Editorial section

[kapil]

Hi All,

Have followed Jatland right from day1 and have seen the evolution of site. people coming in, going out, some great work in getting the community together and some poor showing by individuals sullying the feel of the site.

A S Sindhu's observation on possibility of a Editorial section is interesting and i see that as a likely way forward to get the best output from Jatland.

The site is doing a great job, but we can be much better. Thinking should be allowed to flow in structured manner yielding results or the ideas die out. This is where an editorial section will help.

How it could be designed:
a) Editors are senior current/ex Jatland members who in their own right are exceptional performers in their field of work.
b) Posts pertain only to the betterment of the Jat society- be it education initiatives, health , welfare or building up of political thought (the site is apolitical but i refer to advocacy)or furthering study of Jat culture and history.
c) Language use restricted to English.
d) No backslapping responses, no disrespectful responses.
e) All posts controlled by the editors.

Three areas where i suggest we can take lead is
a) Think, deliberate and start a chair of Jat history at a university
b) A project for recording and transcribing of Jat culture - our music, the stories grandfathers of old used to tell their grandkids (which am sure are dying). Compilation of ragnees- not the modern music types but the classical ones.
c) Talent development in the Jat areas for BPO industry in India or as skilled labor/workers for going out of the country(or work in expanding construction sectors)

I foresee the editorial section (if they come to fruition) to be the drivers of the next phase of Jatland.

Regards
Kapil

[Samarkadian]

Hi All,

Have followed Jatland right from day1 and have seen the evolution of site. people coming in, going out, some great work in getting the community together and some poor showing by individuals sullying the feel of the site.

A S Sindhu's observation on possibility of a Editorial section is interesting and i see that as a likely way forward to get the best output from Jatland.

The site is doing a great job, but we can be much better. Thinking should be allowed to flow in structured manner yielding results or the ideas die out. This is where an editorial section will help.

How it could be designed:
a) Editors are senior current/ex Jatland members who in their own right are exceptional performers in their field of work.
b) Posts pertain only to the betterment of the Jat society- be it education initiatives, health , welfare or building up of political thought (the site is apolitical but i refer to advocacy)or furthering study of Jat culture and history.
c) Language use restricted to English.
d) No backslapping responses, no disrespectful responses.
e) All posts controlled by the editors.

Three areas where i suggest we can take lead is
a) Think, deliberate and start a chair of Jat history at a university
b) A project for recording and transcribing of Jat culture - our music, the stories grandfathers of old used to tell their grandkids (which am sure are dying). Compilation of ragnees- not the modern music types but the classical ones.
c) Talent development in the Jat areas for BPO industry in India or as skilled labor/workers for going out of the country(or work in expanding construction sectors)

I foresee the editorial section (if they come to fruition) to be the drivers of the next phase of Jatland.

Regards
Kapil

Infact a genuine suggestion Kapil but I wonder no one taken the heed to reply here.If not followed forum will be immature for good and fruitful discussion.There is hell of personal leg pulling in almost every second post instead of content.This not only shows the emptiness of heads but also childish behaviour.

Editors of forums should be some learned person instead of popularity.Since Site is growing in terms of members then there is more responsiblity regarding content.Currently Whatever we are discussing nowadays MOSTLY is available on other portals,TV, Newspapers etc.In last 2 years site has faded in terms of quality discussion (though sensational/masala posts always hit high), most will be agreed with me here.

Morever nothing susbstantial has done in regards to reinviting older members.I know in reply to this admins/mods can say whosoever wants to leave can leave and join...But honestly dont you think responsiblity ends here?



Lets see if any positive step taken on this except locking this thread or leaving it un replied.


Rest Admins/mods are 'mature' people they can decide whats best in this regards
:)

[anilsinghd]

b) Posts pertain only to the betterment of the Jat society- be it .....c) Language use restricted to English.
d) No backslapping responses, no disrespectful responses.
e) All posts controlled by the editors.

Three areas where i suggest we can take lead is
a) Think, deliberate and start a chair of Jat history at a university
b) A project for recording and transcribing of Jat culture - our music, the stories grandfathers of old used to tell their grandkids (which am sure are dying). Compilation of ragnees- not the modern music types but the classical ones.
c) Talent development in the Jat areas for BPO industry in India or as skilled labor/workers for going out of the country(or work in expanding construction sectors)



Lets see if any positive step taken on this except locking this thread or leaving it un replied.




Excellent ideas proposed , only can hope that these are implemented at some point of time.

Again I would say it is something which is not an individual /post specific / group specific thing , rather it is an collective responsibility.

Have not been so long as Kapil but does not take a lot ( in terms of time and resources ) to understand the dynamics.

And there are some things which are already going on in bits and pieces.

Probably the thing that needs to be worked upon is : ( Or one might be tempted to call these are the "scratch" workable steps)

1. A campaign to identify the people who "CAN" be a part of an Dynamic Jatland achieving real and concrete things than mere increase in number of posts.

