Echoes

Farzana

First, let me congratulate the publishers of Chowk for selecting Chowk’s best writer as Chowk’s Chief Editor. They could not have made a better choice.

Having said that, Farzana, in all those years I have been at Chowk, being an editor of Chowk is perhaps a lot easier than making a decision of how to handle the interactions and responses to articles. One cannot deny the importance of interactions, which perhaps form the core of Chowk and gives Chowk its uniqueness. They are viewed and read a lot more than the articles themselves. But, unfortunately more often than not, the exchanges not only have nothing to do with the articles, they become very personal and, perhaps true to South Asian form, sexual attacks.

As you must have observed, the exchanges on Saima’s recent “Black Pakistan and White Pakistan” sank to a nauseating low. Everyone was caught in a frenzy of “out-sticking” the other and it went from sugarcanes to anal-sex to attacking daughters. Just as everyone else, and now to my regret, I was also caught in that frenzy.

One hoped, when Chowk’s new editor was announced supplementing the outlay change and re-arrangement of the Front Page, that the interactions will also change due to implementation of Chowk’s strict posting guidelines under the new command. But alas. Chowk seems to be long on words and short on actions. What we see is the usual. Here’s a sample from “Indo-Pak History via Mail” board (and it’s still early in the game):

Post #13: “we don`t give a flying f***”

Post #23: “Hello porky..”

Post #38: “juices oozing out of code cooley`s infrastructure”

Post #41: “You are a nakd little pip squeak. go elsewhere and spread your backside for the sugarcanes. as they say in your texan backwater, bondooks, brothel - piss-off!”

Post #51: “paki I fantasizes about sodomizing some Indians”

How long before this board degenerates yet again into sexual fantasies about the adversary’s mother/sister/daughter and his genitalia?

It is this that has held Chowk back and has prevented decency to come in. Does one need to ask why there are no women interactors on FP anymore? You think that the likes of Pervez Hoodbhoy will ever interact at Chowk even if they would like to?

The culprit seems to be the interactor’s ability to post in real time without worrying about editor’s knife. I have a solution to it: all those interactors whose index is 2 or below should not be allowed to post in real time but must go through the editing process. The editing of the post will be in strict guidelines of Chowk posting policy. And if any of the interactors with an index of 3 or above abuses his/her privilege of posting in real time and posts something which is either offensive and/or gets legitimately complained by another, that poster will lose his/her index of “privilege,” could post no more in real time and must go through the editing process.

Controlling the interactions at Chowk is thus the most taxing task and the most difficult part of being the Chief Editor. If my solution is not acceptable then the question to you, Farzana, is, as a Chief Editor of Chowk, what’s your plan to control the posts? Or, as they say, the more things change, the more they remain the same?

Should decency at Chowk be thrown out the window in the lofty goals of “freedom of speech” and “censorship”? How many decent and thinking interactors, who most certainly have the most to contribute to Chowk, you think that policy has attracted and will attract?

congrats farzana!

Beej,

Come on man, you think the clique that runs this site is unaware of Farzana`s ``unique`` viewpoint. Its obvious that they are in agreement with her worldview and aim to promote it. Slowly we will see the direction of discourse steered towards the particular brand of hate Yasser, Aisha and Farzana (prominently among others) dispense. Lets have no doubt about that.

Safwan Shah, Ginni Dhindsa and Saima Shah,


I am very disappointed by your choice. It should have been a democratic election. Or was she the only running candidate? I would have loved to see someone like Shandana Minhas or Bina Shah or temporal as EIC. These people are well respected and good writers.

Judging from her articles and ilogs, Farzana Versey is too self absorbed and prejudiced to be the editor in chief of a major website.

Plus bringing an editor in chief into the limelight was a disastrous decision. Where`s the chowk staff who was humble and modest. The chowk staff who worked diligently behind the purdah to bring us a wonderful website. Where`s the chowk staff that stayed out of the limelight and in that quality, showed class and sophistication.

I have a feeling that this decision starts the demise of Chowk.com The quality of articles on the front page is also diminishing. Whose idea was it to put self published and published articles together on the front page?

In any case, I do not support the current `regime.`

I have nothing against Farzana, I just don`t think she`s EIC material. You might as well have put an end to the website. Even long running and successful sitcoms end before settling for less.

You should have gone the Seinfeld route and ended Chowk before it became bad.

Safwan Shah, Ginni Dhindsa and Saima Shah,


I am very disappointed by your choice. It should have been a democratic election. Or was she the only running candidate? I would have loved to see someone like Shandana Minhas or Bina Shah or temporal as EIC. These people are well respected and good writers.

Judging from her articles and ilogs, Farzana Versey is too self absorbed and prejudiced to be the editor in chief of a major website.

Plus bringing an editor in chief into the limelight was a disastrous decision. Where`s the chowk staff who was humble and modest. The chowk staff who worked diligently behind the purdah to bring us a wonderful website. Where`s the chowk staff that stayed out of the limelight and in that quality, showed class and sophistication.

I have a feeling that this decision starts the demise of Chowk.com The quality of articles on the front page is also diminishing. Whose idea was it to put self published and published articles together on the front page?

