OD Birthday, NoJoMo, and etc.
I’m not sure exactly what the "and etc." is, but we’ll see as we go along, shall we?
Open Diary’s eleventh (not eleventieth) birthday passed quietly (okay, maybe not quietly – but mostly unnoticed) this week – I myself hadn’t much thought about it, until I looked at the calendar on my desktop yesterday and said "Hmmph. October 22nd already." The original launch date of OD is reported in some places as October 22nd, 1998, and in some places as October 20th – largely due to my own mistake in information I gave in a USA Today interview several years ago. The true story is that OD launched on October 20th, which was the day that I posted the first entry in the first diary on the site.
If you’d like to read more about OD’s birth story, go ahead and visit my entry from the tenth anniversary last year (the story actually goes on for a couple entries from there). I have to say, I’m very proud to be the founder of a site that has survived and thrived online for eleven years – there aren’t many like that around – we’re only a couple years younger than Amazon, and a few months younger than Google, for goodness’ sake!
Of course, I have nobody to thank for eleven years than all of you – our wonderful community of OD members. This place has proven (more than any other, I think) that disparate people can come together in a huge group, and share their most intimate thoughts, plans, dreams, tragedies, and successes – and form a binding, cohesive community. Thanks so much to all of you, for so much.
A few other things:
As most people who have been around OD for any time know, November is NoJoMo (short for November Journaling Month) – a wonderful event, during which participants pledge to post at least one entry per day in their diaries. It’s a great exercise for diarists – and can be a big help for those of you who may feel like you need to reconnect with your diaries, and maybe blow the dust off them a little. This is the fifth annual NoJoMo, and you can find all the information about what it is and how to join in at NoJoMo’s Pub.
I also want to give a special thanks to SweetFrancesca, who started NoJoMo on her own diary as a personal exercise back in 2005 – I’m not sure I’ve ever given her proper credit, but it certainly is due. Since then, NoJoMo has grown huge – there were 990 official participants last year, and they are hoping to break 1,000 this year. Good luck to everybody!
I’m working on a few other things, some of which I hoped to release today – but testing is going a bit slower than I thought, so maybe over the weekend. One of those is a mass (or group) delete in bookmarks and friends, so you can select multiple people and delete them with a click (which on the face of it, sounds just awful). In any case, that was something a lot of people were asking for – so working on that, and a couple of other things.
The DiaryMaster
There was a cool piece in the October Wired about "dangerous" ideas that could save the world. One short bit was from Stewart Brand, and was about why the shantytowns around cities like Mumbai and Nairobi may not be a bad thing – in that they provide a middle step for destitute people trying to move up into an area where they can receive better services (education, health care, jobs) and that they help especially to empower women. He thinks the local governments should be doing more to provide basic utilities and crime prevention to these areas, rather than trying to get rid of them.
Interesting idea, and kind of coincidental – because I was just the other day thinking about housing made from recycled shipping containers. Not my idea, or a new one – but I think of it every time I drive past the port of Elizabeth (which is every time I go to the airport, or to the city), where you can see huge piles of hundreds or thousands of unused containers. Like I said, I know many people have put a lot of thought into this before, but it seems like a lot of potential building material (in the form of huge, sturdy, boxes) going to waste. Unfortunately, when I looked online just now, it seems like most of what I find is about making them into chic downtown condos or beachfront houses, rather than shelter for the poor.
Spent last night cleaning a rootkit virus out of my son’s laptop – not a pretty sight. This is actually the second one that he’s gotten that has attached itself to the registry entry that governs what happens when the system runs an executable file – which leaves you unable to execute anything, including antivirus scans. Mostly his fault, because he keeps turning off or turning down the security software on the machine because it interferes with other things. But I wish all the smart malicious people in the world would find better things to do with their time. (And I know, if he wasn’t running Vista, this wouldn’t happen – so don’t lecture me (I say that lovingly)).
It’s cold and cloudy here today, which makes me think I should have given the lawn it’s last mowing of the year yesterday, when it was seventy and sunny – rather than waiting for the weekend. Ah well, life is full of misguided choices.
