wildvanilla
Content:[24/30] Technically, this diary is exceptional. You have a unique, styled type of writing. Several times it is commented that this diary is not about extras, but rather about the writing. While I agree with this philosophy, in case of not having a biography, I tend to disagree. After reading the great majority of your diary, I don't feel like I know all that much about you, besides the surface of your personal situations and thefact that you are a fantastic writer. However, to be a great technical writer is not enough alone to win me over.
I felt like I SHOULD be engrossed in this diary, but I wasn't. I was slightly intrigued, but felt obliged to read more. Your diary lacks something special, something out of the ordinary, something that expesses who you are. It expresses that you have training in writing, and excellent English skills, but not who you are inside. Not what you feel, not what you believe. Your entries are way too random for me to understand what precisely you are talking about. That's the reason why I don't feel into your diary. I didn't have a connection to it. I felt like I was marking someone's poetry, or someone's automatic writings or something. I didn't feel like I was reading a diary.
Your diary does work, however, as a stream of unconscious thoughts. I get the feeling that you just sit down and write, and really don't give a fuck if people know what you are talking about. But, from a reviewers perspective, this does not make for very engrossing reading. I am giving you your mark for your amazing technical ability which I fell in love with...it's your content itself that does not do your talent justice.
Make your diary more personal.
Layout:[15/25] This layout is manga related, which is one of my all time most hated things. However, my main problem with it, is that it does not work with your style of writing. It does not work in harmony with the personality that comes through your writing. It does not resonate the writing, and that is the main problem. Other than that, yes, it is neat and user friendly. But in order to achieve good marks in this section, it has to reflect at least some elements of your diary. Your layout currently does not.
Updates:[8/10] You've commented that you're all for quality over quantity, and you obviously only update when you have something to say- an admirable quality. Give your archive a link to the right hand side, it's not obvious that is an archive.However, you update every few days, sometimes with big gaps, sometimes with not too big gaps.
Extras:[7/10] I can't give you much in this area, as you acknowledge that you don't have many extras. fair enough, but for the purposes of the review, they have to be included. You have been interviewed, and to me, this interview told me more than the diary did. A sitemeter, a notify list, an about section, links, surveys, quizzes, reviews. That's enough for me, but I would strongly suggest that you put an autobiography, even if it's only quick for the purpose of understanding who we are reading.
Errors:[8/10] Broken link down the bottom for the ok counter.
Contact:[2/5] Guestbook, email.
Bonus:[0/5] Nothing exceptional.
Returning:[1/5] Probably not because it's diary-x, and therefore I always forget. But apart from that, I wouldn't be a regular, but I would pop in now and again.
Total: 67/100 Reviewed by Kathleen
