Sloganeering
Obviously, I fell short on NoJoMo – if only November had only twenty-two days, I would have been fine. Oh well, I will try again next year!
There was a very positive response to the OD Booster Club idea I talked about, so I am going ahead with putting that together, and we’ll talk about it again very soon. I’m going to work up some 8 1/2 x 11 signs and flyers, index card size flyers, and also some stickers (in a standard size) that will be in PDF files and be able to be downloaded and printed by anybody. I’m going to be working out some sort of reward system – what I am thinking is maybe we will have a monthly contest, in which people can submit photo evidence of where they have posted/left these things, and we will pick a winner each month (based on effort and originality) and we will give a prize. Hopefully, we can have some fun with it.
Thanks again for so many great ideas, and such great support – the people here always surprise me.
I’m working on a few slogans to put on fliers/ stickers. Some early ideas:
"Tired of talking about your life 140 characters at a time? Get deeper at OpenDiary."
"Why settle for just a tweet, when you can sing a whole song?" (Thanks, BridgetJonesing!)
"Come see the web’s best-kept secret. Everybody loves it. Nobody talks about it." (Thanks, Starting Over!) *edit* – I had the wrong person here before, sorry!
"Everybody has a secret life they don’t want to share with the world. Come share it with us."
Like I said, early ideas – but you can kind of see where I am going. If anybody else wants to add, please do – I appreciate any and all suggestions! I’m also thinking I may make it so our members can design and upload flier/sticker PDFs – we all know I’m no design genius, and I’m sure there are plenty of people here who can do a better job than me.
I’m also working on some of the other promotional ideas we talked about/you all suggested – I’ll update you on those as necessary, but thanks again for all the help!
I had fun blending real-life and work during November, so I am going to work on something other than the green box for posting personal stuff in the future. Today, down here will do.
Wife and I are spending our evenings on the ongoing saga of emptying our storage unit and moving it all into our new storage shed – last night, we were going through boxes of "Mementos", which are things as old as stuff from our middle school/high school days, up to things the children had drawn or painted for us when we were little.
I found a printout of the very first computer program I ever wrote – it was from 9th grade (I think), some version of BASIC. We had a minicomputer and terminals in our "computer lab" at my high school – nobody had PCs at that point. For the geeks among us, it is reproduced below:
10 REM ABLE11 HR.2
20 PRINT "THIS PROGRAM FINDS THE SUM OF ANY THREE LENGTHS AND"
30 PRINT "GIVES OUTPUT IN YARDS AND FEET. ENTER LENGTHS IN"
40 PRINT "FEET (INTEGERS ONLY) ONE AFTER ANOTHER, USING"
50 PRINT "COMMAS, WHEN ? APPEARS."
60 S=0
70 INPUT A,B,C
80 X=A+B+C
90 IF X<3 GOTO 130
100 X=X-3
110 Y=Y+1
120 GOTO 90
130 PRINT A;"FT. + ";B;"FT. + ";C;"FT. =";Y;"YDS.";X;"FT."
140 PRINT "DO YOU WANT TO USE THIS PROGRAM AGAIN?"
150 INPUT B$
160 IF B$="YES" GOTO 60
170 END
I still remember being disappointed when I first started using Visual Basic and there was no GOTO statement. Bummer.
After that stellar beginning, I didn’t touch computer programming again until I graduated from college (no computer science classes) and got a job as a systems administrator in a sales office with these new things called "PCs". When I went for the job interview, the machines were still in their boxes, and nobody in the office knew anything about them – so it was easy for me to convince them that I would be a great help in getting them to work (even though at that time, I had never used an actual PC either!).
That job turned into a programming job, as they started to ask for custom database and spreadsheet (yes, with scripting) applications, and since then I’ve done nothing else but computer jobs (well, you wouldn’t really call this just a "computer" job – but you know what I mean).
The DiaryMaster
OMGosh that computer programming brings back memories of high school data processing classes! We loved to tell the computer to GOTO 🙂 And the computers were so big! How things have changed. I like the slogans too! Have a great day! >^..^<
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ryn: oh yeah.. the small things are just.. beautiful, ya know? 🙂 they mean so much.. hmm.. also, can i just say, i love this website. i really do. i’ve made wonderful friends because of it. So thank you. 🙂
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Erm there IS a GOTO in VB and even .NET can do it… I use it all the time in VB6! 🙂 Mainly I do it to annoy the senior developer who really dislikes it (quite rightly) and if I’m feeling really “funny” I try and create the most elaborate way of using a GOSUB and RETURN too (to which he was just flabergasted). “Did you put that in specifically to taunt me?” “Pretty much:)”
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P.S. GOSUB was dropped (completely) from VB.NET. I can only play with that in VB6 🙁 *pout*
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What’s with the Twitter-bashing?
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pretty good slogans! take care,
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Ah cool! I think I missed an entry someplace. I’ll go look.
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FWIW, I think the last two slogans offer the most promise.
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Good slogans.
