Sorry to Panic!
Eliezer raised an important privacy issue in a comment on my previous entry. One which I'd never really thought of in too much depth but one that is entirely valid.
Having looked into the issue of Plus account holders 'Friends Only' diaries suddenly becoming public when I run the expiry scripts for the first time in ages, I can now confirm the following;
No-one's diary will suddenly become public after a Plus account expires.
However, when you next try to customize your diary, the option for Friends Only diary will be greyed out and the tickbox will NOT have a tick in it. If you go ahead and save any changes, your diary will then become public (unless you chose to tick the private diary box).
I think that's a reasonably OK thing to do – please advise me if you disagree. On privacy issues I am (unlike Facebook ;)) always willing to hear other people's points of view and take them into account. Privacy is a serious issue.
P.S. The keen eyed amongst you may have noticed that this diary was in fact marked as Friends Only for a short time. I was testing how the system dealt with expired Plus accounts 🙂
Can I suggest making them default to Private instead, so that a person can choose Public themselves?
If I was going to get a surprise privacy change, I’d prefer stricter privacy to wide open and public to all, including getting indexed by Google.
I believe Private is still an option for free members, right?
BTW, don’t most of the blog / diary sites treat Friends Only style entries as a normal feature, instead of an extra option? I think DD is unique in making that basic feature an "add-on".
so mine expires Jan 14th,, should I renew now?? is it going to be up and running or what.. your entry makes me wonder if it hasn’t been working.. Or is it that you haven’t been notified??? I’ll renew.. before 14th
[PRIVATE COMMENT]
Just checking to make sure you got my renewal on the 15th December this month.
😉
We aim to please!
[PRIVATE COMMENT]
I never got credit for the 7 weeks I couldn’t get in AFTER I paid for my last upgrade. You offered me a free year of Plus and I declined, asking only for what I’d lost and I never even got that. Sorry if I sound bitchy and bitter.
Can you do another entry next week to remind us to re-sign, as I’m almost certain to forget!