BR Forum Feedback

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Prem
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Prem »

For Internet fora regarding Indian issues, Indian Americans got in first and in the largest numbers and many discussions end up being their views based on their experiences. This will change as Indians enter in larger numbers but the changes will be seen in Twitter and Facebook first because Indians are skipping the PC/Laptop phase and moving into mobile phone/tablet phase. Resident Indians are going to appear in the largest numbers on Facebook and Twitter, Not BRF.Quite apart from BRF I have discovered that Indian newbies are often "ragged" or told off for poor grammar or SMS language. With the mass of Indians getting on the net being poor in English - BRF will never be the place where they will express themselves
Too early to call for this. Many of Lafandars here have now started asking, nudging many local Billies on Chehra (BTW RM was the first sanyasi to take this initiative),Twitter etc to come to BRF Gangotri to take purifying bath,wash the secular sins and get both Guun and Gyan.
Vayutuvan
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Vayutuvan »

Shiv ji, thanks for the reply. I have a few things to say about how poster ShauryaT's (I remember this form of an address from what you yourself used to do many a moon ago and I like it a lot because it is totally neutral ignoring the poster's other attributes like age, politico-philosophy, religion, country, caste etc. and yet does not dehumanize by recognizing that there is a human at the other end but I digress) controls are going to affect the membership. I do not have a problem with what the owners/admins want to do. Would it be too wrong to presumption that at least some of the owners are Non-resident? If so, then poster ShauryaT's proposal would lead to some strange legal situation in my non-lawyer's eyes. I say legal because poster ShauryaT seems to be well versed in legal/constitutional matters. May be she should step up and lay out the details of his proposal in a little more detail so that members can decide to stick around or leave.

I will stop because I don't think I will be given the same leeway by the admins as they do to you (and correctly so, if I may add) to post reams of matter on this feedback thread.
Last edited by Vayutuvan on 06 Oct 2013 02:54, edited 2 times in total.
ShauryaT
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by ShauryaT »

Gus wrote:check out some ladies only forums, like indusladies.com etc (no i don't hang out there). I don't think ladies can survive in brf. i can think of only one left in brf.
I clicked on that url. Interesting :) Anyways the suggestion was only an idea to expand participation and attract diversity of opinion. Who knows, maybe some of the better-informed women may want to jump over from pure social sites. With 33% reservation for women at panchayat levels (108th amendment) and the yet to be cleared 110th amendment that proposes to up it to 50% and their higher level of participation on "local" matters, example being many street/ward level citizen interaction committees in urban areas being women led, increasing women in work forces, you never know where these discussions might lead to, if they are in the mix.

Negi: Do not underestimate the power of women. If we men can talk pets, fitness, L&M and get orgies on LCA flights and what not, why can women not talk a little fashion. If we boring men can talk of high flying stuff full of hot air, no issues women talking about the price of onions that indeed decides the fate of the nation! Boring statistics of inflation, CPI, WPI rates are no match for real world anecdotes from the master of the house. Both need to be part of the mix. A format that encourages things that interest women can invite participation and who knows, you may find some who will give a run for your money on missile flight profiles or the secularism theory. The most funny thing would be that men will start talking fashion and ask which perfume should they wear! Save that post of yours, I want some women to see it some day and give you a piece of their minds 8)
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

Ah, reservation is now a criteria to judge "people who matter" and hence influence them. And fashion, price of onion threads will attract them.

So lets extend that. Per Wiki:
Category as per Government of India Reservation Percentage for each Category as per Government of India
Scheduled Castes (SC) 15%
Scheduled Tribes (ST) 7.5%
Other Backward Classes (OBC) 27%
Total constitutional reservation percentage 49.5%
So the forum should follow suit and automatically insist on folks from the above strata..

And how exactly is the forum supposed to do that?

Are we to ask members to self identify?

This sort of stuff is pretty divisive and just impossible to enforce and frankly, harmful. Such diversity for diversity's sake sort of initiatives are of limited use at best.

This slippery slope never ends.