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I like those slogans! Especially the 140 characters one – everybody complains about that!
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I love that quote by BridgetJonesing. It’s perfect!
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My first computer program was in college (BSEE, robotics class). Using BASICA, I programmed an interface between the PC and a robotic arm. The program used the robotic arm to stack three soda cans. Man, that was a challenge. I’ve been hooked on programming ever since. I never did work in the electrical field because of it. lol Eric
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RYN: Ah I don’t know. I went from ZX Spectrum Basic -> GWBasic -> QuickBasic -> VisualBasic 1 for DOS (I’m 99% sure it was in the DOS version, but I don’t know about the Windows version) and then VB5, VB6 etc… 🙂
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Love the first few slogans! Creative people on here 🙂
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Hi, Is there any way you could help me? It’s just come to my attention that my old diary is still on this site. The old diary name is Norweiganwood and I’m sure I have the old password but it won’t let me log in. Problem is, I can tell you my old email address but it’s not actually registered to me anymore. Is there any way to import the contents to my newer diary? There are several diaristson this site that read me then and can vouch that I’m the same person, I’m happy to give you their details for verification. I’m looking forward to your response. x
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I remember writing stuff like that in middle school! Well, you don’t want to use Go…or the raptors will get you!
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aw thats cute. i was thinking a flyer that just said opendiary.com the online diary site. as anonymous as you want it to be. cheaper than therapy.
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Computer Programmingß Geezzz … the first time I learned PASCAL it was like I am living in a Middle Age era. LOL
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I don’t know if I like “Booster Club”. I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this, but some of my favorite musicians and bands have “Street Teams” for promotional stuff like this. I think “OD Street Team” sounds cooler, but maybe I’m just being nit-picky 🙂
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I love the last slogan.
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“Everybody loves it. Nobody talks about it.” is my favorite. the allure of the clandestine and esoteric is probably more powerful than anything “positive” a slogan could ever say! a la speak easy or davinci code etc. – people love the secret and ellusive and protected
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The offer to advertise on my preggo belly is still open! lol. I like all of those slogans, you have a hard job ahead of you.
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I have been trying to “write an entry” for three days. Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error ‘80004005’ Unspecified error /entrysave.asp, line 377
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Oh, I love the slogans!!
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Those slogans are great!!
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I love the ‘best kept secret’ slogan. 🙂
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” Everybody loves it. Nobody talks about it.” I thought that had to do with sex and peanut butter. Your 9th grade BASIC program beats the crap out of the first BASIC program I wrote as an adult!
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For the OD-booster: “You’ll meet friends; you’ll cry, laugh, wonder, and the stories of lives are better than any sitcom. This is OpenDiary.” I hope you like. 🙂 Is computer science fun? –Cissu
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Open your heart. Open your Mind. Open your life. At http://www.opendiary.com Or something like that…
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Or there’s always: OpenDiary.com – the world’s best kept online dating service! Seriously do NOT go with that! Can you IMAGINE the desperate, lonely hearts . . . Oh… wait… We’re full up with those. Sell desperate and lonely somewhere else! (Name that movie reference!!)
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I love the slogans!
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Love the slogans!!!!
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Open diary, where you can share your whole life and still be anonymous!
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Great slogans! I love the idea of a PDF file – I’d definitely post some OD fliers around town! 🙂
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Well…I mustn’t be that much of a computer geek then, cause I only glanced at that and really felt too bored to go on with the rest of it and went straight on to your personal entry. Lol. The ideas that you’ve listed above seem pretty good! 🙂 Also, again, regarding the entries of the personal life of your’s, I’m glad to see you finally writing them!
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I’ve been wondering why you haven’t been for the longest time!
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Wow….that brings back memories. I taught myself to write BASIC on a TI99-4A way back when. It’s one of the reasons I’m more computer literate than most of my generation. P.s. *Ahem!* re-check your notes for the “everybody loves it, nobody talks about it” phrase. P.s.s. I sent in a problem report on changing my email of record. Haven’t heard back yet.
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I’ll stick something up at work! I’m not allowed to, but I work at night. Noone will know it was me! All the day staff will be captivated. xD
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RYN: Not to worry. I found a way to make it work.
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I like bleeding*star’s slogan 🙂
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You were ahead of your time, and made a good decision. Computers was the way to go.
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Well, it’s not IBMs BASICA because *IF* it were BASICA *THEN* it would have a THEN.
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Is there a page that gives not only the code for the side boxes, but directions for installing it? Sago wants to know… thank you.
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Oh my! My first programs were just like that. I ran out of patience for the, so perhaps I found what best suited me. 🙂
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hubby talked about basic programing that his class programmed an actual ‘game’ like atari lol but they were proud as can be to do that. I never messed much with computers until around 1998 knew they were there but ‘they were out of my reach $$wise and knowledge wise’ now I couldn’t live without one. love the slogans
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LMAO @ the computer stuff. Sooo low tech! 🙂 And this slogan may be a little obvious, but what about “Open yourself up at Open Diary” or something along those lines? 🙂 xoxo
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Will you ever program a method of importing downloaded diaries (that no longer exist on OD but were originally)? Also, I think the first slogan is the cutest 🙂
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I spent most of seventh grade teaching myself BASIC. GOTO was an amazing thing. Nowadays I tend to prefer Python, but now I’m also a Linux nerd.
