Meet the OD Staff

The DiaryMaster

The DiaryMaster is the founder of Open Diary, having created the first version of OD way back in 1998. Since then, he has worked full-time on the site, maintaining and upgrading it through the years.

The DiaryMaster has been building software and systems since 1985, working as a systems analyst and programmer. In 1991, he started his own consulting company, and worked for several Fortune 500 corporations writing systems for financial reporting, budget forecasting, human resources, sales tracking, and other really boring stuff. In 1998, he left the corporate world behind to start "The Open Diary" (as it was called then), and has been working as the head of OD since then - while still doing the occassional side job to help pay the bills.

The DM has always been interested in writing - he originally wanted to be a journalist when he grew up, and still writes fiction pieces once in awhile (mostly for his own entertainment). He feels that the experience of working with OD has been better than he could have ever imagined - it is truly the best job in the world (most days).

Site Administrators

EWS

EWS has been a software developer/programmer/analyst for 15 years and is currently working in the Quality Assurance field as a QA developer. He's also served as a database administrator and network administrator. He has been practicing martial arts for 29 years, and weight trains in the weightroom regularly.

EWS first started his diary in October 1999 and quickly became addicted to OD and the OD community. In November of 2000 he inherited the unofficial OD Picture Page from a popular ODer and maintained it tirelessly, which housed over 1000 diarist pictures before you could post a picture in OpenDiary. Currently, EWS enjoys his duties as an OD Administrator and is thankful for the OD community that he genuinely adores.

A former math teacher, management consultant and army veteran, Gail's experience in helping users in online communities goes back to 1989, when she was also in charge of teaching senior officers how to use email. Gail is currently a freelance writer and a beauty & style blogger. Her husband and nine cats (not a typo) are very supportive of her online activities.

Gail joined OD in August 1999 and has been in awe of this community ever since. She is thankful for the opportunity to give back as an OD Administrator and help others enjoy their OD experience.

The youngest of the admin team, but no less experienced at being part of an online community. Over the last 10 years X has been involved with various forums, IRC networks and wikis. He lives in the United Kingdom and works as an IT manager, a job that includes network administration and software development, among other things.

X created his diary in March 2000 and is very grateful for the number of friends he has gained because of this site, many of whom he has now met up with in person. He enjoys using his diary to document the more insignificant things in his life (including the latest gadget he's acquired!), and is glad to be an OD Administrator for the chance to give something back to the community.