11-02-2003, 11:28 AM
Now that a forum such as this is up and running I would just like to say a couple of things that I feel may be the way forward:
All internet fora develop into a kind of club of like minded people. But that like mindedness should be a function of independent thought and action and not the result of being "against someone else" (as in "We are not Indians")
It is very important for the growth of a forum that it should not get into mindless competition with any other forum. Very early on, on BRF I found that there was a kind of competition developing between BRF and PakDef which was not doing BRF any good. I don't think it was doing PakDef any good either but I never lurled there long enough to find out.
Instead of a forum charting its own path, it can easily get bogged down by what other people are saying in other fora. This is exactly what I found happening between BRF and PakDef, with people being more concerned about the "external validation" from the other forum, trying to outdo people from the other forum and trying to bring arguments and discssions from one place to another. In short a subconsciuos "tying up" of the two fora was occuring. I think I was instrumental in putting an end to that problem on BRF.
I urge that this forum should not get into competition with any other forum and not even BRF. I think this forum and BRF can seriously complement each other. There are things that can be discussed on here which I would myself disallow on BRF, having been involved with guiding the ethos of that forum almost from its inception.
I will come on here from time to time. I really am trying to keep off the net to write my book and am not succeeding. But there are things to discuss - and one topic on my mind is Godhra and the way it is being interpreted and used by various lobbies. I have some views - which I may put up as a new thread, or as part of another thread.
But not right now, I need to get off the frigging net for a while.
All internet fora develop into a kind of club of like minded people. But that like mindedness should be a function of independent thought and action and not the result of being "against someone else" (as in "We are not Indians")
It is very important for the growth of a forum that it should not get into mindless competition with any other forum. Very early on, on BRF I found that there was a kind of competition developing between BRF and PakDef which was not doing BRF any good. I don't think it was doing PakDef any good either but I never lurled there long enough to find out.
Instead of a forum charting its own path, it can easily get bogged down by what other people are saying in other fora. This is exactly what I found happening between BRF and PakDef, with people being more concerned about the "external validation" from the other forum, trying to outdo people from the other forum and trying to bring arguments and discssions from one place to another. In short a subconsciuos "tying up" of the two fora was occuring. I think I was instrumental in putting an end to that problem on BRF.
I urge that this forum should not get into competition with any other forum and not even BRF. I think this forum and BRF can seriously complement each other. There are things that can be discussed on here which I would myself disallow on BRF, having been involved with guiding the ethos of that forum almost from its inception.
I will come on here from time to time. I really am trying to keep off the net to write my book and am not succeeding. But there are things to discuss - and one topic on my mind is Godhra and the way it is being interpreted and used by various lobbies. I have some views - which I may put up as a new thread, or as part of another thread.
But not right now, I need to get off the frigging net for a while.