What was PDF like in the early days and its future

[VCheng]

Posted without comment:

 

[Zibago]

Posted without comment:

View attachment 531862

More Indians more views less Indians less views replied without graph

 

[VCheng]

More Indians more views less Indians less views replied without graph

It has dropped further in the last few days after a few Pakistani member departures. The issues go deeper than mere nationalities.

 

[911]

None of them had any 'thanks' probably because this feature wasn't available back in the days.

Nah. Forum had database issue one day and all the likes prior to that day disappeared when that got resolved.

 

[Zibago]

It has dropped further in the last few days after a few Pakistani member departures. The issues go deeper than mere nationalities.

The solution is rather simple let it become what the facebook page has always been

 

[VCheng]

The solution is rather simple let it become what the facebook page has always been

The solution is up to the management as they fit, and only after if they deem this to be a problem in the first place.

Nah. Forum had database issue one day and all the likes prior to that day disappeared when that got resolved.

Yes, the database error also almost completely disappeared certain member's posts to near nothing.

 

[Zibago]

The solution is up to the management as they fit, and only after if they deem this to be a problem in the first place.



Yes, the database error also almost completely disappeared certain member's posts to near nothing.

Ofcourse they have a choice on which group they need to pander to

 

[VCheng]

Ofcourse they have a choice on which group they need to pander to

This is not about any pandering. They have stated goals and mission for the forum, and it is up to them how to best further them.

 

[Zibago]

This is not about any pandering. They have stated goals and mission for the forum, and it is up to them how to best further them.

Its all about pandering pandering to one groups alienates the other

 

[VCheng]

Its all about pandering pandering to one groups alienates the other

Again, it is up to management to cater to their membership as they see fit.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

the Internet Hindu was born and came charging in. PDF never recovered

I was just thinking the same thing. Obviously it takes two to tango, and it wasn't just the fact that those you call 'internet Hindus' came on board, but also many Pakistanis who simply couldn't deal with the 'trolling' or instigated themselves.

Personally, I remember the Mumbai attacks as being a defining moment in terms of many Indian posters that I liked and respected for their balanced and rational views taking a much more hardline stance against Pakistan. There were always trolls on both sides, but when a good chunk of the more balanced members shifted to extreme positions, it just opened a flood of abuse, anger and attacks on both sides. And it wasn't just on this forum - the comments sections on news sites, especially Pakistani, filled up with rather hateful anti-Pakistan commentary.

The same shift to a more hardline position was also seen in many Indian journalists/commentators that used to be more balanced and in favor of dialog, now arguing in favor of punitive military actions against Pakistan. The overall 'online Hindu' phenomenon was also fueled, in my view, by the devastating wave of terrorism sweeping Pakistan and the declining US-Pakistan relationship. There was a view that Pakistan was on her last legs, and the combination of terrorism and US anger meant it was only a matter of time before Pakistan collapsed.

 

[SQ8]

It was beautiful.

Having come in from PTH, I was used to writing long notes, and some of my posts spanned three or four pages, AND THEY WERE READ! Accurately, meticulously, intelligently read. What I got in terms of response was awesome; there were other Pakistani fora that were slightly ahead in terms of individual intellectual power, but this offered a range and a breadth of opinion that just blew away the few of us who were participating from India.

There was no lack of patriotic zeal, but there was always an innate courtesy, that has become associated in my mind with the properly educated Pakistani, who, even under pressure, manages to clothe his thoughts in elegant form. I have no idea where they went; only a handful are left. Many have changed names, and done that so often that it is difficult to spot them as the same people.

Then came the deluge. That was probably 2012 onwards, maybe a year earlier, and the Internet Hindu was born and came charging in. PDF never recovered; even though there came a phase of harsher supervision, and Pakistani reaction to the muck that was floating around, and even though many middle-of-the-road Indian members left, the other side of this dismal development has stayed on. Instead of the khaki chaddi, the green chaddi holds sway, and without much rebuke or disciplining.

Life goes on.

Im glad you see the actual symptoms, which is why I bought up the “Indian ban” or new Indian member ban just to let the atmosphere recover since right now there just isn’t breathing space for it. Unless the hatred is dialed down where the sanity return for Pakistani members and knee jerk ends.. it wont be a problem one can fix.
Because right now the mod team takes heat from all sides regardless of the steps it takes and is stuck in a catch-22 situation.
The Pakistanis complain the team doesn’t do enough to curtail the Bhakt trolls(new and “senior” alike) and the Indians complain(which many did but not as frequently) of bias.

 

[padamchen]

Im glad you see the actual symptoms, which is why I bought up the “Indian ban” or new Indian member ban just to let the atmosphere recover since right now there just isn’t breathing space for it. Unless the hatred is dialed down where the sanity return for Pakistani members and knee jerk ends.. it wont be a problem one can fix.
Because right now the mod team takes heat from all sides regardless of the steps it takes and is stuck in a catch-22 situation.
The Pakistanis complain the team doesn’t do enough to curtail the Bhakt trolls(new and “senior” alike) and the Indians complain(which many did but not as frequently) of bias.

@jbgt90 will bear me out on this, and I feel we differ fundamentally with @Joe Shearer 's read onthis in that the sanghis are actually quite ambivalent towards you guys. Of course, as with everything else in life, things are subjective.

Their venom has mainly today and during this term and always since the inception of their toxic ideology always been directed within.

If you know your history you will know their contribution to the freedom struggle. A big zero if not outright whiners and collaborators.

Trust me when I tell you that they are the mirror saffron opposites of your Islamists.

And they are trying to drive our country in the same direction.

Who are your Islamists attacking? Us? Or you?

Same equation here.

Look deeper ....

Cheers, Doc

 

[Skies]

About future:

'Becoming a research platform from a discussion platform'

I think PDF has failed to explore its other scopes to be more renowned, more interesting and more reliable source of information. It should no more be a forum merely, but a 'research and policy making' institute/platform. PDF can be a great platform for 'social scientific research' based on availability of unlimited public and natural data (which contain many set of opinions) and material for analysis.

In future, PDF should issue important topics and publish monthly research and review report-outs generated from the discussions and opinions by its members who are the representatives of specific population . Such report-outs would require qualitative analyses such as data mining and content analysis like thematic analysis, sentiment analysis, longitudinal studies etc. For that PDF will need to hire researchers and pay them form its revenue. The figure below shows an example of report (correspondence analysis of matrix cross-tabulating forums and related themes) that visualize clusters of forums and themes discussed on Muslimaboard forum.

Also, in future, in every month, the PDF 'think tank groups' can formally release guidelines, recommend policies and strategies for the Pakistan or other governments based on the huge amount of informal but valuable and diverse knowledge data that is being transferred here monthly. To do that, various systematic methodologies are needed to extract findings.

Also there can be a separate 'Forum Learning reflection and review' section (for mature and advanced members) where member would share about their metacognition experience on PDF. It looks very ordinary that we only discuss here but can never elicit conclusive summaries/findings (like the figure above) to get clear pictures of the contextual findings/outcomes generated from the valuable forum discourse. Such type of findings can also act as significant reference for other studies if drown methodologically.

Also in future PDF can release a checklist/rubric to evaluate members' post quality.

 

[Beskar]

The old days....

The crap started with this one guy named "Neo" who flew too close to the sun.

Rest is history.