--- Arguments against would be that these things have aleady been done , people dont show enough interest etc etc . But probably never ever has been this attracted the senior members / moderators involvement and the name " JATLAND ". Make it enough credible for people to pour in.

2. Identify the best mechanisms to support any real level activities ( be it only funding and/or volunteer work by giving real time and/or a mixture of both.

--- Dont impose on people rather find out what they can best contribute with.

3. Dont look for too big , or too early , or too independent. Rather target for some(small) , long term planning , and probably an association with something that has already survived the initial phase or have already started up things.

--- Argument against would be that of riding an already drowning boat , but at least they have showed courage enough to start and probably with our help can be able to revive their fortunes.



There have been similar initiatives : Jat Jagriti ---> changed to Jan Jagriti , and then the most recent of Jatand Support Fund ( which has drawn good enough (for a start ) resources.


Dont pounce on me for always attaching social work with things , I am not all suggesting that , that should be the case.

What i vision is of a working group which diversifies itself in various things as suggested by Kapil.

Most of us have abilities to contribute in some way or the other. Be it financial domain , be it a guest lecture , be it through presentations ( videos , audios ) , be it working with young guys of our community or anyone in general and motivating them , giving them knowledge , information and othe things.

Its not the lack of time but the lack of will which is haunting us. And till it gets real time out of the domains of posts and replies and commitments , these will remain as Dreams.

=================================

What is more painful is to see such visions and ideas floating every month by someone and going down in the thread ladder and then disappearing anf erased from the memory. Either we once for all decide we are not gonna do anything(which probably is not something totally unjust considering the time and resources we spent on similar topics every next month )or this is the time we do it and only allow people to add on to the working model rather than float ideas.

=================================

Best Regards,
Anil

[devdahiya]

Infact a genuine suggestion Kapil but I wonder no one taken the heed to reply here.If not followed forum will be immature for good and fruitful discussion.There is hell of personal leg pulling in almost every second post instead of content.This not only shows the emptiness of heads but also childish behaviour.

Editors of forums should be some learned person instead of popularity.Since Site is growing in terms of members then there is more responsiblity regarding content.Currently Whatever we are discussing nowadays MOSTLY is available on other portals,TV, Newspapers etc.In last 2 years site has faded in terms of quality discussion (though sensational/masala posts always hit high), most will be agreed with me here.

Morever nothing susbstantial has done in regards to reinviting older members.I know in reply to this admins/mods can say whosoever wants to leave can leave and join...But honestly dont you think responsiblity ends here?



Lets see if any positive step taken on this except locking this thread or leaving it un replied.


Rest Admins/mods are 'mature' people they can decide whats best in this regards
:)





Good idea put forwarded by Kapil and seconded by Samar.

[Samarkadian]

Though this is reasonably good section to discuss about site and things that can enhance its productivity but lately it has been turning in to a 'sensational' a.k.a masaledar intentional or unintentional times pass section [thought more of sections are same except history :p ].


Dear Moderators/admins,


I hope and I'm sure all of you must have gone through this thread.Its clear that this thread doesnt demand any clarification of any ban or reasons for such an activity. Is it so boring to abandon it like an orphan or such a possibility is unreal?

--One more possibility of 'deleting' the threads which are poor in viewership of less than 100 and 10 replies to reduce the burden and provoking viewers/members to cotemplate more. What all of you say about it? It is simplifing the 'special editor's work as proposed in this thread by Kapil.


--Why not personal 'adjective' filled posts to be deleted as soon as they appear to avoid further mud sledging.? As it would squeeze members to maintain harmonious-interaction.? Am I wrong?


I hope to get some nazare-e-karam of busiest people in world.:cool::D

[brahmtewatia]

whenever i log-in at JL (in fact m always logged in) i see a rich aroma of delicious ideas floating here and there...sumtimes i feel as though the smell is emanating from my PC. its not for the 1st time, i'm seeing gas-bags like these, meeting the fatal end at later stages...reason : no response or callous response frm our mods...

...abrupt end...dont feel like writing...seems a useless waste of time...enuff said !!! :o:(:confused:

[tpannu]

Infact a genuine suggestion Kapil but I wonder no one taken the heed to reply here.If not followed forum will be immature for good and fruitful discussion.There is hell of personal leg pulling in almost every second post instead of content.This not only shows the emptiness of heads but also childish behaviour.

Editors of forums should be some learned person instead of popularity.Since Site is growing in terms of members then there is more responsiblity regarding content.Currently Whatever we are discussing nowadays MOSTLY is available on other portals,TV, Newspapers etc.In last 2 years site has faded in terms of quality discussion (though sensational/masala posts always hit high), most will be agreed with me here.

Morever nothing susbstantial has done in regards to reinviting older members.I know in reply to this admins/mods can say whosoever wants to leave can leave and join...But honestly dont you think responsiblity ends here?



Lets see if any positive step taken on this except locking this thread or leaving it un replied.


