In the early '90s, there was this first Nepali electronic newsletter called The Nepal Digest (TND). It was started by Rajpal Singh in Illinois, and, for a time, was a widely circulated ONLY one electronic newsletter among Nepalis about Nepal.

Every week, TND came to your inbox as an email, filled with news about Nepal with occasional views/debates/discussions of fellow Nepalis from around the world (though for some reason, US-based Nepalis tended to be more vocal than Nepalis elsewhere).

TND started to lose its charm when The Kathmandu Post and other Nepali newspapers started putting up their Web sites. People started getting their news directly from
Nepal.

This led to a greater demand for news analyses as opposed to mere news reportage from electronic sources.

Soc.Culture.Nepal (SCN), a Usenet group, fulfilled that demand up to a point in the late 1990s. Unlike TND, which was an editor-collated product with its own weekly cycle,
SCN allowed users to post their comments and analyses and get almost-instant feedbacks from anyone wanting to respond to postings. This led to lively, if
occasionally acrimonious, exchanges of views.

One major practical downside of SCN was its totally unmoderated nature. Often Indians and Pakistanis would cross-post their various unrelated-to-Nepal jhagada on SCN.
And wading through their dross to get to Nepal-related stuff eventually became a boring and tiring chore for most SCN users.

Then came Sajha.com at the start of this century. It combined the best of SCN features
with loose moderation. This kept the Indian and Pakistani cross-posters out, and allowed pretty much Nepali-only to post their views.

Sajha's flagship section -- the kurakani section -- took off after the Royal Massacre of 2001. Later, easy-to-use chatrooms and word-of-mouth publicity helped bring in many other Nepalis to the site. A diversity of visitor's postings helped make the site interesting and 'sticky' (some say: addictive) for most visitors.

Now, in 2005, the electronic communication/info sharing process appears to have entered a new phase with the rise of Nepal-related blogs.

In the past few months, many excellent Nepal-related blogs have come up. Some of the blogs are group-blogs; some are sustained individually. Some have great fresh news contents. Others are well-written and well-presented. A few are merely entertaining. But altogether, they ARE siphoning attention -- the most precious commodity -- away from Sajha.

As a well-wisher of Sajha, I think the time has come for Sajha to redefine its mission and and differentiate itself from its 'competitors'.

What is Sajha for in these changing times?

For news?
For views?
For debates?
For announcing community events?
For sharing the photos of community events?
For social activism?

Other well-wishers of Sajha and San himself must start thinking ahead so that Sajha -- in these times of rapidly changing technologies -- does not suffer the fate of its predecessors.

Something to think about.

oohi
ashu

[Hey there Ashu!]

If I were San, I would be thinking hard and fast as of this second!

It is not just pessimistic view, but in my mind, a reality. You have put this whole e-zine (sort of) phenomenon in a perspective Ashu.

Aaja byanai ganeshthan ga jasto lagyo. Aba ganesthan ma ganesh ta bhetine bhaigaye ani mauka parya bela sundari ni bhetine---darshan garna lai ni. Ahile tyastai bho...aba sajhathanma aayeshi sajha ta bhetihaliyo ani NK ko pani darshan bho---sabdaharu marfat. Aba parsad bhetesi sunma sugandha hunchha---sugandha ni tya charli sent ko!


la san bro, eka patti ko kan jhattai thunnu paryo feri jaruri kura euta kan bata chhirera arko bata niskela. baru thunne po kun chai kan?...entrance ra exit kan tha chha ta ?

"What is Sajha for in these changing times?

For news?
For views?
For debates?
For announcing community events?
For sharing the photos of community events?
For social activism?"

May I also add:

For expressions of underdog literary works (poems, stories, etc)?
For random ramblings?
For chat?

Well, for me, Sajha's uniqueness reflects upon the fact that it has been serving --quite colorfully and brilliantly, may I add -- not only one or two or three of the above purposes, but ALL of them. No other Nepali site, be it a blog or something else, caters to serve almost EVERY aspect of a Nepali life, from serious political, social and literary issues to news to not-so-serious ordinary ramblings. In this reagrd, giving some thoughts to improvements is fine, but I don't think time has come for Sajha to seriously contemplate strategies for competition.

One of the several possible immediate solutions,
is to let Sajhaities have their own Blog sections as they
wish. Here, San can create a forum Moderators.
(Let Kurakani section be free from moderation).
I am talking about Blog (weBLOG) section. When you
create such moderators with their posting background
in Sajha.com .... if you wish you can have election too.
Let these BLOG moderators vote any non-sense thing
that is posted under BLOG section. You can have about
9 or eleven moderators/judges like supreme court justice.
You creat "AGREE REJECT Let It be there for some time...
type of options". Once majority e.g. 6 out of 11 reject
the blog, it can be kicked out of Sajha.com. If you think
its too much burden, you can have 15 or 21 members.
When such objectionable stuffs appear, we will instantly
see the stuffs over Kurakani section, i.e. the power of
Kurakani section. Then, moderators can instantly check
the BLOG section .... take necessary action. I don't think
that 6 out 11 will behave so badly that a nice article will be
rejected. Wll, Bush is trying to favor conservative in supreme
court justice saga, similarly, if these moderators are simply
collection too conservative 6 guys, you will hardly find any
liberal ideas running here. So, San as King of Sajha has every
right to select and take turn any time ..... San should tell
all moderators that being moderator is a priviledge, not a
right .... You should keep on warning this and with draw
such priviledge time to time, otherwise, "priviledge" if lasts
for long time, remains no more a priviledge, but considered
to be a right. Dont appoint all moderators at one time and
their tenure should not end simultaneously, so that they
don't gang up and go for "Bhuk Hadtal". Their names should
be kept secret like "cover up CIA agent", any one behaves
like Karl Rove should immediately be fired. Ask moderators
not to reveal their identity and once a moderator's ID is
revealed you just ban the TRAITOR from Sajha.com.