On the one hand certain folks note the military forum is not getting its right quality, on the other hand, diversity of opinion has to be increased (with suggestions of fashion threads and what not)..which would actually further dilute the focus of the forum.

Note matrimc's questions remain unanswered as well

The question of improving forum quality is taking a turn for the surreal

The gentleman who started the shaving thread (which was locked before the deluge of IB4TLs could start properly) wins the nostradamus award for predicting the future.
Last edited by Karan M on 06 Oct 2013 02:10, edited 1 time in total.
SaiK
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by SaiK »

How about renaming this thread to "Open Nukkad"?
negi
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by negi »

Guys guys please ladies can never be a part of BRF in it's existing form ; I mean look at this forum, fckn GREY colour of the page is so boring, no profile/avataar pics and what are these trainee, oldie(fck no pakka lady will like that tag) tags ? And look at the posters here yuck ! How can they post a 100+ word post in bland balck colour without using some colour or italics ? Finally emoticon here are a joke , we need big bada$$ emoticons . Content comes second pehle we need a raap-chic website to attract ladies.
Last edited by negi on 06 Oct 2013 02:27, edited 1 time in total.
Sagar G
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Sagar G »

ShauryaT wrote:- Also let us face it, only a limited number of women are really interested in tanks and airplanes (not being sexist, it is a simple fact). Opening specific threads on say social attributes of family, relationships, fashion and also other topics of interest will help attract women. Maybe find a woman moderator for the forum. Similarly go out there, and let us find an Indian Muslim moderator and see how the nature of the forum changes.
You call this a "suggestion" ??? :rotfl:
Sagar G
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Sagar G »

I thought BR is a forum for discussion of technology/military/strategy related stuff what is this talk about making this a fashion site to get ladies here ???
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

Come on Negi, you are being discriminatory, save that post of yours since, somebody wants some women to see it some day and give you a piece of their minds!
Nevermind, that women will be attracted by fashion threads, onion discussions is what is ..errm.. sensible. :|
Question is - is BR to be a fashion site or military site ...or ahem, a dating site. The possibilities.. :mrgreen:
Sagar G wrote:I thought BR is a forum for discussion of technology/military/strategy related stuff what is this talk about making this a fashion site to get ladies here ???
Get with the times. 8)
archan
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by archan »

Why are we leaving out gays and lesbians by the way? doesn't the forum want to be inclusive? or is the constitution of India not quite there yet?
negi
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by negi »

I crack up at the thought of pyts surfing this site when they will read our location details , Shiv ji at one time yours was the most coolest one by all standards. :mrgreen:
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

negi wrote:I crack up at the thought of pyts surfing this site when they will read our location details , Shiv ji at one time yours was the most coolest one by all standards. :mrgreen:
His location used to read Pindliyon ka gooda :mrgreen:
I googled what it meant at ze home, and it was all sharam-sharam. :((
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

archan wrote:Why are we leaving out gays and lesbians by the way? doesn't the forum want to be inclusive? or is the constitution of India not quite there yet?
Mathemagic is being done to extend reservation to beyond 100%. :mrgreen:
KJo
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by KJo »

Sagar G wrote:I thought BR is a forum for discussion of technology/military/strategy related stuff what is this talk about making this a fashion site to get ladies here ???
:rotfl:

Saar, we are showing our "sensitive" side. :mrgreen:
Sagar G
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Sagar G »

Karan M wrote:
negi wrote:I crack up at the thought of pyts surfing this site when they will read our location details , Shiv ji at one time yours was the most coolest one by all standards. :mrgreen:
His location used to read Pindliyon ka gooda :mrgreen:
I googled what it meant at ze home, and it was all sharam-sharam. :((
I just searched it and :lol:
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

Sagar G wrote:I just searched it and :lol:
Pak video to indoctrinate impressionable young BRFites.

At 1:34 or thereabouts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... YRt64#t=83 :((

(PS:That is not doc ji explaining modern technology)
SaiK
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by SaiK »

what are the plans for including dehaati aurats?
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

These tests may get pretty complex.

