Blog reviews & Warnock's dilemma - a criticism of our blogosphere!

That's true that I have not done so yet and I apologise for the omission. For not 'walking the talk'.

I will resume this argument only after I get back after doing some reviews.

Counter bait for Mr.Ashwin.

You are talking like a typical Indian politician. Why I say so ? nothing personal on you but just based on a personal observation.

well , I jus digged into the review section what did i find ?

When you last logged in , prophet666 has left a footprint in your blog review section and you have commented back on his blog review request.

What about clearing backlog that you were talking about in the starting post ?

What about the "social cause of reviewing those crying for attention" as you mentioned ?

This is exactly the human nature for all practical reason I was talking about . You did the same too last time you logged in , didn't u ?

Flamebait for @Mr R

This apathy to interaction in Indian forums  is part of our national psyche. It results in lack of enrichment in the forums. Mr R mentioned earlierabout lack of value threads. Part of the problem on forums like ours is typical Indian apathy.

Indians don't network online naturally. We are over-protective of our knowledge or participation. We operate from a viewpoint of poverty and scarcity. Instead, of fighting over small pieces of the pie, we should all look to enlarge it!

Also, we are hypocrites. Place an Indian abroad. Like a chameleon he will metamorphosize, adapt to the culture (while keeping his own) and do the things they do there, include online interaction, volunteering and social causes. Bring him back to India and he reverts to his 'avkaat'. He will not move a stone of a road - he resolutely waits for someone else to do things.

I edit in Wikipedia. The amount of participation there from Indians is miniscule compared to the 'phoreners'. Our sheer numbers do throw up some editors but its miniscule compared to some much smaller nations.

If you take articles on Indian Biodiversity, there are less than 5 prominent editors who have make substantial contributions.

We have a great number of ecologists or biodiversity scientists in India but very few frequent the the local email groups where they could make a difference. They of course are present on foreign or academic groups which directly affect their professional posture.

Fortunately, the one or two who do participate are able to make a difference. ButterflyIndia has two prominent 'experts'. IndianMoths has three, only one of whom is Indian. Dragonflies has one. ReptileIndia has one.

But with these low levels of participation, posts are amateurish and restricted to identification requests, a few announcements. Collective action, common cause and synergising the community do not happen.

Open science, the last refuge of the amateur naturalist, needs to happen.

-From an absolute begineer-

I will do it too.

Brilliant!

I guess even I should make that a habbit. I normally access Indi on my mobile while on the move and it becomes difficult for me to review blogs. So I now should take about 30 mins or so every week to access Indi on my comp and review and help fellow bloggers!

Warnock's delimma can also be attributed to us not receiving comments on our blog posts as well. There were series of discussion on this forum. For not getting comments on blog posts and even going to the levels of discussing Girls' blogs getting more reviews than boy's etc. This all can be attributed to males who get attracted seeing a female name, no matter whether they know her or not.

Personally speaking, the male dominated world itself a big let back to other males.

@Romeo (as army guys pronounce-spell alphabets)

Yes, I try.  However, replying your posts requires me to marshal my thoughts together, so I may not have done three today.

Exactly that is what I meant , You cannot generalize "Indians" as poor networkers . Its jus that we poor Indians have to marshal our thoughts over lots of issues and activities  like I kept you marshalled with my thoughts.

On a lighter note , I get charged up wen people starts this "Oh Indians" vs Phoren talks. (esply being a day earlier to Aug 15 am turbo charged )

Anyways , I do agree that yes , we can help with a bit of effort to review fellow bloggers here but then am a free bird who won't accept anything forced upon  And yes thanks Ashwin , I wud sure try to review blogs now and then ..

P.S > You can check my blog About us page for what R stands for Mr.Army man  not that i mind being called Romeo

Nice Discussion we had !!  

@ Ashwin

I like healthy discussions so I completely enjoy this thread !

on a lighter note , tell me honestly , did u review a blog each time u loggged into indiblogger since u made this thread ?

There are indeed many paths to 'Nirvana'.

My intention was to bring forth the problem which I had written about, namely - inadequate numbers of reviews when there is a crying hunger for it. This discourse of ours should have sensitized some of us about it.

You misunderstood my context. I am not saying 'review every time you log in'. My message is - 'We all need to pitch in and help. One good way to help people is by removing the backlog and this can be done by reviewing a blog each time we log in. There are other ways too. Let's all pitch in.'

Your first post contended that it's the other guy's problem to get me interested enough to review him. Not agreed to. He has asked for help by asking for a review. And he has done it in an area specially designated for him to do so.

While you are not averse to reviewing, you refuse to make a rule of it. Fair enough. We have to pitch in as per our convenience and comfort level.

But we still do need to pitch in somewhere - whether its in the small way I suggested or in any other way.

My intention is not to tell anyone HOW TO DO SOMETHING, but only that there is SOMETHING TO BE DONE.

Of course, Indiblogger is there for all the things you mentioned and all the things I mentioned in my initial post. Nobody contests that.

I was giving a clarion call for voluntary social service in this one of many fields.

Hi Ashwin ,

You dont have to say sorry for your aggresive words. Saying sorry for watever you thought right belies the conviction with which you said. So stick to watever you said without sorries :)

First you should understand , there are various means of service as you called it public service in the context of blogging.

Everyone have their own way of applying it in their life that need not be the same how I do or you do.

