Here Be Dragons

2007-06-08

Ok, I understand the need for a new start. I left my old journal behind once I realized it was filled with an old life that I needed to leave behind. I worked out some real horrors in it and it was time to put it away and start anew both in my journal and in my life and I didn�t need my new life tainted by my old one. I locked and left.

When the super Gold runs out on it I won�t renew. I used the gold privilege to download my whole old journal to my hard drive so if I ever start going down some of those paths again I can read and remember. I might save some of the pictures although many of them are chemo pictures. Maybe not.

But what I don�t understand is coming to a community like this, making friends and receiving so much support through some terrible things and then leaving for new digs. Almost all of you have cited slowness as a reason. I haven�t had the same experience. I�m a Super Gold member though and I use haloscan instead of the diaryland comments system. I also finally figured out that Andrew only responds to [email protected] and not his tech support system or [email protected] and so that�s been useful but once I figured it out I got a response when I needed it.

I admit that there was a time when Andrew was much more active in this community and that time seems to have gone but we all still were here posting and commenting. I like you guys. I miss you. I miss seeing you turn red and knowing my buddy posted. It was so convenient and easy. I haven�t seen a favorite list like that on blogger and I don�t know about wordpress although what I do see is a blog roll on the front of every wordpress journal. Maybe they need it to check if someone updated because they don�t know anymore?

Then I started reading about google reader and it solved the problem of people no longer on Diaryland and when they posted, or not turning red. I was so happy. It was going to be alright I could still track them in an easy and quick way. I felt so relieved because I foresaw a day when we would drift apart as friends because I�d forget to check and so many of you didn�t use forwarders and some didn�t even leave the link to their new digs on the front page of their old diaryland journal and I had to dig for it.

What�s worse is that the blog roll below on this page is some Diaryland shortcut code of my favorites list (which can only hold diaryland members) and I don�t know how to add to it and haven�t had the time to fix it, possibly having to write the whole thing manually and hard code it to include journals outside Diaryland.

So yes, I was happy that I�d found Google Reader and I spent most of yesterday afternoon setting it up with all my favorites that no longer post here and some that were never here. I caught up with everyone and smiling I went to make my first post. Well guess what, you guessed it. It�s just the text feed, not the page and there is no way to just double click on the name and open the page so I can comment on what I just read and get the feeling of community and friendship and support going again.

So yes, this is my problem, how can they leave? How can they risk giving up their friends and move away? If I get a presence on wordpress can I make a favorite list and click through you all easily? I�m sure it�s different and new but is it really better, as versatile, has a favorite list? It obviously lets you post pictures but is it free to do so?

You see, those of you that left can come back to Diaryland and click through your favorites list as they turn red but I have no tool like that available to me for wordpress, blogger, etc. This stinks. I want my buddies back. You�ve made it too hard for me.

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