BRF 15 years. let us look back.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 05 Feb 2015 20:44

Hah! 15 years ago, after years of lurking, I made my very first post on BRF. It was some innocuous post on Geology of the Himalayas IIRC. I was banned on the spot. Not only was I banned but an entire IP range was banned as well. I could not even read the forum any more!!

Obviously the moderation has improved enormously. The question of civil conversation has gone up and down but for the most part things have stayed civil. To 15 more years of that... ..hopefully I'll live to see it....

RKumar · Post by **RKumar** » 05 Feb 2015 21:14

Joined almost 6 years back ... very addictive website, posts when can. Was indifferent to the national cause before ABV time, got nationalist sometime later.

Rahul M · Post by **Rahul M** » 05 Feb 2015 21:25

Theo saar, what did you say that was so detonating ?

member_28781 · Post by **member_28781** » 05 Feb 2015 21:51

lurked for 6 years and recently joined, love this forum.

BijuShet · Post by **BijuShet** » 05 Feb 2015 22:37

Lurking since 1998-1999. Signed up and started writing from 2008, IIRC. Great place for like minded individuals to gather. I still remember reading the war scenario as discussed by a GoI cabinet. I had until that time never given thought to how govt decision making would work and how all scenarios analyzed before imp decisions arrived at. Koti Pranaams to all Gurus for the valuable education I receive here.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 05 Feb 2015 22:45

For lulz I miss poster raju and his outlandish CTs. During 26/11 the man came up with the mist unlikely scenario of the US amby being carried away by four SS people as he refused to leave a restaurant. N^3 s deconstruction was the funniest take down of nonsense I have come across on brf.

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 05 Feb 2015 23:11

Rahul M wrote:Theo saar, what did you say that was so detonating ?

I don't remember the details saar. Back then there was no TEF or GDF IIRC so everything ended up in the same place. It was something to do with the Himalayan Mountains and Kargil and in retrospect I should have realized tempers were running high. In any case I posted in a looong and certain over authoritative way with detailed reference and quotes from text books, why the geology of the mountains varied so much and why the terrain is particularly harsh on equipment & people sp. in monsoon and blammo, next thing I know the Bofors guns had been trained on direct (not ballistic) fire on me...

I have never made a single post in military dhaga ever, though I read it extensively, in part due to that, though I'm cool with that....

girish.r · Post by **girish.r** » 06 Feb 2015 00:12

Hi,

I came across BR stall in 2009 air show. Bought posters of Sukhoi, Surya kiran, IAF collage and DVD of IAF. Met someone named Kapil. He suggested that i send him an email and he will allow me access. And since then this is the first site i open whenever i connect.

Cheers BR'fites

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 06 Feb 2015 00:48

I joined and lurked on PeeArrEff around 2000 which was the first time I had reliable access to the internets. I think I lost my ID and rejoined in 2002 and stuck around. I used to be a mil and aircraft enthusiast but quickly realized the gyan spouted here far exceeded my limited knowledge base, and rather than become a well meaning ignoramus, I preferred to lurk and read while the heavyweights brawled it out. I mostly stuck to my favored topic of economics, attended some BRF meets where I got to meet luminaries like ramana, Arun_S, Dileep, Sridhar and several others whom I view with great respect. Those of you who were there then - hanumadu ? - raise your hands! We even had a mega North Cal/South Cal BRF meet where GeorgeJ and Kaushal among other oldies held court.

Back then the first BRIC report came out and ramana, always the guy who thinks ahead and comes up with unique ideas, dragged me kicking and screaming to 'create a presentation about it'. Therefore I created a yumbeeyay presentation on the topic, complete with someone bringing their laptop and projector (Arun_S ?) and me gassing on and on while everyone looked bored and a few asked 'come on yaar, we won't grow that big that fast!' That was a time when we were a chipmunk economee of ~$500B onlee, and I was talking about how in 10 years we would be 4 times bigger. Well, ten years later is now, and we ARE 4 times bigger onlee. Those were interesting meetings, slurping omelets better than Stinker Dupatta, and holding forth on strat-e-jee better than Shrileen bhabhi...

