Slander
Ever since I wrote this post in December 2007, I have made 14 more entries in this journal of mine. That is quite a huge number, considering that I am not very passionate about writing and blogging. But then I tend to take everything that I am involved in very seriously, including things that I am not passionate about. tch. Last week I decided to go back to some of my readers and get their feedback about this blog and find out ways through which I could improve the content I publish here. The results of the feedback exercise turned out to be quite interesting. I publish some of the results here for the benefit of those who arrive at this blog for the first time and think about returning back every once in a while.
60% of the readers find the content of this blog useless, 30% of the readers find the content offending , 5% of the readers can't make sense of what I publish most of the time and the remaining 5% decided not to express their opinion fearing that I might take their feedback way too seriously and kill myself in the process. Thanks to all those who took time to participate in this exercise and to convey their candid opinion to me. When asked as to how I would use this feedback to improve the quality of the blog, I told the participants that I would stop publishing if their response turned out to be largely negative. As you can see, the response IS largely negative. I am a firm believer of perfect markets and therefore I wouldn't like to be better off (joy derived from blogging) at the expense of somebody being worse off (the 30% that felt offended). I have decided that I am not going blog anymore, lest should my readers convince Livejournal to impose an externality charge on me.
Here are some anecdotes from the feedback process. I have tried my best not to disclose the identity of the respondents. I have however taken their permission to publish their comments.
"I am back from Chennai after having spent a weekend with my lawyers trying to put together evidence for a defamation case against you. I had warned you to put disclaimers in your posts, informing your readers that your blog had no semblance of truth in it . You shall now hear from my lawyers. Having said all this, I do agree that you were truthful about me in most of your posts, but what about MY IMAGE ??" - Aweenaas
"Dude, you call that a blog ?" - Hurshaw
"Your blog brings back memories of my childhood days. I used to write these kinda stories when I was in the second standard. So, GROW UP !!" - Lyna
"That French exchange student (phew!) ditched me after having read about the story of my spreadsheet from your blog. She couldn't imagine spending the rest of her life with a "true geek" like me who saw more value in spreadsheets than in flowers. I am off to Delhi now, to meet her and convince her that whatever you wrote was plain cr*p and nothing else. Thank you so much for NOT helping" - Cunndraap
"Why did you ever have to mention that I suggested a trip to Wayanad last year ? I had turned down a suggestion from the wife about a trip to Wayanad at around the same time ! And now, after having read your blog, she accuses me of rejecting her suggestion, but making a similar suggestion to you guys instead. How mean is that ?! I haven't had breakfast for 2 weeks now. Added to that, I am now being dragged to Wayanad against my will, made to trek that godforsaken Chembra peak and pay up for the whole trip. You better compensate me in some way, or else......" - Rowhit
Yesterday Rowhit came to my house and made me cut a cheque for 25 thousand bucks.
And finally, some positive feedback for a change
"Your blog is amazing man. Ever since you wrote about me, the traffic to my blog has increased like anything. What is really impressive is the sudden spurt in the number of female visitors to my blog. Guess what ? I spent the whole of last weekend teaching economics in a coffee shop to my female fans ! I owe the success of my social life to your blog." - Pramode
Unfortunately, Pramode confessed that he had had too much coffee in the coffee shop and was fighting a caffeine hangover when he wrote his feedback note. Later, on a sober note, he chose to be included in the 60% who found no meaning in this blog
60% of the readers find the content of this blog useless, 30% of the readers find the content offending , 5% of the readers can't make sense of what I publish most of the time and the remaining 5% decided not to express their opinion fearing that I might take their feedback way too seriously and kill myself in the process. Thanks to all those who took time to participate in this exercise and to convey their candid opinion to me. When asked as to how I would use this feedback to improve the quality of the blog, I told the participants that I would stop publishing if their response turned out to be largely negative. As you can see, the response IS largely negative. I am a firm believer of perfect markets and therefore I wouldn't like to be better off (joy derived from blogging) at the expense of somebody being worse off (the 30% that felt offended). I have decided that I am not going blog anymore, lest should my readers convince Livejournal to impose an externality charge on me.
Here are some anecdotes from the feedback process. I have tried my best not to disclose the identity of the respondents. I have however taken their permission to publish their comments.
"I am back from Chennai after having spent a weekend with my lawyers trying to put together evidence for a defamation case against you. I had warned you to put disclaimers in your posts, informing your readers that your blog had no semblance of truth in it . You shall now hear from my lawyers. Having said all this, I do agree that you were truthful about me in most of your posts, but what about MY IMAGE ??" - Aweenaas
"Dude, you call that a blog ?" - Hurshaw
"Your blog brings back memories of my childhood days. I used to write these kinda stories when I was in the second standard. So, GROW UP !!" - Lyna
"That French exchange student (phew!) ditched me after having read about the story of my spreadsheet from your blog. She couldn't imagine spending the rest of her life with a "true geek" like me who saw more value in spreadsheets than in flowers. I am off to Delhi now, to meet her and convince her that whatever you wrote was plain cr*p and nothing else. Thank you so much for NOT helping" - Cunndraap
"Why did you ever have to mention that I suggested a trip to Wayanad last year ? I had turned down a suggestion from the wife about a trip to Wayanad at around the same time ! And now, after having read your blog, she accuses me of rejecting her suggestion, but making a similar suggestion to you guys instead. How mean is that ?! I haven't had breakfast for 2 weeks now. Added to that, I am now being dragged to Wayanad against my will, made to trek that godforsaken Chembra peak and pay up for the whole trip. You better compensate me in some way, or else......" - Rowhit
Yesterday Rowhit came to my house and made me cut a cheque for 25 thousand bucks.
And finally, some positive feedback for a change
"Your blog is amazing man. Ever since you wrote about me, the traffic to my blog has increased like anything. What is really impressive is the sudden spurt in the number of female visitors to my blog. Guess what ? I spent the whole of last weekend teaching economics in a coffee shop to my female fans ! I owe the success of my social life to your blog." - Pramode
Unfortunately, Pramode confessed that he had had too much coffee in the coffee shop and was fighting a caffeine hangover when he wrote his feedback note. Later, on a sober note, he chose to be included in the 60% who found no meaning in this blog