BR Forum Entrance Form

1. Pita hain? Y
2. Kitna? 2 baatli
3. Negi stop filling up the forms man..

Test 2
1. Pita hain? N
2. Like LCA? Ha, magar Sukhoi is bigger
3. Like T090? Ha, magar Abrams is better..
4. Can you post in long posts once in a while, use complex english? We are having quality issues... Haan kar sakta hoon.....
5. Ok done.

Test 3

1. Are you a woman? Y
2. Do you like fashion N
3 Do you track onion prices N
4 Please contact Shaurya T to explain how the heck why!!

Test 4

1 Do you like LCA?Y
2 Do you like Arjun?Y
3 Do you like Agni? Y
4 Please bear with us, admin administrating this test had an emotional moment at finding a lady jingo and will return shortly

.... continued....

9 Do you really really like Agni? Y
10 What do you like about it? Its composite motors and its MIRVs and..
11 Please bear with us, admin has had another emotional moment and will return shortly..
---------
KJo
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by KJo »

I think Bious Bakistanis feel very uncomfortable here because of the presence of evil Hindooooos. :(( Lot's of Hindutva :((

I demand to know what the admins are doing to right this historical wrong. :evil:

Should we consider Partition? Maybe if we give them their own forum section on BRF so that the momeen can implement Shariah (The Holy Al-Qitaab is far seeing. It even has laws for things like internet forums. This proves that it is the only true religion) and live like the Merciful One intended.
SaiK
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by SaiK »

^you are now seeking quota for them too!? please remember : participative (bojitive onlee) democracy does not require any quota system.
Sagar G
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Sagar G »

Karan M wrote:Test 4

1 Do you like LCA?Y
2 Do you like Arjun?Y
3 Do you like Agni? Y
4 Please bear with us, admin administrating this test had an emotional moment at finding a lady jingo and will return shortly

.... continued....

9 Do you really really like Agni? Y
10 What do you like about it? Its composite motors and its MIRVs and..
11 Please bear with us, admin has had another emotional moment and will return shortly..
---------
And a marriage proposal will soon follow :rotfl:
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

That is the hidden conshpiracy behind this i tell you. Not that I mind. :mrgreen:

Submits vote to be part of sheleckshun committee for jingo evaluation!!
Muppalla
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Muppalla »

archan wrote:Why are we leaving out gays and lesbians by the way? doesn't the forum want to be inclusive? or is the constitution of India not quite there yet?
India is way too behind in this biz. No special channels in different languages. The overall content from India is too less and it still has to grow a lot in this arena. The west is already in the process of introducing "how to" in schools on the lines of sex education for futuristic gay kids.

The forum is very inclusive but because of the above reasons it does look like that.
Raja Bose
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Raja Bose »

emotional moment or involuntary mijjile phyrr?
Muppalla
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Muppalla »

Raja Bose wrote:emotional moment or involuntary mijjile phyrr?
If you are asking me about my comment - it was a real honest post.
shiv
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by shiv »

Sagar G wrote:I thought BR is a forum for discussion of technology/military/strategy related stuff what is this talk about making this a fashion site to get ladies here ???
This is how BRF started. In its heyday BRF offered the most information and most informed opinion on these topics. Because it had focus, it was easy to moderate. Anything outside these narrow areas were simply banned

Increasing membership led to demands for more time pass discussions. The strat forum was split from the mil forum. Later HICAF and finally a hidden GDF.

BRF has now lost focus on the military. It is a set of general discussions fora and the military information space outside BRF has expanded so much that information is now available from a lot of sites. But the unavoidable consequence of this is that BRF has lost its premier status and does not actually lead in any area other than an area of familiarity and comfort for people who have found the exact place where they can discuss certain political and topics of personal interest without putting in the homework required in terms of military and strategic issues.

In that sense the clubbing of "Bharat-Rakshak" with military and geostrategic affairs has now been broken "Bharat Rakshak" is now the discussion of Indian politics in private because Bharat itself is accused of not performing "raksha" on freedom of speech and that fear causes people to hide certain political views in a hidden forum to be posted along with other private stuff.

