Thursday, January 31, 2008

Two Years of Blogging

It’s been two years since I started blogging. When I started out, I did not think that this blog would turn out to be the way it did. Now, I can say, ‘yes, I understand and empathize with the power of blogging’.

Power of blogging

It has been a great experience. I believe that vocalizing your thoughts and opinions builds one's character. I can understand why. Writing allows you to know more about yourself. In most companies, we ask employees to set their own goals, write their own strengths and weaknesses. This makes employees more accountable.

The same way, most business schools ask the candidates to write essays. Most of them emphasize on writing them in own words and about oneself. Is it a sheer coincidence or is it that I always knew deep in some corners of my subconscious mind that I would now be doing the same thing that I wrote in an essay for my MBA application (six years ago)? When I wrote that essay I did not believe that’s what I would be doing though I wrote it as a hypothetical speech I was supposed to give ten years later as alumnus.

The very idea of expressing yourself in writing allows you to question yourself, ‘do you really mean what you say?’, and ‘do you really practice what you preach?’ That constant questioning changes you and over a period of time, you start becoming like what you write. If you write good, most probably you become good. On this blog, I write what I think is right, and that keeps me correcting myself in my life. It’s as if my blog is watching me and telling me to do the right thing.

My comments

I have been criticized for the way I deal with some of the commenters. I admit that my patience runs out very soon when answering some questions, and very soon the exasperation is palpable. I try to be patient, but looks like I am not.

I do not like to use the comments section to reiterate my position. I feel that I have put my thoughts already in the article. That should be good enough for most people to understand my position. Sometimes I would not have clarified my position clearly, and that’s when I do explain it in the comments.

I encourage people to write their opinions. That does not mean I am ready for a long debate just to quench intellectual curiosity. Either you agree or disagree. I have no problems with disagreement. However, I do get irritated when people use my statements and position to prove something different from what is conveyed in this blog. They keep at it incessantly and that bugs me, naturally. Their motive is not to discuss or debate, but only to discredit me, reduce me to their level so that they can go home happy. I have no problem with such commenters. But I may stop responding to such comments.

Moderate or not

There are some unmoderated blogs out there where people can write what they want. Usually unmoderated blogs are more attractive to visitors compared to moderated blogs. That’s because the comments appear right away in unmoderated blogs further extending the debate as if it is a live chat.

However, I would stick to moderation since some commenters abuse that privilege. It’s like giving freedom to people and they think they get a right to piss right in the middle of the street. My moderation is like a traffic signal. Freedom does not mean you can cross the junction at any time. You can cross only when it is green.

Here are some statistics after two years.

The number of hits for the first year is: 28,440 (as of 1st Feb 2007)

The number of hits in two years is: 114,151 (as of 31st Jan 2008)

The current average per day is 348.83

That’s tiny compared to what a column gets in a newspaper.

23 comments:

  1. Sujai: Congratulations! on completing your two years of Blogging.

    I had been an ardent reader of your Blog since quite some time now. You are maturing and improving in writing day by day. I really appreciate the time that you spend responding to your readers. It is alway good to see a healthy dialogue going on. You need to improve on the patience
    and listening part. I am hopeful you will get there.

    The best thing about your Blog is that we the readers are also exposed to our own doubts and contradictions.

    As you say, it is very natural that your thoughts and thus your Blog posts are full of contradictions. There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. It is important to recognize these contradictions and keep correcting the path as necessary.

    I liked this statement that you wrote and it is in complete contradiction to your previous post. It is perfectly fine as long as you appreciate the existence of this contradiction.

    It’s like giving freedom to people and they think they get a right to piss right in the middle of the street. My moderation is like a traffic signal. Freedom does not mean you can cross the junction at any time. You can cross only when it is green.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I liked this statement that you wrote and it is in complete contradiction to your previous post.

    I knew someone would say this. But I didn't think that it would be so soon (just few minutes after I published).

    (May be, you didn't catch the other part in the blog where I wrote about commenters who try to distort my statement to convey something completely different).

    Anyway, I consciously wrote what I wrote knowing what the previous article was all about.

    You mix two different things (and hence you see a contradiction).

    If you read some of my comments on the previous article, you will understand these two different things.

    Freedom of expression does not mean you cannot have your own private spaces where certain things are not allowed - such as home, where parents forbid kids from speaking abusive language. (or MY blog, where I do not publish abusive language).

    If a parent tells his son to get out, because son used abusive language, it is his prerogative. If a newspaper declines to a publish an offensive article, it is that newspaper's prerogative.

    Freedom of expression means that a state will protect someone's right to voice their opinion, however disagreeable it is. Now, This person can write a book and publish all those disagreeable articles, which the newspaper denied to publish.