In any case, I do not support the current `regime.`

I have nothing against Farzana, I just don`t think she`s EIC material. You might as well have put an end to the website. Even long running and successful sitcoms end before settling for less.

You should have gone the Seinfeld route and ended Chowk before it became bad.

#25, #3

I doubt that there is any chance of Chowk becoming any kind of site other than what it is. Here is what I think:

1. When Chowk started back in 1997, it was a one of a kind place for opposite viewpoints.
2. Over 8 years, Chowk has strongly set a precedent for fairness--each viewpoint will feel a loss if the other is gone. For Chowk to be Chowk we need all those opinions. Chowk without polar opinions is unthinkable. Just try and imagine Chowk without controversy. Unthinkable?
3. I expect Chowk to get even stronger. The Mullah must have his Pandit after all. So, I expect that all identities of Chowk will be stronger.
4. No one can really tamper with Chowk`s democracy--just look at the design of it.

And she spoke
``Speak wisely -- you will be heard``

FV as editor-in-chief... I don`t know whether I should laugh or cry...

Beej,

Lying won`t get you anywhere, you were flooding FP with pictures, I told you to stop. So much for your credibility.

SaimaShah,

How much power does the editor in chief have if this is a democracy? And if chowk is a democracy as you claim, how come there was no popular election for the position of EIC.

Anyway, I don`t think the sudden `ehlaan` of the editor-in-chiefdom was something that stands for Chowk. The editorial was almost smug.

But that`s my humble opinion. I hope my posts don`t get deleted because I speak my mind.

Speak wisely -- you will be heard!

...reminds me of the chain at the main gate of jahangir`s bedroom ...feryaadi feryaad lay ker aaya hai jahan panah...says the feryaadi
tujhe insaaf milega...says the drunken king
zill-e-elahi...hum aap ke mushkoor hain... says the feryaadi before his head is chopped off...;)

I`ve never been able to view who`s online either.

I`m also not so sure about the colored boxes with ``profiles`` ``humidor`` etc. etc. How do they fit in with the scheme of the front page? Are these columns, and if so, why aren`t they listed along with Djinn and Tonic and the other science column? Are there regular writers for these columns or what?

Thanks.

Look at the following websites:

http://www.chusni.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

http://www.ragistan.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

The whole chowk format needs to change to Ultimate Bulletin Board (UBB) format. The main advantage being the resurrection of dead topics and threads should someone find something interesting to say about that topic, say, one year after the original topic was posted. Why should issues be deemed dead after sometime? This would also keep redundant essays from being submitted because they have been discussed recently and could be resurrected by a single interact. For example, Mohammad Gill has been saying the same thing in all his essays.. which is nothing. So instead of submitting different essays, he can talk about what`s on his mind in one single long thread and it would all seam into a single seam of thought.

Versey is a good candidate for a responsibility which will hopefully keep her away from mouthing off her own trivialities as masterful writings. She also seems eager to look credible and has provided explanation to questions like `your ilog was long..` (per her ilog). This, to kaka, demonstrates a sense of accountibility and a hell of free time. An editor could use both.

scout dear -- being an editor of any organization is like being its head -- who told you it is democratic -- in fact the editor anywhere can be quite editor because what he or she says eventually GOES ... editors are usually always chosen and selected by the publisher -- on that count the nomination per se of the new candidate is in order

scout#23:

I agree with Omar. The relationship between the publisher and editor is one of employer-employee. Throughout the publishing world, editors are chosen by publishers without consulting their readers/subscribers. And publishers do choose an editor who is not only competent but also whose views they find agreeable (Ask Meredith or Conrad Black). One could say that in choosing Farzana, Publishers may have indicated their own preferred worldview.

My own little suggestion to Saima would be that she should not call chowk a ``democracy``, which gives rise to comments like scout`s. Perhaps, Saima wanted to say that chowk is a website that listens closely to the voice of its readers and interactors.

I am a regular reader of CHOWK for the last 4 years, but did not contribute anything to
chowk so far, and did not interact with the articles either. The reason is:
Chowk editors do not respond to my e-mails.
I do not understand why usernames are different from real names.
Chowk staff do not seem to read the interacts before publishing them. There are a number
of typos and spelling errors in many interacts. Because of this, I sometimes doubt if my
spelling of a certain word is correct.
I would like to know who has access to the profiles of the interactors.
Indians and Pakistanis bash each other and many interactors abuse each other.
These are a few things which are hurdles for Chowk to be a super website.
If anyone is offended by the above remarks, I offer my heartfelt apology.

Gosh, what the hell! Are people really as insecure as they come through in their comments?

I think that FV is a good choice and I am sure she will make a good Editor. Interesting that most of the unsupportive comments are coming from men - Geez! how secure can you all be? Let the woman do her job and we shall all see whether it is a good choice or not. And for heaven`s sake, this is not the end of the world and neither is Chowk the only place to write so take a chill pill and let`s see what these new changes are all about. But, having said this, I do think that being heard should not have to bear the tag of wisdom. There is not enough of that in the world anyway. So, everyone should have their say, wise or not.