Rest Admins/mods are 'mature' people they can decide whats best in this regards
:)

Though I registered as a member in end 2005, it is only about a month back that I started logging in regularly and I have already started getting a sickening feeling. There is too much of leg pulling, sarcasm, internal tiffs, groupism, members trying to settle personal scores etc, which does not give a healthy indication to outsiders, who may be reading & laughing at us (it doesnt affect the members, who seem to have got used to this sort of drama). Contentwise, too, it is badly lacking. It is high time that the Adms/Mods take it seriously and change the direction.

Since my exposure on the site is limited, I am not in a position to shoot out any suggestions so soon but in view of whatever little experience I have gained thus far, I fully endorse the views of Samar Kadian & Kapil.

It is unfortunate that the Mods have not even cared to indicate their thinking on an important suggestion like this.

Surely, there is something wrong somewhere, which needs immediate attention. I do not know who is empowered to take remedial action.

[ygulia]

This thread gives a little hope that there are people who really wants to do some constructive work for the upliftment of community in general. It can be achieved provided we attract enough resources here in terms of the following:
1) members who can contribute enough time to formulate the plan
2) members who can contribute money and also help in raising money
3) members who can contribute in the implementation of the project

We should go ahead with this project, I think we have every sort of person in this forum who can contribute positively in one way or the other.
I am with you guys and ready to participate in this dream project.
I hope one day we will be successful.
Good luck guys!!!!!!!

[satyeshwar]

Hi Kapil,
Let me start by saying that you have brought forward some good ideas. I appreciate you keeping this site in your thoughts and giving suggestions to improve it. There have also been several constructive suggestions by members in the past that have been incorporated into Jatland. For example, Sumit Sehrawat had requested a sports forum and conducted a poll where an overwhelming majority supported this idea. As a result there is a sports forum now. Similarly, Navin Gulia and Jitender Hooda had requested us to add a Social Responsibility section and we have that as well. It gives me great pleasure to see that they are doing something for the betterment of our society, and attracting other members in the process to do the same.

However, over the course of years, we have received hundreds of suggestions, tips and hot ideas that never bore fruition due to lack of interest on our members part. For example, a very enthusiastic lady member suggested a complete overhaul of the site to make it more pleasing to eyes. We requested her to do a mockup and she committed to showing us her results in 10 days. That was a year ago and we are yet to hear from her again!

The point I am trying to make is we just can't rush at every suggestion, without first seeing how many members would actually be interested in it. The last thing we want is us starting a new section and no one really caring to use it.

So here is my suggestion. Let's start small first! We will incorporate all your ideas but not in a separate section, just a separate post. Start anything you wish, let's say in the General Talk section, and put the prefix "Editorial: " in the title. Keep all your rules and mandate that users follow them. If you find anyone breaking them, immediately report them to one of the moderators. Encourage other members to do the same! We will ourselves keep a close eye on such posts. If we find that there are enough threads and enough interest from fellow members, we would be glad to make a separate section, move all the existing posts in it and go on from there. :)

I hope you consider this option.
-Satyeshwar

[brahmtewatia]

nice meeting yu...satyeshwar...i really appreciate tht !!! :)


The point I am trying to make is we just can't rush at every suggestion, without first seeing how many members would actually be interested in it. The last thing we want is us starting a new section and no one really caring to use it.

So here is my suggestion. Let's start small first! We will incorporate all your ideas but not in a separate section, just a separate post. Start anything you wish, let's say in the General Talk section, and put the prefix "Editorial: " in the title. Keep all your rules and mandate that users follow them. If you find anyone breaking them, immediately report them to one of the moderators. Encourage other members to do the same! We will ourselves keep a close eye on such posts. If we find that there are enough threads and enough interest from fellow members, we would be glad to make a separate section, move all the existing posts in it and go on from there. :)

[anilsinghd]

There is too much of leg pulling, sarcasm, internal tiffs, groupism, members trying to settle personal scores etc, which does not give a healthy indication to outsiders, who may be reading & laughing at us (it doesnt affect the members, who seem to have got used to this sort of drama). Contentwise, too, it is badly lacking. It is high time that the Adms/Mods take it seriously and change the direction.



Hi Sir , Your concerns are anything but obvious for anyone who lokks at things closely and with a perspective of moving towards better.

I am not up for criticing moderators for all the blame , we as members must take lot of it a well.

I am not being outrageous in proposing that the model needs to be looked at again with an perspective of coming out with something real and something we all can be proud of.
:)

In the current model and schema of things , things are i would say not too far from ideal.

[anilsinghd]

This thread gives a little hope that there are people who really wants to do some constructive work for the upliftment of community in general. It can be achieved provided we attract enough resources here in terms of the following:
1) members who can contribute enough time to formulate the plan
2) members who can contribute money and also help in raising money
3) members who can contribute in the implementation of the project

We should go ahead with this project, I think we have every sort of person in this forum who can contribute positively in one way or the other.
I am with you guys and ready to participate in this dream project.
I hope one day we will be successful.
Good luck guys!!!!!!!

Hi Yoginder,

Similar things have been proposed quite a few number of times here and nothing has been done because there is lack of initiative takers.
And the situation is not going to change ( as I have realised ) unless we look at the whole concept of this platform with greater detail and are ready for changing things for good.

