"gotta fill the Tip Jar"
August 8, 2001, 10:09 p.m.

I understand how Andrew feels.

His little Diaryland site has blown itself out of the water with the huge success he's had with it. It's probably bigger than he ever imagined it would be.

I picture him, wherever he does his Dland stuff (home?), working and working to make sure Dland is up and running just right so that every little diarist from the teenyboppers to the old geezers (and all in between) who want to write a few lines about their lives, can do so. (Was that a run-on sentence or am I just babbling?)

In any case, Andrew seems to be committed to keeping Diaryland a free site...free to use, free to access, free to participate in, unless one chooses to purchase on their own - a Gold Membership which he offers but does not always promote.

In otherwords, it ain't necessary that we pay.

On the other hand. Running Dland has it's expenses which I am sure mount up pretty fast. And it's obvious that it's a huge time commitment for him as well.

But Andrew's got plans for improvements. He wants Diaryland to be an even better place than it already is.

He's never given up the ship on us - in all these years. And he's so nice about stuff too. He may get overwhelmed - but never seems to throw a fit except when the server is down.

I like that about him.

So let's face it. Who am I to think that this service which I use - often, day in and day out, should not go without a little compensation? Even if I do have a Gold Membership.

How many times have I taken Diaryland for granted simply because it's on the internet?

Heck, I could go anywhere and write. Or I could go to the store and purchase a journal to write in manually. I've done that plenty of times.

But then, Andrew wouldn't be there to make things just right - Andrew who is a highly committed individual who consistently maintains Diaryland with a level of integrity and confidence.

I can count on Andrew.

Can Andrew count on me?

I don't know about you, but I love Diaryland. Andrew can certainly count on me.

So, here's Andrew's Tip Jar. Come with me and let's go put something in it.