No, didn't think so...
Anyway, we took an executive decision last night, that in the face of further waning ad revenue, we have to allow pop up ad banners. The industry appears to be strangling out the normal cost per thousand ad and moving to these blasted popups (as opposed to actually making an ad thats worthy of clicking on!)
Unfortunately for us, that means if we want to get even close to funding the server then we have to follow the ad industry. The good news, in some ways, is that unlike a lot of other sites, we give you the option...
For those that haven't noticed, or haven't tried, if you are a Premium User and LOGIN before you do anything else on the site, then the ads are gone from adding comments to other people's diaries AND the front page. So, if you don't want to see any ads at all, LOGIN first. You will need cookies switched on in your browser (its the default setting so if you don't know what I'm talking about don't worry) for it to remember you were logged in, and it will forget again when you close your browser.
Previous entry answers;
Psyche - You made some superb points, and I apologise if you felt the previous entry was in any way directed at you, or the thousands of other users who we've never even heard about because they behave themselves. The entry tried to make clear who it was aimed at, but I can understand that the whole tone wasn't too pleasant. My apologies again to the thousands of innocent users who I inadvertantly made feel uncomfortable.
With regard to your mom starting a diary or your husband, boyfriend or whatever, for one thing they'd have to prove the entry was identifying them personally before we would delete it. In general each decision is taken on a case by case basis and in general we will still try to negotiate with the diarist over conflicts. However, that used to be the ONLY course of action available to us. With the recent abuses we wanted to change the pitch a little and make the trouble makers understand that we will, if the entry is obviously and knowingly outside our terms, delete it without recourse nor discussion. Of course, if you name your mum, or give her address or phone number etc, then you are knowingly outside the rules and we may delete the entry. But in general, we'll negotiate first - especially with 'first time offenders' and people who deal with us sensibly.
Kaliko88: I'd like for nothing more than to get rid of the Top Ten. We're working on alternatives...
Atlas: Very funny :-)
Marcella: Mentioning diarists in a friendly way isn't so likely to have them complain to us, so its probably not going to cause a problem. Answering comments left in a previous entry, if that person left their name is perfectly acceptable. The new rules are intended (but not limited) to cover the rash of 'I think diarist X is also diarist Y' and 'Diarist Z flamed me in an entry so its OK for me to flame them back in my entry here....'.
To all that commented on the previous entry, thanks for your feedback, it is appreciated, even if the answer to your comment didn't appear above :-)
Steve.