November 21, 2003

Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam…

Happy Saturday everybody,

I have been getting TONS of mail and notes from people about this, so I thought I better address it (to save some time answering). A few diaries have been started on OD that are expressly for the purpose of advertising another diary site, and asking people to come join them.

These people have been visiting many of our diaries, leaving blank notes to get diarists to visit their diaries, and I guess, their site. A lot of the people in our community have taken offense to this – and I can’t blame them for that. Leaving blank notes on entries that you don’t bother to read or respond to is bad etiquette, in my opinion (and the opinion of many others). Don’t get me wrong – I left a note saying that leaving blank notes was rude, and some people took offense to that also. There’s nothing wrong with leaving just your name in a note, if you’ve actually read the entry and just want to let the diarist know that you were there.

Anyways, I don’t want to spend any time on this, since I don’t consider it a problem. Many, many OD members have asked that I delete these diaries. However – I am a big fan of capitalism, and the power of supply and demand, and free choice for all consumers. I think that the best way for things like this to be decided is by the people – if people visit that site and like it and want to join it, I’m the last person who’s going to try to stop them. The success of our site or the success of their site will be decided by our members – and I’m pretty happy with the group of people we have here.

The bottom line is that these new diaries are not specifically breaking any of our Rules here at OD, so for now they can stay – as long as no Rules are broken. That’s it – just wanted to let everybody know, that I am aware of the situation.

The DiaryMaster

Of course, in the last 36 hours, this other site has had zero new members join – while in the same time 873 new people have joined OD. (not gloating, just a fact)

that last part of the entry cracked me up. you gloat all you want, dm. you’ve done good here, especially with how you’ve turned everything around lately. so you write as many “neener neener neener” notes as you want.

LMFAO @ THE BOTTOM RIGHT PARAGRAPH.

*laughes at the small print*

*grins* you have a wicked sense of humour Diarymaster!

I tried other diary sites before… no one even comes close to this site! What if the people from other sites are harrasssing ODers? Isn’t that breaking a rule?

That’s because this is the best diary site on the internet and the diarists here know it. 🙂

*applauds you* I used to be a member of said site, and it can’t even compare….

When will the Chaptering feature be available? Just curious. Your loyal reader since time immortal ~HK

So what you’re telling us is that you have time to answer replies about so-called Spam, but you can’t address an issue posed several days ago that you could likely easily remedy if you simply tried Thanks, but no thanks. I’m glad I left OD and hopefully this latest dereliction of duty on your part will finally convince my friends to leave also

okay, I have a problem. I’ve had my diary for around a year and now when I type an entry and hit enter, the enter doesn’t save when I save the entry. This didn’t start happening until after you updated the site.

Spam has always been a part of the Internet and thus a part of OD; on TOD, I get no less than two notes reading “hey nmb!!!!1” for every real note. If it must exist, OD spam should be like e-mail spam. Like how one spam I got for a sight called “F*ck ‘n Fight” which had bums that…you guessed it, f*cked and fought. :O

besides, we could always convert a few–even with this new fangled system.

gloat away..you deserve it. at least here the crazy people (myself included) can have their own little corner in a mansion instead of in a mobile home.

Bravo to capitalism and to you DM

I leave “spam” notes on people’s diaries sometimes, but only to get the word out that I’m here to help. Spam is such a harsh word!hehehe BTW, if you or your staff need advice, please feel free to stop by! Keep up the good work!!

DM, I have to tell you, I am very amused now that you’re allowing a bit of editorial comment to creep into your diaries. It’s like you’re back with us after some rough months. I’m sorry for whatever struggles kept you away from us, but dude! You’re hilarious! 🙂

i understand, they just get annoying sometimes. bleh.

diarymaster, i think this site is fabulous. in fact, i prefer this site to other online diaries because i’d be able to write even if i had limited HTML knowledge. don’t worry about it. i want to thank you for a great job well done. thanks so much. take much care.

I read every entry I note. And I’ve never been rude or anything to anyone.

If that other site has to be so lame that they have to come here and spam us to try to get us to go there, that only proves that they suck and we’re much better off here. 🙂

hehe, of COURSE you’re not gloating 😉

Hey DM, Awhile back, I posted an entry that apparently had an offensive title, and instead of viewing the entry, a big ‘ol warning about such things was uncalled for. However the netry had nothing to do with what you (or whoever came across the title thought it would be. Anyways, I don’t care about that anymore, so I won’t argue it…(continued)

(continued)…The reason I’m babbling on like this is that that warning thing is what replaced the ‘My Notes’ pages, so I can’t check and review notes on one handy page. It’s replaced by this black background and simple white text, with your moniker at the end of the message. Iknow you’re just doing your job, but is there any way you can fix it so I can have a ‘My Notes’ page again? Thanks.

I just delete the note and forget it.

hehehe Sweetie it sounds like you have EVERY right to gloat! You are so right about it being a choice for the OD members. I wont deny Ive checked out some of these sites in the past but never liked them much because they just were not OD! You have truly created a great community and I think most people on here think just like I do! There isn’t a diary site that IS better than OD out there.

I’ve gotten to where I dont even bother to look to see if these sites are any good. OD makes me happy. The people, the tools and gadgets, and especially the way we have so much control of the diary designs. You have this place running so even the newest newbie to online can navigate it, or you have it where we can tweak EVERYTHING on our pages. You deserve to be able to feel some pride & gloat!

hehe, you win man! lol OD is pretty darn ace.

I think its time for you to change the rules. I don’t want my OD spammed. The whole point of comments is about building a community, not annoying other users. If you do decide to allow comment spam, then maybe I’ll just start visiting all the diaries and suggesting sites that don’t have that problem.

I know I must be a real idiot but when you asked us to change our passwords I did just that but now I can no longer remember what I typed in and I lost the paper that I wrote it on….is it possible to find out what it is? My real diary is ymihere, I started it long before I had my current email address so I know that I can’t recieve my password by email. Help!!!!!

well, if its the diary site I am thinking of, then in this case its a little unfair. Because you have to pay at the other site. Here you don’t have to pay, its an option. So how many PAYING diaries do you have in that 36 hour period? Just curious.

I just wanted to drop a note to say that I think OD is wonderful. LiveJournal has a confusing lay out, and a very exclusive/not private site. I appreciate being able to have a diary that my peers DO NOT know about. So, thank you. 🙂

gloat all you want, DM. All you want. 🙂

the ad banner for the virus checker or whatever, is a pop up creater that causes your home page to change to a different site which, in turn, creates more pop-ups. Please do something to remove this 🙂

lolz… thats funny. isabel

LOL loved your lil footnote…;-)