guy as soon as I might take over. Whatever drives the site to this two week deadline is likely to require drastic action to counter. And changing technologies when things are on the blink means a lot of work and likely a fair bit of instability and downtime (though at least I’m a little better about communicating what’s going on). In a way it means that OD is something of a poisoned well.
But honestly, I don’t see the DM having ever shown the dispassion required to actually surrender the helm. I don’t actually fault him for that; I think it might be very hard to have someone else make a viable go of something he had to give up on, and it may be more emotionally satisfying to close the doors than to walk out of them.
Still, if you’re turning it off, it can’t be worth that much, Mr Diarymaster. Wouldn’t it be better to see it live on?
*Edit 2*
The copyright question is a good one but not as complex as it first seems. The content is copyright to the author, absolutely. And by posting that content in a publishing site, you’re giving explicit license for the site to publish that content for you, until the time you explicitly remove that license by removing the content or making it private.
The privacy policy says that the content won’t be used for nefarious purposes and won’t be sold to a third party. But it doesn’t apply here because OD is the first party and a change of management doesn’t alter that.
The polite thing to do would of course be to point out the change of management in case someone wanted to delete their content. And I defer to any actual lawyers reading, but jumping to a lawsuit before exercising the existing ability to correct the “problem” tends to make judges cranky.
Which is to say “Carry on my copywrited son.” 🙂
As for pursuing Bruce to the ends of the earth… At one point a few outages ago, I tracked down a phone number and left a voicemail. This time, I’ve posted this for detail and left a note on his diary. Someone else can chase him on facebook.
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I agree
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you’re not the only on who’s asked. It’s clear he doesn’t care.
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Good luck with your offer. I hope he starts thinking sensibly about this. Right now his pride seems to blind him to many reasonable possibilities.
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Are you on ProseBox? I’m going to go delete my diary. Not gonna leave it up to him to be respectful with it. theearthling@earthlink.net or Anita Porter on FaceBook. Let’s stay in touch.
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I was hoping someone would offer to buy it. I have so much outside of OD, but there have been times when that wasn’t the case. I started my diary when I was 14 years old. My parents found my diary and sent me to a psychologist. I was so depressed and I wrote on this site every second day. What if everybody signed up to OD+ now? I’m sorry that I didn’t. Thanks for that lesson. Please sell.
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You’d need some sort of opt-in for keeping users/content due to copyright. I’m sure it’ll all be moot, though, as I doubt Bruce is gonna sell.
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I’d like to see someone take it over, I have a lot invested here being a lifer since early ’99, but maybe its time to let things die a natural death.
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Ooops, sorry, I wasn’t signed in. I got so excited being able to access the site that I forgot. lol
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How wonderful if you could take it on!! I’m hoping against hope that the DM takes you up on your offer. Otherwise: see you over at Prosebox.
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I’d really rather not leave here. I like it here. It’s comfortable. But, if you can’t buy OD, I’ll see you on the other side.
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I agree with all this… I’m sure everyone would be willing to be paying costumers to be on the site at this point as well… I’m honestly not sure how he could possibly shut it down with this many offers going around… Sounds a bit selfish to me ~~~>
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This note is on the Open Diary Facebook page: If you sell the database, don’t even think about selling the data. I will pursue a class-action suit for breach of copyright(s) for every word. “Site design and software © 1998-2011 Open Diary . All rights reserved.” Content is neither of these. I have copious screen shots. Could that be a reason the DM seems unwilling to sell?
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Contact him on Facebook if you are serious. He has an account there. Bruce Ableson
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I admire the offer. 🙂
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Interesting. I agree that not much is likely to come from it, but it would be interesting if something did…
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https://www.facebook.com/bruce.ableson/photos
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My note didn’t sway him. He has long refused to discuss selling. He goes the way of newspapers, AOL and blockbuster, unwilling to change or let go. I am not worried about a change in management, I am worried about private data being exposed.
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Thank you so much for trying. Are you on faceplant or prosebox?
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You should talk to EWS. He has something planned. Maybe you could work together and make OD even better than it was.
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It’s going to EWS. He didn’t do all that volunteer work for nothing, you know!
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I will be seeing you on prosebox.
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I wish he’d hand it over. I’ve seen you around. There’s “enough” of us to make this site shine again. Selfishness and pride… too bad he has to take all of us with him.
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im on PB as pelican. don’t forget me 🙂
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ryn: love back.
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all the copyright stuff can be handled by agreement. I wish he’d take your offer, but it isn’t like you’ve not offered before, or toyed with it. I’m at PB and will look for you.
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Not interested in chasing him unless my entries show up on another site somewhere down the road. He has the responsibility of reasonable care to make sure that doesn’t happen.
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The domain expires in 2016…there are ways to take it over if it’s abandoned before then.
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I sure wish you could take over. Bruce’s facebook addy https://www.facebook.com/bruce.ableson
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So I’ve heard it said that OD runs on technology that’s close to seven years out of date, hence why the site always seemed to constantly be down or having problems. I’ve also heard it said that by merely switching to a more modern web code that the site would be three times easier to maintain and take half the man power / cost to operate. True? No idea. But an interesting premise. I wouldbe very interested to see what you could make of it. But be warned: With Serin at the helm, I fully expect to see unicorns manning the help desk and an ice cream sandwich with each entry. *grin*
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Also, I’m hanging out at the Prosebox bus stop as well, under the same name. Will see ya there!
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I’ve seen your name from time to time, and when i read somewhere that you had offerd to buy this site, i followed someone’s note to come in here. Good of you to try to save it.
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http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/to-diarymaster-of-open-diary
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For now I am leaving the above note anonymously, which limits where I can leave the note. I hope others seeing the note are emboldened to pass the link on to other OD users they know.
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Please see my entry on prosebox, Answer to why doesn’t Bruce just sell. Same name.
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Oops, just Kate over there.
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