Lol the beginning of the 4th paragraph freaked me out but I know what you mean. Test away, we’ll be here when you’ve finished! n_n
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Happy 11th anniversary to OD. It has been a great ride. I met a lot of nice people (and some not so nice) but I do love it all! Especially the swear words LOL
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Eleven years?! I remember having to catch my breath last year, so why is this such a surprise? Then again, next year, I’ll have been here ten years, which seems utterly bizarre, since I don’t think I’ve ever maintained anything that long (apart from my education).
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rookits suck. I remember one being installed with Spore (legal retail game) and we ended up having to completely wipe the system. And there really isn’t anything wrong with his OS, he just needs to be careful about turning the anti-virus and malware stuff off. If the program can still run, then leave it on and deal with the decreased performance is what I say.
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CONGRATS on 11 years! And I do like the idea of being able to delete more than one bookmark or fave at a time. The current process takes too long. Thanks for all you do.
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Happy Anniversary OD! This site has been a refuge for me for a long time. I’m really glad it’s around, and that it still retains some of its old-school flavor. For people who can’t adequately defend themselves against viruses (I run XP at home, no antivirus, and my install is about a year and a half old — no issues) I recommend Macs. I administrate an office full of ’em and we have zero problems with malware.
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Actually, nobody should say “he shouldn’t run Vista,” what they should say is, “Vista, as a widely used OS, has a responsibility to be a lot better about security.” And I mean security from viruses, not making the PC as secure from its personal user as a public library computer is. Basically, malicious stuff can wreck my application data, but it takes some doing just to SEE it as a Vista user.
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Happy 11th! Thanks for giving me a place to write for 9 years.
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OD has changed my life. I LOVE this place xxx
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Happy 11th. I’ve been here since 11/3/2000. Who’d a-thunk it would have lasted this long. I’ve made some really great friends from one end of the country to the other that I’m still friends with. And it’s all thanks to you and this site. You have no idea how much it means to me.
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Congratulations on eleven years! I am so glad to be a part of such a fantastic community. Thank you for making it possible!
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Happy 11th Birthday OD!!! Rootkit virus resolution: “Format c:” 😛 Eric
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Just FYI, you said it’s OD’s “elventh”, which I thought was cute, because, you know, elves. 🙂
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HAPPPPY BIRTHDAYY TO OD! I’ve been here 8 years, I love this website so much it makes me GIDDY! I check it more than flippin facebook… thats saying something! hahah xoxoxo
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i’ve been here since september 17, 1999. a little over 10 years. i’ve had diaries at other places for a little while but always stayed with od. it’s the best place i’ve ever found. anyway, happy 11th anniversary od!! thank you for launching od when you did. take care,
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eleventeenth? 🙂 happy birthday OD! and congrats to you for starting something with so much staying power! and staying with it yourself. this place has been an almost literal life-saver for me on more than one occasion. thank you for making it possible and for caring enough about the community and the people in it to keep doing what you’re doing, and to strive so often to make it better. you are a truly fantastic person.
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Happy 11th Birthday OD!! I think I’ve only been around for half of it 😛 But I’m glad it’s here. Thanks for it =)
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Happy belated birthday OD! X
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Damn, I’ve been here almost that long (I didn’t write at first, I just read and noted when I could). Happy birthday, OD.
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Did you use a rootkit detector to diagnose your son’s laptop’s problem? It might be helpful if you wrote more about security like that. I remember stealth viruses. Your anti-virus program didn’t have a chance of finding a steal virus if it loaded before your anti-virusware. This makes me think there could easily be stealth rootkits that nobody stands a chance of catching unless they boot the rootkit detector from a clean CD or DVD. How come nobody sells CDs with rootkit detectors (or at least makes disc images available for download)?
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Happy Birthday to OD on the 22nd. Oct. 23rd (today) is MY BIRTHDAY! So OD and I almost share the same bd! Yeah! I love OD. Thanks for “birthing” it!
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sept. 2001 when i began in OD. my friends are from here. my family writes here. this is a good place. thank you bruce.
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Happy birthday to my favorite website (OD is definitely my most frequently visited website, has been for years!)Thank you for creating such a wonderful place. I’ve moved so many times and it’s such a comfort to have OD to call a permanent home!
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Happy Eleventh Anniversary OD!!! Many thanks to you, Bruce, for creating this fine home away from home.
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Happy Belated Birthday OD!!! I joined back in 1998!!
