150th review (in four years). Review on How Did I Discover MouthShut.com

I have completed four years of association with Mouth Shut on 17 Jan with an open hearth and no regret. Should have posted it on 17th, but I was exploring Himalayas. Anyway, let me share my experience.

I discovered MouthShut from an add of VSNL dial-up on 16th Jan 2002. After reading few reviews of Jilmil, Sujay, Ashish, Dharma (Venchasa) decided to join MS. They are some of my favorite writers in MS. Wrote my first review on Jan 19, 2002 on my preferred airlines Indian Airlines (Now Indian). That one was short review; in fact, it was difficult to complete even 100 words. Nonetheless, some of the MSians started encouraging me. Particularly Sujay wrote too many M2M to guide me. First 11 reviews were not upto the standard but decided to continue because I was desperate to improve my writing skill. Thanks to all those who had taken pain to read my useless reviews, rating them quite high and encouraging me to continue to write more. Some of the caring members told me to rewrite those reviews but I declined to do so because let me not forget the past.

Four years have passed, writing my 150th review (a big surprise to me) and all credit goes to you all for continual support. Frankly, due to my association MSians my presentation skill has also improved substantially. Today my presentations are little more than those technical and management jargons. That is a big difference. Four years is reasonably good time and like real life, here too I have mixed experience.

Highlights

Many a time controversies intentionally created by some younger members and seniors also jumped into the bandwagon thoughtlessly. Huge Mess. Some seniors tried to act as moderators but who cares ….. fight continued. I really enjoyed some of the issues.

Indo-pak issue created several Tsunamis here is MS. Ultimately, Aarti and Team sent them to Quarantine like bugs.

Franks opinion also created lot of controversies. One topic, Bangalore is really a hot item. My god! That fight continued for very long time and I could still see the smoke coming out of debris. Few good writers are in Quarantine or taken Sanyas because of that or outcome of the bitter relation among members. God Bless everyone.

There are few blue eyed boys and babes like any other organization due to personal feelings or attachments. Some are surly over hyped. Very naturally, they act like spoiled child by passing silly comments even to senior citizens. It is objectionable. They must be in quarantine.

One more Episode - “I am leaving MS and this is my last review“ Voluntary Retirement by some members due to some frustration. About one and half years, back this episode continued for quite long time. Even few seniors joined this episode. Thoroughly enjoyed this episode. Some of these VRS aspirants are still seen here quite often.

Hijack Episode – Profile of mariner2 (Nandu) hijacked very tactfully as mariner2_. I was the first one to read one review of mariner2_ and immediately checked the profile that was very tactful copy of original profile including his photo. Mariner was timely alerted by many members and thing were rectified by MS. Now it is not that easy to copy profile but one can still do it.

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Last but not the least is “Devil Episode.”It continued for long time and you can see lot many devils in quarantine.

There are many such incidents but it is better to forget nasty one.

Members might have actively participated in those episodes but overall outcome is not good. We lost few very good writers because of all this controversies. I really miss some of them.

Most hated products: -

If I am not wrong, TOI and Air India are the most hated products in MS. You can read few Bold Reviews in MS.

Recently Deccan Airways, Idea, almost all Credit Cards are in fierce competition to fill the first slot.

IA was one such product but slowly improving its position

“Members news,”initially when it was launched I though the “Members News” area of community will get good response but it other way round. Very poor response. All of us should find out some innovative ideas to make it lively and enjoyable. I am one of the culprits not to post anything there. How about posting few Santa-Banta jokes or some interesting comments without hurting anyone? Do not worry, it has to go through support service so unwanted comments are not going to be published. Think of it.

Hall of Fame:- To me, HF is one of the most mysterious area. Initially only really good contributors were seen there. Now LPs may be there because of mysterious SORT technology.

Comments– Sometime comments are better than the review. I really go through reviews with equal interest if not more. One recent comment –

(Rs.) 29990....ufff....itna sasta aur kabaadi gift :P. Glad you managed to get it..Waise I got a reason for your absence from heree..Thanks to this sadela camera you are busy photo shooting..

Pras

General: -

I seem to be one of the few elderly members who are reasonably active in MS. Due to lack of time not able to spare enough time and most of the activities in MS is quick browsing Hot Review and Members news.

List of some of best reviews for which I had to spend lot of time … as usual in some cases getting information from net or other places. Links are …

https://mouthshut.com/review/Five_Best_Reviews_on_MouthShut-23002-1.html. (09/06/2002)

https://mouthshut.com/review/General_Advice_on_Personal_Grooming-64235-1.html (Oct 24, 2004)

https://mouthshut.com/review/Tips_for_Innovative_and_Regular_Cocktails-27921-1.html. (Nov1, 2002)

https://mouthshut.com/review/Choosing_a_Cooking_Range-27748-1.html. (Oct27, 2002)

https://mouthshut.com/review/Managing_Cholesterol-18690-1.html (Feb24, 2002)

https://mouthshut.com/review/Chantilli_Wine-17775-1.html (21/11/2002)

Maximum reviews I have written in 2002 and there after slowly frequency reduced. There seems to be no possibility to increase frequency of writing. Therefore, doubleton may be in 2009. I hope some of you will continue until then to congratulate me.

Thanks to all of you for your continual support.

Have a nice day

Jan 2006