[anilsinghd]

There have also been several constructive suggestions by members in the past that have been incorporated into Jatland.

The point I am trying to make is we just can't rush at every suggestion, without first seeing how many members would actually be interested in it. The last thing we want is us starting a new section and no one really caring to use it.

So here is my suggestion. Let's start small first!

Hi Satyeshwar ( Pannu Sir , Yoginder , Samar are requested to please read this as well) ::

Appreciate your reply. :)

Not to start again a rhetoric of Moderators not doing this , not doing that and etc etc , lets take some of the points that are suggested on this thread , your response , and points from some of my posts earlier on the platform and of course experience on the platform of all of us and last but not the least our own discretion to attempt to answer few of the queries of genuinely concerned people over here.

Let me also try and put in bullet points for the sake of clarity.


1. Adding Quality : Is not undue sarcasm , criticism , groupism , cheap humour haunting everyone here? And you said sometime back in a response to one of my queries that this is something not to be appreciated. The friendship or the acquaintance of people among each other will take time in absense of the free culture that is prevalent here on Jatland but would be more fruitful and everlasting.:) Can you may be put this in one of the published docs on JL and also as one of the major responsibilities of Mods to prevent this , certainly it will require greater work short term but is going to prove beneficial in long run. Being stringent on the people who defy this can affect quantity but cannot touch quality. IF all threads are made for humour , why do we need a separate humour section?

2. Responsibility Sharing : Can we chalk out a plan in which we have few members/mods/admins/assigned persons being responsible as well for the content of a few sections? Example: Can we assign let's say Sumit as in some sense incharge of the Sports section with responsibilities including: a) Preventing digression from topic b) Preventing arguments c)Maintaining the qualtiy of the section. Something like a Sport Secretary. The benefits are multifold , some of the non-obvious ones are : Responsibiltiy makes people humble and we must cherish making people responsible and also will lead to more accountability. And also the aura/mystery behind Mods will vanish which is going to help in long run and will also improve the viewpoints of people towards people(mods) doing such a thankless job. Similarly some of the senior members should take responsibility of other sections. Cultural Head , Social Head , Entertainment head and such posts are what we should look at.:)
Also this will be a big step towards diverting the creative enrgy of someone like you from giving infractions/banning people/editing content/reading posts to a much more real and concrete work crying for your attention and time.

3. Concrete and Real World : Going by Think small of yours, lets form a very small group of looking at the possibility ( an Feasibility Analysis ) of Jatland venturing into reality. And achieveing real and concrete targets ( be it in terms of cultural events , upliftment of our caste at large , doing some noble work , training our fellow villagers , delivering seminars , funding similar projects etc etc and the list is endless). Teams can be made responsible for organising events for regular meets of the members fostering a sense of common aims , inculcating a spirit of friendliness , brotherhood , improving the communication between members. No one can deny that working together obviously improves relations and will go a long way in improving the quality of talks and posts here on JL.

4. Model : In above posts I have talked of the model , the model which i believe is in action is of a forum in which members and mods/admins are there and it is no more of an informative , discussion,interaction forum which achieves virtual world interactions ( some of them turn into more personal ones , though benefitting on one side but leading to groupism on other), lets change this one to where we really dont require mods in terms of what they do today( banning , reading content , kind of an restrictive approach to things ) , lets move in terms of things where mods/admins/senior members are indistinguishable and members themselves are responsible for some part of the total accomodative model. Long run that is going to spare time of people like you in doing diverse things and bringing in more quality.


5. More Ideas :All these and some other which i am sure would be in minds of Yoginder , Samar , Kapil , Pannu Sir , Navin , yourself and many more will require a leadership initiative to get implemented and it can come from none other than you and all our mods/admins/senior members. I am 100% sure that current model is not going to help us any more than considering this as an time-pass forum and the proof of this is easily seen in people's post in which they themselve proclaim these things.


6. Private Platform : I fully understand that this is a private platform and it is one's free will to be on it , and none probably has any legal or any sort of right to ask for changes. But i am pretty sure that moving towards something bettter is not constrained by any of such or similar sort of limitations/characteristics that this platform posesses. And I dont have an iota of doubt on the adaptation and appreciation of quality things and processes from your side.

7. To Do : Though in a different context ( in terms of implementation of ideas ) , Yoginder pointed out the exact ingredients: Time/Resources/Will.


I am sure we lack none. :)

Best Reagrds,
Anil

[raj_rathee]

The idea of a moderated section has been raised in the past but never
been implemented. I think it is the best way forward. It'll
allow a good balance.

I also think that the back slapping, leg pulling etc. is an essential part of this site. If anything, it is this that is keeping the site alive. The few times when
this has died down, the site had become a graveyard. As long as it doesn't
get out of hand, it is a *good* thing that people can be people. It is
an essential part of who we are. Straightjacket people or make things too dry,
and we'll lose the element that keeps people engaged.

