Well gang! I think this is the perfect place to reflect on just what exactly about Mouthshut keeps me coming back. This essay will be slow unfolding so please be sure to read it thoroughly before coming to any conclusions.
First one has to understand a little about me and what makes me tick. I am a friendly sort of fellow, but with deeply religious convictions and somewhat skeptical on everything. I take nothing at face value when presented without mulling it over and over in my stubborn head. I guess one could say that my cup is either half empty or half full (but dang if by the time I decide one way or the other, the liquid has probably evaporated). Stubbornness is something that runs in my family so I guess I come by it honestly. God just made me that way I figure (and that is ok).
Now the intrigue on my heart for some time now was to be able understand the Muslim thought patterns better. One can read newspaper and watch all the TV and still not come up with true opinion. I wanted to be able to chat/interact with real live people. Now the problem arises of course of the lack of communication due to the language barriers. I perhaps stumbled across Mouthshut via a Google search and was instantly intrigued. Here was a site that offered a real glimpse look into the mindset of people that I had little or no real personal interaction with (at the time anyway). So I wrote a little review on a software program. I figured I had to participate if I want to interact with people of India’s culture on this site. That was my game plan anyway (and it has worked).
I often have wondered why India had a site that reviewed items in English (I still don’t know why this is, but I am glad it is so). Perhaps the webmaster Kapoor gentleman can explain this to me. Nevertheless, this allowed me to communicate but also presented some problems. Spelling is sometimes compromised but I did understand that this was a second language to most Indians and I really had no right to expect perfection (yes, I am sure my ability to negotiate in another language would be severely lacking too). Also the reviews on India TV shows and products will always be sort of an enigma to me. Also, sometimes the reviewer would switch back and forth between languages and again I would be left in the dark. But even with MS’s limitations, I loved the challenge and the opportunity to learn via personal insights offered by a somewhat higher intelligent sector. Granted I have noticed a lot of MS writers are located in other countries and that MS becomes a “link” to a culture they love and miss. I truly believe MS caters to a higher educated sector of the populace, because of the setup of MS (requiring English abilities and kids that are rude tend to shy away from places that are moderated and require skilled conversation). MS by design filters out the trash talking people and this is great.
Another factor that played into my hands recently was the addition of a new neighbor. Bobby Petel moved into a rental house across the street from me. Mr. Petel has a beautiful wife and two adorable boys (age 1 and 5) and his stepparents (who don’t speak English very well). I live in a tight neighborhood of good people and I was talking with one of my good neighbors and the topic switched to these new mystery neighbors. Suddenly Bobby drove up and walked across the street and shook hands with us. He was a gentleman and a nice smile (always smiling). They had moved in to town here and refurbished an old gas station/foodstore to reopen. I imagine they have invested their entire personal savings to open this business. I have observed they work long 12-14 hour days (and seven days a week) operating this station by themselves. Hard working humble people in my opinion, trying to live the American dream. I was very happy to hear Bobby when he mentioned he loved this town (they originally lived in New Jersey) because it did not serve/sell alcohol. This surprised me, because morally this is very true to my own beliefs, but I would assume that in his business that alcohol would be a very profitable item to sell. So I could assume that family values and not money was a strong factor in their life.
Now, I like Bobby and his family, but they work so much. I would like to do something for him (I did mention that I was a nice person didn’t I). I have briefly mentioned/talked about India to him. His parents are still located there along with several brothers and sisters. I asked about his knowledge of communication (i.e. the Internet) and if it would be an option for talking/sharing with his family. Bobby seems genially interested in learning about a computer. I told him about my family, we share pictures, news, etc… with each other via the net. I mentioned this to Bobby and have offered to show him the ropes on the Internet and how it works. So if one day if MS gets a great new member from my small town, be sure to welcome him kindly with open arms, because he will be doing what I imagine a lot of you are doing, looking for a little piece of home from far away.
So gang, I would love to hear honestly why you like MS. I do believe a lot of people are interested in writing, but I bet a lot more of you are like me. We want to examine people and to look into their hearts to see what makes them tick. I personally want to see that people -- hurt, cry, laugh and feel, just like I do. I want to see the real you and MS allows one to do that quite often. This is the real stuff, and you can’t get that on TV.
Perhaps Mouthshut does not realize that it has a double purpose. Yes reviewing products is nice on one level, but I say it is only one level (a multi-level facade). I say that people viewing is more an attraction that MS understands. I noticed that one of the star writers had listed that she/he loved to watch people walk by in the mall. Mouthshut is an international mall for my viewing pleasure with my mind’s eye.
Now for a couple of flaws in MS that I have noticed. Newbie writters (like myself) tend to flood the forum. Unfortunately this tends to flood the place with usually dull reviews and makes the better reviews harder to locate at first before you become familuar with everyone. I wish MS showed the number of reviews written beside the writter’s name so I could conserve time with more established writters. Also I would be helpful to have the rating displayed so bad reviews could be avoided. I would like to suggest these be implimented and that newbie writters be limited to one review per week (after a writter has maybe 20 reviews this limitation could be lifted). Reward the more established writters with more perks like access and rating values and drop the MS points thing. I tend to get somewhat frustrated when good writters go from review to review rating the bad as good. If my review is bad to you, rate it that way please please please. I sure plan on doing that to your reviews.
Ok, I’m through ranting...Comments welcome…. I do so hope that I presented this opinion in a manner that was understandable. I am not a good writer, just an observer with a hungry mind and small stout offbeat opinions.
Thanks…
=LowOiL=