Dec 17, 2004 04:19 PM
1044 Views
(Updated Dec 17, 2004 04:19 PM)
Now what can you say about a site which has a weird name like MouthShut?
I mean the first thought will be ? WHAT?? Mouth shut? In this democratic world who the hell can tell me to shut my mouth? But it?s only when you give it a visit that you come to know that the site is just opposite of its name.
Here everyone can open their mouth to express their opinion about anything they wish. As long as they do it nicely and politely within the confines of decency; otherwise MouthShut can really shut the mouths of any rude contributors. Examples exist! Just click on Community Center on top and then click on Mouth Sealed and you?ll see.
I happened upon MouthShut.com when I was trying to find some advice on a little known motorbike model ? Kinetic Laser. My search on Google directed me here and to read all the reviews I had to sign up as a member. This is one forced membership that I have never regretted. After reading the 10-odd reviews for Laser I went and had a test drive and ultimately bought the 170-CC sport bike, now a prized possession.
It was quite natural for a conscientious, nice guy like me (hehe) to think of giving something back to the community and write about my own experiences with Kinetic Laser. That I did.
Ok, here is the only bone of contention between me and MS. I did write my review of Laser and not being mindful of the 8000 character limit I overshot and had a problem when I tried to submit. Trying to reduce the size, cutting, pasting, editing..and somewhere in that hassle I lost part of the text and could submit only 2nd half of it. Since that day I have never been able to edit that review no matter how many times I tried. It breaks my heart to see that I have given only half the information to my readers.
Ok (wiping tears)...to move on about MouthShut. It?s a great place to hang out. The variety and range of products is incredible. Here you meet so many different types of people which have one common thread ? a desire to express their views in order to help others! Some people are just so amazing it?s like ?Wow, how can they write so great!?. Others range from average to confusing...lol. But it?s fun reading all the reviews and trying to make sense out of them..knowing that the author had good intentions at heart.
Once you read a review you can comment on it and rate it based on how useful you thought it was. That is fun. If the author can express their views, you can express yours about them! Isn?t that only fair?
Once you write a review and submit it, you wait for other people to rate it and comment on it. Oh, I love that part. What people think, do they find it useful, what did I miss when I was writing, it?s all very thrilling.
Then there are those chains of comments, someone comments on your review, you reply to them, things move forward and they send you a mail...and a new friendship ensues. I just love that ? coming together with someone bound by a common interest!
Once I had a need to write the review of a disco ? Nirvana. But I didn?t find it on MS. So I used their service called ? MouthPad and requested them to add it. And guess what ? they did! I have just finished writing that review.
Now I cannot even hope to cover all the links and services that MouthShut provides because the range of areas they cover is vast and the limit for a review? You guessed it ? only 8000 characters.
So, let me sum it up by telling you what MS means to me:
A place to hang out hearing people?s opinions,
Making new friends with common interests,
A forum to voice my opinions about anything,
A stage to show off my writing talent (or the lack of it ;) ),
A tool to pass time when I have time to pass,
A guide to help me with important decisions with products.
All in all....a fun place!!