[tpannu]

Hi Kapil,
Let me start by saying that you have brought forward some good ideas. I appreciate you keeping this site in your thoughts and giving suggestions to improve it. -------------

I hope you consider this option.
-Satyeshwar


Satyeshwar,

My sincere thanks and appreciation for your timely reaction. Since you have tons of experience, I value your thoughts but, being new to the site, do not think it proper to make any further comments.

Hope I did not hurt your or any one else's sensitivity by being vocal. My impression was based on how an outsider (being new, I considered myself as one) would look at the things.
--------

For Yogi, Anil, Raj, Brahm & others to follow

Thanks for participating to share your experience/suggestions. More than anything else, I am happy to see that the thread has generated lot of ideas and become lively.

Hope the younger generation will soon come out with a pragmatic solution.

Good luck !

[satyeshwar]

Dear Anil,
Here are my responses to some of the salient points made by you in your post:

1) Quality: As Raj pointed out, the oldest members (and I am one of them) have all seen this site becoming morose when we start removing every taunt that is made in any post. We have to maintain a fine balance and it's impossible to please everyone. What you may think of as funny, someone else might have been hurt by, and vice versa. In most cases, moderators are supposed to keep a hands off approach and let the members dictate the content. We must take steps in extreme circumstance (even though there have been quite a few of those lately). If there are certain bad elements that come in, pretty soon members start realizing that all they do is cause ruckus and start toning them out. The worst thing that can happen to them is a loss of importance.

2) Responsibility Sharing: We already do share our responsibilities with other senior/active members by making them moderators. At present time there is no need to keep increasing the list of moderators (especially on a per section basis). If we do feel the need that one particular forum is getting out of hand (let's say the sports forum), we will keep your suggestion in mind of giving it to Sumit. However, you have heard the saying that "Too many cooks spoil the broth". The same rule applies here!

3) Concrete and Real World: I have already said that members who wish to do some social work are welcome to use Jatland as a medium of communication. However it's easy to say all this when you are sitting in Munich or Sacramento, but extremely hard to actually do any of it. I am happy that you think about upliftment of the masses, but will be pleased if you actually go to the villages to do the work. You are welcome to start a team and use Jatland to discuss itineraries, plans, donations etc. Please take queue from Navin Gulia bhai who has already taken the initiative on this.

Lastly, in my humble opinion, what most members lack is the will to actually do something. Take this thread and it's author as an example. Very nice viewpoints, but no real work to back it all up. I guess in a few twisted minds, this will also be a moderators fault. :p

-Satyeshwar

[anilsinghd]

Dear Anil,
Here are my responses to some of the salient points made by you in your post:

1) Quality:

2) Responsibility Sharing:

3) Concrete and Real World:



Lastly, in my humble opinion, what most members lack is the will to actually do something. Take this thread and it's author as an example. Very nice viewpoints, but no real work to back it all up. I guess in a few twisted minds, this will also be a moderators fault. :p

-Satyeshwar


First of all , I thank you for taking time out to at least consider my post and the thread at large to reply. :) Appreciate that!


Next , it is a promise from my side that this probably will be last of the discussions/initiative from my side on the schematic of things here on Jatland (Not that i have been exhausted on patience / energy but I probably lost hope).

But Perhaps I surely will lay my points / perspective on what you ( Please note that you does not mean you , but i am talking to all those who believe the same , there is no personal elelment involved )categorise as leg pulling /jokes/humour/funny and what i categorise as sarcasm/cheap and pathetic humour.
I will just quote 2 examples and both of them my personal experinces:
1. I am in disucssion(one may call it an argument as well ) with person A and then person B pitches in with no reference , nothing and starts replying to myself , quoting me and even after all my comments to please refrain from getting involved , does not stop.
PS: View this in background of the kind of language/words I always use in my posts ( Have been assigned adjectives like : boring/dry/word picker/diplomatic on the kind of text i write ; I am more comfortable with these adjectives than indulging in cheap words and an even more cheap justification of being jat-ish about things in using those "faaltu" words ).

2. Same context as 1 , some very senior member ( seniority in terms of Age) pitches in and tries to calm down things and is putting in request to all. Some Person C pitches in , he has no posts whatsoever in that thread , have not been in context of things , and moreover he has never ever interacted with me personally/on forum/anywhere else/indirectly/on chaupal none at all. He in his post by using some Smilies ( in trying hard to justify that his post meant humour ) and says this :
""" Anil tae Munich mein bhundee dhaal dukhi ho ra hoga. Mein eeb e eeb
Germany tae ho kae aa run sun. Na ude boli ka gyaan, na ude khaane
ka gyaan...beer, soor, gaan, aaloo err bhand gobi ke siva ude kucch bhi konya. Eeb kam tae kam Jatland pe bhadaas tae kaad sake sae. """.

Well I myself pointed out that there ain't any personal thing between him and mine so I suppose correctly that this was in their so called " Humour" category.

But IF YOU WANT TO PROPOGATE THIS OR SIMILAR THINGS ON ALL FORUMS , PLEASE DO NOT NAME THEM AS SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY.
One is not able to handle himself in light of above thing , how can one handle society at large.