The forums have lost focus gradually but surely under the watch of a set of admins who have not been able to define their own roles or the role of BRF in the larger community. BR now does not attract people who want to contribute and share their knowledge in the military/strategic sphere but people who share the general interests of the general forums that now dominate the BRF discussion space. The BRF that offered a lot about a small area now offers a little of everything. The specialist has now become a generalist, who knows something of everything.
disha
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by disha »

^^ Sounds like a startup growing to a mid-size to a large-size and having growth pangs, where the niche specialization is lost and hence the "perceived edge" is blunted.

There is pent up demand outside of the mil/strat sphere. For example in the economic sphere itself we can come out with papers on say women's empowerment and its impact on society. Why will not such papers give an edge to BRF? I see several #pappus with #feku degrees doing that and going around for example as a "reputed columnist" for WSJ.

If you want BRF gain respect or "edge" based on writing articles, I say crowd source that itself. Let BRF itself come back with areas for which articles are required and put the list for its forum members to collaborate and provide.

Anyway, after all this pages, I am seeing only two areas:

1. Day to day management of BRF (email login/ban procedures etc)
2. Strategic areas of BRF (mil/strat forum, how to become the premier crowd-sourced "think-tank").
Karan M
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Karan M »

Shiv,

Are sir, not exactly true that BRF has lost focus on the military. If things were that bad, none of us would be here. I have seen some of these other sites you mention including DFI. They have some really good posters, and some really bad ones. The good ones just suffer in silence and the moderators don't or won't do much as some of the prolific ones babble away from thread to thread. You mentioned foreigners. There are a bunch of of these folks in DFI who post rubbish 90% of the time, and there appear to be few desi folks there who can even rebut these guys effectively. Many Indian forums seem to have these guys around to feel international or whatever.

At the end of the day, it all averages out. Despite the handful of military, good posters on DFI, I still do think the quality of discussion at BRF is higher than that on these other sites.

If you wish to have your acquaintances post on the Indian military at BRF, then they surely can - I don't see why anyone here would disrespect them or not give their experiences a hearing. The IAF site continues to be updated with personal accounts as well. Also. I was never an admin so I won't interject on what you clai the BRF admin team is lacking, but for the most part, the BR mil site is operating on auto-operate as it always has.

Also starting a 100 links on each and every defence topic like DFI does, appears simply unsustainable to me at least. Though it does appear attractive in that finding information etc will be easier, and will be more easily catalogued.

Opening up email, as you suggest is also doable.
gakakkad
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by gakakkad »

we have had foreigners here..perhaps still have them...most of them were dalaals/fanbois for amreeki/french/bartania aerospace industry trying to market there products...

a good poster was an israeli-american by the name of sadler who was sadly driven out ...we have another israeli gentleman out here who is useful...

and we have huge number of chini biladel ...


IMHO, the massive increase in the political discussions is due to the doom and gloom environment...people need to feel good to contribute to the defence aspect...and some of the gdf contribution has done a great service to the indian cause..like exposing the media/politics/mafia nexus...

in the military fora,we often lamented about the lack of indigenous production capacity...the still nascent stage of indian manufacturing is in large part due the people who governed India since independence...and now perhaps we have an opportunity to change the existing establishment and replace it with a pro-business one..hence the popularity of the political threads in the gdf...

the older posters who no longer post,can be due to several reasons...boredom,busy in professional/personal life/disillusioned with the forum or india /conflicts with other posters/admins etc...some of them are back in new avatars...efforts should be made to invite the others...
gakakkad
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by gakakkad »

having said the above ,i am of the firm belief that political discussions should strictly be banned from mil-tech forum unless truly relevant...and also absurd CTs ...it should be largely techincal onlee...
nachiket
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by nachiket »

gakakkad wrote:we have had foreigners here..perhaps still have them...most of them were dalaals/fanbois for amreeki/french/bartania aerospace industry trying to market there products...

