These last few months I have really fallen in love with Mouthshut. I have written numerous reviews and spent a lot of idle time here. Once I was totally jobless and had absolutely nothing to do. I had a net connection that is always on and I was getting seriously bored. Browsing the net aimlessly has lost its charm and I did not have a site in mind where I could waste some time. The worse part was that I did not even have a book handy. So I just logged on Mouthshut and started reading a few reviews. I managed to waste quite some time that day. This was what I did.
1.Follow the distrust trail --- Pick any star writer, and look at their distrust list. Go to those people’s profile pages. And read their reviews. Someone might ask why distrust and not trust list? Well too many people in the trust list and also the interesting people and reviews are in the distrust list only. What I noticed was that distrust lists were made due to arguments in the reviews’ comments section. Try to locate the review due to which the argument took place.
And just read the comments, they are absolutely hilarious. What I noticed was that these people wrote only a few reviews and they were generally very funny. Someone a few days ago posted a review that contained comments on Diana’s Kingfisher review, I had reached that review a few days earlier following some distrust trail. Try it and you will know.
2.Read the members flagged section in the community center-- By reading this one can easily fathom the controversies that had happened earlier. Most of the members there whose accounts have been deleted, have been deleted for a reason. And try to find out the reason. People have written all sorts of absurd reviews here.
Its really funny now to read about them and not being involved in them. Some are of the similar nature of the type that were haunting us till recently. Most of them were funny, but there was someone called Suyog, who had written numerous quality reviews, and he was famous too (going by his trust list), and he was flagged (cant seem to understand why).
I really enjoyed reading his reviews. However these days MS has stopped flagging accounts it seems and started deleting them with their reviews and comments. So the last interesting flagged account would be of lovetohatetolove’s. Whatever said and done, activeace, those were really good reviews and I really enjoyed reading them.
3.Read all the 5 worst reviews of MS reviews ? I know this is gonna get me into trouble but seriously if you want a good laugh, just read the comments section and the battle of words flying. The reviews are just passable, but the comments are brilliant. However a piece of advice to people who comment on such reviews. All these people want is publicity and it is precisely what you are giving them by commenting on them.
Just leave these reviews alone. And if the review gets anly 2-3 hits, he would be totally discouraged to write such reviews again. There is a quote that comes to my mind when such reviews appear and there are loads of comments on them. ? Never fight with a pig, you both will get all dirty and the pig enjoys it.?
4.Read Amrita’s reviews-- not all, leave the first few. Its again the comments that rule here. I might get into trouble here, but exactly the same quote said earlier also applies to her reviews and for the same reason. I don’t think any other member has incited so many reactions by writing just so few reviews. Her Bangalore review is a classic Amrita.
I was pretty pissed off with her review on Bangalore, but later I realized (when I read her other reviews) it meant nothing. But the reviews are funny nonetheless (provided you don’t take them seriously). Comments even better. One thing I missed was she does to reply to the comments on her review. It would have been a great read again.
5.Read the star writer’s reviews. --- I got bored with this technique. Very few good reviews in between. But again there were some juicy bits here and there.
Now for some clarifications. I do not like controversy. I just enjoy the childishness of them later on, when they have already happened. It is like reading history and war.
And also please forgive me for leaving no or very less comments on reviews here. It is just that I found that most of the times I find there is nothing much worth commenting upon. I know I should comment regularly, and I really enjoy when someone comments on my review but I guess it is laziness and I will try to resolve it now.
Thanks again.
Nikunj