Aug 29, 2006 02:37 PM
2364 Views
Probably it’s the childhood angst against being told “Shut Up”! Or, the grown up tendency to prowl where it says “Don’t Go Further”! I don’t know what drove me to a website so rudely named “Mouthshut”! Probably the in-your-face attitude of the title! But there I was, looking at the page with the green look! ‘Consumer Product Review site’, it proclaimed.
I was itching to express myself on very many things I wanted to (b)itch about (or is it ‘dog’ about, when a guy says it?!) ‘Login’, ‘Profile’... the wait seemed endless for someone who had never had it any good on the St. Patient Street! But nevertheless, I put on my best behaviour and Lo and Behold! Pappu Pass Ho Gaya! I was a member. Now, whether I had to MouthShut or make others MouthShut remained a question! At least, I was free to write. A Pat-on-the-Back (easier to do it for others, I must say!) later, I started my first (horrible, on retrospect) review, with the cribbing keyboard and squeaking mouse bearing the brunt of the attack. Clicking the Publish button made me feel like Salman Rushdie, nodding for his words to be let loose on humanity!
“People, here is the new kid in town, and I rock!”, I wanted to tell my fellow members. Somehow, either due to the opaque walls inside MS (with ears, though!) or the audience having heard the launch-cry multiple times already, I managed 2 eyeballs in the next 24 hours – but if I subtract two of mine, how many does that leave? Rushdie was disappointed, to say the least! ‘People don’t know talent when there is one in their backyard’, I summed up. Then, somebody said it was ‘Very Useful’. Wow! I’d arrived! And the person was a Born Genius, so I guessed there was hope! I won’t talk further about my first experiences (which, like in many other things, is quite one thing anticipating, and another, doing!!) for fear of losing my existing readership! Anyway, “a long journey begins with a small step” - that’s all I can say to all new comers on MS, and who are reading this. To the older ones, I say ‘Don’t Grin! This was you, some time back, too!’. And as for me grinning too, guys, I have been sweating it out, for 26 reviews (with this, and still counting! Modesty:)!! So give it to me this time, until the next guy comes along and says "Chup!
The struggle continued. Reviews kept getting published. A drop became a puddle, a pool and more. The fear of losing it all one fine day remained. That was until I (like most people in here have) found my mentor(s). A girl called Megs (whose primary concerns in life were food and words, while searching for a man) and a boy called Santosh (who says he is not just man, not super man, but mango man). Both gave me tickers on ‘insider trading’ on MS! In simple English, for the new and the old, it means 4 things:
“What goes around comes around”.
“The More you Read and Rate others'reviews, the more yours too gets read”.
“The more you Comment on others’reviews, and truthfully, the more comments you earn”.
“When you consistently read an MS-ian (and like it), you add him to your Trusted Circle, set an alert on his reviews, and promptly Read, Rate and Comment (RRC, in here) on it, to get the same results when you write too”
It all gives credence to the words of a certain Paulo (Coelho, not Santosh!) - ‘When you want something badly enough, the Universe conspires to make it happen!’
Reviews of the new kid in town went up into double figures, details and content kept getting refined and confidence levels soared. The new kid started leaving no profiles unturned in rapidly RRCing reviews from the knowns and unknowns. A distinct and nice comment on Megs’ page made me explore a new (to me) name, and I ended up liking the ‘new’ too. A innocuous mention of an upcoming review by another, on Harsh’s space saw me migrating to yet another unknown’s profile page! The TC kept broadening. Daya, Adi, Harsh (Vijay Mallya gets his penny from him, largely!), Vinayak, MagS, Abha, JK.. the list was fast becoming a “Star”Trek, and interestingly close. Ideas got shared, legs pulled and hints on future works dropped, all in the comments sections of one another. Heated debates too roared on, moderators were born, parties were planned – all without ever having actually seen one another. Camaraderie of a different kind became the hallmark of a close-knit group, out to share views, hear, be heard and have fun, online and offline.
MS too became the subject of interest at times, leading to suggestions, complaints, feedback, emails and protests galore! Security and Freedom of Speech dominated proceedings, with mixed results. Faisal and Jasmine on one end of the Net tried what they could, erased some, owned up some, ignored some. A few old(er than me!) inmates, on the other end, had their different ways too – Write, No-write, All-is-right, Suck up for a Star, the works. The world still went on! Reviews kept coming, MS continued being a place where you could air your views, get appreciated, hear more people talk of even more things, send out flurries of reviews timing the Contests, invite people, make great buddies, more. New folks came in, some older ones left (returning sooner, later or not at all) and the rest stayed.
With every new member joining MS, the struggle for acceptance and to be heard was the only constant. New members slowly turned ‘old’, forgetting how they grew, losing track of the ways that they made it where they did. But still others patted the ‘newbies’, showed them the way, while doing what they always did - writing, RRCing and more!
Whatzzat?:So, what is this review all about? Is it a confession of sins, or a prayer for eyeballs? Or, is it saying thanks to those who have stayed the walk together, or a request to the rest to return? Is it a call to Faisal and Co. to do more, or to MSians to forget and forgive? Or, is it a guide to the newcomers or, a reminder to the pros? Well, it’s all of the above.
Love or Hate MS, but, like the proverbial in-laws, you cant lose it!!! (no offence to either in-laws or MS there!)
Call 4 Cheer: Let’s Make MS better (sorry, Philips, you tried it for your stuff, and it didnt work! My turn now!) - a livelier, more colourful, relevant, caring, true and bold place, where everyone calls a spade a spade, and, uses it too, when needed!
MSian can also be spelled Mature, Sensible, Interesting, Appreciative Netizen! Kyon? Any other expansions, folks?
Now, let's have a round (or more) of The Usual! Hair splitting, screaming, leg pulling, thanksgiving, cribbing, and all the rest, which makes us never do what the site calls itself - MouthShut!!
And, if Faisal makes money in the bargain, that’s fair enough! Sites don’t run on Charity, yes?!
PS: Sorry for the serious overtone, pals! My fun-hormones have been philhaal exhausted by the series of Dr.ShyamLittle-in-Hospittle reviews and matching wits with Harsh, Megs, Abha, Daya, Saint Carlos, Akash and Co.:).
Shall be back, watch this space:)
Happy Mouthshutting!!!
Shyam