a good poster was an israeli-american by the name of sadler who was sadly driven out ...we have another israeli gentleman out here who is useful...
Sadler was driven out? I remember reading his posts during my lurking days. I thought he just stopped posting by himself like so many others of that time. Who drove him out and why? S Valkan was another poster (though not a foreigner) whose posts in the old religion thread were fun to read. Don't know when or why he left.
negi
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by negi »

^Religion dhaga giga boom mein MIA .
Manish_Sharma
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Manish_Sharma »

At the time of RajeshA's warning + his leaving the forum (his own decision) and various posters discussing the issue:
SSridhar wrote:I would ask members to desist from passing judgements or discussing actions of the Admins.
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 0#p1472592

Does shiv have some special privilege? That he can continue to ignore admin's instructions, yet not get warning :
shiv wrote: I note that you and Archan are the most active admins. My compliments and sympathies in this regard. Being an active admin is the best way to becoming unpopular among a whole lot of people, Those admins who stay away from the dog's work of forum administration should really be allowed to ease themselves out. It is both a privilege and a dog's job. No point having the privilege if you shirk the dog's job.
Could it be brf's old policy that shiv has some sort of special abhaydaan of being warningproof or banproof no matter what he does?
Manish_Sharma
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Manish_Sharma »

shiv wrote:When I started off as admin on BRF some of us were a bunch of jihadi moderators who were banning ruthlessly and killing all opinions we did not want to see. "Adi kollu" ("Hit and Kill" in Tamil) was a motto shared by me and another admin. That gave a direction to BRF based on the personal likes and dislikes of admins which were mainly in the direction of a military/technical and strat discussion forum.

Moderating then had a purpose, Hitlerian as it might have been. Why is moderation needed now? Facebook and Twitter seem to be even better than BRF at crowd sourcing and are totally unmoderated. Governments are trying to control those sites. Unsuccessfully.
It has to be explained why hitlerian moderation then had a purpose, so posters can decide its merits.

Facebook is heavily moderated, try posting contrarian view to ndtv OR Timesnow pages exposing their double standards and immediately your posting function is disable for few days due to their complaint, repeat it continuously and even your account is suspended for some days.

I don't know about twitter as i'm not on it. But governments control them, ask the guy who got arrested tortured for tweeting against shri kartik chidumbrum ji !
Sagar G
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Sagar G »

shiv wrote:This is how BRF started. In its heyday BRF offered the most information and most informed opinion on these topics. Because it had focus, it was easy to moderate. Anything outside these narrow areas were simply banned

Increasing membership led to demands for more time pass discussions. The strat forum was split from the mil forum. Later HICAF and finally a hidden GDF.

BRF has now lost focus on the military. It is a set of general discussions fora and the military information space outside BRF has expanded so much that information is now available from a lot of sites. But the unavoidable consequence of this is that BRF has lost its premier status and does not actually lead in any area other than an area of familiarity and comfort for people who have found the exact place where they can discuss certain political and topics of personal interest without putting in the homework required in terms of military and strategic issues.

In that sense the clubbing of "Bharat-Rakshak" with military and geostrategic affairs has now been broken "Bharat Rakshak" is now the discussion of Indian politics in private because Bharat itself is accused of not performing "raksha" on freedom of speech and that fear causes people to hide certain political views in a hidden forum to be posted along with other private stuff.

The forums have lost focus gradually but surely under the watch of a set of admins who have not been able to define their own roles or the role of BRF in the larger community. BR now does not attract people who want to contribute and share their knowledge in the military/strategic sphere but people who share the general interests of the general forums that now dominate the BRF discussion space. The BRF that offered a lot about a small area now offers a little of everything. The specialist has now become a generalist, who knows something of everything.
What you are saying and feeling sorry for here is bound to happen with increasing membership but what is confusing me is that you came back to BRF after a long hiatus and started posting in the feedback thread asking for diluting the moderation and making BRF more user friendly since you think that this site is "dying". Now you also feel sorry for the lost focus with increasing member ship and reminiscence about old times when with few number of members BRF had more focus than what it has now according to you.

