Since there isn’t much activity on the site these days, I thought I’d start a new topic… you know for old times sake.
As the title suggests, what were the major and/or controversial events that took place during the last decade that I was away?
I’ll give you guys a head-start.
Like what lead to the mass exodus of guppies? Especially ones that were really active during the noughties ('00-'09). I see most of them commenting well into 2015 (yes, I looked up a few, how else would I know that?) and then all of a sudden, most of them just stopped.
Was there like a Captain America: Civil War style falling out between members? Or did everyone just grow out of using this site? I’m hoping it’s the former and not the latter.
Off-topic; what is your oldest memory of this place?
arey yar, those who would even dwell on this topic the most are not around either.
Now, I'm still in touch with some of the follks who were absolutely lightening fast in posting here, fully devoted and what not. And the only reason they dont want to come back to GS is that they have moved on. Most are married with kids and those who are still single have also moved on.
We often talk about "events" and others which contributed to it but lets not forget the fact that technologically when most people are captilazing snapchat and Insta, GS hasnt kept up to that. Yes, GS can be somewhat matched with FB but as you can see , younger gen is not even using FB anymore.
and the older ones are happy with their whatsapp groups where they can forward all bluh of their favorite topics without being grilled or questioned or contradicted.
GS was all about community and still is. Specially for expats. We need to keep that theme but at the same time pour in technological advances. I always believe in having a comeback. staying positive much may be, but thats ok
A major dhamaakaydaar phenomenon or foreign invasion known as Bob incurred such a drastic climate change on GS that shortly thereafter many of the former members disappeared. This dhoorgatna took place about 8 years ago and went by other names in its infancy stages.
[quote=““The Last Straw””]
A major dhamaakaydaar phenomenon or foreign invasion known as Bob incurred such a drastic climate change on GS that shortly thereafter many of the former members disappeared.
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Now now, lets just enjoy the peace and quite for a bit, while we can. I’m sure that Mr. western superiority is aching to make a come back.
[quote=““The Last Straw””]
This dhoorgatna took place about 8 years ago and went by other names in its infancy stages.
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He has multi’s? I did read somewhere recently that he has been blocked before.
I'm relatively new and never saw this forum busy, for me it's current traffic level is normal. Although there were some posters who really entertained.
There was @boompatakha who seriously considered marrying a sex doll. Another guy at that time really liked that idea and their conversations used to be quite intellectual. Don't want to mention him, as he is still probably around but haven't seen him post in more than a year, he was fun too. They were all young guys trying to have fun here. I think they overshared and that information was misused to bully them so they left.
I think sites like Facebook and GS are attracting fewer people because it takes real thoughtfulness to write about complex issues. It is like YouTube vs TikTok. Youtubers need to put in far more effort than TikTokers to reach same number of views.
I dont know if this was last decade but the forums have undergone several rounds of metamorphosis. First was the era of NYAhmedi - the guy was a gem. Notable guppies of this era include Mr. Xtreme, Roman, ChanMahi, Matsui, Mr. Fraudia. There were some controversial discussions daily, was interesting. The age group was skewed higher.
Then came the cafe crowd - a lot of teens and early 20s. Mixed bunch, lots of action on the forums, the times of confused, gadha, phatima1, several others who no one remembers thankfully. Later several of the cafe crew turned puritanical and staged some moral revolts against GS's liberal ways, one or two tried starting their own forums and stealing guppies. Didnt really work out for them.
Last stage was the era of marriage/relationship forum. Tons of nubile women showed up from god knows where posting about ghararas and what not. Pre, wedding, post pictures, discussions. Lasted a couple of years. Ended abruptly. No idea what happened, probably all had kids and got busy.
And now we have the era of people returning in onesie twosies and trying to remember names.
Bobby and his multi wasnt given much attention as there were far more interesting things/threads going on
And he was banned after coming to limelight and be back with another nick so
It was a mix
There was unfair bannings/moderators , people grouping into groups , bullying , ego emotion over common sense, started taking this site seriously , pming behind to support/ or ban
Dirty politics , wasnt part if it but witnessed and left but was a silent reader once in a blue moon
Its true though many move on and got busy with life or with different app/ site but cant denied there were people who left with bad taste /grudge i think
Also the updating of this site is another eye sore imho, with the latest one with the password the issue which i think might have some oldies being silent readers now
Oldest memory was the Intriguing knowledge/ experiences shared here from desi people from different places of all walks of life
I absolutely agree. The average human attention span has been shrinking at an alarming rate. We went from TV shows with an average runtime of 30 minutes, to YouTube videos where the average runtime currently is 11.7 minutes, to now with TikTok and Instagram the average video is under 60 seconds in length and so is our attention span.
Off-topic but this past weekend Ferrari had invited viral TikTok “sensation” Khaby to the Italian grand prix at Monza. The dude got to sit in an actual friggin’ F1 car, something only F1 drivers can do, and he had to do very little to deserve that. I’m not hating on Khaby, more power to him. But it doesn’t take much to be famous these days, not just internet famous, but *actually *famous.