Of many bloggers I know , many of them I know through Indiblogger. The meeting point was from indiblogger from where the realation started and yes the service you talked about encouraging , correcting etc etc arised from this melting point of Indiblogger. That is what Indiblogger is all about. Meeting fellow bloggers but one does not need to be dictated or told THIS IS HOW YOU DO . Each one has their own way of interatcing with people and socializing and opting to meet people . ( substitute people with bloggers in this context) I have commented directly to certain bloggers whom i picked from the review section and so on. The success of Indiblogger and its focus is not just in the Review section , there is more to it other than that . It is just a part of the Indiblogger. I stand again by my words when I meant I cannot be honest by saying I would review a blog each time I login . Its not practical for me. I am sure even whoever says so , in due time they would realize too ( I wont say all but in general)

Yes , it does not mean I won't review. I would but I wont make it a RULE .

Indiblogger is a forum not jus for review but more than that. I am in this topic coz it interest me . So people would pick up the topic they like. Yes , If someone leaves a footprint in my blog , I would follow them. If I find someone interesting for me , I would walk into their blog. I have found many such bloggers interesting through Indiforum whom i visit often am sure most of them would have found the same like me . 

This is the success of Indiblogger.

Oops, soory Mr R for the aggressive wording of my post. Please put it down to the specious excuse that army men are used to carrying big weapons to any engagement.

I think I have crossed the fine line of courtesy in my over-zealous evangelism for which I humbly apologise. I stand by my line of thinking but cringe at the unkindness of my words. I could have been much politer.

Thank you for your detailed response which was the first to my post and which surely negates Warnock's dilemma in your case.

Well... quite interesting....and let's just hope people do not review other's blogs just for the heck of putting their links up, requesting others(sometimes too indecently...or may be too shamelessly) to check out their blog just in order to get some hits..

Btw... I am in for this Warnock's dilemma thing ... I think I am going to like it...atleast it will improve my networking of nothing else.

I thank Mr R for a detailed analysis but urge Indibloggers not to buy into his argument. We are better than that!

I also thank Mr R for his attributing youth to me!

I agree that Indiblogger is not the only forum we interact i. Yes, maybe we are not able to review once a visit but surely a smaller commitment? One session a week where one reviews a couple of blogs as opposed to nothing at all? One review a week will give 54 reviews a year! One review a month gives twelve. As opposed to this sophistry which means virtually none.

Or do it just once, sit for an hour and review five blogs, never do it again. You would have done your bit!

Sophistication and time constraint as an argument against public service, is what it looks like to me.

If we follow Mr R's view that interesting footprints are the way to go, might as well delete the whole blogger's review section!

Mr R's view of the whole affair can also be viewed as one of the contributors to Warnock's dilemma.

I've been blogging a couple of year's now and was already a hard-boiled egg when I joined IndiBloggers. I blog to a very small, select audience. I don't need the reviews, though I always welcome feedback and find it constructive.

But the newbies need it much more.

Newbies are like newly joined recruits - gauche, naive, eager, scared, intense, seeking relevance, achievement and recogition. They need to be given a helpful hand, a word of encouragement, at times, a splash of cold water on the face.

Seriously, even ten minutes on a blog is many a times enough to give you an idea of what can be done to improve a blog!

This 'make your request phrase interesting' pose is a bluff. There are only so many ways to phrase your request. If a`person can entice for sure a viewer to review his/her blog by just a few words, he/she should be reviewing my blog, not asking for my review. By putting the onus on him/her to entice you, you can comfortably square away your need to contribute to society with a clear conscience.

"Contribute to society? What a laff?" do I hear these words?

Well, Indiblogger (and Renie) give us for free a platform, a forum, a ranking system, a group, an identity. Do we owe something back? Yes, I think we do. Not a very large 'something', but definitely a 'something' back.

That something, Mr R, has to be selfless and not about you all the time. It may not be reviewing blogs but definitely something that you that is altruistic.

I urge Indibloggers to look into your hearts and minds and come forward and help someone with a review. Even if its two or three reviews and no more after that.

and btw Ashwin thanks for introducing me to a new term " Warnock'sdilemma "

Ah ! Finally an Angry Young man in Indiblogger !

Lets dig on other perspective too.

Indiblogger is propably is not the only forum members interact. Frankly speaking , I browse through 3-4 other forums hunting for informations etc. So people would spend much time on Indiblogger forum , if they see a "value" packed thread. You can see very well , in Indiblogger forum some of value addition threads have good responses.

If someone wants blogs to be reviewes the "the call for review" itself should be attractive. "Please review me" is a big putoff for me. Make it bit intresting I would check it.

Apart from this , Everyone has a time constraint. Most of the bloggers give preferences to visit the blogs of their visiters , the traffic of which could come from various sources apart from Indiblogger or including blogger. So they may not find time , to visit those who post the blog for review here.

Instead those who wants to review , instead of looking jus for someone to review should also visit others and leave their footprints for others to follow to their blog. Traffic does not come one-way always. Its give and take.

I will not honestly say I will review one blog for every visit , cos it is not simply practical for me with other activities. I am sure , It would be same for most of us here. Ofcourse , I can follow footprints and if i find something intresting I will leave my thoughts..

i agree with Mr. R i think he's pretty accurate in his analysis!

One blog review for every visit to the forum - now that sounds like a good plan!