Grow diaries doesn't answer questions so I'm asking you guys.. also if there are any other places like this let me know because this place sucks

IC Mag have a pretty decent forum, but nothing like the grow diaries format.

Good Call!

Not a fan of the new changes myself.

As a previous answer said, hearing back from them is very rare. I have had interaction with who runs the site but only a few times. Usually they just fix the problem without informing you they have sorted the issue out. I had a problem where all my pictures would come out in a completely different order from how I uploaded them and they sorted it out.

They've done work on the site lately. I'm sure it is related. It took many months after the last official "update" for the site to function somewhat properly. I hate this phrase, but it is perfect in more than 1 way for this context: "It is what it is" LOL... I've only been around 5-6 years, but this is par for the course in my experience. Start a chat group. Find local growers. Networking and sharing is value-added.

If you hear back from them on anything its like winning the lottery. I have gotten a DM, and email and once even a tag from them. I classify myself very rich because of this. Now they normally don't reply to anything, however when emailing them I find most of the problems are solved in some sort of time. Granted once they pushed the main update to the site in jan 24' the place went to shit. and it was going to shit long before that but it was a big tipping point. It is buggy as hell and the breeders/sponsors are also noticing it. Its them that need to make the noise as they are the ones who pay GD, if they all stop paying. the site would go under or do some real work to make it functional. There are rumours GD is owned and operated by fast buds. Don't know how much of this is true, any time I ask them about it, no reply or response. As for fastbuds I have also had great autos from Ganja Farmer and SeedStockers, so IDK its not just Fustbuds rocking the auto market. But they do have a massive advertising budget and it helps. There are other sites to journal or blog your grows. they just are not as GUI friendly and most are laid out like a standard webform with text being the main bit. There is an app that looks ok, its called Grow With Jane or just jane? google it you'll find it, they say they have some contests on it but I don't think anything is as good as the contests and sponsorship's on GrowDiaries, that's why people stay. But if you don't need any more stuff it is kinda of a waist of time. Other have said if the group chats where removed they would also leave the site as they like the community aspect of it and have a small group of growers with like mindsets and the ability to bounce ideas off each other. Out side of that. the layout of the site is good but it is far from perfect and easily replaceable. The only hard thing would be to build the network of brands on the site. One thing to remember is this, GrowDiaries is and will always be a marketing platform, It is designed for selling of products and collecting data first and foremost before it is anything else, It encourages this by hosting contests about growing weed and picking winners who almost always have a larger audience so when they are sent prizes they will have a better changes of being seen and talked about. Take a look at some of the DOTM winners, Some of the diaries there are fucking garbage but the person attached to it is someone popular. Myself included. I won DOTM twice in a row one year and the diaries I won with there not that great. So what caused me to be in the top 10? Likely my presence on the platform and being everywhere as there where other diaries I think that out did mine. I like my stuff I do but I don't think it is in the level of award winning lol. The best option is to ignore everything and use the site for your own purpose or just store all your stuff in folders with text note files for the off chance a new site pops up and is any good. I have heard rumours something is in the works but it will be a while before anything is ready and it will be only be fore monitoring and logging, no contests or anything extra like chats and stuff. They should just sell themselves to Facebook aka Meta and i bet it would work. Or better yet elon musk. PS GrowDiaries has had its databases compromised before so don't store much real information on here. Eg name or DOB. If you can rent a PO box for all the shipping stuff it would be best.