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dont feel bad. I work in IT and still managed to pick up some crappy spyware thing that makes itself look like antivirus. It constantly pops up telling you that you cant run all these files but it LIES! took forever to let me end it in task manager and then hunt down the files in the registry to remove. hopefully it doesnt find its way back. still no clue how I got it. I hope your son manages to keep his computer clean. maybe an upgrade to w7 will help.
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Happy be-lated birthday OD. Thank YOU so much. I don’t think anybody can ever thank you enough and tell you what OD means to them. This is one of the most cherished things in my life. To be able to look back over the years… the good, the bad, the raw feelings. You probably hear this all the time, but thank you. =)
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THANK YOU for creating this lovely place where we can share our lives with each other! You Rock, Master-Man!
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I’ve been here since 1998 and love it more every year! It’s like the Hotel California – you can check out but you may never leave 🙂
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I will never forget the od birthday again Oct 20th happens to be my birthday.. Just add on about 48 more years… Happy Birthday OD
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I hope OD continues to be on the web forever 🙂 Happy 11 years! ~*Samantha*~
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Aloha nui loa… Here’s wishing you (and us) a belated Hau’oli la hanau… So… how many years is that in “dog years”…? I’ve been here since February 99… Smiles…………….
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A very happy ((belated)) birthday to the most amazing site on the web! This place, and the people I’ve met here, have literally helped save my life. So, thank you, DM!!! 🙂 Here’s too many, many more years of OD… Best wishes!
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Belated happy birthday wishes. I’m another one who wouldn’t be where I am today (happy!) without OD. Thanks for so many great years.
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Mmmmmm I love OD. I never miss the chance to laud its many success stories. I could never never thank you enough.
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Mmmmmm I love OD. I never miss the chance to laud its many success stories. I could never never thank you enough.
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Here’s to the next 11(ty) years! 🙂
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Been here since May 99. Seen a lot of changes – mostly good. Thanks for persevering, even though we (singularly and collectively) don’t always see eye to eye.
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your son needs a MAC. 🙂
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Oh,it is a nice surprise ! I never thought I can get a note from you. Thank you very much. I am wondering whether you read all of diaries here or not. As I think it will take a long time. It is just a curious question. * smile*
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This site (and my journals thereon) has been a lifesaver for me. Happy Birthday and Thank You.
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Happy Birthday!! I feel priviledged to say that I’ve been here for about 9 of the 11 years OD has been around. I love it here. Thanks for all your hard work!
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I think the highest praise I can offer OD is “I use it more than I use Google”. And i use Google A LOT.
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Happy birthday, OpenDiary! I’ve spent the past six years here, and it’s been a great place. =)
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I’m not sure if anyone else mentioned this, but if you haven’t, you should also mention National Novel Writers Month for November. If it hadn’t been for OD, I wouldn’t have ever known about it, would have never written the novel I am still sitting on (second draft now, 2008 winner). Thank you, thank you, for everything. I have been here since the beginning, but thank you most of all for that.
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happy birthday od! i have been around since 2005 and i can tell you ——-this diary has really helped me out alot and i have made some great friends along the way. thank you for creating this site… xxx
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Congratulations on 11 years! You’ve a lot to be proud of. At least your son has a dad who knows how to remove a virus. I had to do it myself when I got one and trust me that was no fun because I didn’t know what I was doing. In the news this morning they were talking about Windows 7 and they highly recommended it for anyone who has Vista – maybe you could upgrade your sons computer? Unfortunately they didn’t say how much it cost. Have a good weekend. .
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Since you’ve got the dirty works fixed I wonder if you could look at something I’ve wanted for a long time. I wish when I ran up against a friends only diary and get the screen asking me to request being added, I could leave a note to the diarist – saying what I wanted to be added – who we know in common, what interests me, etc. I hate just blindly asking in. Makes me feel like the Fuller Brush man.
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Hey, DM… I just created JanPoMo for anyone who is interested. It’s January Poetry Month. What do you think?
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Well, is there cake?
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Happy birthday!!! It’s mine tonight. I’m Nine years old 🙂
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Oh, this is sweet! Happy Birthday OD and to our Diary Master! Yeah! May the FORCE be with you! Wuhhuuu! Star Wars prayer! LOL 🙂
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My 6th OD-versiary was on the 22nd…!