    ;-)

    May be, may be, there will be a day you will understand that difference. This blog will stand here for that day.

    [Power of blogging does not include making my commenters mature]

    ReplyDelete
  3. Got it! Definition of freedom is different depending on the context. Thanks Sujai the Sage :)

    I appreciate your hard work in putting together this Blog and enlightening the poor people. Really, I mean it.

    Keep rocking!



    Their motive is [...] only to discredit me, reduce me to their level so that they can go home happy.


    Another one of your assumptions, which is not true. They are happy with you at the high level and them at the really low level (as you assume).

    Talking about happiness - the latest survey on happiness suggests that religious/spiritual people are happier than non-religious people - hard facts - real data.

    - The Low-level Happiness Seeker.

    ReplyDelete
  4. 1. A Blog is more like a news paper and is a public medium and less of a home. The freedom standards of a public medium should be applicable on a Blog as well.
    2. Saying "sex with mother" is not okay at home and is okay in public media (news paper, movies or TV) is like cleaning own home and throwing the garbage on street.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love this statement. Very profound. Keep rocking!

    It’s as if my blog is watching me and telling me to do the right thing.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I am sure you do not have 114,151 children in your home to comply to your instuctions.

    These are huge numbers and you should be proud of this achievement. Keep going.

    What is the count on comments? Just curious.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Congrats, Sujai. And keep writing. Your positions give me a chance to test my position, and crystallize it better.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sujai

    Well done. Your writing is sincere and well reasoned. I think the way you handle commentators is also very good. Some annoying people need to be snubbed. You do it in style and elegance.

    ~ Vinod

    ReplyDelete
  9. 2. Saying "sex with mother" is not okay at home and is okay in public media (news paper, movies or TV) is like cleaning own home and throwing the garbage on street.

    I have noticed one thing. Many of these commenters do not spend time thinking about the subject.

    If you had read the previous article and gone through the comments, this question would not have come.

    Most commenters do a periphery glance at the text, quickly conclude something, assuming too many things extraneous to the premise of the argument, and quickly type away a comment. Their aim is NOT to understand or try to think about the topic at hand, but only to find holes in presented argument.

    So, once again, you waste lot of my time.

    I did not say it is OK talking about 'sex with mother' in public.

    I was talking about having your own group where you can put a mandate that one should talk only in abusive language, where any decent commenter would be kicked out. Where entry is restricted to people who talk about 'sex' with all kinds people, including animals.

    You can release your magazine targeted at people who like such stuff. People have a choice of buying it and reading it, or not buying it.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Well done Sujai!
    You write quite well. Keep blogging.

    ReplyDelete
  11. there are so many posts named part-I II III IV etc ... one wonders if the earlier ones were written with an intention of writing sequels ... or if the posts were renamed with sequential numbering in a consolidation exercise ..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Congratulations.

    I came across your blog when one of my friends bookmarked it in del.icio.us.

    I really liked your "Rejection of Rationality" series of posts. They helped me in structuring my own thoughts about vedas, vastu and all that crap.

    Excellent stuf!! Keep going.

    -- AV

    ReplyDelete
  13. My heartiest congratulations on reaching this milestone Sujai. Your Blog keeps me honest as well!

    - Bodhiswaha.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Well done Sujai. You do not have to answer all the comments. Some of these comments are just comments.

    This is a part of the power of Blogging and user generated content. A Blog is not just the Blog posts, it becomes alive with comments.

    e.g. A YouTube video would not be the same without those comments, an Amazon item would not be the same without those feedback comments.

    The whole user generated space is exciting because it is self-correcting and self-filtering. Your readers do not care about the BS comments - You should neither.

    Just let the comments be there (as it is) and do not try to respond to each one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I did not say it is OK talking about 'sex with mother' in public.

    You can release your magazine targeted at people who like such stuff. People have a choice of buying it and reading it, or not buying it.


    You do not have to answer this or publish on your Blog.


    What is the difference between releasing a new magazine/media with profanity and publishing junk in the existing magazines/media?

    Essentially, what you are saying is that if you do not like abusive comments then you should stop them and filter them out. But, if you do not like "sex with mother" - you should not even try to stop that insanity to be published.

    Again, you do not have to answer this and you do not have to publish this comment on your Blog.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Sujai:

    Congrats!

    I may disagree with you on several issues. But you stand out for speaking your mind on things people don't want to talk about publicly.

    You need to go a bit easy on commenters.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous:

    Essentially, what you are saying is that if you do not like abusive comments then you should stop them and filter them out. But, if you do not like "sex with mother" - you should not even try to stop that insanity to be published.