NYAhmedi, Mr. Xtreme, Roman and Mr. Fraudia were posting well into the 00’s. I remember reading their interactions, but by that point they were past controversies and were around just for the sake of being here.
I was somewhat part of the Cafe crowd, even though I was moderating the G&A forum, but we all know that G&A was dead on arrival, even though Teggy tried his hardest to make it work, but as you put it, Cafe ruled the site.
I guess, I wasn’t around when all of that happened. Mind going into further detail?
I am guessing that all of this happened in the Life1?
Over the years I haven’t seen this site change all that much, at least in terms of its visuals.
I had to reset my password and I was right back into it. So, I wonder where the issue is.
Same here, I never had a good impression of desi people in general as I grew up surrounded by Arabs and have Arab friends. It wasn’t until I stumbled upon this site, that made me change my mind.
My oldest memory of this place is me having a nasty back and forth with Aisha_Dubaiwali that extended to multiple threads.
My fondest memory of this place was when I became a moderator, even if it was for a dead sub. It was a pretty big deal back then, I guess, what with access to the mods lounge and all the insane gossiping that took place behind the scenes.
GS was the reason why I never felt compelled to get on Facebook, even though it was the hot new thing back then. I had a MySpace account that I rarely used. Most of my internet social activity was limited to online forums. There were 4 forums that I would daily, RennSport, NSX Prime, Ferrari Chat and GupShup, and for that reason GS will always be a special place for me.
Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer email over social media.
That must suck. I would be upset if I couldn’t get back into my account either. I’ve never had multi’s, I didn’t need to. So, I’m glad that I did not have to go through the same.
In my opinion the decline of the forum was bound to happen because of lack of adaption to modern technology, but it is also a fact that clash of egos followed by world wars caused the decline to happen much earlier than expected. The biggest fight that i have seen so far that dented the forum heavily was between Shak (director) and Molla Jatt . Shak was backed by bunch of ultra neo secular feminists like reha, khattichik, sweetif, deeba, S08, TLK and many others, and all these guys happened to be mods lol. And so an ethnic cleansing of the opposite group happened and many were banned from right left middle under the command of brigadier TLK. I do think this was one of the factors that played a role in the brisk death of the forum.
Did you happen to have a different name back then? By the time teggy was in charge, pretty much any post of controversy from that crew was surgically removed within seconds.
Regarding the “revolt”, i dont really know much and this might be completely wrong - someone named anwarqureshi aka gadha that had morphed from jovial cafe clown to strict mullah tried to start his own forum and funnel away the cafe crew there, after getting offended by GS’ “liberal standards”. For a few days cafe was missing its smiley sprinklers, but they came back more or less.
I think GS’ trend over the last 20 odd years reflects the general evolution of internet use - in the late 90s, it was only the privileged few that had access - and they were usually older folks in white-collar jobs. Then came its widespread use on campuses and homes. Kids took to it readily. And finally the juggernaut of desi shadis rolled all over it.
And with real social media getting popular and stealing all the eyeballs, GS-style bulletin boards have probably become outdated.
[quote=““Pakistani Prince””]
In my opinion the decline of the forum was bound to happen because of lack of adaption to modern technology, but it is also a fact that clash of egos followed by world wars caused the decline to happen much earlier than expected. The biggest fight that i have seen so far that dented the forum heavily was between Shak (director) and Molla Jatt . Shak was backed by bunch of ultra neo secular feminists like reha, khattichik, sweetif, deeba, S08, TLK and many others, and all these guys happened to be mods lol. And so an ethnic cleansing of the opposite group happened and many were banned from right left middle under the command of brigadier TLK. I do think this was one of the factors that played a role in the brisk death of the forum.
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^^^Interesting stuff. I don’t recognize any of the nicks you mentioned except Reha. I remember the thread that most likely led to her quitting.
[quote=““Pakistani Prince””]
In my opinion the decline of the forum was bound to happen because of lack of adaption to modern technology
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Forums were never meant for this world anyways. Most forums have dried up in the last decade. A lot of forum goers have migrated to Reddit.
[quote=““Pakistani Prince””]
but it is also a fact that clash of egos followed by world wars caused the decline to happen much earlier than expected. The biggest fight that i have seen so far that dented the forum heavily was between Shak (director) and Molla Jatt . Shak was backed by bunch of ultra neo secular feminists like reha, khattichik, sweetif, deeba, S08, TLK and many others, and all these guys happened to be mods lol. And so an ethnic cleansing of the opposite group happened and many were banned from right left middle under the command of brigadier TLK. I do think this was one of the factors that played a role in the brisk death of the forum.
[/quote]
Strange. I have nothing but positive things to say about all those people that you’ve mentioned. But I guess I wasn’t that involved in the politics of it all back then. Was just another member of café crowd.
Yup, I went by the name of AhmedNSX back then, but due to constantly having to explain what the NSX in my name stood for, I decided to go for a less conspicuous looking name. In fact I vaguely remember you being one of the first people that asked me about it.
I moderated G&A between '08 to about '10, I’d say. I think it was Hareem that was given the task once I had left, I’m not quite sure.
LOL, I find that to be hilarious, considering that GS was anything but liberal back then. I’m guessing the site has been shut down since then?
