The Paradox of Rediff iLand is Simple
Once upon a time the present day Rediff Blog platform was known as Rediff iLand. The reason why I chose it for blogging was the same for which a lot of people had come there – it had a very good collection and mix of individuals and members who were predominantly Indian and were eager to learn and use blogging for some positive purpose. Now, Rediff Blogs has lost many of those old members, ever since they migrated the iLand to Blogs. I want to make a few points:
People often expect the whole world to change but they themselves want to take no initiative. This is reflected in the way things have turned out for Rediff iLand. Once we had iLand, everyone used to curst it for unreliability, criticize it for low technical features, blame it for a few lost posts and disappearing comments. They sent emails to Rediff moderators, wrote numerous posts, criticizing and asking for a “change”. So Rediff did listen to them and “changed” the old format to this new format which is like any other blogging platform, particularly WP. And now, everyone disliked the “change”, they again started cursing Rediff for the change, criticizing for the unavailable features, blaming for not being able to use the old features. Some of them abandoned blogging and migrated to FB. Though the fact is that even when there was the old iLand, some people were always migrating to other sites. In this case, such members have proven them as “whiners”. They disliked the old iland, and they dislike the new blog. It is hard to satisfy human wants.
I think many people were on the iland not for blogging but for socializing. They didn’t post any original piece but only posted some funny sms, some nice picture, some touchy poem borrowing from others, and they had good “time pass” here on the iland, primarily communicating with others. Since the new rediff blogs don’t have old iland like GB messages and comment pages, they found their fun killed and hence they ran to FaceBook or Orkut which served their purpose. The fault was not of the new rediff blogs, it was the problem of mismatched priorities.
Once VT, one of the most popular rediff iLanders of all times, had said that Rediff iLand had the features of both Blogger.com (blog page) and Orkut.com (Guest Book and Friend List). This was what made iLand a hit. In true blogs, there are more discussions and knowledge sharing and less of chit-chat. But we at the iLand loved chit-chat more and hence we shunned the new improved Rediff Blogs. I think the true bloggers would still remain on Rediff Blogs, or have tried hard to remain here, while the social-networking brigade, which actually made a very good lot of readers and guests in the old format, has left the new platform for their own benefit. No harm on quitting Rediff Blogs. But let us accept the reasons why we left it.
Again, about the initiative. It is not difficult to ‘revive’ the Rediff Blogs. All it will take is a group of 4 people. Read each other’s blogs regularly, write comment, and at the same time, make new friends. In a span of one month, I am sure Rediff Blogs would again attract very good readership. But there are many bottlenecks: the old writers and bloggers may have moved ahead in their life. Students have become managers, bachelors have become fathers. People indeed move ahead in their life and their priorities change with time. While we have to respect their decision, we also have not to get discouraged ourselves, because may be, we still have time.
So I think the paradox of Rediff iLand is simple: we have to take initiative! We can’t expect the whole old lot to rejoin rediff blogs and then we would return here. If each one of us keep looking towards others, no one would move and nothing will change. This remains pretty the same in our personal life too. The choice is ours: whether we want to continue here or not. Either way, we should be happy. But if we choose one way, we should not complain about the other.
On my own blogging experience in the recent years:
It was June 6, 2009, when I closed my comment page because I was getting busier and not getting time to interact with readers like before. Just before that date, I was fairly successful, with comment counts crossing even 100 on some posts. I closed comments, and in a way stopped blogging, to maintain my priorities. Writing is my passion and I would keep writing. So all that I do is to post my stuff and go away. Seldom do I find time to read other blogs, though I still love to read all. When I closed my comment page, the iLand was still the old iLand. It has been more than one and a half year and I have not opened the comment page – as a matter of discipline. It was my personal choice.
