Dear Faisal,
I believe that a person does his job best when he knows what results he has to achieve and is left to do it with minimal interference. In MS too, I usually squash my impulses to tell you how to do your job, because even though I might write here, this is your business and who else could be greater invested in it than you!
Reviews and comments frequently say ‘Faisal doesn’t listen’ ‘MS doesn’t care’ ‘Nothing will change’ ‘These guys can’t take criticism’ etc.
Earlier I would have defended you vociferously, because my own experience with you proved different – you read criticism I leveled against you, accepted that things were not perfect, responded in a completely reasonable manner, promised change, and even though it came after ages, made it happen.
Now looking at recent happenings here, I’m not sure I can defend you without sounding sycophantic at the very least.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m not here to pick a fight with you. There are a lot of positives about MS
It is a great platform to express one’s views
Some of my buying decisions have actually been influenced by reviews on MS
I’ve met some wonderful people here
There have always been rumblings about the way MS functioned, but for every person who ranted in a review, there was one who raved, and the status quo was maintained.
Over the last few days, sometimes when I clicked on alerts for members reviews, I found nothing there. Being technically challenged, at first I thought it was my mistake, then I found out that some of these missing reviews were those critical of MS!!
Again I didn’t pay too much attention till I saw pri20’s review yanked off. pri20’s review deleted? ?? Priya is one of the most reasonable persons I know in MS; not afraid to speak her mind, but doesn’t court controversy either. What could she have written, I wondered, that garnered such an extreme reaction. I asked if anyone had a copy of her review, and got it within a few minutes of asking too! Here are excerpts-
pri20 quoting you - "You have been an agent of change; you have made a difference. Together, we have contributed to the world in a positive way." - From the CEO Newsletter, Jul-26-2005
pri20 - I must admit, the first time I came across this site, I was hooked. And it didnt take me long to buy into the premise of the words above. Here, was a site where I could make a difference as a consumer. Here was a site where my opinions mattered, and here on the Internet amongst the masses of users where anonymity is king, I could get my 15 seconds of recognition. As I continued RRC’ing and writing reviews, I began to build personal bonds with the people here and just these bonds ensured that I would keep coming back to either read their writing or just exchange ideas and information. And, I was infintely grateful that a platform like MouthShut existed which let me do all this and more.
ms - What problem could there possibly be with this? Isn’t this how you want your members to feel?
pri20 - After reading numerous views, I’ve come to the conclusion that the problems lie with MS management, their inability to cope with the increased traffic of the site and/or their inflexibility with regard to constructive criticism. Here’s a site that purports giving a voice to the consumer, as long as that voice isnt raised in protest against itself. Complain against the site and you are either banned or your content is manipulated or worse deleted without a by-your-leave.
ms - Aren’t your actions simply proving your critics right Faisal? You say views expressed in your site must be fair and unbiased – in no dictionary does fair and unbiased mean only complimentary. And anyway, isn’t constructive criticism supposed to lead to self-analysis and improvement of the product/service? How is it fair to ask your members to criticize a product or even another member (ref. 5 worst reviewers in MS) but not the site? If you don’t want criticism, you should either
- make your product so stellar, nobody can find fault with it ever - impossible, isn’t it?
or
- not provide any platform for feedback; remove all the topics inviting comments on MS and it’s writers, and remove NU ratings - again impossible without completely reversing what MS stands for, isn’t it?
pri20 - It’s the little things that point to the blatant disregard for members on this site - most telling is the judging of the contests. There’s no transparency here, we never know who the judges are and ultimately the winners dont even know what they got the prizes for. I’ve come to the realisation that the judging is not solely merit-based, maybe a percentage of it is, but the rest is reserved for new-comers so that they are drawn to the site and keep contributing. Where this crosses the line of ethics and constitutes cheating towards the older members of the site, I leave upto the members to decide. If the contests are for the new comers, say so and no one will be as angry.
ms - Is it so wrong to ask that you make the judging criteria clear? Sure, the judges’ decision can be final, but contest participants do have a right to know on what basis they are judged.
pri20 - When a member recently tried to point out that the prize for the Go Goa Contest held recently was given to a plagiarist (kalyan_baital), his review (not kalyan’s) was immediately deleted.
ms - Everybody knows what Priya points out in her review actually happened. Help us find the logic in this Faisal. Everybody makes mistakes, and isn’t admitting it, apologising and making amends the right thing to do? Instead you’ve punished the person who caught the cheat!
pri20 - Make things transparent. Make no mistake, it’s the people who make up the site which has caused your business to grow. We’re not asking for money here, just respect, which involves having our concerns heard, understood and acted upon by the MS team. After all, how long can you sustain yourselves with a floating population when all the serious reviewers have moved away?
ms – Not just Priya, most MS members (and it is the members who contribute to making your site as valuable as it is today) say the same thing. With contests being designed to increase the volume of clicks on MS, a lot of good work is being flooded by reviews of obviously lousy quality. Yes, reviewers will come and reviewers will go – the question is, what kind of reviewers and work do you want on MS?
pri20 - To all these problems, the standard MS reply is ’We care about our members, of course we listen to you, etc’.
ms - Pretending problems don’t exist, or ignoring criticism rarely ever helps. You’ve listened to reviewers’ suggestions before Faisal, but it seems like there is a need for greater and swifter action. Do make that ‘standard reply’ a reality more often instead of simply deleting reviews - After all somebody has to play messenger when there’s trouble in paradise!
Magical Summer