That was an eye-opener ( for me at least ) in terms of the quality and renaming every thing as humour that is rampant on the forum.

Next ,

Satyeshwar , and this is specific to you , If you would have happened to read carefully in what i said in Reponsibility Sharing paragraph in my last post I talked of dissolving the aura and the mystery around the post and I dint suggest to make everyone a moderator but in essence just giving responsibility. WE dont need more moderators but surely need more people to look at things with a greater level of detail. And I was suggesting to promote a culture of responsibility without naked power.

Regarding Concrete work and real world ground work , I do not need to tell you because you probably know it yourself on what I am doing personally and others would not be interested neither I am inclined to tell. But a positive atmosphere will lead to positive thoughts and constructive work.
And somewhere all (including you )have a feeling that I relate all things to social work and all but I am talking of things on all levels.( be it community , cultural , inter personal , social ).

Anyways I know it will require big changes from everyone and somewhere in Human psychology i read that People are averse to change so I guess its something which i was trying in vain.


Still I do appreciate that you and all Admins and Mods are trying your best in context of the existing system.

Cheers and Best Regards,
Anil

[kapil]

Satyeshwar, All,

Thank you much for your invaluable inputs and time spent in reading thru, thinking and replying to my post.

Anil,Brahm, Raj,Yoginder ; respect what you have said.

Commodore Pannu, Hopefully you will be long enough on the site and help bring some change for the better, sir.

Appreciate the reason rationale for Satyeshwar to be skeptical of what may come of this, while at the same time providing due encouragement to start small. (and no, I have not disappeared- did not mind it. I understand the context- have followed this forum long enough to share the exact thought as you. I just thought responding to every thought would kill the free flow of ideas and make it a 2 way dialogue)

I do feel however, that I have not been able to get a few points across. And I shall continue to belabor this. I am hopeful that with at least those folks who have responded to the so far, this post of mine may serve to further the thought. It is vital that, whatever shape the output take, we be sure of what is being thought of here and what it might take for it to happen. It does need to change the approach of Jatland and this will come by only with some momentum built on the thought. Starting small is one approach, and usually succeed my heart would still fight big.

Once again: I am not for once questioning the established rules of the forum, am just trying to layout what I see may help us. And fundamentally I believe in the rules of the forum for that is what allows us to discuss as freely as we do.

Specifically (and here is an extreme view):

(a)Segregating public and edited sections. This can and will also lead to sorting of individuals basis personal preference of what they may best find their salvation (sic) in, or enjoy being a part of. And not kill the site but allow for voluntary filtering to let those willing to contribute, do so and allow those of us who primarily see the site as a source of fun and a forum for mingling with people to do so.


a.The current social responsibility is one forum that can be transformed into the edit section with multiple sub sections.

(b)Getting the right people to be the editors: I for one would not do this. Not because I do not have the intent, or because I cannot spare the time but because I feel I need to spend a few more years under the sun to be able to steer all that we may. Would be different if I were to quit my current worldly affairs, however small and dedicate to the effort but till then no. I do think I can help it be set up Who the do we force this one to? And why will some one take it? Here is where the thought comes in on who has been a contributor in past, and can do this task:

a.People Who have been associated with Jatland

b.People who have in their time excelled professionally
c.People for whom social concerns / community concerns have been and can be a driving force

d.People who have the maturity to not be carried away by some poor thoughts presented by their distant cousins on the forum.
Do I have any names on the mind: Yes: a subset (and not a whole list here) of…. Ishwar Singh Lamba, Birbal Singh , SCH Sheoran, Nitin, RS Arya, Jagmohan Malik, Col Tavathia, Satyeshwar ;-) etc could be called in. They are busy people but time requirement may not be high.

(c)Not overburdening the editors: The editor’s role is of seeding the idea and maintaining only relevant responses in furthering the idea. I, in my mind, am sure we will get more than enough people to work on the ground should we have the right start made in the beginning. The one issue that I see we have faced is that we have not been able to retain the right set of people for this task on Jatland. (am not saying those still round, including self and all of you reading this are hopeless. Many contribute-Jan Jagriti as an example). A majority have come in and dropped off or actually many have been caught in the swirl of posts that fly around on trivialities. So what does an editor do? He / She manages an idea. People can post responses, but these are not visible to anyone till vetted first by a moderator (yes moderators still exist) and then by the editor. Editor decides what gets posted. Undemocratic , yes but for those who think that their idea is strong enough, try again, or use the public forum or better still refine thought to make it buy-able. There is no need for really having back slapping or butt kicking responses. We could easily have a counter where every member can vote green or red to highlight how popular or unpopular a thought stream is.


(d)Limit the number of ideas: This will be critical. Will allow enough time for people to contribute, for there to be a amalgamation of ideas coming in. Fewer things to think about and work on, better the results. Let an idea either yield something or let in die after 1 year (no short term here) If it yields something it can be spun off. If it does not, it gets moth balled till some day later there is traction. Introduce no new idea in a 3 month period. So basically a new thread starts only once in 3 months. Can start with say 2 or 3 and that is all we think about.


