Echoes

Re: # 50
hear hear! i agree with malik, scout and simran that the whole color me bright thing on fp isnt working. its hard to come up with color that works anyway and the reason the old scheme worked well for so many of us was because it limited the colors to spots rather than splashes. if you really want to do something graphically on the fp, then how about this:

move those color blocks to the space where the ilogs are now housed. as malik said the whole middle of page thing doesnt work and we really dont need a preview of whats lying in wait for us. i mean, you dont have sell those to the readers - they`re ilogs! besides a few ilogs in you already know what lies in store for you - temporal`s has poems, samina`s has articles, etc etc.

get rid of the colors and retreat to b&w. if you wish you can change the box into book outlines - you`d have six [or however many streams there are] books in a vertical row and the teaser or description or what have you would be beside it. so it`d look something like this -

/surrender monkey/ i give up i give up says rare lil monkey. awwww!
/chowk loves me / this week - pls give romair a hanky for his honky

and so on and so forth. surrender monkey would be one book, chowk loves me would be another book. or they could just be plain boxes. just leave the color out. or you could draw the outline in color.

shandana looks lovely - but not everyone is shandana [no offense, non-shandana writers] and anyway, i dont wanna know what any of em look like. the anonymity works. why fix it?

i`d like ilogs to be visible as soon as i open the page once more pls. some of us losers actually read the stuff and i`m lazy enuff for hunting to be a bore. sorry. :))

but hey, keep trying! and could someone pls get back to us about the scope of farzana`s title? thanks.

It has been just a little over 48 hours and Chowkies expect a revolution! This makes it possible for Chowk to believe that the community feeling is alive and kicking, just the way one wants it.

This space should, however, be treated as a `Letter to the Ed` with suggestions/comments and not to get into a dialogue with one another as has been clearly stated.

All constructive feedback is being taken cognisance of.

Thank you.

Chowk Staff #:``This space should, however, be treated as a `Letter to the Ed` with suggestions/comments``

Here is a suggestion. I think Chowk needs to add more sex to its conntent. It already has the violence part handled. I suggest a, ``Chowk babe of the week`` section. As well as a, ``Men of Chowk`` yearly beach calendar..........

Re#61 by chowk-staff

beej seems to have something in his heart against chowk staff and that`s why he is trying to provoke them. beej, is there a special outcome that you want from it?

apart from it, beej`s objection is very valid. a shopkeeper cannot dictate to its customers. chowk staff, please don`t be authorotative, its not good for your own health.

A Suggession.

There are very few people in Pakistan who can read and understand English, not to speak of `good` English.

I have tried to contemplate the rationale behind the recent changes to chowk.com. The only thing I could understand is that chowk wants to become more sophisticated, more structured and more real. I think more important things are in queue.

Who does chowk really represent? I know that it has been founded and run by some lahori people. Absence of advertisments show that Chowk is not about money. Chowk has most of its writers from Pakistan and mostly punjab. Bulk of indian presence is from the north. I have this idea that chowk is basically concerned with problems facing present pakistani society, at home or abroad. Indian presence is there to spice up things a little and balance the perspecitve which would have been more polar if things were otherwise. Chowk needs to clear up its mind at this. I say that chowk will do just fine if it makes up its mind that it major representation is of Punjab and other major cities of Pakistan plus those in India who are in similar situations. Trying to mushroom the whole south asia is silly. I mean, theoratically it is possible but what`s the point? More generalization means less attention to details.

There always are and have been sophisticated people within every society. However, what Pakistani society needs at the moment is not a boost to the sophistication of the sophisticated, but to push the barrier of the ratio between the intellectuals and the naive.

We live in interesting times when internet is available to those who don`t even have good drinking water. There is high chance that more people can be involved in the thinking process than ever before. Only the right methods need to be adopted by the right people who are in a position to do so. Chowk is one such voice.

I don`t know how to do this. May be, get best of your articles translated into Urdu (or other languages if you want to `reform` others as well). May be, have some delibrate effort to get some real history lessons written for the Pakistani masses, also in Urdu. Brainstorming is job of the Chowkidars.

I can only say that even if you view urdu as an old fashioned cultural baggage, a mistake of medieval cultural winds, please have a look at the facts and the demand of the time. You have the resources to do it. Even if you put only a little link on the first page, it will do. The biggest reason for this is that nobody else is doing it. Masses in Pakistan just don`t have access to ideas that don`t stink of something bad. And yet, they are the real Pakistan, not the ones who are born to be users of such websites.

