Apr 23, 2001 09:14 AM
12334 Views
Last month I received a mail from a mouthshut member asking me why have I not written about mouthshut itself. Well I wanted to, but was waiting for an appropriate time. What could be more perfect than writing a review on Mouthshut and sumitting it as a birthday gift to it's CEO. Yes, I am talking about Mouthshut and Faisal.
My life has been full of addiction. Addiction to living and non-living things. Some of them were fads initially and then became a habit which turned out to be an addiction. Fortunately, I have never been addicted to drugs, rock and roll/pop or sex.
Those with parochial minds will never come out of addiction. But at the same time, It takes a lot of hardwork to adopt an egalitarian view. Ethnocentricsm is the best example of how our mind will only like what we have been addicted to. For example, the recent flurt of reviews on India. We all know that India has too many problems. Problems created by our corrupt leaders and aided by a passive population. Still so many of MS members...I emphasize, sooo many wrote Five Star rating reviews on India...Singing minstrels of its glorious past and some of these reviewers turning a blind eye to the sordid state of our nation today. Now, I have been accused of taking tagents in my reviews. So I will come to the point. All this discourse and monologue on India is to drive home the point that ethnocentricsm is every man, woman's weakness and I am no exception.
If you are convinced that I may have my own idiosynchrosies, than let me tell you that I AM AN EXPERT WHEN IT COMES TO TELLING WHICH WEBSITE IS GOOD AND WHICH WEBSITE SUCKS!
Mouthshut.com
---------------------
Last year, in my quest of finding great websites and startups, I came across Mouthshut.com It was a consumer reviews website. I know the whole concept of consumer reviews is not a new one, but I was immediately amazed at the way Mouthshut was arranged. It was too hard for to believe. At first I did not believe that Mouthshut was coming out of India for an Indian audience. Most of the sites in India that are meant for Indians are tasteless, have huge technical errors and lack color coherence and navigation ease. I have also visited and written on two other review websites...but I was not impressed. They left much to be desired. One was full of bugs...and never worked. Another was dominated by people that made new comers fear for their lives, plus it was so slow.
But Mouthshut was and is different.
Lemme begin with a top down approach:
Logo:
I love the logo. It brings the humor in the site. Writing reviews can be so boring...but the logo is actually telling you that 'I can be funny too.'
Mouthshut?
I learnt about mouthshut from a friend in Bombay who came to know about mouthshut from some webhosting company. Mouthshut was intriguing. I think the name has a great recall value and I like the explanation the CEO has given in some comments. Excellent!
Technical aspect:
Till date, not a single page has failed on me. Once I was not able to access Mouthshut for an hour, but it may have been a problem with many, because most Indian sites were down then, even rediff.com and yahoo.co.in
Speed:
The speed of the site is amazing. It is, as most members say, God Speed--Loads instantenusly. I am not a techie, but I have some knowledge of website programming. I think Mouthshut's speed is comparable to some of the fastest site. I have'nt checked mouthshut from abroad. But from New york, in Jan. 2001 it was pretty fast. I know of few other opinion website and I have no qualms in claiming that mouthshut is the fastest of all.
Color scheme and Navigation:
The entire process flows like music composed by a great artist. If Mozart was alive, he would have composed a symphony for mouthshut...;-)
Category and Products:
It's just amazing. As Salman khan says in his movies, ''its too good man, too good.'' I was hilarious when I found that mouthshut even listed all those weird phone models..so many of them. And even tooth brush! If not anything, I just love the ever growing list.
Reviews:
I loved the reviews that came in, from the day I joined. I love most of the reviews...except those that are written just to collect points. I hate people who just write 75 words, as if they are being forced to write in an English literature exam. Oh comeon...
Community:
Mouthshut's community and members are amazing. All are unique in their own sense. I think it reflects the diversity of the country. But the community is also smart. If a product is bad, most people will say it is bad..and they do give a low rating. But Times of India is BAD. Though many will say ''No other alternative.'' and Indiatimes is the worst thing to happen to the Internet. The community is slowly getting global. They all add to the melting pot called the Internet. I feel we all learn from each other and Mouthshut is the perfect place for all of us to ''hang out'' while doing something constructive.
MS-Points:
I love them. And I remember that initially MS did not pay for rating a review. Then after few weeks we received an email from the CEO announcing that we are paid for rating. That's to me a very customer driven change. Good going. I think it was a smart move!
As for the conversion and redemption, I don't care whether I get anything from these points or not. I come here to express myself and help others choose. I know it's tough to survive these days as a dot com, so I would not protest if you don't pay...but I want Mouthshut to be there. To stay alive...even if this means dont pay me for those points. I know there are thousands of members who dont care for points.
Long term survival:
Long term survival for mouthshut is apparent. I think I have learnt a lot from ASYIS (MS Member) in this regard. Mouthshut is customer focussed. Mouthshut has responded to my queries, implemented suggestions...and I know that suggestions bring return customers...and return customers are sources of revenue...If you control expenses and don't spend on stupid ads like baazee.com did you will survive...so mouthshut will survive. If you have a real value in your product and not just gimmick like hungama.com you will survive...so mouthshut will survive. If you have an excellent staff, unlike Eventures staff, you will survive...so mouthshut will survive.
CEO:
CEO of any company is it's engine. If the CEO slows down, the train will stop. I have exchanged several Member to Member mails with Faisal. His response has been always a pleasure to read. I love his monthly newsletter, which is so personal, as if he is talking to me directly!
Some mouthshut members are addicted to this site. Mouthshut is my most recent addiction. An addiction which I don't want to give up. My thanks to the team at mouthshut.com, to it's CEO faisal, to the members and to all those who are helping others decide what is good or bad. And for those who may think that I work as Mouthshut's PR agent/company, I am sorry, I am not connected to mouthshut in anyway, except as a member. So will I draw flaks from you now? Spare me this time!