(e)Who does the work on the ground? There are some things that may need work on the ground and some that may actually need phone calls , liaison or a virtual set up. I feel that to really come act on things that require serious leg work will take time but till we start to act, it will remain a pipe dream. The other activities can be started a bit earlier.


(f)Would appreciate if Satyeshwar would help the thought and maybe if we are able to get enough purchase, to connect with other moderators to see the feasibility of something like this. Nothing will happen till we get all the right people on board and I include all the moderators there. The simple fact that they are doing this service is in itself a significant contribution to the site and hopefully be viewed as a contribution to the community in future as well.

All thoughts and comments are welcome.

Regards
Kapil

[anilsinghd]

Satyeshwar, All,

All thoughts and comments are welcome.

Regards
Kapil

The only thing that i will say after reading this post is : WOW!! :)

Moderators/Admins : Opportunities dont knock a many number of times , they are to be grabbed and pursued.
I bet you would not regret this one. This would be satisfying heart , intellect and inner core of everyone who will be involved and contributor.

[satyeshwar]

Hi everyone,
Upon popular demand, there is an editorial section at Jatland now! Please read the above posts to understand it's purpose. We will appreciate any quality threads that users would like to start. Also, everything is moderated! This means all threads, posts, attachments etc. will be first read by a moderator before they will be allowed to go through.

This section is not for those who want to pull others legs, so if you are someone like that, stay away or you will be given infractions that could lead to bans!

For now, the current moderators will be the gatekeepers of content that gets on this section. If we find this to be too much to handle in addition to our regular duties, we will assign this role to a dedicated member, whose sole purpose would be to read these posts and allow the right content in. This would also mean that there will be a delay after you post something and before it shows up in front of other members. Do not be frustrated if all your posts don't get through.

I hope this section is wisely used for the betterment of the entire Jat samaj! :)
-Satyeshwar

[sumitteotia]

Its just a suggestion not to add any comments related to appreciation like:
"heeyy Good work man"..."Thanks a lot"...."Very Good Idea"...blah blah...

these comments just increase the size of the QUALITY threads nothing else. I have seen that most of the Threads even QUALITY threads includes 25% appreciation comments....R we scaring the people not to read the Threads?? as the thread size is too much. People are here to read some useful stuff...atleast not the appreciation comments in the thread.

Think if a thread reaches 100 pages...do u think any new member or a guest can go thru the complete thread.No one has enough time to read a thread of 100 padegs or smthing....so if we ouself take a decision not to post appreciation comments on to Quaity threads or even to normal ones...then we can decrease the size of the threads.

Also if we really want to appreciate the people for their good work then we can:
1. Always Rate the Thread accordingly, also here we can do the sorting(JL website developers) accordingly which thread is much imp depends on the rating...as noone has enough time to read all the threads.
2. We can do a Private message to a person who has started the thread or who has added some useful stuff.
3. We can also create a sub-thread(if this option is there) which is dedicated for appreciation comments only.
may be more ways are there to appreciate people...and i suppose we are not here to just "Show off" like people...we are here to present some good idea.

This is a suggestion for people convenience...because just looking the soze of the threads most people never dare to read the complete thread.

Regards,
Sumit Teotia.

[anilsinghd]

Hi everyone,
Upon popular demand, there is an editorial section at Jatland now!
I hope this section is wisely used for the betterment of the entire Jat samaj! :)
-Satyeshwar

Great work Satyeshwar , Much appreciated.


Its just a suggestion not to add any comments related to appreciation like:
"heeyy Good work man"..."Thanks a lot"...."Very Good Idea"...blah blah...

Absolutely right suggestion Sumit , Moderators looking at the editorial section , please keep these things in mind. :)


I request all to please pour in with new and innovative ideas which can help us venture into something really concrete. And together with the senior and responsible members / Admins / Moderators , we can really make a difference.

Best Reagrds,
Anil

[Samarkadian]

Hi everyone,
Upon popular demand, there is an editorial section at Jatland now!

I hope this section is wisely used for the betterment of the entire Jat samaj! :)
-Satyeshwar

Two cheers to admins/mods, three cheers to site and four cheers to the Jats present,upcoming on the site.This infact add to the intellectual, harmonious and mature content for the intra-learning of members.

All my good wishes with members.

Thanks Kapil, Anil, Pannu Sir,Dahiya Sir, B.Tevtia and every optimistic member who belived in this idea.

Cheers!

[tpannu]

Editorial Section is a reality. Surprisingly, it has come about much sooner than expected. Credit for this mainly goes to Kapil Dahiya for floating the idea and to Satyeshwar for accepting it; all others may rejoice for giving it a push. My compliments to all and best wishes for the success of the new venture.

I am happy to note that Samar Singh Kadyan has already taken the much desired lead by starting the thread; young blood needs to take it further.

