Leo
from Bengaluru |
Uday, you speak of experience and balance in comments and observations. I'll tell you my observations. I'm not jumping at your throat. I've been a member of Indiblogger for more than two years now. And been part of the forum since around a year, year and a half maybe. And a member of the moderators team since less than two months.
- You cannot push anyone to coming here. No. A forum, be it here, or any place else, is to discuss, and to solve problems. Indiblogger gives this forum to do so, but people come, they spam with their links and go off. Far from discussing, they just want to get that one extra pageview. Yes, I observe that any blogger wants to get their blog read, but if the forum is meant to help, and to discuss, then such links when spread across distract that discussion. There are umpteen bloggers in the Indi directory, but no one wants to actively participate. That is not because this forum is lacking innovation, or any interesting topic. It is because 1. Bloggers are people who are busy with their own lives also, and other than writing, they might not feel the need to come here to discuss issues that may not even intrigue them. There are topics to help on SEO, there are threads that have social network page links like FB pages and Twitter handles, there are fun threads that can be just relaxing and there are threads on contests, but not everyone knows what SEO is and if they did also, they might not want it; not everyone has an FB page for their blog or a Twitter handle, people relax in a different way, and some are not interested in contests at all (I'm one such person). 2. The feature to get that one extra pageview is Indivine. So bloggers mostly register, and then go to Indivine. If they are interested in contests, then they get that from the home page or Indivine itself, so they dont need to come to the forum.
- You observe moderators are balanced elsewhere. Here also, almost every one of us moderators are, and we look for the usefulness of a link before suggesting to remove it from a thread. Sometimes, it is useful, and helpful to the discussion. But plain promoting without anything is not. When I tell someone to remove their links, I tell why. And you maybe used to forums that you find better, but like Hemal has told, you are new to this forum. And sometimes, moderators patience is tested to the maximum limit by certain members. Much before I was a mod, I have been insulted by members for trying to help them get established in the forum, and doing it in a sensible manner. You yourself say moderators should decide whether they are members first, but being a member doesn't mean they can come on forum, do anything they please, hit out and expect to be welcomed with open arms. When such people are there, moderation is not easy. And yes, by keeping such threads and people away from a forum where there are some interesting discussions, I definitely am doing some good. If it is your opinion that that is because of mods here being amateurs, it is your opinion, but without knowing what was, and why some things are as it is, your generalizing the moderators and comparing to other forums isn't right.
- I'm sure you don't want to waste your time going through Inditalk archives, but if you scroll down Inditalk, there is a link to it. If you open it, and go back in time, say a month or two, you'll see how it was. There was a time when Inditalk would have 4 or 5 or even more people on it, discussing, interacting, greeting each other. There was a time when I used to be on it nearly the whole day, and I've been called the Inditalk resident by more than a fair share of Indibloggers. Why am I not there now? Life happened. Inditalk got blocked in office, and things got busy, and etc etc. Its the same story with people who were there before, and are on it now intermittently. The reason for basking in past glory is because it was glorious, and it will remain in the thoughts of those who were in that glorious and sometimes not glorious past. If you were not in it, you won't understand it, so me giving you a hundred reasons won't help. The past is dead and gone, but it shapes what we are now. If the past hasn't got this present, then you will not be as good as you are now. For any effort to be collective, it is not just the moderators and admins who need to be collective. Any effort will bear fruit, but without rules and nurturing, such an effort will be like a jet of water being shot head on the plant. What we moderators are doing here is ensuring that that doesn't happen.
DS
from Mumbai |
Awesome reply Leo!! As someone who joined Indiblogger about 2 years ago, shared those moments you talk about on Inditalk and becoming Indipolice recently - I agree with you on each and every point.
