15B

 
I do have to do an extra entry, still, to get back on track.  So I’m going to recycle a survey from 2012.   Deleting the questions that were OD-specific.
Old stuff below, then I’ll do the same below.  Things that are unchanged, I’ll put in bold.


Stolen from CR, who stole it from someone else, etc.


1) When did you start writing on OD?

Summer 1999. Too lazy to go look exactly. July, maybe?

2) How did you find OD and what made you decide to start a diary here?

Friend on AIM used it. Was curious. Liked. Stuck around.

3) Have you ever tried other online diary/journal/blog sites?

Yes. Many. I have my own WordPress setup on my personal co-lo. It sucks. But OD has been pretty consistent. I was going to say, “stable,” but…

4) Do you refer to your OD as a diary, journal, blog, or something else?

This is my diary. My blog is my blog, sucks.

5) What is the meaning, reason, or story behind your diary title?

It’s terminal erase. At one point, I deleted everything. I was trying to get out of radio at the time, so the old name didn’t really fit.

6) Approximately how many usernames have you had on OD and what were some (or all) of them?

Two.

7) What is the privacy setting on your diary? (Public, OD Users Only, Friends Only, or Private?)

It’s public. Lots of the entries are FO.

8) Do you mostly write public, friends only, or private entries? Why?

Lately? FO.

9) How many entries do you have and what is there breakdown?

Lazy. It’s 2,000-something. Most of them are FO.

10) What are your criteria for deciding to post an entry public, friends only, or private?

I don’t have many (if any) private entries. FO decision is normally related to whether there’s gory details about my personal life, or if I’m worried work might stumble upon it. Really juicy shit I write in hidden text.

11) Does anyone in your real life know about and/or read your OD?

My wife. Maybe a few others.

12) Do you consider the diarists on your friends list to actually be “friends”?

A few, yes.

13) Do you communicate with any fellow ODers outside of OD? If so, by what methods?

Am friends with a few on Facebook.

14) Does your OD have a theme?

Black.

15) Do you use any features (tags, chapters, friends/bookmarks groups, etc.) to organize your OD?

I had things well-divided into chapters at one point. For the last few years, especially since I got sick, I’ve left it by the wayside. I’ve considered trying again, but too much of a PITA.

16) Do you have a paid or free account? Why?

Been paid for awhile. Did the lifetime thing last time I was up. I don’t have a problem paying for stuff I like using. And there’s other nifty features you only get with a paid account, so…

17) If you have OD+, what is your favorite Plus feature? If not, what feature would you like to see added to free OD?

Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I used Free OD?

18) Do you have any habits or routines associated with your OD and/or writing in it?

These days? Nope. In a past life? Yep.

19) Do you write anonymously or not? Why?

Somewhat.

20) What is your note setting and why?

I think it defaults to signed. I don’t get a lot of passers-through anymore, so it’s really not a big concern.

21) Have you ever made an entry private that wasn’t originally so? If so, why?

I’m sure it’s happened. I don’t remember which.

22) Have you ever deleted an entry? Why?

Yes. It was stupid.

23) Do you have any diarists blocked?

I don’t think so?

24) To your knowledge are you blocked by any diarists?

Not to my knowledge.

25) Do you update regularly or sporadically?

No regular schedule. NoJoMo is helping focus me, maybe.

26) Have you ever posted a picture of yourself in your OD?

Yes.

27) Do you ever go back and read through your old entries?

Occasionally. A few important days I’ve written about here….

28) Are you good about replying to notes?

Depends. Sometimes.

29) If you read an entry, do you feel obligated to note it, even if you have nothing to say?

Uh, no……?

30) Which do you do more on OD: read or write?

Probably write. I can do that with my eyes closed. My plethora of typos reflects that.

31) What is your opinion of blank notes (notes that show a diarist’s name, but have no other text)?

I use it; kind of a Bill Clinton, “I feel your pain,” but sometimes it’s just an acknowledgement that I have nothing meaningful to add.

32) How much time and attention do you spend on your OD’s appearance? Do you feel like it matters?

Very little.

33) How much time and attention do you spend on your OD’s front page? Do you feel like it matters?

Very little.

34) Do you ever look at the front page of other diarists?

Rarely.

35) Have you ever nominated an entry for Reader’s Choice?

Not in a long time.

36) Have you ever had one of your entries nominated for Reader’s Choice? If so, how did it make you feel and did you personally feel like the entry nominated deserved the distinction?

I think it’s happened; I really don’t remember why.

37) Do you feel like OD is a social networking site, an online community, both or neither?

Community.

38) Have you ever leftOD for a period of time and came back? If so, why did you come back?

Sort of? I kind of dropped out around the time I started getting serious with my wife. I came back when I got sick.

39) Are all your bookmarks on your friends list and vice versa or not?

No idea.

40) Have you ever met any fellow ODers in person?

Yes. Long time ago. Neither I met is still around on the site. One I think landed a job nearby because I tipped her off to it. It was a little unsettling with that one, because her parents and mine actually knew each other…..

41) Approximate how many diarists on are your bookmarks and friends?

Too lazy to look. There’s probably about fifteen I read who update somewhat frequently.

42) Do you have any diarists on your bookmarks and/or friends that haven’t posted in over a year? Why don’t you delete them?

Several. No reason, really. A couple I hope come back.

43) Do you have any entries that you’ve written that particular stand out in your mind?

The one I wrote when my dad died.

44) Do you write for yourself, for your readers, or both?

Myself. I’m fucking selfish. Deal. :-p

45) Do you feel you can be 100% open and honest in your OD or do you feel like you have to censor yourself?

No. See the hidden text.

46) Would you, or have you, ever recommended OD to another person? If so, did you tell them about your OD and give them your username?