    You are pushing this example too far.

    You need to understand the context of this case. Hustler magazine published an ‘ad’ where they routinely run ‘my first time’ kind of series involving various famous personalities. In this case, they published one with Falwell. However, it was intended as a parody. From Wiki:

    The ad carried a disclaimer in small print at the bottom of the page, reading "ad parody—not to be taken seriously." The magazine's table of contents also listed the ad as "Fiction; Ad and Personality Parody."

    Coming to your statement above.

    Yes, in some crude sense, that’s what I am trying to say, “essentially”. If you don’t like it, as a publisher you can refrain from publishing it. However, if you create your magazine intended for certain audience who like such filth, you are entitled to have your private party! ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  18. Sujai,
    I am a regular reader of your blogs. I admire your writing style, clarity of thinking,maintaining decency in writings,focussing on issues instead of indulging in personal attacks etc .

    I feel you form opinions on many issues without analysing underlying data. For example, though you have written one dozen articles on reservations. None of those articles justify the point with proper statistics. You never tried to answer questions like

    1) What mechanism Government has to fix reservation percentage. Will you support if TN govt increases reservation to 79% or 89% or 99%. Do you know many indian states has reservation more than the population of OBC/SC/ST population
    2) What mechanism government has to check whether objectives of reservation has been achieved? Why such mechanism has not been applied in states like Tamilnadu.
    3) Why you never wrote about creamy layer?

    Your views on Taslima Nasreen vs Hussaien, Islamic terrorism vs Hindu riots gives feeling that you follow double standards.

    Please keep writing, we enjoy your views.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Abhi:

    None of those articles justify the point with proper statistics.

    Yes, you are right that I don’t use many statistics. Actually, there are many blogs where statistics are available. I have clips from magazines with statistics. But I am not sure if people are looking for statistics. They are not. Because when a survey showed that most IT companies are filled with upper caste Hindus (discussed in this blog) and another study which revealed biases against lower-caste Hindus and Muslims (discussed on a another forum), not many people responded to it.

    Statistics don’t mean much unless you have changed mindset.

    I discuss mostly the mindsets here, not making it too academic. However blogs like Madhukar’s Alternate Perspective and How other side lives, etc, have lot of statistics on this topic. May be, I will publish one blog only with statistics for those who are interested.

    Another thing, I don’t think ‘reservations-based-on-caste’ is the perfect answer to the problem we have. In fact, I don’t see a perfect solution. But given a set of solutions and given the state of affairs we run in this country, I believe (stressing on believe) that ‘reservations-based-on-caste’ comes closer to actually getting some results.

    1) What mechanism Government has to fix reservation percentage. Will you support if TN govt increases reservation to 79% or 89% or 99%. Do you know many indian states has reservation more than the population of OBC/SC/ST population

    One thing is the concept itself, and another is the implementation. I do not believe that we have been fair in our implementation of reservations. Doling out reservations to a caste has become a political issue of late - and has little basis in reality.

    I do not support if TN Government increases its reservations. On the other hand, I think most statistics and observations show that it is time for TN Government to roll back reservations to certain sections of its population in phased manner.

    2) What mechanism government has to check whether objectives of reservation has been achieved? Why such mechanism has not been applied in states like Tamilnadu.

    I am sorry but I cannot comment on why Tamil Nadu has created mechanism to check if objectives of reservation has been achieved or not.

    3) Why you never wrote about creamy layer?

    I did not write about it because I am not very clear on how this can be implemented. I have seen the recommendations and I am not entirely convinced that such elaborate mechanism derived to identify the creamy layer is such an easy thing to implement in India.

    I will write about it when I get a hang of the subject. As I said earlier, reservations for OBC is standing on flimsy grounds.

    Your views on Taslima Nasreen vs Hussaien, Islamic terrorism vs Hindu riots gives feeling that you follow double standards.

    I am not sure why you find my views on Taslima Nasree and M F Hussein different. I believe that Taslima should be allowed to express her views, and that we should not curb her freedom of expression. ‘hurt sentiments’ is not a good enough reason to ban her book or create a hostile environment for her. The same applies to M F Hussein.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Small statistical samples shown in your articles are not scientific samples. Some unknown organization saying that 90 out of 100 IT students are Upper caste hindus is unbelievable. Let that Organization come and conduct such study in Tamilnadu. NFS/NSSO says 35% of students in colleges are OBC's. These are large surveys conducted using scientiic samples. You want to analyse Ramar bridge issue scientifically. Why do you form vague opinions on reservations with out scientific data analysis. I love to chip in when you write statistical article on reservation and your views on Tamilnadu reservation. I support SC/ST reservation strongly because statistics support need for it.

