Hi guys,
I know it's been a long time since anything has happened - and it's taken a lot of soul searching and internal dialogue (and some external dialogue with various people!) to come to this point - but I am now in a position where I have no choice but to ask for your help.
I don't even know how many people still read this!
Anyway, as you may or may not know, I left full time employment earlier this year to go back to school and get a degree in Paramedic Science - just for something different :-) (Those that follow my personal life will know that computers haven't been my full time desire for many years now and finally I took the plunge).
What this means for DearDiary.Net is that I no longer have sufficient income to keep propping it up. It's my own fault I'm sure the site could be quite a good revenue generator if it had some TLC applied to it. But it's a LOT of code that runs the site and rewriting it to use newer technologies has eluded me because of its size. Excuses aside, the plain fact is that I need to come cap in hand and ask for your support. The server DD runs on has been scaled back as far as it can go and still provide reasonably quick service. The server itself costs $80/month to host, and I use it for some personal projects which produce about $20/month in revenue.
That leaves me in the hole for about $60/month. So I have a choice - I can come to you, loyal, loving DD readers to ask if you can pledge a small amount each per month to keep the server running, or I can admit defeat and have to close up shop, at least temporarily (and really, if I did that, would anyone still want to use it when it came back?). Let me state quite clearly, this 'pledge' you'd be making won't get any extra features or fancy stuff happening, it's purely to keep the place open at the moment. I hope this would be a short term thing (if a couple of years is short term!) while I'm at Uni and then I can go back to supporting it financially myself.
Also, I'm looking at converting the entire site to a WordPress driven site. Initially that would mean a number of features you currently have wouldn't exist (such as Friends Only diaries) until I could code WordPress plugins for them. But given that the main engine for posting/commenting/feeds etc would be already done, the tinkering round the edges is more likely to happen than a total rewrite. Anyway, give me your thoughts on that.
Please give me a straw poll for who is prepared to pledge a little each month to keep the site going until such time as I can support it myself (or it can support itself through other means). If everyone who updates regularly can support us, it would only need $4/month or so to meet the target $60/month.
Sorry to have to bring this to you - I hope it doesn't upset anyone too much - I hate having to ask!
Steve.
PS. If the future can be secured for the time being, I've set up a Google Groups discussion group. I'm not entirely sure how it works cos I haven't used Google Groups in ages, but anyway, if you want input into the future, lets talk there :-)
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Comments (22)
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I have to wait till my husband gets home on Friday to send it via pay pal, but I would be happy to help.
I'm heavily invested in many ways in Dear Diary and want to see it continue until your situation changes.
Would love to see it hang in there until you can make the upgrades you want to and perhaps making it into a going concern.
I have to tell you, I still prefer DD to anything else I have seen on the net.
So count me in for 60.00.
I like the customization.
I like the community.
:-)
And perhaps this is just my take on it, but I REALLY appreciate the one entry on one page function of DD. I do not like stacked entries for a whole month on other blogs. They annoy the crap out of me. I would have to sit with that thought and parse it out, but I think the 'less is more' aspect is what I like. I know you CAN view other blogs one entry at at time, but you have to choose that AFTER you are already on an overloaded page.
I am easily overstimulated by too much information at once and like DD's pages for that reason.
Technology is our blessing and curse. As you can see from my latest entry, my computer just bit the dust... literally, so I have been browsing all day looking at replacements. And the only REAL reason I care about computers is because they connect me to some great human beings, even if only as pen pals... some with illustrations! ;-)
I would be happy to participate in a discussion group about where we could go with DD. I would hate like poison to lose our community to the WW conglomerates.
Love ya... and thanks for hanging in as long as you have under difficult circumstances.
Y.
I've looked at other blog formats WordPress included and pretty much hate the way they are set up. I love having one entry per page and being able to customize the look of my pages. And while I might consider one of these other sites for more commercial reasons I come here when I want to write.....to really share and visit with friends.
The bottom line is even though this site may not have all the whiz-bang features what it does have it does well. And it offers something the others can't touch......a sense of belonging.
So yes I'll contribute. :)
PS. I've never used Google Groups so can you post something as to how that works.
I'll be on the lookout as to what you and others decide, but count me in for a months cost of your server.
I would hate to see this place close, even temporarily.
I've been here a good few years (like ten!) and the support and friends I've made have been awesome
Tim
Steve, you were there for ME whenever *I* needed ya, and now the day has come where my actions will finally speak louder than me sayin': "if ever there's anything I can do for ya, just gimme a holler".
I'd be more than happy to send ya $60 to cover a month's worth of hostin' (or however ya deem best to apply the $60). If I can contribute even further down the road, I sure 'nuff will.
Just lemme know how ya'd prefer to receive the funds.
I'm also with the other diarist who said keep it the way it is and don't switch to WordPress.
I can tell you there was many a night back in the early days of DD where this community got me through with their encouraging words and love from people I never met in real life.
So thanks and am hopeful for our DD to continue. (she says as hubby is currently on his laptop in bed taking up where he left off on the last lot of coding updates for DD) lol
Xxx
And let me chime in with all the other voices in appreciation of DD. Most of my bookcrossing friends are over on Livejournal so I have to cross-post there, but I much prefer the DD format. I joined here (under another name) way back before blogging became a word, and I've grown greatly attached to it, and to the people I've met here. Long may it live!
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Blessings to you . . . and prosperity.
Always,
Anne