How We Talk to Each Other
We had a wet Halloween. (okay, finally coming back to finish this entry – Halloween is now quite a bit further back than when I originally typed this!)
I mean, it didn’t rain the entire time – but it rained in the afternoon and then let up long enough for kids to come around, and then rained again. So if you were a trick or treater, it worked out okay.
I want to say congratulations and thanks to all of our friends who are participating in NoJoMo and/or NaNoWriMo – both are endeavors that I don’t have the gumption to do myself, but I’m impressed by those who do!
My B key on my computer is broken – about 50% of the time, it doesn’t produce a b, about 30% of the time, it makes two bb s, and the rest of the time it works as expected – so that’s fun. Going to the Apple store to have a Genius look at it is not one of the things I want to do with my time, bbbbbbut I just might have to 😀.
I’ve been watching a lot of conversations online lately about the future of social media. I really dislike that term. Open Diary was one of the first social networks when we launched in 1998, and I’ve never liked that that evolved into “social media”. The word media implies that this is all about content – when it really is all about people and connecting them. That’s why I like the term “social network” much better.
I do think what Facebook, Twitter, etc. are “social media” because really, they are all about the content you post (and the content and ads that are pushed at you) and not so much about building connections between the people that use them. To me, those connections are the thing that make OD valuable – it’s not so much about what we write here, as it is about how it helps us learn about other people, who may be very different from us.
Although, I do also subscribe to the idea that journaling is good for you, regardless of whether it is shared with others – there is a release of emotion that can happen through journaling that is impossible to reproduce in other ways (especially in the digital world). I don’t think posting pictures to Instagram or tweeting in a couple hundred characters can ever replace that either.
It’s easy to get depressed, I think, about the state of how we all interact online and how nasty it has become in other places – but this is one of the things I’m really proud of our community here for. There are so many of us here every day, interacting with each other in very personal ways, and we all treat each other with respect.
I have to admit, when I first was thinking about re-launching OD, I didn’t know if it would work because of how badly people treat each other on Facebook, Twitter, and other places online. I have to say, I am absolutely thrilled that we have revived this community, and so far with no major meltdowns in how individual OD members are treating each other. For that, I thank all of you – you have each chosen to act like civilized people here, and I think that makes this a special place.
Well, this entry took a different turn, but you never know what might come out when you sit down at the keyboard 😁.
I can remember the OD when it was a brand new creation. Some of the people are not here but that is okay because they were being toxic and ruining the good karma we had. But everyday that I can come here and sort out my life I thank-you and knowing when there are glitches or unwanted people you and your staff deal with it all in a very timely matter and I really like that. All the other so called media sites like Face Book it takes them forever except when they put you in face book jail because you are not politically right. I think the only rule we have here other then respect is to play nice and behave .
So thank-you for doing what you do…..
@jaythesmartone you’re welcome, we are glad you are here!
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I think there is a place for both types of social engagement. I spend lots of time on FB daily and I love catching up seeing peoples pictures of family, vacations, day to day life. However I do think that while time has passed on the online journalling “craze” of the last 20 or so years, its great that a site like this exists. I find myself wanting to use it more like it was in its heyday, and feel dissapointed so many connections I had here once are not here any longer. HOWEVER, it also feels like theres a possibility of a new start. Towards the end of my first tenure here, I had a following that I considered friends irl and otherwise. Because of that, there were times I found myself occasionally censoring my content and not really being true to myself and what I was feeling. With many of these friends not using the site now, that element is taken away so I can journal as I went from probably 75 followers to pretty much none haha.
Thanks for giving me the option to journal here again if I feel the need to.
@fortunes_fool_21 that’s a valid point, there should be places for whatever kind of interaction online people want to have (as long as it’s legal!). Thanks for being here!
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Thank you for providing OD to us.
@snarkle thank you for being with us!
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Thank you for this space!
@queenofegypt you’re welcome and thank you for being here 🙂
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Thanks for reviving this site. I really enjoy the ease of posting photos!
@trunorth I’m glad! That was one thing I really wanted to be able to add this time around.
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As I mentioned in a previous post, I hope that the ability to download our entries will be restored…
I do remember, back in the day, some really awful diarists. I think OD, by its nature, is a slower platform for responses and that may help to subdue the nastiness.
@solovoice we will eventually add a download function, but in the meantime if you contact Support through the link at the bottom of the page, they can download yours and send them to you.
@thediarymaster Thanks. 😀
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You’re a blessing. Thank you for being who you are and also for any work you’ve done in establishing this space. I’m new to it and really enjoying it and appreciative
@reliance82400 thank you! I feel we are blessed here by every single person who becomes part of our community – thanks for being here.
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I remember when I had a Myspace. LOL. Yes I’m old. I thought I was cool. I’m such an introvert that I lurk on Facebook. I can see what people post. But I just don’t the emotional energy to get into a fight with them over something petty. I know people that get into fights on Facebook and I’m just like “Why?” Social media has changed so much since 2000 when I got Myspace.
@seablue4u that is so true – I had a Myspace too, but at the time it was mostly to see what they were doing compared to OD 🙂
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I love it here for all the reasons you mentioned. Glad to have this space to write. Thank you!!
@cherrywine_1 I’m glad, and thank you for being here!
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I arrive at this entry – not a “status” or “share” or “posted meme” (which is apparently now a word) – with a head hung low. Not in shame, but with the weight of the overness (new word, you’ll figure it out) of having spent far too much time for my own best mental health sucked into the instant gratification of social media. Where I am wont to condense my deepest verbal vomit thoughts into carefully crafted verbal vomits of shareable ‘isms rather than actually thinking and writing those thoughts with less concern for their share-ability and more being just honest.
Thank you for this reminder. I needed this.
@principassapollyanna I’m glad it was helpful, but we all fall victim to this. It’s so easy to be lured by the seeming ease of quick interactions on social media, we forget that there is a better way. Thanks for the nice note!
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Always nice to read a post from you 🤗
OD is like a classroom for me. I read other posts and understand more about people. The challenges and victories they experience help me understand my own in a different light. I write about my stuff as if I’m talking to someone … a teacher perhaps … and eventually I figure my stuff out …. Just don’t ask me to write an exam Lol This is a good place to learn and I am grateful and happy you brought it back to life.
@teamarea that is really really what this place is about – if we can teach others to understand people different from them, and that helps them understand themselves, we have done our job. Thanks!
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“you never know what might come out when you sit down at the keyboard”
In your case, it’s not going to be a ‘b’ 😁. But seriously, though – I have 14 keyboard keys on vacation somewhere (and I have the feeling they’re not coming back). I don’t need the caps to type, though, as I know where all the letters are, so, I don’t even bother buying a new one 🙂
As you know, I’m glad that OD’s back (you seriously never will know how much). There are some cooky characters this time around (and by cooky I mean either rude, porn or business spam) that I’d like to block, so, I’d love it if you guys add that feature at some point haha!
@thenerve we will definitely be adding the ability to block other members in the future – but in the meantime, if you see bad behavior like this please be sure to report it to Support through the link at the bottom of any page, so they can remove it. We want to stay on top of bad behavior as much as possible!
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i too have been pleasently surprised by the civility of all ive encountered here. Especially when some that visited here during the initial free period were hostile toward you or others. its very nice and comfortable to be here.
@dlk082244 I’m glad you feel that way 🙂
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Thanks for bringing it back!!! Venting things is great, but the anonymity is even better. Facebook is a veneer of who you are, OD is the soul. ❤ I’m glad to be back on here!
@girl_gone_wild nicely put, and I’m glad you’re back!
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