......... i like everything about the new look ....... but here are two suggestions

...........ferozek should be give a weekly column, ``Lahore Diary and Europen History`` - for me his ilogs are worth the visit to chowk ........

.......... we should also have a ``Yo Mama!`` column where indians and pakis can dis each other on an on-going basis - arjun and rsridhar can be the editors ......... this will clear up the clutter elsewhere

I like the colorful first page..

Other than that..

``..We believe that Farzana Versey is one of the most honest, unbiased and fearless person we have met... ``

This is very funny.. LOL..

It has been 36 hours and I am still awaiting a reply from chowk staff in the feedback section.

I ask chowk staff (again) to make public the list of chowk interactors who are empowered to ban posters and censor posts.

Re: # 31

Scout, quite obviously I used the word democracy in a different sense. Chowk is a democratic forum--the design encourages two way dialogue and other elements of what constitutes. The publishing industry has a different way of finding an editor than a government. Over time as the size of a publishing house grows, the methods also changes. Anyway, I am sure you understand. I am wholeheartedly grateful to Chowk publishers who have provided a wonderful service to all of us. This space is for suggestions--so I will go back to a relevant comment.

Chowk Staff, you don`t get too many thank yous. We are all so spoilt. But I just wanted to say thanks for carrying on inspite of it all; thanks for unflinching idealism.

Regards
Saima

#61
``This space should, however, be treated as a `Letter to the Ed` with suggestions/comments and not to get into a dialogue with one another as has been clearly stated.``

Let us give it a try.. At least now editor has a face and not a god like creature hidden somehwere on seventh level.

Dead editor sahiba,
Here are some suggestions. Will wait for your response.
0. Avoid trying to solve Indo-Pak issues on this forum. Chowk has become a playground of arm chair experts who have not been able to achieve anything in their life other than writing 5000+ posts on chowk. For one year, DO NOT publish anything on contemporary Indo-pak relations. Chowkies are not mature enough to participate in such discussion.
1. Publish lots of short stories and literature - if you do not get good stuff than atleast publish translations of old stories
2. Get some material on real history - history of people as written by real people. Check http://historytalking.com for how they are doing it.
3. Publish more travelogues - about every coner of sub-continent and beyond.
4. Do not write editorial unless you can write some quality unbiased material. Check http://www.weeklyholiday.net for a sample of good editorial.
5. Make dost-mitter and Nazar Hyat Khan ``ombudsman`` of chowk.

Dear Chowk Editor:

I thought it was a great idea to provide space for the Chowkies to write directly to the Editor suggesting ideas as to how we the writers, the readers and the interactors can contribute in making this site our home where we come to learn, discuss and enjoy.

Noble idea as it is, there are some elements who know nothing other than abuse. I suggest that you should take the ability from the interactors to post in real time, at least on this Letter to Editor board. If a post has nothing to do with an idea or a suggestion re improvement of Chowk, the post should simply not be posted. This should also make “filter” unnecessary on this board.

Sincerely,
Godot

SaimaShah,

Thank YOU :)

To the current Chowk staff,

Thank YOU too for filtering out Beej.

To the Editor in Chief,

Make us believe that you are what is best for this beloved website. Good luck.

Re: # 55 Um...............YEAH!. Like, totally.

Re: # 67 Wah bai, tu te bari aqal di gallaN karda aieN...tenu kenay
andar aan ditta ?. :)

Good job man. Keep the faith.

Dear Chowk Edtior:

My post #77 was not about a suggestion how to improve this site and should be removed, not “filtered,” just as all other posts on this board that have nothing to do with the editorial content of this site and ideas as to how to improve Chowk.

A philistine with too much time on his hand seems bent on destroying this site, or at least make it as unpleasant for the visitors as possible. This is a filthy virus and, like all other viruses, must be put to rest.

Again, I suggest you take away the ability for the users to post in real time on this board and edit the posts before you publish it, or this board will become just another thread of the unruly Unplugged of the morally and intellectually corrupt and experts in abuse.

Sincerely,
Godot

It has been 48 hours and I am still awaiting a reply from chowk staff in the feedback section.

I ask chowk staff (yet again) to make public the list of chowk interactors who are empowered to ban posters and censor posts.