Regarding private entries ...

[Salamander]

When/if you change formats, I understand that private diaries will not
be possible at first. Will old entries be imported into the new
format? What happens to old entries on private diaries, or old
entries made private on otherwise open diaries? It would be *most*
embarrassing if a few of the entries I made privately or for "friends
only" were to suddenly become public, but at the same time I don't
want to leave them behind when we go to the new format.

[Steve]

My thoughts at this time are that I'll try to do something along these
lines;

Current DearDiary.Net will be moved to 'legacy.deardiary.net' or
'old.deardiary.net'.
New site will become www.deardiary.net but initially with NO diaries
moved.
New site software will serve all requests - but if a diary is not
found it will query 'legacy' to see if it exists there. If it does,
the site will issue a temporary redirect and the browser will
automatically request the page from legacy. If it's not on legacy the
new site will simply display a 404 Not Found page.
Users can then migrate to the new site in their own time. Any new
accounts will be using the new system.
Ultimately, legacy will become 'read only' once everything is hunky
dory on the new site.

This should mean that until I get all the features in place that your
diary requires, you wouldn't have to move.

But either way, private diaries will be supported (and I've almost
finished the friends only diary code for WordPress) and Friends Only
Entries and Private entries similarly - I think this is a must have
feature before the new site goes up. I'd be mad as a cut snake if I
were a user whose diary suddenly became public when it should be
private/friends only so I can imagine how you'd feel :-)

Using a staged move like this does mean people could have a play
around with a new diary, see how it goes and if it has everything they
need they can move their old diary straight away, or they can choose
to wait until some feature is implemented.

Let me know your thoughts,
Steve.

[Salamander]

If it gets to the point where it works, I'm not going to opine on how
we get there. I just plain don't know enough about what would go into
the process to do anything other than thank you for putting the work
into it.