After several years of boring everyone with posts in the dekhonomoney thread, one day Jagan emailed me saying there had been a loya jirga meeting among the high powers of PeeArrEff and handed me a bandook and topi saying they picked me as a mod to go wreck the place. Contrary to assumptions, mod job isn't full of conspiracy. Some irregular chai biskoot on warning policies occurs. Ban decisions are done with additional consensus unless the poster is running around with 'KICK ME' pasted to their musharraf. But that's about it.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 06 Feb 2015 02:14

Raja Bose wrote:
matrimc wrote:RB: Hat tip to you for your loyalty to a friend, I suppose.
I am basing my observations based on what I have seen in person. Nothing to do with loyalty or friendship.

Fair enough. My judgement is based on what he said when I had an excellent reason to diss the late ex-PM VP Singh. He started talking Actinides and things neither he had any knowledge of nor did I atthat time. Then comes back with "mujhe maloom paDa kiI thotA cHAnA AwAz ziyAdA karthA hai". Hum hyderabadi nabobi logOn kO dilli billi urdu to samajh each nahi AtA. hamare sar mein dard hOta. kyan karein? I vountarily left in disgust. Poster raju, who supposedly had a long dilli babu career - which was self-claimed by her since she claimed she joined BRF right after she retired from service - also threw a little bit of ghee into the fire and Alok_N pacifying Arun_S as if I am going to hurt our vaishanvi-atman, I voluntarily left in disgust.

My intuition proved right when during le affaire Santhanam our man had to do the final exit after he asked the God of BRF "Shiv, back off". If that was not arrogance I don't know what is. Chalo, let us agree to disagree and move on.

Sorry for being a tiny weeny haddi or rather cartilage in this kebab thread.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Feb 2015 04:22

I joined BRF in 1998, though my profile says I joined in 2002. Mostly lurked or seldom posted in the beginning. Not a part of inner crowd but have been looking at BRF for a long time. Probably the only brf member whose "Most active topic" is BR Maths Corner, though Physics and nuclear dhaga also contains my posts. (At Ramana's request, I also put many messages in Fukushima nuclear dhaga to share some of the technical knowledge)

I remember BRF, because just a few days after Pokharan II, I was in Washington as a coach of a state team for a national math competition and our team was guest of our senator (he agreed to show us around the senate). He became extremely busy in those days, so we spent a little less time with him and little more time with his staff. (He was involved in fairly well known bills relating to India and the PKII event was a big deal. The general trend in Washington around that time was fairly anti-India. To the senator's credit, he listened to other point of view - the team also had an Indian student and Indian Parent so I was not alone. I think we did a pretty good job in convincing him that US had nothing to fear from India, besides no one should be surprised as India, since mid 60's had that capability. BRF came in very handy as a resource for references/links to other viewpoints. (One of the staff member, later sent me an email telling me that she actually joined brf but was banned just after her first post.

)

When I look back, I remember just after nuke deal there was a poll. At that time, it looked like everyone in brf was against it. Mine was the first vote for support and I was surprised that at the end the result was a 50-50 -- supporters/opponents. The thing which disturbed me was that some people, without any valid reason, were ready to call Indian Scientists/leaders as traitors.

And like others, I miss posts from people like Alok_N, Prof. Hoyt, and many others. It is a shame that such people were driven away.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Feb 2015 04:44

Looking back - My first surviving post:... (Nice story some may like)
http://forums.bharat-rakshak.com/viewto ... 791#p24791
(Topic: " Post subject: Re: Why has it become so cool to hate India"

I think in 30’s or 40’s S. Chandresekahar ( Nobel Prize winning Physicist) was returning home (Tamil Nadu) from Bengal. This was after a successful seminar in Physics where many physics- big shots thought very highly of his lectures, so he was very happy. But the happiness did not last long when a particularly rude British couple entered his Train compartment. To put it mildly, the couple was not even aware that they were traveling with a really brilliant young scientist. The woman particularly did not like the fact that she has to share that First-class compartment with a native, but finally, remarking something like, “at least he is wearing proper clothes” , she was calmed down by her companion.
(S. C. was wearing suit and tie..)

So naturally Chandra got up, went to the bathroom, changed into lungi etc… The woman actually pulled the chain and made the train stop and raised a big racket in front of the train officials etc..(The official(s) could not do a thing as Chandra politely showed no interest in moving, when requested ….The lady was hysterical and made a real fool of herself and had to give in by moving (to another compartment .. in 2nd class…)

(No one would suspect that such a polite and proper “Dr. Chandra” could be mischievous too..)

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 06 Feb 2015 04:53

I am sorry but Prof. Hoyt was hunting with the hounds and running with the hares.

