Extent

The diary started on Friday 21st July 2000. However, I only have entries for the last year on the 'net. You only get a year's worth of virtual intimacy. Sorry.

For the unquenchably curious, there's a brief timeline.

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About the diary

I started this diary because I enjoyed reading other people's diaries. (In fact, I'm writing this "About" section because I like reading other people's "About" sections.) I've tried to model it to some extent after the type of diaries I enjoy reading.

I've explained this diary using a series of analogies for people who do not understand it in any way. The best analogy so far is to a series of letters home---a correspondence that you can take part in if you wish. These are what I might write in letters if I was a letter writer. I'm also suited to keeping a public, rather than private, diary. I seem to be psychologically incapable of keeping a private diary, because I find them intensely embarrassing to write in.

Policy

Here's my manifesto, poorly followed sometimes:

I write with an audience in mind

The diary is partly a record of my life, so I sometimes write things I want to remember, rather than things other people necessarily want to hear. But most of the time, I visualise a reader whom I do not know, and who knows little about me outside my diary and I write what I would want to read... if I was them.

I am not mysterious

I don't tell everything, but I'm not writing a diary for the in-crowd. I try to write complete self-contained stories that don't leave people with an uneasy feeling that I was writing about them. This has probably been my most conspiciously neglected rule, but I hope breaches are becoming fewer.

That said, please keep the following in mind when you read my diary:

If you know me, I'd appreciate knowing that you're reading my diary

I do self-censor, and I don't always say exactly what I think---or at least, sometimes I am silent rather than saying what I think. I do this because my diary is read by my family, my friends and sometimes my employers. If you don't tell me that you read it, I won't feel comfortable knowing what I can and can't write about.

If you know me, and you don't want me writing about you, tell me

I will generally honour these requests. I'll also use aliases if people like, although only one person has ever asked for this. I don't write about other people very much at all, as it happens, and I don't use people's surnames.

My diary may be saying the opposite of what you think

About half the complaints I've ever received about content in this diary has been based on someone reading a sentence and not realising that its negated. This is not a great reflection on my writing style admittedly, but nevertheless, keep a special eye out for the word "not".