Thanks all, for all the good things said about Goanet. This is the 'cyberkudd' of the 21st century. Like the kudds of another day and age, it offers (virtual) help and pointers to people living in, not a strange and alien and new city like Bombay, but in the confusing world of globalisation and large-scale migration.
The credit for all this work goes to everyone who has contributed to making Goanet what it is. Primarily every poster who has posted even a single mail. That you did so because you feel you gain something out of the process doesn't diminish the value of what you shared! Of course, we need to be grateful to Herman Carneiro, who (I will never tire of saying, despite Cecil's known response) started this list when he was 17 years old, way back in 1994. He might have taken an existing idea (mailing-lists) and adapted it to Goa's needs. But it was his persistence, his cool mind, his behind-the-scenes work, and his low-profile that helped to keep Goanet going in troubled times, especially when our Goan genes made some of us try to rock the boat more violently than might have been healthy ;-) Incidentally, the fourth moderator *is* Herman Carneiro. He's also chair of the admin team. Just because he isn't as loquacious and keyboard-happy as the rest of us are, doesn't mean he's not doing substantial behind-the-scenes work. (We're trying to convince him to put out a monthly-newsletter 'From the Goanet Chair'. But at 27/28, a young man has a life, you know. In addition, he's also doing his medical degree at London after doing another one in engineering. When he completes that, I guess it would be quite a record for the Goan community worldwide. Do we know of any other engineer-doctor? Hope I've got my facts right on this one.) Mario adds:
My suggestion to Goanet is that they should accept paid advertising and remunerate these administrators. Then I would not feel so bad for the exponential increase in their stress levels since I joined Goanet :-)) How does one whack someone who is doing such a thankless job for nothing :-)
Mario, Goanet *does* accept advertisements. You can always advertise, even to support a good cause or a mailing-list or a community organisation! However, our rates are low. We have not yet hit critical mass on this advertising thing, and haven't been trying very hard. It probably takes more energy to try and get the advertising compared to what we earn from it. There's time needed to collect payments, process the advertisement schedules, keep accounts, etc... Anyway, what we *really* need is more volunteers! Please come up with a good idea of what small additional project you would like to take up, to build the Goanet brand and network of lists. We already have Goanet/Goanet-Digest, Goanet-News, CyberMatrimonials (Christina Pinto), Goanet-Careers (Bosco D'Mello) ... and the birthdays (Deborah in Pakistan) and cooking initiatives (Daisy Rodrigues in North America). If anyone could help launch, sustain and manage ideas that fit in well with the Goanet dream, then there's lot that could be done.... Lastly, I believe the issue is *not* money. If we morphed into just another commercial organisation, the very charm of Goanet would be lost. We would become JACV (just another commercial venture). Why should people support us? Why should they agree to share with us? Why should they so generously write for free (specially for Goanet Reader) or not launch a protest when we circulate material originated by them (with due credit, of course)? Compensation does not come by way of money alone. This I believe in firmly. The net has reminded us about the gift economy. This was very strong in Goa not so long ago. You just went into your neighbour's kitchen and borrowed the spices you lacked. When someone gave you mangoes, you returned jackfruits. If someone had a black-and-white TV at their home, it was the vaddo's right to go and park themselves there and take in an eyeful! So, let's focus instead on how we can take Goanet ahead, how we can all build it up further, and how we can volunteer our suggestions and our time to implement projects that takes it further along its path of building 'social capital'. (Please don't throw up ideas and wait for someone else to implement them, though. Suggest something you can start working on yourself!) Thanks again for all the good words. We at the admin team have been doing some donkey work. Much more credit goes to the many people, who have been contributing their useful inputs, knowledge and time to keeping this list interesting and active. What would Goanet have been if people didn't believe in sharing what they knew? --FN (Frederick Noronha, on behalf of Goanet Admin) PS: One of the biggest challenges I see is how to keep the large number of readers of Goanet-News abrest with 'the best of Goanet', without overloading their mailboxes. At present, they mostly don't get an insight into the postings on Goanet, and instead mostly focus on the news and Goanet Reader content. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | [EMAIL PROTECTED] Independent Journalist | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 _____________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. Goanet mailing list (Goanet@goanet.org)