Amber G. · Post by **Amber G.** » 06 Feb 2015 08:32

What happened to Faheem?

gakakkad · Post by **gakakkad** » 06 Feb 2015 13:37

Amber G. wrote:I joined BRF in 1998, though my profile says I joined in 2002. Mostly lurked or seldom posted in the beginning. Not a part of inner crowd but have been looking at BRF for a long time. Probably the only brf member whose "Most active topic" is BR Maths Corner, though Physics and nuclear dhaga also contains my posts. (At Ramana's request, I also put many messages in Fukushima nuclear dhaga to share some of the technical knowledge)

I remember BRF, because just a few days after Pokharan II, I was in Washington as a coach of a state team for a national math competition and our team was guest of our senator (he agreed to show us around the senate). He became extremely busy in those days, so we spent a little less time with him and little more time with his staff. (He was involved in fairly well known bills relating to India and the PKII event was a big deal. The general trend in Washington around that time was fairly anti-India. To the senator's credit, he listened to other point of view - the team also had an Indian student and Indian Parent so I was not alone. I think we did a pretty good job in convincing him that US had nothing to fear from India, besides no one should be surprised as India, since mid 60's had that capability. BRF came in very handy as a resource for references/links to other viewpoints. (One of the staff member, later sent me an email telling me that she actually joined brf but was banned just after her first post. )

When I look back, I remember just after nuke deal there was a poll. At that time, it looked like everyone in brf was against it. Mine was the first vote for support and I was surprised that at the end the result was a 50-50 -- supporters/opponents. The thing which disturbed me was that some people, without any valid reason, were ready to call Indian Scientists/leaders as traitors.

And like others, I miss posts from people like Alok_N, Prof. Hoyt, and many others. It is a shame that such people were driven away.

no wonder amreeka is doing exceedingly well in IMO in the last decade..how about coaching the Indian team? we do well in fizziks, but not that well in maths..sometime we are even behind Iran...

Theo_Fidel · Post by **Theo_Fidel** » 06 Feb 2015 20:52

This thread is declining into weird stuff....

SBajwa · Post by **SBajwa** » 07 Feb 2015 04:13

I want Rakesh Koshy and N^3 back!!

member_22733 · Post by **member_22733** » 07 Feb 2015 04:17

You might have not gotten the Mongolian memo. It is sent on a Yak.

Gus · Post by **Gus** » 07 Feb 2015 04:21

the list of forum greats we lost runs long, but no point in lamenting that...

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 07 Feb 2015 05:42

I remember back in 2002, we used to have BRF Meets in downtown Chicago. Jaipur Palace on Hubbard Street. I still have a picture from one of those meets.
I met George J, Niranjan, Sridhar and someone who called himself Sandeep Bansal but later said that that was not his name. George J was a pretty cool guy, reminded me of a college classmate. Then there was Anurag also.

SriKumar · Post by **SriKumar** » 07 Feb 2015 05:56

Not been 15 years or anywhere close, but my delta time between lurking to posting was a month or. I see people here who waited years....kya patience hai bhai saab aap logon ke paas. That said, my posts were very few in the initial stages....pretty heavy-weight stuff used to be posted and one had to have something useful to say or else you got hounded and chased away (indranilroy is slowly starting to morph into a narasimha avatar and weilding the mod danda).

I'd say, if spending time on BRF got you educational credits, I'd have completed about half-a masters easy. (Does the forum have a self-ban button somewhere in the profile.....I could use one). There are so many different topics that people with varied interests can hang out here....economy threads, news threads, international politics, etc. The thread where I have my maximum posts is music thread....and TankMeister Karan M had a good laugh when he found that there was actually a music thread with people discussing stuff seriously.

Of course, nothing like Mangalyaan and ISRO-related threads where real-world physics can be discussed, in addition to the physics thread itself (thanks to AmberG for religiously responding to questions posted there, whether grade-school level qns. or graduate level topics). Economy threads are also great. BRF is also a good news aggregator....you get specific, useful articles right in the thread. One could come here just for the news. (...well, on a different note....there's a couple of LOL posts in the page).

