You are a newbie & have joined this gr8 & ’kewl’ site drawn by the stars shining in the sky... I mean the front page. Welcome to MS also called ’MouthShut’

The first thing that scares you is the ’Trust List’(TL)/’Distrust List’(DL), ’Likes/Dislikes’ (Boy do they love paradoxes?) if you are not already scared by plethora of comments from perfect strangers ’Welcoming you to MS’ or NRing you for not having written more than 3 paragraphs (does it remind you of Economics, History etc.?) while a few souls have been ’kind’ enough to have HRed you.

Don’t worry dude. We were all scared by this great mystery at one stage or another & looked at all & sundry’s profiles to figure out the meaning of this ’Mouthshut’ trust which refuses to break it’s silence.

Technically speaking, TL is an alternate method of sorting reviews on topics so that you get to read things in the way you prefer, the other options being sorting on number of people of having ’read’ the review ( by applying same criteria newspapers would be epics) or the day review was written or based on your ’personal belief’ in the capability of reviewer to write relevant reviews in the categories that interest you.

DL though looking like the ’evil’ twin of TL, technically it isn’t. It is just a way to filter out the reviewers who write in categories you are not interested in (any more) or someone with whom you have ’chronic’ disagreement (Ignorance is bliss) or believe are writing ’total crap’. A great way of not seeing ’type writing lessons’ (like gghhh... ggghhh...) practiced often on the front page.

But a lot of people like me refuse to believe in this ’’lie’’ (and hope you’ll join us soon). The trust often develops in the following way

1) Give & Take (I gave you mine, you give me yours)
2) Wow!!! he has written 100 reviews, a real ’Guru’!!!
3) This ’chicks’ got a cool pic. This ’hunk’ makes me go ’pink’
4) This reviewer’s reviews matter ’more’ to me than others
5) What you sow so shall you reap (RIP - TM acknowledged)

A gentle advice. Don’t wait for the other person to TL you, just add him/her to your TL if you believe he/she is writing great stuff. You are not doing him/her any favour. You are giving yourself a chance to see that persons reviews at the ’top’ (if you are using sort by ’TL’)

’’Pehle Aap.. Pehle Aap.. karthe karthe kahin Train na Choot jaaye’’ ( Let us not miss the train in this you first.. you first... confusion)

Don’t believe in the following lies spread by anarchists

1) M2M is a great way to ’Date’ & get TLed [ Wrong, you’ll land in DL before you can say MS, or land in ’Flagged Land’ or ’Sealed Land’]

2) People don’t comment on reviews. [They honestly do. (Sometimes even without reading your review ;)). The ’brighter’ you prove more the comments (more TLs/DLs)]

3) Don’t hide your TL/DL? [ It is a kewl thing to do. What if both you & the other person know it by ’Trusted By’/’Distrusted By’ lists? Atleast you can confuse others ]

4) There are ’Losers’ that add you to their DL for no reason. [They are normal people but just ’’misunderstood’’ ( Even the Bow-Tie killer said that after slashing 30 people to death) & choose to remain silent in the true traditions of MS in not dropping comments ]

5) A great way to get your self into TL is write in your profile that you love ’music’ or ’movies’ or both. Can you find anyone who hasn’t got these in their interests (if any)? Write a few funny movie reviews. Or write something like ’.... SUCKS’ if not the TLs atleast the comments will make you shine in the ’Best Debut’. [ Do you really believe this? Such ’’losers’’]


Last but not the least something from Tao Te Ching ( the Book of Living) by chinese philosopher ’Lao Tzu’

The wisest leaders are hardly known
Then come those who are loved
Then those feared
Then those despised

Mistrust begets mistrust
Trust begets accomplishment


PS : Read the first 4 lines bottom-up & the last two top-down. Isn’t the bugger just confusing?? Then aren’t all philosophers so ;)