Chowk is 9 Today

You guys - do you have to do this fake tear-fest over what you call ``abuse``?... I mean - all you guys shedding copious tears now - all of you[except for DM], at one time or the other, have resorted to the name-calling and what not... and you guys will continue to do it in future no matter what anybody says.... so what the heck are you guys whining about?...

You f***ing old coots[there goes the abuse]... take your self-righteous a$$es out of here... :) no one is interested in this regular old hag whining session that you guys do....

And what`s so bad with the so-called abuse anyway... this is a f***ing internet forum, not a town-hall meeting... so get over it...

jang (putting on my psychologist hat): When did you first start noticing these feelings of inferiority? :-)

PS: Actually,you are wrong. Some of the filthiest abuses are written by those pakistanis who think their has been some goostaakhi against their arab/persian gods.

Jang. You may be right. It`s definitely a wide gulf and it may be the difference in social class as you suggest. That`s exactly why I want it to be a subscription site. $100 a year is not a bad idea.

IMO the chowks hindian and paki interactors are definately different.

hiindians: middle to Lower middle class, some peela-schoolies, more inclined to be hard-science professions, typically with indian undergraduate degrees, not living with parents, argumentative, less likely to say nice things (or platitudes), less ``balanced``, more direct and seem to care less about ``chowk`` since its a paki site anyways.

pakis: from higher strata, influencial families, grammar school, amrikan undergraduate degrees (liberal arts), even with hard-science background now working in bussiness fields, tend to say nice things to each other (mashallah janab etc) but may switch to obscenities and personal and often gang-attacks, tend to lament upon how chowk is gone bad due to riff-raff of code-coolies posting insults to pakis

godot#109:

Most of the publications referred to you would allow words like ``clueless``, ``crap``, etc., especially in their Letter to the Editor section. And I have seen several letters and even columns criticising religious icons. I am sure you have heard of Da Vinci Code, if not of the Hindi filmslike Fire and Lajja which ridicule the Hindu icon Ram and were allowed screening for mass audience.

hamidm#101:

You may not recall but when I joined chowk, I advised you to send your well-meaning barbs to Hindus just as you do to Muslims; so I cannot complain when you start doing exactly that. In any case, any Horrible one with an IQ above room temperature would know that you use it as a term of endearment.

....and the saboteurs emerge ... derailing a perfectly fine discussion on a vital issue ...

#76 by aisha_sarwari on August 15, 2006 5:49am PT


And as for Naseeb, one needs only see Alexa`s ratings to see how far Naseeb outdoes chowk in traffic and rankings, not that, that is the mark of sucess, if numbers were the yardstick India would be the most sucessful country in the world.


admit it.....you added the disclaimer because you know Indians would throw the gandhi/jinnah comparison at you if you used numbers....

A good discussion on the acceptable language on Chowk.

This is what this site`s screening page says:

``Dear.........,

This is a preview window. Objectionable content that maybe edited out is highlighted. If you are satistfied with your post then select the submit button below. To make changes to your reply select the back button.``

I wonder why this part of the site is not working.

As an alternative is, we can borrow the list of unparliamentary words from British or Indian parliament or any other body of relevance and use that list as benchmark. That should solve this problem of obscenities.

The fact of life is that we are people of different countries, including from the US. Once this word `f**k` is an out and out objectionable word but now it`s just a slang, no literal meaning implied in day to day usage. (There`s of course an MNC FCUK that sells not the clothes but this jumbled word).

Masala is OK but too much is how much... please decide. Chowk without spice is bland....

Re: # 94
[....is it only the Hindus who are abusive?]

Yep - it`s the hinoods who do all the abuse... the evil hinoods abuse the innocent paki boys so much so that they turn them into jihadis and nut-cases... for example - zeemax was a innocent pretty boy when came here in chowk - but after years of unspeakable abuse he received from hinoods - he has turned into a flaming jihadi... he even has turned his entire family into jihadis...

Yep - these hinuds are very baaaddd people.... :)

Hmmm....subroto ... you mean like this one?

#8 A New Middle East on July 30, 2006
I too killed yesterday.
Bloody insect deserved to die.
Crushed under my foot.
Bloody spider.

DM

``I would draw the same line that an editor of a print media would.``

Which print media? Economist, New Yorker, WSJ, NYT, Financial Times, LAT, WP, Guardian, Independent? Do you think any one of them allow the religious ridicule seen at Chowk? Or they will allow one reader to call another reader “captain clueless”?

Which print publication are you referring to that has the guideline that you seem to be suggesting for Chowk?

further to # 102

And seriously this thought has scared the shit out of me that after 7 years i am still at the mental level of chowk - seven years of precious life are wasted, taking part in a failed experiment.

hamidm #101 there are people on chowk - notably Subroto - who have shown that one can be really witty and funny without being abusive at all. Or like you, who can get away with terms like ``orrible indoo`` or ``abduls`` without offending most people and who dont cross teh line to actually become abusive. Unfortunately, too many posters are not as gifted as you or Subroto.

godot:

I would draw the same line that an editor of a print media would. What`s wrong with that?

I think the only sensible advice that has come out of this thread is from DM in #96 when he makes an analogy with the pornography. As the proverb goes- the birds of a feather flock together- we are here because we are just like each other. Even if some of us here rise above this dump, they still belong to the dump. In other words, I do not see a value added contribution of free speech in betterment of human mind and spirit.

Re: # 96

dost-mittar,

...... i am glad you think the term ``horrible hindoo`` is acceptable as is ``pathetic paki`` :) .......... somtimes these names can be used as terms of endearment in our common cuss culture - it all depends upon the occasion, tone and inflection .......... it is kind of like african americans affectionately calling each other `nigga` ............... besides, how else would you describe a head-wagging, heeng-eating creature clad in a dhoti stuck at the top of a plam tree collecting todi ?