Sep 14, 2005 01:24 AM
3191 Views
(Updated Sep 14, 2005 01:26 AM)
Amongst mails that promised to enlarge my breasts (I would not know why I would need that), deliver me free credit cards at my doorstep (I would rather go in for the enlargement option, knowing fully well the perils faced by credit card holders these days) and the likes, there was one that mentioned something about a free trip to Dubai for speaking your mind out. My hotmail inbox received and still receives almost 16.37 junk mails for every single genuine mail. My natural instinct is to send them all to the Trash Can. That’s what I did on that day too.
The next day I was on the page that showed me the contents of my Trash Can. I was about to delete all its contents for one last time, when for reasons unknown to me I decide to read this mail that said about the Dubai Trip. I clicked the link in the mail knowing fully well that it is dangerous to click on links given in such mails, to my surprise I was taken to site which said “Your Opinion Matters”. To a married man who is more used to listening, this was a God-sent opportunity to air his views…
It’s a little more than three years and six months… like I have mentioned on my profile, I joined Mouthshut on Valentine’s Day in 2002, probably that’s one of the reasons why I fell in love with this site. Unlike many others who “googled” their way to MS, I came here courtesy what we call a spam mail.
Since then certain aspects of the site have undergone definite changes (the photo in the profile of amrita, for instance) and certain aspects have remained exactly as they were (the position of amrita’s photo in the Hall of Fame page, for instance). This write up is a more a reflection on my journey on this site since I found it, than “How Did I Discover Mouthshut.com”, if it were to be the latter, it would have ended before this paragraph had even begun.
The early days…
My first opinion on the site was about Cricket (It’s a game after all), looking back it was an okay sort of review. I guess members of MS were generous in rating it Very Useful; this rating encouraged me and I wrote my next one on Thums up titled “Thumbs down”. It got a “useful” rating, I wonder how? Every time I read it, I get the urge to rewrite it and make it more objective. But then, I had decided long back, to leave the review like that, so that it reminds me of my early days at Mouthshut. A few more ramblings at high clip, in fact there were times when I wrote more than one article a day…Phew!! Until two write ups one on “ (Revlon) Fairness Cream” and other on “Tea V/s Coffee” came through. This was the time when I started taking MS seriously. Around 40 days into the site, I submitted a write up titled “ABC of India…” probably that is when MS started to take me seriously…
What made me stay?
The most repeated statement on this site about this site is that it is addictive. So I won’t repeat that again! What made me stay on the site during that phase were its members. Though by the time I had joined members like venchasa, riks and jasbirdyn had already stopped writing regularly, I was lucky that that some of the most prolific writers were still active on it. When I think of members the first few who come to mind are sujay_marthi, madlalya, spookaay, meleahk, satishkl, ranjran, angel009 and pooj. Then there was Sunil who went by the id eyesopen… the one with whom I argued the most in comments and admired the most when it came to his views. His reviews were controversial and he never hesitated in speaking his mind, he took the tagline “Your Opinion Matters” a little too seriously and consequently, did not last too long on MS… I still wonder as to whose loss it is that eyesopen, no longer writes on mouthshut…
There were also some really good writers like asyis, jilmil, reviewer, suyog, rekh, niraj_sigh4, Cousin2, loverboy4u, milinddesai, arunroy, dhavalhridhav, dazzlingpiscean, Santoz, kalil.rahman who wrote regularly and a few like venugopalanv, nathan, ThumbInMouth, disskonnekt, SarahA, muni and yamraaj who I wished wrote more often. iComment was another member with whom I had a great time especially in the comments section. As time went by, there came a new crop of writers who kept the site alive…premjit, fatcat, vivekbp, ganeshb, rjois, crazeebidee, karana, mariner2,all wrote fabulous reviews that made it impossible to stay away from the site. Premjit to me is the one of the best writers to have graced this site…
My experience:
The concept of allowing the common man/woman to express what they feel about products, services, people and situations is definitely interesting. But I would be foolish if I were to suggest that, that is what the key attraction of MS is. Yes, we all write, read, rate and comment on this site, but often it is members who are read, rated and commented on, rather than reviews/ opinions. To click on MS we need a clique, without that the average person is bound to get disinterested. I have rarely seen a writer who doesn’t seem to play to the gallery and that includes me. The idea seems to be impressing fellow members with one’s writing skills than to critically analyze a topic. Unfortunately, that’s also what most members (again includes me) want - humor, controversy…
The ironical part about MS lies in the fact that most members who are thorough and methodical in their analysis of products, services, personalities, often lose their objectivity when they judge a fellow member’s contribution. There are several instances where members prefer to “cozy up” to a contributor and shower “misplaced” praises. A friend who hesitates to point out your drawbacks for the fear of losing friendship is never a friend in first place. False praises are often passed on as encouragement. White lies that should result in distrust often become the basis for trust lists.
I have also questioned more than once the raison d'être behind SORT technology (used to fill up the Hall of Fame) and the Review of the Day (which is usually some obsolete review, written ages back), the criteria for being a star writer (when it went beyond reasonable realm of acceptability, I opted to be a regular member), the rationale behind MS Points, the justification for banning certain members and the excuse for not banning a few others. Mouthshut is true to its name when it comes to answers to these questions. I am not questioning the rights of the team that runs MS, in imposing their rules on this site, my only qualm is that if they were a little more transparent, maybe several of those writers I have mentioned above, would have still been around to enthrall us with their thoughts…
