Just_some_thoughts.... Review on General Thoughts About MouthShut

Main Shaayar tho nahin…Magar Eh Haseen (read MS.com)…Jab se Dekha maine tujkho, mujko….. Shaaayariiii Aaa Gayiii….

An apology to a Poem on MS

Could it be the Libran that lurks in me

Sorry for the above attempt at poetry, I could not help myself from doing it.

This is my 25th review and I thought it should be on this topic. I will not do this like what many members have done before me, which is to describe the various features of the site. I think I will strictly remain within the topic and state what my general thoughts on MS are. I will dedicate this to what, I call the Total MS experience. How I got addicted, what I love about this place (2 lines) and what more I would love to see around here (lots).

Love at first site...?

Well it was more like love at first bite (Ouch!!….read that as byte). It was one of those mails in my inbox that promised to fly me to Dubai that brought me to the site. I must say I was expecting to explore just_another_site.

The first thing on my mind was get that 5 mandatory reviews that are required to make me eligible for the Dubai contest and say good bye to the site.

Then the points played its part initially (I am tempted to say, it did not), the initial excitement was to try to reach a three figure mark…LOL.

Then the trust circle took over. The first to include me was Sensiva and what did I do…? Rushed and put him on my trust list too. Call that insecurity of a new user or a gesture of thankfulness, its something that I have not regretted to date for Sensiva is a great writer himself. To try to see that I have at least 10 people trusting me was my next goal… sounds funny when I look back now.

Somewhere around that time, I started realizing the magic of MS. Hey! This is what I always wanted to do. To express myself and let people know. I have always sat in front of television, listening to the experts (and the so-called experts) discuss issues; products and what not, felt like barging in, and say “Hey listen I have something to say too”. The same emotions have run through me a several times while reading a review in a magazine or a newspaper.

It was I think with my fourth review, that I actually realized the potential of the site. I had also by then, started to read and rate reviews (they also give points mind you). A few writers impressed me a lot. I must mention sujay_marthi and abababbey here, not only did they write great reviews but also made sure they rated and commented (whenever required). I must acknowledge that I drew a lot of inspiration from sujay’s comments and encouragement. Then I started making friends….so many of them. Each one, great in his/her own right. I yearned to be like them. I wanted to write as well as them, if not better than them…. I am still trying… The optimist in me says I will succeed some day….

The site to me is about self-expression with a cause. It is a place that demands that you honestly convey what you want to convey; so that you might help, others form an opinion. There will be clash of opinions, if there were not why should there be a site for opinions. Ms to me is about exchanging ideas, debating issues and finally helping each other by being honest about what you feel.

Kuch Khatti Kuch Meeti:

What I like about MS:The entire concept is brilliant. Therefore, I will not list anything more, as that will only be, a repetition of what many members have already written repeatedly.

Though I am extremely happy with what I see, I would be happier if the following additions being made to MS.

1. Multiple M2M, I am not sure if this facility is already present. As of now, I use the age-old cut and paste technique, if I have a single message to be posted to many members. This feature can be extremely useful, incase you want to reply to a whole lot of people who have commented on your reviews or simply get some important information through to your trust list.

   
   




2. The community centre is full of links to a different era. All that is needed is a single link that says Archives (of messages sent by CEO, Aarti and competitions that have lapsed). I do not know how many members are interested in knowing that, they would have got bonus points if they logged in during June 2001 and about contests that were wound up even before they first logged into MS. I would recommend that the space that is saved be used to put up aarti’s photo…(Cunning me...LOL). Seriously, that space could actually be used to do something useful, latest news for instance. Now if that sounds boring, how about the graffiti corner suggested by a member or if nothing else at least the star writers can be brought to this page, why hide them behind a link, don’t they deserve to be displayed prominently...?

   
   




3. I have another controversial suggestion. I feel rating a review is of great importance as default settings in MS allows the highest rated reviews to be seen at the top of the list. Some method has to be evolved to make more people rate.

   
   

I have a suggestion for the same. Just like how we have HR, R, SR and NR, we should also have a NOT RATED BY and any member who reads a review and goes of without rating should be shown on the review page, under this head. At least we will know who they are. Now I know that sometimes you are so unaware about the topic, that you prefer to abstain, in that case at least you have to leave a comment stating why you abstained.

In addition, there has to be a mechanism evolved to ensure that, anyone who rates against the majority view should leave a comment, at least when the rating is low.

This will help the reviewer understand as to why the rating was low, so that necessary improvements can be made in future reviews and this will, reduce to an extent “revenge voting”.

1. There should be better criteria for the review of the day. Now I am mentioning this because I have read a few reviews, in that column that I think were not the best that was written, either by the particular author or on the particular product. If the idea is to give recognition to the member then his/her best review has to be selected or if it is the product, which is of importance, then the review that is the most exhaustive about it has to be selected.

   
   




2. Probably, it has been aired before; it would be of great help if there were some thing like a response cell or redressal cell on MS. When there are many negative opinions about a product or service, it will be a great idea to actually, get a response from the manufacturer or the service provider either expressing regret/compensating or redressing the problem or explaining their side of the issue. I would love to see MS actually make a difference rather than just be a place where people write page after page expressing their concern about various issues.

   
   

Thanks for reading and of course in advance for rating and commenting…