For the benefit of the uninitiated, this is not an essay on how to write good reviews on MouthShut. If there is one somewhere, do let me know as I would like to go through the same. I intend to keep this as my experience on writing reviews on MouthShut, so there is nothing really good or bad about it - its just an experience.
My journey began in.:It is hard to recall when I hit Mouthshut for the first time. It was certainly few years ago, while searching for reviews on some white good. Several 100 visits later, I decided to register myself here with the intent of being able to share my experience with some product / service listed on MouthShut for the benefit of others.
What’s my name?: I already had a few friends registered on MouthShut. I had been reading their reviews prior to becoming a member myself, and somehow could not prevent myself from relating the reviews to the actual personality. Keeping this in mind, I decided to use a pseudonym "Hakoonamatata", to write my own reviews - I wanted everyone to read my reviews without the knowledge on my personality outside MouthShut, so that they would rate it in a fair manner. Believe me, I was right in doing so - an office colleague of mine showed me a review on "Dana Choga" written by my alias(He wasn’t aware till then and I did not have a picture till then), to cajole me to go for a lunch there. Had I suggested the same, he would have looked for some other place over the internet. Poor guy, he still thinks he’s too smart!
Back to the start of my journey on MS: I started writing reviews about 5 months after that historic day when I got my acount created. For those who are interested, I am not a good public speaker, especially amidst hot debates. I am a good listener, who can not shout or scream, or ignore someone else who is talking. By God’s grace, I do have a mind of my own, and in it reside thoughts, emotions, observations, views, experiences, dreams, biases, opinions etc. MouthShut seemed like a place where I could use a combination of the above for the benefit of humanity. All this without the unnessary noise in between. I follow the pattern of stating facts, deducing inferences and expressing my judgements - that’s truly my style and any resemblence to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental and unintentional.
The rights of the consumer: We, as a nation are still not well aware of the rights of ourselves as consumers. We are growing in the understanding of the same, but there is a vast gap in what we need to be vis-avis what we are. Communities like MouthShut are like a drop in the ocean to birdge that gap, but without this drop the ocean would be left short of the same. I would love to see if we at MS could do something formally to help consumers become aware of their rights reagrding most of the product groups listed.
An opportunity to benefit from Fair reviews: Barring a few wierd reviews, most of the reviews on MS try to analyse products / services based on the writers’ own experience. Some rate a produce as "Excellent" while some others may rate the same product as "Worst". I like to read all such reviews about the product I am interested in, collect the valid observations / facts and come up with a secondary opinion of mine. Such an opinion could not be possible without a community like MouthShut. I have use several reviews to my advantage in the past while deciding on whether to go for a product or not. For example, reviews on Dish TV have prevented me from taking all the risks that other members have paid for. Yes, there is an odd review that is written with other motives - sometimes by an inspired employee of a corporate about their product / service, or by an odd freak just venting his / her anguish out. One needs to have a sense of weeding the same out, although MS does monitor the same and removes reviews that are not really reviews.
The Trusted Circle: I have mine and it will keep growing. Reviews by memebrs of my trusted circle are always more dependable. Of course, they would have entered this elite list only out of my continuous liking for their reviews. Its an honour to be a part of someone’s trust list, and to honor the same in return, one needs to keep writing fair and honest reviews.
The journey continues: When I wrote my first review, I did not harbour an expectation of many people reading it, leave alone rating it or commenting on the same. It was just because I felt that I could add some value based on my expereince and analysis. I was thrilled to see that few members had rated my review, and left comments too, when I checked MS the next morning. There was this unique feeling of acceptance and company that swept through me, and another reviewer was born. I am 10 reviews old by now(Ok I know there are few centurians around too!), and am making full use of the platform provided by MouthShut. I am not a compulsive writer, hence the frequency of my reviews will not be very high - I write only when I have a product / service to review. I do keep reading other reviews as and when time permits.
Whats next? More reviews for sure, but more importantly, more reviews to benefit from. I do not dream of becoming a star writer, or to win any of the prizes on MouthShut. I read reviews for my own benefit and write the same for others benefit - that’s all to it. Awards have never motivated me, although I appreciate MS for their regular efforts to increase readership /(writership?) through contests.
I do not understand why MouthShut chose this name. I would be thankful to someone who could tell me that. The only logic that I can relate to is that we speak our minds out on a consumers’ forum without opening our mouths - just guessing! People like me who do not prefer open their mouths so vociforously, can express their views without having to take the pain of doing so. As I read somewhere - the most furious people in history have been the most silent ones, hence beware the fury of a silent man, especially when it is in the interest of the society.