One webring and three 'burbs, all themed diary communities, have recently moved their sites.

The Speak Freely Ring featuring online journals that are hosted on free web space providers is one of many journal rings to abandon the old Webring system after its takeover by Yahoo! It has been moved to the Diarist.net's RingLink system, and members are encouraged to reapply.

Written in Skin, a 'burb for diarists with tattoos and other body art, has been moved by its founder, Calgary diarist Terry, because of the pop-up ads at its former home at Crosswinds.

Meanwhile, Utah diarist Heather has moved two 'burbs: Cat People, "for the special breed of people who share their lives and their homes with that regal beast known as the cat," and Mountain States, for journalers living in Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico.

Diarist.Net maintains lists of both journal 'burbs and webrings.

A San Francisco man has launched a new journal service targeted squarely at adults, and with hopes of someday rewarding writing with cash.

My-Journal.Com is the brainchild of Frank Jernigan. He is up front about the adults-only scope of the new service, and the part money plays in its future.

"It appears to me that several of the available sites for keeping a journal online are appealing largely to a very young audience," he said.

"I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the teens and pre-teens involved, but it clearly inhibits open writing by adults," Jernigan explained. "I certainly don't feel good about describing my most intimate sexual desires, for instance, if it might be read by a twelve-year-old."

Unlike other similar services, My-Journal.Com is not free. To create a journal on the site, users must pay $1 by credit card which in part helps verify age and $1 per month thereafter (unless they consistently post entries, in which case the monthly fee is waived).

But in addition to offering a venue for more mature, if not explicit content, My-Journal.Com also aims to someday spread the wealth. Although the required registration to read journals is currently free, it will someday also cost $1 a month.

"Then we will begin to share this revenue with the journalers, paying according to the popularity of their journals," Jernigan said. "There is nothing else like this that I know of on the web."

Jernigan knows he is venturing into uncharted territory with his new site presently home to only five authors moving into an arena on the web that tries very hard to hide any commercial leanings. But he finds it an exciting experiment.

"I am experimenting with a new model here... and there is no guarantee the model will work," Jernigan said. "But if it does, we think this will be an exciting opportunity to get rewarded for what you enjoy doing anyway."

Wisconsin journaler John Kusch has established a 'burb for journalers who share his home town.

The Brew City Burb lists journalers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Kusch, 30, requests that interested diarists specify their "favorite place for frozen custard — just to prove you're really a Milwaukeean."

A number of people have already made the cut, including Allison, Eric, Julie, Laurie, Lawrence, Mark, and Pat.

For more burbs, visit:
http://diarist.net/links/lists.html

Netherlands diarist Rien has been busy, having recently moved his site to a faster server (and thus a new URL).

He continues work on his Voice Project, a musical experiment incorporating random sounds sent in by readers into a CD-ROM, to be released next month. He has even set up a toll-free voicemail number to collect submissions from the U.S.: 1-877-825-7766 ext. 478.

"Send me some mouth noises," Rien writes. "Anything. Never mind PG or PC. Never mind English, German or French. And you can send me a single word, a slogan, your motto, nonsense, whatever."

The project, a follow-up to a CD-ROM produced in 1999, has already received more than two-dozen submissions from readers and fellow journalers, ranging from jokes to ransom demands. Contributors will receive free copies of the finished product.

Meanwhile, his A_ward webring has left the Webring system following the Yahoo!/Webring.Org merger, and is continuing as an independent, hard-coded, ring. Member sites will now link to each other directly.