If you ever kept a paper based diary as a teenager, then you'll know how great it is to be able to have somewhere to write your innermost thoughts. The scariest thing about keeping a diary was someone finding it and revealing your thoughts to the world.
Oddly, keeping a diary at opendiary.com ... Read review
Advantages: Easy to use, some thought provoking reading, you get feedback on your thoughts, flexible Disadvantages: Some really awful diarists, adverts on free diaries, only one downloadable entry editor available, poor help section.
...Oddly, keeping a diary at opendiary.com cuts out the "middleman", and your diary is automatically public (there are privacy settings if you need them). I thought I'd never like it or never take to it, but I gave it a go anyway. Several years and nearly 600 diary entries later, I'm still there.
Keeping a public diary may seem a little uncomfortable at first, but it's actually quite emotionally "freeing" (for want ... ...you notes or comments on the entries you make. It's so good to have a note from someone that says "Hey, like your diary, I understand how you feel".
Opendiary - the basics
-------------------------------
When you initially sign up with Opendiary, you'll be asked if you want to join the free site (with adverts) or the paid site (no adverts and extra features).
If you ever kept a paper based diary as a teenager, then you'll know how great it is to be able to have somewhere to write your innermost thoughts. The scariest thing about keeping a diary was someone finding it and revealing your thoughts to the world.
Oddly, keeping a diary at opendiary.com cuts out the "middleman", and your diary is automatically public (there are privacy settings if you need them). I thought I'd never like it or never take to it, but I gave it a go anyway. Several years and nearly 600 diary entries later, I'm still there.
Keeping a public diary may seem a little uncomfortable at first, but it's actually quite emotionally "freeing" (for want of a better word). People are able to leave you notes or comments on the entries you make. It's so good to have a note from someone that says "Hey, like your diary, I understand how you feel".
Opendiary - the basics -------------------------------
When you initially sign up with Opendiary, you'll be asked if you want to join the free site (with adverts) or the paid site (no adverts and extra features).
The free site has less functionality than the paid site (differences listed later) and it has adverts, which can be a bit of a problem if you have a slow connection.
The paid site is limited to 10,000 paid diaries available but only a small amount of them are currently taken (about 2,500). It costs $12 (USD) for 6 months and $24 (USD) for a year.
During the signup process, you choose a username, diary description and diary title. Diary descriptions usually include a little information about yourself, pictures or a welcome note. You can change these at any time (including your username). You can also change the colours or background images to use on your diary. You can also insert HTML into your diary entries and diary descriptions, but I find some added html very annoying. For example, some diaries add sound clips or annoying mouse pointers (or often prompt you to install comet cursor).
You can set various privacy options on your diary. If your diary is completely private, nobody except yourself can read it. Everyone can read public diaries. If you are a paid subscriber, you'll have more control over your diary. See below for further details.
Then it's time to start writing!
Writing and organising entries -----------------------------------------
When you set up your diary (or change settings in the Diary Maintenance screen), you can choose to use the WYSIWYG editor or a plain screen. WYSIWYG stands for "What You See is What You Get" and basically means that if you make a piece of text bold, then it will appear that way when you save your entry. There are lots of different controls at the top of the editor regarding text size, font and colour of text. It also makes inserting pictures and links a little easier if you are unused to it. I am quite happy with using the plain text screen as I am happy using basic html in my diary entries.
Opendiary Plus users can use things called Chapters. This means that they can organise their diary entries into chapters. You can have up to 9 chapters in total. I think it's useful for separate eras of my life separate - eg, being single or in a relationship. Some diarists have another chapter for their weightloss entries.
There used be quite a low charachter limit on writing entries, but this has been raised to 30,000 charachters to allow for longer entries now. I rarely reached 7,500 (the old limit for OD Plus users) so I don't tend to find the charachter limit a problem.
Making friends --------------------
A great thing about opendiary is that you can read other people's diaries, if they have them set to public. This is a great way to make friends - especially those who have the same interests as you. It's a great way to develop intimate friendships with people. I have got close to a number of people via opendiary.
These friendships tend to strike up through notes. You can leave a note or comment on the entry in question and hopefully, you'll get a note in return. This doesn't mean that you should "note spam" though. If you do, you'll get ignored at best.