Now I don't get what you actually want but it has definitely not got anything to do with your stated concern for "dying" BRF otherwise you wouldn't have contradicted yourself here.
shiv
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Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by shiv »

Sagar G wrote: Now I don't get what you actually want but it has definitely not got anything to do with your stated concern for "dying" BRF otherwise you wouldn't have contradicted yourself here.
:D You almost made a post I was about to make.

For those of us who see issues with BRF today there is IMO no single solution. It is a question of making a choice because taking one route will exclude the other.

If one is looking for a focused forum that discusses military and strategic topic only, that forum will require heavy moderation and no politics or religion. Some people will get banned.

However if politics must be discussed moderation is wrong because politics by definition means representation of all views. No one should be banned for expressing a political viewpoint unless it is illegal or immoral. Political views that are "moderated" by someone else by definition is suppression of political views. It is moderation and selective membership that has pushed politics into one corner of BRF and created a lopsided picture of the forum. A secret forum to discuss personal stuff and certain political thoughts is a bad idea.

I think BRF is at at fork and unable to make the choice. A compromise formula would be to ban politics and religion in the military forum - but I believe that may not work. It is easy for me to come up with more ideas - which are all not workable without heavy handed moderation and moderators with shameless and ruthless balls and no wishy washy stuff. BRF is simply existing as a comfort zone for a few to be looked at every day with no serious commitment by anyone to contribute new direction. Some of the things that politicians say to each other are so blatant and biased that having a secret forum discussing politics is totally hypocritical and only encourages people who, for some reason or other are unable to say what they want to say in the open - but nevertheless pot shots are taken in every thread. When the military forum went down that route I decided that it was time to pack my bags and get out - an act that will please some - but upset a few people who wrote to me and spoke to me.

I came back to say what I think and I think that BRF needs direction and that direction has to be either a restricted mandate forum for military and strategic affair or a full "open social network" discussion area where anything goes. Right now it is neither here nor there and not heading anywhere but into oblivion.

One more fraudulent act of hypocrisy that BRF gains brownie points from is the display of only the military forum threads on the front page of BR (http://www.bharat-rakshak.com). I think the front page of the BR main site is brilliant. That front page is being used to attract people to the military discussion forum by selectively displaying mil forum threads. Strat forum posts used to appear there too - but that was excluded out of sheer embarrassment and shame when the strat forum discussions became too partisan and sensitive to appear on BR's front page/home page. And of course anyone who visits BR will not even know about the hidden forums - and the opinions being moulded in those hidden forums is affecting discussions on the strat forum and the military forum. That is why the strat forum was excluded from open public gaze. If the mil forum degrades further the next logical step would be to protect the main BR site by excluding all forum threads from the front page. Or, as someone had threatened some years ago. Shut down the forums altogether.
shiv
BRF Oldie
Posts: 34982
Joined: 01 Jan 1970 05:30
Location: Pindliyon ka Gooda

Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by shiv »

Karan M wrote: If you wish to have your acquaintances post on the Indian military at BRF, then they surely can - I don't see why anyone here would disrespect them or not give their experiences a hearing. The IAF site continues to be updated with personal accounts as well. Also. I was never an admin so I won't interject on what you clai the BRF admin team is lacking, but for the most part, the BR mil site is operating on auto-operate as it always has.

Also starting a 100 links on each and every defence topic like DFI does, appears simply unsustainable to me at least. Though it does appear attractive in that finding information etc will be easier, and will be more easily catalogued.

Opening up email, as you suggest is also doable.
I do not want to compare DFI with BR. The reason for my posting the names of certain fora was simply to illustrate that the larger "outside" internet is now organizing itself in ways that BRF did not have to contend with and they too are getting much of what BRF is getting, while offering much that BRF does not offer. It is their size and complexity that is confusing to a person accustomed to BRF's simplicity. Those fora have their regulars and oldies and valuable contributors all unfamiliar to us although some people who left BRF a long long time ago are established there - not just RayC. I was comparing statistics like number of members and the maximum number of hits (members viewing) on a given day which is higher on both the fora I mentioned. They are simply rough indicators of what people are doing with forums

The BRF military forum went down to a level that became intolerable for me, but it has redeemed itself somewhat - perhaps from more strict admin action. But the news on BRF can easily be found from so many sources that BRF has become optional. As I see it the uniqueness of the mil forums was in the dedication of members to contributing to and enhancing the main site with articles, images and videos. I see a lot less of that now - and for the first time in many years I can stay off BRF for weeks and miss very little.