Yes. I had IRL friends who wrote here. Both have moved on. I’m more than okay with one never reading my bullshit again. The other is privvy if he cares….

47) If you were to describe your diary in one word, what would that word be?

Dark. Since I was working overnights when I started it, it made sense.

48) Has OD changed your life in any ways? If so, how?

It helps me collect my thoughts. Back in the day, it gave me something to keep me awake in the middle of the night.

Notes:


I should do a survey, if only to get my writing mojo back. [donut] 11/15/2012 6:34:09 AM


I think I’m going to do this. 🙂 [Principassa Pollyana] 11/15/2012 7:03:48 AM


I liked that Bill Clinton answer. I feel your pain…. I can already hear his scratchy voice 😉 [Cats Rule] 11/15/2012 8:44:03 AM


1. Do you refer to your OD as a diary, journal, blog, or something else?
I’m really not drawing a big distinction anymore.  I write on my blog, and cross-post to Prosebox.
2. What is the meaning, reason, or story behind your diary title?
It’s terminal erase. At one point, I deleted everything. I was trying to get out of radio at the time, so the old name didn’t really fit.
3. How many entries do you have and what is there breakdown?
NFC.  I had something like 2,000 on OD.  I don’t know how many I had on my blog.  The database got corrupted when the storage array crashed on the virtualization host where this lives died.
I do need to backup very soon, though.  Maybe I’ll eventually get my own shit setup, and move everything to something I can manage completely in-house.  But, for reasons I’ve already written about this summer, I’m a little light to spare cash right now.
4.  Do you consider the diarists on your friends list to actually be “friends”?
A few, yes.
On PB, several of my readers are friends on Facebook.  I do keep in touch with an OD fave via email.  *shrug*
5.  Do you communicate with any fellow ODers outside of OD? If so, by what methods?
Am friends with a few on Facebook.
See the previous question.
6.  Do you have any habits or routines associated with your OD and/or writing in it?
These days? Nope. In a past life? Yep.
These days, I write in the month leading up to my birthday, during November for NoJoMo, and as the mood strikes.  I have a friends-only bit on PB, but I really haven’t written there in awhile.
7.  Do you write anonymously or not? Why?
Not really.  If you wanted to find out who I am, you could.  My name and address are available on the WHOIS entry for control-h.org.  Wanna get in the building, much less my apartment, GLWT.
8.  What is your note setting and why?
I have to approve everything on my personal blog, and they’re cut off after a week.  I don’t remember my settings for PB;  some of those would vary per-book.
9. Have you ever deleted an entry? Why?
Yes. For a variety of reasons.  Besides that, everything gets deleted, eventually.
10.  Do you update regularly or sporadically?
No regular schedule. NoJoMo is helping focus me, maybe.  The summer writing was really out of sheer boredom in the blast chiller from hell.  I’ve kept it going because writing seems to focus me.
11. Have you ever posted a picture of yourself in your OD?
Yes.  And other places.  It’s not like you couldn’t find a picture of me if you looked.
12. Do you ever go back and read through your old entries?
Occasionally. A few important days I’ve written about here….
There’s some I really don’t care to go back and read, but I will to remember what was going on.  Some, like around when my dad died, or I got diagnosed, are pretty tough.
13. Are you good about replying to notes?
Depends. Sometimes.  I try to make a point of doing it on PB.  Here, I rarely get any notes, so it’s not really an issue.
14. If you read an entry, do you feel obligated to note it, even if you have nothing to say?
Uh, no……?
15. What is your opinion of blank notes (notes that show a diarist’s name, but have no other text)?
I use it; kind of a Bill Clinton, “I feel your pain,” but sometimes it’s just an acknowledgement that I have nothing meaningful to add.
I do the same on Facebook, and a few other places.  Just a ” ” as a replay sometimes get around the spam filter.
It looks like it’s going to rain very fiercely.
 
16.  Do you ever look at the front page of other diarists?
Rarely.  PB shows the creator’s writings when I login.  I’ve been really bad, lately, about even reading my favorites.  I might have not gotten so out-of-the-loop on it if they hadn’t redesigned the site, where I couldn’t really read it in elinks.
17. Have you ever met any fellow ODers in person?
Yes. Long time ago. Neither I met is still around on the site. One I think landed a job nearby because I tipped her off to it. It was a little unsettling with that one, because her parents and mine actually knew each other…..
Still that, though I don’t know what happened after the night I ran across her in a bar.  I do keep in touch with a few people.
 
18. Do you have any diarists on your bookmarks and/or friends that haven’t posted in over a year? Why don’t you delete them?
Several. No reason, really. A couple I hope come back.
Well, they’re not going back to OD, anyway.  The ones that I follow on PB, I’ve been bad about keeping up with.  Since NoJoMo 2016, a lot of it is due to me working my ass off, trying to keep that job I had.  Lot of good that did me, huh?
19. Do you have any entries that you’ve written that particular stand out in your mind?
The one I wrote when my dad died.  Again, I have them, but they’re not for anyone but me to read right now.  The ~4M ASCII file is a few places on The Internets.  Maybe someone will find them after I die.  After perusing, I expect the reaction to be something along the lines of “he was really fucked-up.”
20.  Do you write for yourself, for your readers, or both?
Myself. I’m fucking selfish. Deal. :-p
21.  Do you feel you can be 100% open and honest in your OD or do you feel like you have to censor yourself?
No.
22. If you were to describe your diary in one word, what would that word be?
Dark. Since I was working overnights when I started it, it made sense.
Today, I’d go with temporal.
23.  Has OD changed your life in any ways? If so, how?
It helps me collect my thoughts. Back in the day, it gave me something to keep me awake in the middle of the night.  This is true, too, for my writing periods on my blog.