You can add diarists to your favourites, who you acces via your favourites list. Opendiary also has the option to allow you to make favourites only entries. This means that only your favourites can read that entry. You can make your whole diary favourites only if you want to.
I should also add here that you can exclude some favourites from reading favourites only entries. This may seem a little strange at first, but I have diaries in my favourites list that I like to read rather than note. I hate to say it, but there are some diaries out there that read like trainwrecks and sometimes I can't help reading them - however, I wouldn't want them to read favourites only entries, so I am able to block them from reading.
You can meet some great people who you share interests with via the "interests" section. There are lots listed, from fans of Britney Spears to Dieters, to Parents. You can create your own too, but be aware that they take a while to come up on the system, as they need to be approved by someone human first. Your interests appear on your profile page, where you can write a bit about yourself and can even put a photo if you like.
Notes --------
You can set your diary up to receive only certain types of notes:- None, All Notes and Signed Notes. Signed Notes will only allow other diarists to post notes to your diary, and their diary name will be attached to each note. All Notes allows anyone to post to your diary and None is pretty much self explanatory.
Further to this, you can decide whether to allow private notes on your diary. Private notes can only be seen by you and the noter.
You can also stop diarists with private diaries from noting you. This is a recent addition, because it seemed that there were some people hiding behind private diaries (which cannot be read by anyone but themselves) and using them to insult people in notes. By having the "No Notes from private diaries" option checked, people who have private diaries will be able to read your diary, but can't leave notes.
Another Opendiary plus feature is that you can have access to a Note History feature, which shows every note you've ever left someone.
OD Plus membership ------------------------------
If you subscribe to the site, here is a list of the extra features you get for subscribing.
- No adverts. The free section of the site has adverts on it. If you subscribe, you won't see any,
- Note History. A bit like the sent items folder on your e-mail. You can read all the notes you've left people.
- Reader Blocking. If you really dislike another diarist, you can block them from ever reading your diary.
- Diary Chapters. A cool way of organising your entries.
- Diary Search. Lets you search your own diary, or anyone else's for particular search terms.
- Reader Passwords. If you have a diary set as private, but you want your best friend to read it, then you can give them a readers password. This will enable them to read your diary and leave you notes. This is also handy if your friend isn't a member on Opendiary, and you have your diary / notes set to Opendiary Members only.
- Filtering so that you can see all Opendiary members, or just the Opendiary members who have paid.
Personally, I like having these extra features. I don't use all of them, but it's good having them there. I like having the increased flexibility. However, it's only recently that you are now able to use a downloadable entry editor and you seem to get more features at Livejournal (eg, with a paid account you can update via your mobile phone).
Why Opendiary? ----------------------
I chose Opendiary because it was difficult to get a free Livejournal account at the time (you had to get a code off an existing member and I didn't know any). At the time, Opendiary was completely free and wasn't as feature rich as it is now.
I made friends pretty quickly and enjoyed having feedback on my diary. I must admit that on the free site, there are a lot of annoying diaries that seem to talk purely in text talk or with bad spelling. I find some of these diaries really boring, epsecially as the entries were really similar. There are also a lot of trainwreck diaries about, but because of the flexibility of Opendiary it's easy to filter these out if you want to.
The site has had it's problems in the past, namely with an absent owner and security but these have been solved. The owner of the site now posts regularly in his own diary to keep everyone updated and there has been a lot of money invested in getting the security up to scratch (new, better hardware firewalls in particular). The help system is a bit poor compared to Livejournal's extensive FAQ section though.
I particularly like the community aspect of Opendiary. I have since joined Livejournal as well, but only to back up my Opendiary account in case it ever gets lost. I find Opendiary easier to use and more friendly. It seems like a nicer, more open community. I tend to get a bit overwhelmed on Livejournal.
Summary -------------
To summarise, Opendiary is a great way of getting your diary on the web. Journalling can be very cathartic and helpful for a lot of people. The Opendiary community is fantastic and is incredibly helpful and supportive when you need it. There are some great flexible features too, especially for the users with a paid (plus) account.
The downsides include only having one downloadable entry editor, a poor help section, adverts for free diarists and an awful lot of crap reading to sift through.
However, I can definetly reccomend Opendiary, as a paid or free subscriber. It's a superb site.