So now I wonder - when a senior retired officer says he wants something he has written or some anecdote that needs to go somewhere - I have a choice of many places where I can see it being put up. BR's main site is still open to that, but the forum is no longer the place. I think the mil forum is still OK but it needs protection. One part of the protection is from dedicated members such as yourself and others. But admin protection is required too and for that admins have to have some clue about the unique requirements of a military forum. I know that one veteran and entrenched admin had no particular interest in the mil-tech side but was a sponsor of the strat forum in the early days. The baton has been dropped by those admins who knew where BRF came from. They don't have any clue or plans about where it is heading.
SaiK
BRF Oldie
Posts: 36424
Joined: 29 Oct 2003 12:31
Location: NowHere

Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by SaiK »

zoom in and find BRF.,or search for it, and zoom out to just to get some perspectives of where we are.
http://internet-map.net/
Bade
BRF Oldie
Posts: 7212
Joined: 23 May 2002 11:31
Location: badenberg in US administered part of America

Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by Bade »

It is simple, just ban political and religion discussions.
RamaY
BRF Oldie
Posts: 17249
Joined: 10 Aug 2006 21:11
Location: http://bharata-bhuti.blogspot.com/

Re: BR Forum Feedback

Post by RamaY »

I agree with Shivji.

If BR should be a military/start forum, so be it. Moderators can lock all other threads (so we don't lose the discussions, or can give some time for members to take backups).

All the political/religion type members will soon lose interest in a pure military/start forum (I for one, posted <1% of posts in military forum) and leave the forum or become silent members. This will be same outcome as military enthus left when there are too many non-military threads.

Naturally this will lead to a more focussed discussion and will allow moderators to implement stricter moderation policy. Any member posting OT comment can be warned/banned.

I, personally, got to BR for the military content. I was just a silent reader then or a link pusher at the most. When the discussions opened to other strategic areas (I am sure Shiv/RayC/N3 etc were key in that transition) such as politics and religion, I started engaging in the discussion and naturally contributed to 'so-called' quality-decline. I would then primarily blame this trio (Shiv, RayC and N3) for the forum derailment as I was hardly a oldie in those days.

Coming to Sri ShauryaTji's complaint about my warnings and bans, I am willing to post why/when/where I got my millions of warnings and open for a review of them case by case. I never questioned the moderators (except for one time where one moderator gave me a warning but that post became part of alternative views on Pakistan). I took all those warnings in the forum spirit for I understood the logic of moderators even if it went against my posts. For example I got a warning in this very feedback thread just few days back for a comment much less insensitive than some of shiv or ShauryaT's comments. It has become a fashion for people to become ashamed of India but not call out the perpetrator of that issue for it is political.

Let bygones be bygones. I am as much a member of this forum as any other member. My contributions are no less than anyone else's.

Yes, I agree that I called members Pakis*, dhimmis** etc. I made those comments to label a particular mindset/thought-process, the same way people use the labels Hindutvavadis, communal, Leftists, rightists, saffron-terror, hindus, muslims, christians etc., Why is it ok for the forum to invite/establish a Muslim member/moderator, especially to protect the "secular" credentials of the forum? Is this the quality of the discussion we are missing?

If some labels are wrong, all labels must be wrong.

I publicly apologize to everyone (Shiv, ShauryaT etc) if that helps them get back to the forum discussions.

I leave it to the moderators to lock/unlock/close/open the forums they want.

Added:
* Paki - someone who want to usurp others' hard earned wealth just because they belong to other group OR someone who want to secede from Bharat based on some identity.
** Dhimmi - someone who compromises his 'just' identity and is willing to pay rent (in cash or kind) in order to appear Secular.
Last edited by RamaY on 06 Oct 2013 21:48, edited 1 time in total.
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