    Sometimes, i get the impression that you don't approach news from neutral point of views. Your preconceived notion triggers you to write article on malegaon blasts based on small rumours about hindus involvement. Whereas other big bomb blasts, ban on davinci code in india, protests against cartoon on mohammed does not create interest for you to write blogs. That preconceived notion allows you to search justification for Quran's views on Jihad, spread of Islam through sword etc.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Abhi:

    Some unknown organization saying that 90 out of 100 IT students are Upper caste hindus is unbelievable.

    That’s exactly what I am talking about. When Princeton University does the study to say that there is a bias against lower-caste Hindus and Muslims in hiring, it is dismissed as ‘unknown organization’ doing the survey, or something similar to that. I have not seen people taking this survey seriously.

    Indians are not ready to admit and not ready to take these surveys seriously – no matter who conducts the survey. Even when the government bodies conduct a survey, most people dismiss it as being ‘political’.

    You want to analyse Ramar bridge issue scientifically.

    There is a difference. In Ramar Setu issue, I do not cite statistical surveys or data, on opinion of people. I just cite the scientific observations which are applicable to issues beyond the local Ramar Setu bridge- such as, Man did not exist as human 1.75 Million years ago. This is valid irrespective of Ramar Setu bridge. This scientific observation is valid whether Ramar Setu controversy arises or not.

    Why do you form vague opinions on reservations with out scientific data analysis.

    There are enough statistics which clearly indicate that Hindu lower castes (including OBC) and Muslims are less represented (compared to their population) in most academic and employment positions while Hindu upper castes and other minorities such as Christians, Jains, Sikhs are more represented (compared to their population). These are NSSO findings.

    Whether they have done these survey in Tamil Nadu (exclusively) is something that I am not aware of.

    Sometimes, i get the impression that you don't approach news from neutral point of views.

    You are right. I don’t.

    I have said that clearly that this blog is NOT a Times of India editorial where they present a ‘view’ and ‘counter view’. I write what I think and believe is the one side of the story. I don’t present a neutral side of the story or two sides of the story. I present one side of the story- you are free to dismiss it as biased.

    Whereas other big bomb blasts, ban on davinci code in india, protests against cartoon on mohammed does not create interest for you to write blogs.

    In ‘India bans ads’ on this blog, I write:
    We have seen many such incidents in the recent past where the Government of India decided to ban things it didn't like… Government of AP banned Da Vinci Code because it felt its viewers (Christians) would be offended by it.

    I disapprove of all such bans.

    That preconceived notion allows you to search justification for Quran's views on Jihad, spread of Islam through sword etc.

    ;-) You must be high on something.

    I never justified ‘Quran’s views on Jihad’ or ‘spread of Islam through sword’. I maintain that the present problems we see from Islamic radicalism are to be found in the contemporary history and not in the founder or the book.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Abhi: Some unknown organization saying that 90 out of 100 IT students are Upper caste hindus is unbelievable.

    Sujai: That’s exactly what I am talking about. When Princeton University does the study to say that there is a bias against lower-caste Hindus and Muslims in hiring, it is dismissed as ‘unknown organization’ doing the survey, or something similar to that. I have not seen people taking this survey seriously.

    Nice catch Sujai.

    ~ Vinod

    ReplyDelete
  23. Sujai,
    Only scientific data analysis for OBC available are 1) NSS 97-98, NSS 04-05 2) NFHS 1,2,3. These surveys were done by Government. Sample size of these surveys are very large. Crux of the message many statisticians infer from these surveys are.
    1) OBC & Others are almost equal in Landholding pattern which is the measure of wealth.
    2) OBC lacks behind Others in No.of graduates population. But current college enrollment of OBC is more or less in tune with their population. Any minor discrepancy is because of Poor literacy levels of Muslims who are considered OBC.
    3) In states like Tamilnadu, Upper caste hindus enrollment in Colleges is much below their population. (3% as against 12%)

    I feel if you read above surveys without any bias, you may start supporting other forms of affirmative actions for OBC. You may also start perceiving Tamilnadu reservation as racism against upper caste hindus.

    Mandal has created fictional stories about OBC status, OBC population etc without conducting any scientific surveys. As far as I know Princeton university has not conducted any survey on OBC Population, their status etc. They only tried to find chances of getting job if somebody has muslim name or OBC name. Sukhadeo thorat who is the UGC chairman and staunch and fanatic supporter of reservation was involved in that exercise with small sample of 4000 applications.

    Vinod:
    You are following Sujai religion.So you are recognising Princeton university survey and ignoring real surveys conducted by Government of India.

    ReplyDelete

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