Advantages: Great networking tool! Disadvantages: too many pop-ups
Opendiary.com has what you are looking for. First: some advantages: ________
Opendiary.com gives you the space, the webspace for you to post your ideas, your thoughts, your talents, your resume or anything else that you would like to post. There are thousands of people who read opendiary.com and write to and on opendiary.com every single day. If you go to the site of opendiary.com, you can search for interests, topics, key words, and you can search ... ...com [There is the teen opendiary.com and PLUS opendiary also]. For the free opendiary.com, you register -for free. For registering you receive your own webspace which is supported by advertising. There are many pop-ups if you don't use a pop-up blocker. And sometimes if you do use a pop-up blocker, you wont' get the full use of the diary space. You have a forum where you can speak about anything at all just by typing your ideas in an "entry" . An ...
myportfolio 18.01.2006
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Opendiary.com
Advantages: Easier than putting pen to paper Disadvantages: Sometimes temperamental
Most years when i was younger, i would receive a diary for Christmas from a member of my family, usually my Nan. Every year i would be so excited about starting writing in my new diary, i would fill in all of the personal information pages, fill in a few names and numbers in the telephone numbers section, etc etc. The diary would always go really well, up until around mid February, when i would completely lose interest, and it would be left in a ... ...EVERY year without fail. I still look back at some of those old diaries and think to myself 'I wish i'd carried on with that.'
Fast forward to 2002. I had my sisters old computer off her, and had Broadband installed in my bedroom. I stumbled across www.freeopendiary.com as it was called then, i'm not sure how i stumbled across it but i did. I signed up, opened a diary, and dipped my toe gently into the big ocean of online diaries, and the rest is ...
miggimoo 23.06.2004
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Opendiary.com
Advantages: Can be private or public, good for unbiased opinions, free, can be good stress relief Disadvantages: You do get the odd attention seeker once in a blue moon.
Opendiary.com is an online community for people to create their own personal diary to be kept either private or public. It is free to sign up to the basic account which attracts people from all over the world. So why put your diary publicly so everyone can read it? Firstly, you dont have to put any details about yourself. You dont have to say who you are, where you are from or even have a picture. You can choose to do this at your own discretion. ... ...you go however I'm sure. So opendiary.com is a great way of expressing what you're thinking and feeling. Best of all, if you want it just for yourself then you can set it to private so only you can read it. I really do reccommend checking it out. ...
McBeer 31.05.2009
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Opendiary.com
Advantages: Place of Refuge Disadvantages: When it doesnt work
This is my second attempt at writing this opinion, the first one was lost by ciao when I submitted it, they asked me to sign in again and my entry disappeared and I couldn’t find it so im not happy about it. Especially when it took me an hour to write it.
This is my place of refuge when times are hard, when I need advice, when I need someone to share their feelings with me, when im down, depressed and feeling unloved, when I want someone’s ... ...my thoughts and my dreams, my happy thoughts, my happiness, my glad tidings, my views, my opinions on life.
What am I talking about? A place called *Open Diary*. *Open Diary* is an internet site which allows you to keep an online diary, although this site is special because it is an ‘Open’ diary, which means people can log into your diary and read what you have written, offer you advice and their thoughts, share similar situations and ...
Rach_79 06.02.2002 (11.02.2002)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Opendiary.com
Advantages: easy to use, great reading, lots of great people. Disadvantages: customer support is poor, site administrators dishonest, site tempermental.
having been a member of OD for five + years, my experience is that opendiary is a great source of friendship and interesting information and reading, as well as a good place to keep your daily thoughts and ideas. some warnings, of course, come with this opinion. first, ALWAYS back up your diary, at least once a month. more if you can. the site has been known to be unreliable in that respect, and twice now, information has been lost, and the servers ... ...entries. the first time, about a year and a half ago, (possibly closer to two years) resulted in people losing entire journals - some of them housing thousands of entries. the second time, the administrators had been telling us that it would never happen again, that the site was entirely secure, and someone hacked into the system. to this day, the entries lost at that time have not been restored, and the information is lost. lesson learned: ALWAYS ...
randomwhore 14.01.2005 (15.01.2005)
· Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: somewhat helpful Review of Opendiary.com
