I have heard a lot about OD Plus. Some good, some bad. Now I’m going to go through the description thing and make comments.
(My comments in italics.)
How big will Open Diary Plus be?
The largest difference you will notice in Open Diary Plus is its size. Open Diary Plus has been designed to be a small community – absolutely limited to only 10,000 members. Many of the diarists from Open Diary have requested just such a place – a comfortably-sized, welcoming diary site where they can feel at home. Open Diary Plus is designed to be just that sort of place.
Fair enough I suppose. Personally, I feel that there are a lot of liitle groups in a bigger site, so it does not seem too large. But it is a case of supply and demand.
Are diaries on OD Plus still kept as public or private?
Yes, but there are some key differences. We have added another type of diary, the “semi-private” diary. A semi-private diary is a diary that can only be read by other members of Open Diary Plus. Readers from outside the site (including from Open Diary) will not be able to see a semi-private diary. We have also added new user management features – these features will allow the diarist with a semi-private diary to block selected members from accessing their diary.
Again, fair enough. I personally would never use either option, but there will be some who would.
This type of diary is the default type for our site, but you can also select to have a private or public diary. A public diary will be able to be read by anybody, whether they are a member of Open Diary Plus, or not. A private diary will be available to nobody, other than the diarist. A private diary can only be read by the diarist after it has been unlocked with a password.
More or less the same as here, then.
What about notes? How are they different?
Notes are a little different on Open Diary Plus. First, there are no anonymous notes on OD Plus – the site will only allow signed notes from other Open Diary Plus members to be left on diaries. This means that people who are not members of the site will be able to read your diary (if it is public), but they will not be able to leave notes.
I’m not too sure about that one. What if I read something on OD Plus and agreed with it? Or someone needed help and I could offer it? I can’t as I cannot let them know. This is one of the reasons this diary is on all notes. Plus, any of my regular readers can read new entries and comment, or reply to notes, even if they do not have time to log in.
If I have a diary on Open Diary, can I transfer it to Open Diary Plus?
Absolutely. We are working on implementing a system that will allow you to transfer all or part of your existing diary to OD Plus. If you do, all of your entries and notes will be transferred into a new diary on Open Diary Plus. Your old notes will still retain links back to the original OD diarists that left them.
I’m glad about the link back thing. But this poses more questions. Will OD+ers be able to leave notes in OD? Will it link back to OD+? Not that we will be able to respond, not being able to leave notes in OD+ anyway.
Why is there a fee to use Open Diary Plus?
The primary reason for charging a fee for Open Diary Plus is that we wanted to keep the community small. That is not to say that we are trying to keep people out – that is certainly not the case. However, with a maximum of 10,000 members in Open Diary Plus, there will not be enough site traffic to support the site through advertising alone. So, by charging a $20 per 6 month subscription, we will be able to keep ODP running for a very long time.
You may not be trying to keep people out, but that’s what will happen. Being a student, there is no way I can either afford nor justify spending the British equivelent of $40 a year on a diary. Also, will any of this money help cut the number of pop up ads on OD (which I have noticed increase over the past week).
What enhancements are there on OD Plus?
We’ve made several improvements to the Open Diary software for Open Diary Plus:
Note history – the system keeps a history of all the notes you leave, so that you can go back and see them later.
Why would you want to? I wouldn’t.
Semi-private diaries – you can limit access to your diary to only OD+ members.
OK if you want that sort of thing.
Optional public favorites – you can share your favorites with other diarists, if you wish.
Actually, this is not too bad an idea. Most people have linked to their favourites before.
Password reminder – if you forget your password, you can retrieve it through the use of a security question.
And why is this not also available on OD? Most other websites which require a password have this.
In addition, all future enhancements to the Open Diary software will be made at OD Plus first. As a member, you will always enjoy the newest and most up-to-date diary software available.
For $40 a year, I would not particularly want to be a testing area.
Does this mean the original Open Diary will eventually disappear?
No, absolutely not. We realize that there will only be a small portion of our community that wishes to pay a subscription fee for ad-free diary service. Open Diary Plus is the place for them. We know that the original Open Diary will always be a larger site, serving many more diarists. We intend to keep it that way – Open Diary and Open Diary Plus are both here to stay.
I hope they do keep OD open and don’t succumb to greed. As I’ve said, I cant afford the money. and that’s just for this diary. When you reckon in my rant diary, my film review diary and my poll diary. Plus how do I split paying for the CWPD?
I have to admit, it looks like OD+ (I know they call it ODP but OD+ looks better and is more logical) is here to stay. But if they want to get to the magic 10,000 subscribers, they have to sell it a bit better.
I also wish to join Rodge in suggesting that a way to get more money for OD would be to have a click on the ad to make an entry. It takes 5 seconds, gets the site money and is already being used by qool.com
Will
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