Dear Amala, K and others:
As you all know for about three weeks I did not log on to this site. As an expression of PROTEST.
My two last posts would have given you the reasons... Alas, they were removed for some unknown reason(s) by the Moderator, I would imagine.
My feeling is there is some Structural Impediments in the name of Moderation to censor views if it goes against the sensitivities of the Moderator (I don't have any quarrel of any sort with dear Praveen, the owner).
If the Moderator gives a Rationale for his censorship, then it is fine with me. It must be openly discussed so that ALL members can follow the Rationale. In this regard, I like what dear Servall wrote before.
Also, I strongly believe that the SAME person participating in debates/arguments AND then suddenly wearing the Moderator Cap and censoring posts is very objectionable to me.
Yamaka has been fighting all his life for FAIRNESS and FREEDOM for ALL people.
He will not stand any sort of STRUCTURAL IMPEDIMENTS that violate this very basic core value.
This being the Primary Season in the US, I am fully involved in this process: I write very many blogposts on this matter in other Forums.
Best wishes to you ALL.
With warm regards.
Y
You may catch me at
Yamaka's World and
Tamil NonBrahmins. You are all welcome there.
Y,
good to hear from you, even if this be your adieu.
what i have found, is that there are roughly 3 types of participants here (though there may be more).
first, are people of my ilk. mainly coming here for entertainment and banter. i do not taken the forum seriously, and so, any slap on my wrist from the moderator does not all that bother me. ok, there are 101 more topics, and 1001 more ways of expressing what i wish to do. to me the fun is the chance to express myself, that too in english which i learnt in school and whose love of it, i owe to mr perry my english teacher, the thrill that whatever i write here, is immediately transmitted to all corners of the earth, and the equal delight in getting responses from the far and wide. i come here mostly for fun.
that in the process, i have had a chance to learn a lot about our society from the learned ones like nacchinarkiniyan, sangom, someone whose name cannot be mentioned, and (ofcourse) nara. i have learned a lot about our faith and tradition from these, and also the fact, that not is all sacrosanct, which i had suspected all along, and now hearing a confirmation. it has also sharpened my social conscience, and also awareness, of the imperfect world we live, and if i could pass on this sensitivity, to just one other person, reading my posts, i would have considered the effort worth it. personally, though i am an ardent believer, the views of skeptics or unbeliever does not threaten me, but only reaffirms my faith. i do however get very uncomfortable with the violent sounding doctrinaires and their vision of india - they appear to forget that india is a nation of minorities of which tambram is one.
then the second kind of members here - the traditionalist, who probably are the majority. by and large, they confine themselves to queries, presentation of a religious nature, and exchange of information. there is however a group within this group, who feel that the forum, maybe because of its name, should brook no questions or criticisms of our heritage and scriptures. their approach has been to toe the doctrinaires of the mutts, and even if these would find cause to be unhappy with the way certain mutts are run, they would never deem of discussing it in public like here. why wash our community's dirty linen here? and these sub group has not been hesitant to express their displeasure at open minded discussions of a religious kind, and also sometimes, appear to tolerate views bordering on intolerance towards other faiths. so be it.
the third group are a small minority. these are the ones who have studied more than most of the members; their learning erudition evaluation and criticality has made them today, skeptics to unbelievers. what business do these have in a forum of tamil brahmins, which by its very moniker, is a particular caste friendly group? it is these, i think, who have left the forum. i do not have answers as to why, because, till recently, i felt, that the forum was large enough to accommodate the varying viewpoints, which made this a unique and perhaps only forum of its kind in the web. if we narrow down to discussing just prabanjams and sthothrams, we are no different from many a others, and honestly, i do not know, how we can present ourselves as something better.
for about a year or so, it did seem like that, we had no moderation per se. we got along fine, and that is a fact. there were fights, but not being privy to the pr msgs, i do not know if any one left the forum, due to intercine warfare, and as a result.
i expect to see a reiteration of the support for this moderation, from the very same folks of group 2 - monotonous, adding no value, and with a hidden 'good riddance' message, . if these folks, avoid that, and instead, give some thought, to what is obviously certain valid points, brought out by such disparage participants as suraju Y Nara or others, they could probably contribute something positive and worthwhile. otherwise, it is business as usual, though i am not sure, what 'usual' means.
my two cents...