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 07 Feb 2015 08:03

Its been a wonderful journey in BRF. Learnt many things here and a great personal satisfaction to see someone post exactly what I have in mind and many times in a way way better articulated way.
I met ramana Garu in Hyderabad few years back in Chutneys hotel near Panjagutta. It was a great feeling as I was a nanha mujahid just into my first job.

negi · Post by **negi** » 07 Feb 2015 11:29

When I had joined BRF it was a secular forum , political correctness was the norm only TSP thread was an exception however things have improved and for good. A bit of sophistry still exists but that is common to all Indians i.e fck/a$sehole is acceptable and cool but chootiy@ might get you a warning .

ramana · Post by **ramana** » 08 Feb 2015 03:49

matrimc, Arun_S was and is right. He is very humble in person. I still talk to him. BW even today he gets contacted by dilli sarkar types.

Altair, I recall that evening. Do you know how the third guest is doing? he contributed Unkil and MUTU to BRF vocabulary.

I joined in 1997 in the early days. I volunteered for BRM editor and worked with Rupak till SRR was started. There was need for more admins and again I joined up.
Solved the SHQ problem by letting her browse in early days.

I get to meet a lot of interesting people when I say BRF.

Thanks for the journey.

Suraj, You still havent mailed me the ppt charts from that meeting!!!

BTW Suraj read the Goldman Sachs and US govt reports on world economy and showed they had some errors and gave us the true projections. We are now in 2015 and right on track.

MMS and UPA really hurt the true growth rate.

vishnua · Post by **vishnua** » 08 Feb 2015 06:12

Arun_S had anything but ego.

BRF has it's share of some highly committed and spirited individuals regularly posting

Where is spinster now a days? Please don't tell me matrimc = Spinster .

and also Acharya? Please don't tell me he is now Right hand man for AS

.

I don't think Sunil S will ever come back.

Altair · Post by **Altair** » 08 Feb 2015 17:16

ramana wrote: Altair, I recall that evening. Do you know how the third guest is doing? he contributed Unkil and MUTU to BRF vocabulary.

No contact ramana garu. If he is reading this forum I hope he will reply.

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 08 Feb 2015 22:08

Have always been curious as to why many long standing members change their ID/names on BRF? Are they ashamed of who they were and the posts they made in their previous ID? Or is there some other reason?

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 08 Feb 2015 22:37

Vishnua: no I am not. But umrao I think is here. You have to look carefully. By the way I think in some sense we two are mirror images in that he is from AP but grew up in Hyd. I am from TS but grew up in godavaris.

Ldev ji: several non-snarky explanations are possible but you have to pick one of e explanations that will put down others! Good going.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 08 Feb 2015 23:27

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 08 Feb 2015 23:27

matrimc wrote: Ldev ji: several non-snarky explanations are possible but you have to pick one of e explanations that will put down others! Good going.

Sorry, did not mean to touch a nerve. Was just wondering about the need to reinvent one's self!! Not that its bad, but why change the ID? People can and should have the right to change their viewpoints as they grow in knowledge and wisdom and experience!!

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 08 Feb 2015 23:38

Satya_anveshi wrote:ldev ji,

do you know who said this:

"But every discussion has become so politicized, its sickening. Where have all the sane moderators run off too? They have left the lunatics in charge of the asylum."
I note that you have not only resumed posting here but also have been speaking in favor of 'hindu nationalist' govt and modi's vision this and that.

Could it be because some on this forum have/had foresight (before you) to identify the merits of the new govt and as a corollary the loot of the old govt across all strategically imp areas due to which the discussion had to veer into politics eventually?

Refer my post above in response to matrimc.

As far as moderation goes, my frank opinion is that it had nose dived at that point of time, but has since improved and is now much better. If you take a long enough view, we all (including moderators and moderation!!) go through phases.

As far as the "Hindu Nationalist" Government is concerned, again my frank opinion is that Modi is the best bet that India has since Vallabhai Patel to make a quantum leap forward in its economic development. At the same time I recognize that this brings along a range of extreme right wing Hindu elements into the fray many of whom post right here on BRF. IMO, that is an acceptable compromise if the end result is India's development. I also believe, and I am going out on a limb here,that if Modi is successful in his transformation of India, and I believe he will be, he will become a much more centrist leader winning over many more people who were opposed to him.

There is much more that one can talk about this, maybe on another thread.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 09 Feb 2015 00:00

Suraj · Post by **Suraj** » 09 Feb 2015 00:05

Please! Can't people stop wrecking every thread with your political issues ? Does the irony of sidetracking even this thread to whine about threads being sidetracked, not strike you ? Why is it so important to get an answer in for every thing ? So what if 'someone else started it' ? You do not have to be a figurative Pavlov's dog and respond. It's rich that people harrumph about 'moderation quality going down' when they post whatever comes to their heads without the slightest pause to consider the consequences of doing so. Is it on topic ? Who cares. That's the attitude. It's not merely the quality of moderation that's changed, but the maturity of the collective body of posters that has changed even more dramatically.