For a while, I had gone in passive mode, which may be normal with me in future, too. In any case, I have gone past the stage/age of being at a working or, for that matter, even at supervisory level; hence my contribution may not be much. It is not even needed mainly because we have lot many youngsters, who are full of new ideas and enthusiasm to carry the torch forward successfully. Notwithstanding, I hope to be there as a playback, a role which suits me temperamentally, too.

Editorial Section will require lot of attention of/supervision by Editors, thereby increasing their workload manifold. The Members will do well to keep that in mind and help them by contributing through meaningful and healthy discussions; there should be no tendency to sidetrack the main issue.

Lastly, a word of advice for consideration. In this section, let us avoid unnecessary element and restrict the use only to " English" language. I am not against the promotion of our dialect (in fact, being from the grass roots, I love it), which already enjoys tremendous scope in other sections; it is because the Editorial Section should have a place of pride, which can earn respect from outsiders, too.

God bless !!!

[sumeetmalik]

Hey Guys,

I posted a thread on the Editorial section. Now I am pretty happy with the response it is getting but I am not sure about the kind of responses. Let me explain before you guys jump on me!
Editorial section in any platform or magazine considers language sacrosanct so please, please refrain from using SMS kind of language. Please realize that we are trying to build a body of work which we can be proud of. Otherwise we could have started the thread in time pass secton (discounting the personal attacks of course). Now informal language works ok in other forums (although I still have my arguments against it) but the whole purpose of editorial section is that our thoughts are presented clearly and succintly. So please take the pain to refine your thoughts and hence your language. It doesn't matter then if it is Hindi or English. I know it is frustrating but as a child if you have ever sent a letter to newspaper editor you would probably find this a hundred times easier.
This is for mods. I found that I could only edit my text twice as there were some mistakes pointed out to me. But now I can't edit anymore and there is still a glaring error that I want to edit.
Also please consider an editor instead of a moderator.
Hope you guys will take it in good spirit.

[brahmtewatia]

i observed in the morning today tht my post on editorial section was 2nd, only to realize after checking sum time later tht its no. 4.

i do agree tht the post will follow the sequential order in accordance to the time when it was posted. my concern here is tht if the posts r inserted in btwn (i mean the later post showing earlier on the thread... like mine) the chances of missing the posts r higher. pls. ensure tht the posts r cleared after moderation in sequential order, obviously in accordance with the time they were posted.

secondly, is it possible to show the thread as UNREAD when a post arrives at tht thread after moderation ? i observed tht the thread has been showing as READ since morning, despite of the fact I saw more posts being added.

[sumeetmalik]

What is ironic is the thread talks about communication and articulation and we are being deficient in articulating our ideas on articulation!

[brahmtewatia]

What is ironic is the thread talks about communication and articulation and we are being deficient in articulating our ideas on articulation!

sumeet cud u pls. elaborate wat u intend to say ? :confused:

[sumeetmalik]

sumeet cud u pls. elaborate wat u intend to say ? :confused:
I am saying we can do a better job in putting our ideas in editorial section. My post 25 has already elaborated on what I intended to say.

[anilsinghd]

Sumeet its a steep learning curve for some and a curve in any case for all.

Patience is a virtue mate! :)

[choudharyneelam]

Nice thoughts as shared by the worthy members.....and found the satisfactory replies by Satyeshwar (our moderator)

rest for asked conditions and behaviour its our responsibility to abide by the same

[sumeetmalik]

I understand patience is a virtue. I waited almost four days before posting the thread after writing it on my computer. The reason was that I wanted to revise the thoughts and make them as clear as possible. In fact that is how editorial section should be. Unless you are making a serious contribution and not catching the thought drift, you can stay away.
If the members still are unable to do it, we should look at the process once again. There has to be editing involved in editorials! Otherwise we won't be able to achieve any quality.
That's just my view. Moderation just doesn't cut it for me at Editorial section. When I learnt of the concept through this thread, I was quite excited but now I am confused since there is not much difference between Editorial and Other Forums.

[anilsinghd]

I understand patience is a virtue. I waited almost four days before posting the thread after writing it on my computer. The reason was that I wanted to revise the thoughts and make them as clear as possible. In fact that is how editorial section should be. Unless you are making a serious contribution and not catching the thought drift, you can stay away.
If the members still are unable to do it, we should look at the process once again. There has to be editing involved in editorials! Otherwise we won't be able to achieve any quality.
That's just my view. Moderation just doesn't cut it for me at Editorial section. When I learnt of the concept through this thread, I was quite excited but now I am confused since there is not much difference between Editorial and Other Forums.



Hi Sumeet,

Truly appreciate your thoughts mate. But we must also give the due credits.

Thanks to Mods for providing us the platform and at least a restricted place. I agree this ain't ideal but its far better than nothing.

Mate , dont be confused , rather provide us quality posts and ideas so as to keep this flame burning and we can always move towards perfection.
Nothing ain't ideal , its only tending to the abstract concept ,right ? :) :)


=======

@ Mods : Please look at the possibility of having an Editor with us on the Editorial Section. Ofcourse I do understand , it can take time to find one but please make conscious efforts.
:)