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GREAT slogans!!!!
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I don’t have a printer and live in a very small town. Open Diary is our place where we can write what we feel and its such a loving community. Great friends and also great therapy. Thanks Betty
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By golly. I used Fortran at university. We had to punch cards and submit them for someone else to run the program through the computer. We didn’t even get to see THE computer. It had its own room.
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Yes, update us about the booster club when you have more of an idea about how it will work. And as for that code, all I can say is, “Huh?” I’ve never understood scripting, etc. That’s why I leave it to people like YOU, the experts. —
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I love the slogans people have come up with. Now to find a way to share them….anonymously.
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“GOTO” is the worst statement in BASIC. It hampers structure.
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I know this is a little late but another idea you can try is to start a meet up group for Open Diary. You can go to http://www.meetup.com and start your own discussion group. This can get the word out about OD for very little cost and you can link it to Facebook and Twitter accounts also. I had a weird dream about you DM, not sure what it means…it may be a foreshadowing of something to come, Ihope not!
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I like “Why settle for just a tweet, when you can sing a whole song?” and “Come see the web’s best-kept secret. Everybody loves it. Nobody talks about it.”
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I like this one: “Tired of talking about your life 140 characters at a time? Get deeper at OpenDiary.” It’s very relevant right now, plus a lot of people find Twitter extremely annoying.
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Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but I read someone talk about using their Site Monitor to see who has been reading thier entries, even if they don’t leave a note. Had a look for that myslef and I’ll be darned if I can find out where on earth it is? Can you help?
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Writing code is not easy!!! Looks good!!
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love the tweet one!!
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What an awesome idea!! I’m an English teacher and always trying to convince people that writing will enhance their lives. I will post these EVERYWHERE!!!! Starbucks, libraries, my writing project website (of which i happen to be the webmaster / tech nerd so i don’t even have to ask permission!) 🙂
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I like the idea of a contest of submitting photos of where you left a flyer. Have a prize for most creative and one for most posted. Maybe this is complex…but have each member of said Booster Club get a number to place on the flyers identifing to only you which diary it belongs to.When a new person signs up have them fill that number out in referral section. This will allow…
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you to keep track of who is actually leaving out the most flyers for the contest and let you know if your advertising is working. Maybe give each person with uses a reference number when starting there diary a month free of membership. This will encourage them to buy it later.
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“OpenDiary.com, because not everyone can be an asshole.” It has a ring to it.
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Love the slogans! Looking forward to hearing how it goes.
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RYN: Technically a garage would be either somewhere you stored your car or somewhere you took it to get it fixed, but it’s also a common name for a “petrol station” (which I think you guys call gas stations).
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I like “Get Deeper” or “Go Deeper”. Personally, I would just say something like “Open Diary: Go Deeper”. Though I must admit, I really like how small OD is compared to other sites, it’s homey. And with more people, comes much more drama too.
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OK Diarymaster.. these ads are getting RIDICULOUS! They have my whole page messed up and keep expanding over everything I’m trying to do. I had OD plus for awhile but can’t afford it right now. I can understand having ads… but this is ridiculous.
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lol Great slogans, I also like “my name is”‘s idea – I think it’s smart that it mentions the anonymous as you want to be part… gives lotsa options. Perhaps you could do a pdf file of each? That way people wouldn’t have to choose just one? If we get that going before January, then for a date in dephomo a prompt could be creative pictures of where everyone put the OD signs! 🙂
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Hello, sorry to be a pain, but I’ve been getting this message for three days: Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error ‘80004005’ Unspecified error /entrysave.asp, line 323 but only when I try to include a survey in my entry. I spotted someone else had the same problem and I was wondering if you had any idea what it might be. Thanks, Merry Christmas :O)
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I also like the tweet/song one. One line that jumped in my mind the other day was, “everyone knows your business, now share the side you hide…” although its a little similar to the fourth suggestion.
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LOVE Starting Over’s slogan!!
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Please get an app for od on iPhone. Pleaseeeeeeee!!!
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“Open Diary: We were here first, dammit!” The first BASIC program I ever wrote was on a PET computer (remember those?).
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Hey, the “stay logged in” button isn’t working when we sign in. Could we get that fixed? Thank you and Merry Christmas 😀
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MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! Love,
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Oh wow. I remember my Cobol (sp?) and Fortran programming. C+ had just started and I was totally confused by it. It’s been so long I don’t know that I spelled Cobol correctly! But that program did indeed bring back memories. Gads… thanks!
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Aloha nui loa… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ just drifting by ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here’s wishing you a Mele Kalikimaka and a Hau’oli Makahiki Hou… Me ke aloha…
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