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I’m glad to have been with OD almost since the beginning. And even though my entries don’t reflect that due to a big chunk of my diary being lost at one point, I have those entries, plus the ones here now — my entire OD experience! — saved to disk. This place has meant the world to me for a long, long time, and the wonderful people I’ve come to know through this site have literally saved my life a few times. I can’t thank you enough! Happy anniversary! —
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Happy Birthday, OD. I’ve been here since July ’99, and have seen OD grow (and go through some growing pains). This site has introduced me to some wonderful people, and seen me through many changes. Thank you.
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Happy belated birthday to OD! This is a great website. 🙂
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Thank you so much for OpenDiary 🙂 I’m happy to have squeaked in within the first year of OD 😀 Still here, still going strong 🙂
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Happy B-Day. And the shipping containers…they’re really stacking up over here now because the trash we used to send to China (cost too much to return empties) for them to make crap for Walmart isn’t needed because we’re not buying as much crap now. Affordable housing means poor people, and no city wants poor people, least of all shanty towns. There is no easy solution to homelessness other thanmake them non-poor people.
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You didn’t want to mow that lawn anyway. Interesting entry. Yes, will we still be here when you are done testing? LOL
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happy anniversary! i has been quite the journey, hasn’t it? here’s to many more! 🙂
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🙂 I love opendiary.
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and THANK YOU for such an incredible contribution towards the unity of humanity. hugs P
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Happy Birthday OD!!! It’s just 5 days after mine, lol~!! I like the idea of homeless shelters built from those shipping containers!!! NOT fancy places for rich pple, awww……… I am sorry your son has been having security issues and YOU get to always fix them, oops!! Perhaps, mow the lawn tomorrow? lol!!!! Sorta glad now, that I live in a apt. because there are a gazillion leaves that need raked here, and *I* don’t have to do it, lol. Sorry. I used to rake up MANY of those large paper bag fulls at our home, years ago. BigHugzz. Thank you for everything. :*)
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OD is still the best! This journal site goes to eleven. Love it!
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I’ve been here for 9 1/2 years and I used to thank you on occasion. Thank you so much for your nifty idea. Hugs
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Just wanted to share: I actually have seen shipping containers used as housing for the poor. My alma mater has a great architecture program, and I remember seeing a photo of a home some students built from a container as a project after a tornado. They also designed a local Goodwill store, which was built a couple of years ago, that included a bunch of shipping containers. Maybe it’ll catch on.
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I have been here forever…well maybe not..but it seems that way Vista is the devil’s work, I am so happy not to have it, go upload 7 on your son’s laptop.
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happy birthday OD! you know what i’d like to see? a trip wire so i know whos coming and going in my diayr. that would rock!
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hm. yes i have seen the cubicle style living arrangements made from recycled connexes/storage containers. in croatia i have seen modular style housing. one room is added at a time as the family grows. often times there is a central unit that provides access to each room that extends like a spoke from the center. you can stack up as well. very recyclable. a huge % of populations live in shanties.
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in a lot of places that arent rural it is in fact the norm. these people work decent jobs even. only they cannot compete with the cost of living. they work and are still poor and their own country will not provide the most basic of things for them. idk. my two minutes passed didnt it… i dont know why i rambled on about that. sorry.
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what i originally meant to say and say only was … hm i think i’m going to do that nojomo. except write something interesting if not a positive something. no entry will be about me. unless absolutely necessary.
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Happy Anniversary to OD! 🙂
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Happy Birthday OD (Thanks DM! I love this website best of all!) and YAY for NoJoMo!
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Now I finally know what NoJoMo is. That sounds like something I can get into =)
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Thank You for all the work and hours and heart you put into keeping us afloat..It does not go unnoticed..Thank you again.
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Happy Birthday OD!!!! And thanks for the mention!
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Mass deleting does sound aweful, but to be honest, there are times when you’re sitting there thinking that it’d be nice (and more time-effective) to just take out the trash. If I have skipped more than 5 entries for a person because I was like- Meh, I don’t want to read about that crap anymore, then it’s really time for them to go.
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i hate you. i love you. i hate you. i love you. i hate you. i love you……
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Re: the swear filters. Is there any way to filter the words themselves, instead of the letters, even if they’re part of another word? IE. include it only if it has spaces on either side. Because fungi are now dirty words. Observe: ****ake mushroom. Also, sh!t never used to be caught by your filters. 😛
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Happy birthday dear OD.
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