Warning: This review is just a set of ramblings and not intended to be quite like a Useful review at all…just some random thoughts…
- You are currently looking into the mind of Nenners…And yes, you WILL find something in there!
My 25th Review…probably the slowest Silver Jubilee ever made on Mouthshut! How I managed to reach this milestone is a mystery to me! I’ve always believed in whatever I write, or you can say I write only if I strongly believe in something(yes, I love to play with words). Whether it was a general review on a movie like 1942 A Love Story, or a conscious effort to get my point across with a review on * Is Mouthshut justified in banning members?*, I have always written about the topics because I had something to say( whether or not it made sense!)…
…But today, when I’m writing my 25th review here, I find myself at a loss for words. So to help myself(and help you understand my incoherent thoughts!) I’ll just go through all the General Thoughts that I’ve had about MS in the last one year or so. Here goes.
Registration
When I registered, I was truly confused on what nick I could give myself. I mean, people give you nick names, you don’t give them to yourself! But I was sure about one thing, I will not get an ID which just says Neha…er mainly because it was already taken! So, what next? Then I remembered what my friend used to call me…Nenners! I’d thought it was a pretty strange sort of nick, but it was perfect for this cause as it perfectly describes the person that I am, Sometimes sane, mostly insane! Then I decided on the password and it is…haha.wouldn’t you wanna know?
My MS Firsts
There have been plenty of firsts for me on this site, some good and some…umm.not so good! Here are some of them…
The Good Ones
1st Comment: was on Raj’s( Nikamma1112) review. I remember having rolled on the floor laughing after reading his review, and sooo wanted to tell him that! That’s when I stumbled across his Comments Section and jotted something down there. Ever since, I make it a point to leave a comment after every rating that I assign.
1st Review Written: was on *Five Best Books and boy was it a killer! Killer as in, it nearly wiped me off all the intellect I possessed(which was in short supply anyways!) as never before had I written something which required people to actually find it useful. And in this case, it didn’t just have to be Useful, but Very Useful! Anyways, so I just made out a list of the 5 books that I loved the most, and gave a description of each. After 24 reviews, there is one thing I can say * No matter how much you write, and how often, your first review is always somewhat special to you*…irrespective of the fact that it’s the worst piece of writing or the best masterpiece ever!
1st Profile Page Made: First and last in this case! This was a fun experience for me, as I finally got a chance to tell people about myself. Trying not to be vain, I penned some thoughts about myself and some of my interests. It was the first * real communication with the other members, and I tried my best to sum up my thoughts and interests.
The Not-so-good ones
My first brush with Controversy: Even though I was present at the time when most of the best writers on MS just left, I cant really claim to be a part of it, just a silent observer I’d say. But there was a time, when I myself took a rather controversial step(well it was for me) when I wrote my review on * Is mouthshut justified in banning members?. It was probably just a drop out of the whole Controversy Ocean, but the satisfaction I felt after writing was sky-high! And that’s what made me even more strongly believe that * going with the flow may make you “nice” and popular, but when the time comes for you to voice your thoughts about an issue, honesty is really the best policy!* Sugar-sweetness may make you an untouchable saint, and if that’s so, I’d prefer being a brutally honest human than a sugar-coated angel!
Some abusive comments: Again, the honesty issue comes into play. I don’t believe in rating the reviewer, but the review. And this, inevitably, has been the cause for a tiff here and there. But *chalta hai, it’s a part of being in an active community!
My thoughts about the MS management
Mystery is the first word that comes to mind. In some areas I feel their policies are quite transparent, and in others its obvious that there is some serious “secret game-playing” going on. No one exactly knows the criteria for many of the features on the site, Star Writers being one of them. Yeah, what’s with the disparity among the SWs? Anyways, some things are best left unknown, or lets just say, an ignorant world is a happier world!
Reading, Writing, Rating and Commenting
Tons of reviews come out, day after day, week after week. Some, I admit, go unnoticed, while others get the roses or brickbats from lots of members. My policy on this is, Don’t write what you want others to read, write something which you yourself would want to read about(told u I like to play with words!). Honesty is what people are looking for here, is my personal experience. No matter how informative a review is, if it doesn’t have a *personal touch, I wont ever consider it good writing.
On the flip side, whatever I read everyday has to do with what I really am interested in reading. And once I’ve read something, I feel it is unfair to rate without justifying your rating in the comments section. And even when I do comment, I try not to do it just for the heck of it. It is very easy to say “Great review, keep writing”, but quite hard to say “ Well written but I don’t agree because…” I might be repeating myself here, but I would like to stress once again, * RRC the review and NOT the reviewer.
General thoughts about Members
There all kinds…some who are intelligent and smart, some are funny and crazy, some are boring and dull, some are honest and blunt, some are…well lets just say, of all kinds! And you know what’s best about them being of all kinds? It’s that I get to know a spectrum of different personalities. * MS has given me a chance to make some Reaaallllly special friends*(they know who they are), which is really The Best any online forum could do!
Continued in the comments section( Darn this word limit!)