In some weird way, I hope this review achieves what it set forth to achieve.
The good thing of nursing an injury is that it gives you plenty of free time to use that organ that resides between the ears. I didnt use the time to learn a foreign language or how to redecorate my house. Instead, I communicated with some of my MS colleagues and also read some of the older works in here.
My MS colleague and good friend, afrank and I had a friendly discussion a few days ago about how Mouthshut has evolved. Being comparatively new to this site, I didnt have much inputs on the writers who graced this place much before my time.
The general thought was that the quality of writers had gone down. I defended my peer group(you guys) and said that the quality of writers hasn’t gone down - some writers left. some writers came in. Like a stream that dries during summer and gets a fresh lease of life with the rains.
The discussion went beyond Sujata(afrank) and I and a few more people joined in. In the end there were two factions - those who believed that Mouthshut has lost the good writers. and those who believe that there are still loads of real good writers in here(yours truly was on this side).
There were lots of thoughts that were thrown up. So donning a cape and smoking a pipe(with no tobacco cos I dont smoke), I took a look at past and present.
Here’s my observations:
There were some great writers. but they moved on.
A lot of those writers. ARE STILL AROUND.
New writers came in. armed with thoughts and talent.
There are some real good reviewers especially in the Movie and Vehicle categories*
so. why do people feel that Mouthshut has slackened?
Its because. THERE ARE MORE WRITERS. THAN READERS
Looking back. you will see that a handful of people wrote. and a lot of people read and rated those reviews. So many reviews are past the 1000 read mark. So many reviews with over 100 ratings.
The writers who wrote before. had something we didnt have. LOADS OF GREAT READERS!
Lets end this one real quick.
Conclusion: The Good Writers Havent Left. A Lot Of The Readers Have.
Which brings me to the reason behind writing this review.
Reading is an art learnt in school and writing a review on reading is moot. Why write then? This little prose has another purpose. it is to let you know that its only when you take a minute off to read someone else’s work. its only when you make an effort to acknowledge, encourage and give constructive criticism on someone’s work. will they step forward to do the same.
New writer. old writer. new reader. old reader. the minute you sign up, you’re all part of the same peer group. so.
Give and then take.
~finis~
Thank you Sujata and the rest of you lot who helped in this little quest. you guys rock!
[Statutory Warning: Potent Comments Section]