Some clarifications
My entry from this morning brought up some additional questions and concerns, which I would like to address.
First, the reader’s password – the idea is to give the diarist the ability to have a password that they could give out for visitors to use. This password would only allow the visitor to read the diary and leave notes – not to perform any other functions in the diary. This password could be used to allow individuals into a private diary, to let an OD user into a diary where OD users are not normally allowed, or to let a reader who does not have a diary account to leave notes. This password will be controlled by the diarist only. If the diarist and the reader have a falling out, the diarist can change the password and deny the reader access. Also, the password will work only on the diary of the diarist issuing it, and no place else – it will not allow access to any other diaries. This is still a work in progress, and we’re still divided on whether we will do it or not – I just was offering it as an idea for an alternative.
There also seems to be a perception going around that many of our recent changes (allowing notes from OD, importing OD favorites) have been made for the purpose of improving access and use here for OD users. We have received a lot of comments saying that we should not be trying so hard to accommodate OD users. I would like to point out that all of these changes were made to accommodate our subscribers here, not to make life easier for visitors from OD. These changes were requested by paying subscribers to OD+, not by users of OD. A very large number of people who were migrating here from OD wanted to be able to keep in touch with their friends back at OD and this, to me, seemed like the right way to approach it. However, it seems to have made some of our community feel as if we are extending the benefits of OD+ to users from OD, without them having to pay for it.
This brings up the next point – I see many people displaying concern that they have spent their money for a subscription, and anybody else who wants to read here or leave notes should have to do the same thing. As far as reading goes, we always intended to offer public diaries as an option – and that is the same as saying people from OD can visit. The only thing we added was an extra level of security, so our diarists could allow only OD and OD+ users, rather than the general public. As for notes, as I said above – this was a feature requested by a large number of our paying subscribers, and I treated it like I would any other request – we implement them, if we can. Personally, I don’t see how giving OD users the ability to leave notes (at the diarist’s discretion) is equal to providing OD users with all of the benefits of this site (without paying).
The major benefit of being a subscriber to OD+ is that we have eliminated the ads from the site. This has always been the primary thing on our list of benefits to users, and remains so. Your $20 subscription pays for the ability for us to provide diary service to you in an ad-free environment. That will continue to be the primary promise we make to our subscribers. The other benefits OD+ offers, like note history, user blocking, notes downloads, more entry space, more backgrounds and colors, etc., are just icing (that’s the DiaryMistress’ words) that help to make this a better community.
We will continue to strive to provide the best experience for our subscribers here, and to ensure that they all feel that they are getting their money’s worth.