Satya_anveshi · Post by **Satya_anveshi** » 09 Feb 2015 00:19

Agree and that is a better response than my "show the mirror" reaction.

negi · Post by **negi** » 09 Feb 2015 00:23

Secularism khatre mein hain types quit this forum some time back , allah ki kasam this has been a far better place since then, at least sophistry and hypocrisy meters have not been redlining these days.

Vayutuvan · Post by **Vayutuvan** » 09 Feb 2015 00:52

ldev: Let me tell you my experiences.

I was once here with my real name. When I said something innocuous which contained Trijata and Cassandra in the same para, I got an email from one mod Calvin. I knew his real name too, of course. There was nothing in that post of mine which was in anyway offensive other than may be a tad snarky. Fine I took that the chest and moved on.

Another time, I asked a question regarding Actinide decay or some such which the then mod Arun_S came back with a personal attack. First he started with "you lost all your credibility, blah, blah, do not address me directly - blah blah". Then another poster Alok_N was cautioning him to be careful. Then his exact words to addresed to Alok_N were ""Janab Alok_N ji: mujhe maloom paDa kiI thotha chAna awaz zyada kartA hai" and some more.

Right after that I had some threats too - a matchbook was placed in mailbox with only four burnt out match sticks - the flat kind- with one side painted black.

I was a little agitated and went to my boss, mentor, and adviser. I told him about the matchbook and also told him I went to this site with my real name. When he asked what was it all about, something related to Actinide decay and what does it mean? His eyebrows went up for a second and then he caught himself told me not to put my real name out there and go traipsing onto internet fora. Especially if have any false pretensions about some subject or other, there are sure to be people who will kick my ass show me up for a fool I am in that area. That is the price one pays for ignorance.

I took it on the chin and stopped posting for about three years.That was nine years back. There was a purge of the data base, Arun_S got kicked out for his omissions and commissions. I feel he got what he deserved. Writing a few articles and giving a few interviews on some radio station on the outback is not going to it to get KS strategy award or a Padma award or any accolade like that? It requires real work by the person alone - not an entitlement because your forefathers fought in the freedom struggle, your relations/friends were flying fighter sorties in Kargil, treating soldiers on the battlefield, or working in the Defense R&D.

Design a fighter jet sitting in front of a computer is not going get a padma either. aah, politics does sometimes.

Every sinner has a future and every saint has a past.

That proves I am not spinster because he would have said "Every s(p)inner has a future and every saint has a past"

KJo · Post by **KJo** » 09 Feb 2015 00:56

negi wrote:When I had joined BRF it was a secular forum , political correctness was the norm only TSP thread was an exception however things have improved and for good. A bit of sophistry still exists but that is common to all Indians i.e fck/a$sehole is acceptable and cool but chootiy@ might get you a warning .

I got banned by some grumpy mod for using the word "Bhooka-nangadeshi" refering to our crazy neighbors to our East.

negi · Post by **negi** » 09 Feb 2015 01:16

Best part is while jury is still out to decide if our Fusion device was a fizzle or proper fusion the dhaga here was a pakka Tsar bomba , another supernova event was the religion dhaga where a couple of moderators threw out a poster when one of the mods basically chickened out in midst of a duel with the said poster .

ldev · Post by **ldev** » 09 Feb 2015 01:20

matrimc,

U...Jthe man!!! Thanks for the memories.

Mihir · Post by **Mihir** » 09 Feb 2015 05:09

I remember discovering BRF right after Kargil, and I

'd at the notion of an internet forum that openly hated the Packees and called them out on their shenanigans. Up until that point, I had simply assumed that this sort of person was a negligible minority in India.

Back in the early 2000s, when Blogger was all the rage, I dabbled in blogging on military topics. I remember making a post on the LCA. Someone posted it on BRF and it was well-received, but there was a remark in there about the Kaveri failing because of "typical babu culture" in the GTRE. Next thing I know, I'm in the unenviable position of being in the sights of one Johnny Cage.

The sheer quantity of fire and brimstone the gent could unleash was a sight to see. I downhill skiied fast, tail firmly between my legs onlee. Happy times.