TND failed why because it was completely controlled by
Rajpal ji, directly or indirectly. Ujjwal was under the pressure
of Rajpal what to post what not to post. (last editorial
tells this scenario). Rajpal ji changed his alignment from
Open Democracy to Autocracy. His last postings in TND's
official site clearly tells this scenario. Why that happened?,
most probably after the news "_____" appeared in Kathmandu Post
.....

I wonder whether San (I guess he is single at this moment,
though its none of my biz) changes after he get married ....
I have seen many Nepalis change their stand on open democracy,
when they marry a politician's daughter ..... So, Sajha.com may
even be deleted or nullified, if San marries to some politician's daughter
who is King G bhakta, it can happen instantly, as it happened in TND.
We Nepalis (based on my personal observation) are very sensative
to our relatives(senior relatives)'s political affiliations. Oops, Me tooo.


A person is dictator who does not have a successor. TND vapoured off
because Rajpal ji never nourished any successors. Sajha.com may
be turned off one day, if San gets some other mode in his life where
he has to abandon Sajha.com's day to day affair or he sidelines with
some Rajabadies..... Well, he might deny any possibility in near future,
but who knows future ..... neither Rajpal ji knew it when he was student
in university and began TND dedicating it to open democracy.

Once you know the result, its hindsight 20/20.

God Bless Sajha.com
GP

Thinking ahead of time is fine, but one has to know one does not actually go way ahead of it. What good is it to be so ahead that one may actually loose the essence of being?

A knee-jerk reaction is NOT needed at this time. A little polishing here and there and that's that. It does not hurt to do some strategic planning to avoid culde'sacs though.

And yes, Sajha have been all of the above; some more so than others.

Choti muh aur badi baat nabhayema.
IndisGuise:)

Huna ni ho.... sajha lai sanchhai redefine garni bela bha cha....baadhi ma bhyaguta ra maccha dubbai awuncha bhanthey..aajkaal sajha ko baadhi ma bhyaguta matrai dekchu ma...yuastai taal ho bhaney SAN ko tremendous effort tyassai khera jaala...usergroup bata "SEXY picture" jhikera sajha lai porno firi link banaidewu prabhu bhanera ganeshthaan ma laddu chadhako pani khai buda lay wooti wasta garenun jasto cha

khai kina ho kunni..jhagda herda herda ..hya kasailey badam ni bechey huni ni prabho...tyaam bitawuna sajilo hunthyo mukkebaaj kurunjale bhanera bhanna mun laagya cha malai ta

Lawu na prabhu ..timi kaha chhawu!

I dunno, I like it the way it is. Not that a little change would do it harm but what changes exactly we talking about? I personally read only postings that are kinda short unless its a story of some sort.

Hope my opinions help improve sajha.

NO matter what I am sticking to sajha.

लडने नै बिचार गरेको हो त
ल म झीळका ळयाउछु है त
तिमीहरू आगो फूक है त

"Competitors", who competitors.
WHo is SAN by the way, ANd you think SAN can make the difference

ळ हेरौ मेरो पोस्?त गायब हुन कति बेर लाग्?छ

End of Sajha - Yavery thinga in the worlda comes to an yenda wana day, so it's nata surparisinga to heaara thata Sajha, tha cybera chatlanda of nepalbasis, willa alaso kama to an Yenda wana day. Nobady canna istopa ita.

haaa... My two cents? Okay, Ask me and I'd say I am fine with the way it is. San is the only person who moderates and its great. Don't want 9 mods, with 900 different ideas/views kickin' our butts or holdin' our nuts (yaaah baby). eh. Just look at sajha, it has active users who are as young as 12 to as old as GP baa.. ehe... or even older than him. A huge generation gap. Those who are young don't understand and don't care about politics/patan ko chwela/rock music legends like "The Doors" , and those who are old don't understand the belly ring/Jay Z sing/bling-bling. eh. But they are all here, they all write here, thats why it is Sajha. So, its all up to the users on how they can moderate themselves. Educate them on how to become responsible user. ehe...

Let's enjoy the sajha-ride until it lasts, shall we? eh...

and oh yeah!!! where TND and Sajha are like apple and orange. TND was 7th heaven for those who cared about politics and well-structured, well-grammared, I-am-more-intelligent/intellectual-than-you people, where Sajha is just plain Sajha... for everyone. eh...

"वो शराबी क्या शराबी जो नशे मे ना रहे"
;)

WHAT THE FUG IS THIS ABOUT ? END OF SAJHA MEANS END OF ALL YOUR ASSES TO VOICE YOUR OPINION TOO. SO FAR HE HAS GIVEN YOU THE LIBERTY TO SAY WHATEVER THE FUG YOU WANT.... DID YOU WANT HIM TO TAKE THAT AWAY ? Y'ALL HAVE WAAAY TOO MUCH TIME IN YO HANDS TO BE DWELLING IN THIS BULLSHIII.

Thank you for bringing this up. Sajha is fortunate in that it has many well wishers who have grown across time, and who have helped evolve sajha over time with their generous feedbacks.

It is not possible to take every feedback but few improvements here and there over time have made it possible to meet the general expectations of visitors while keeping the general health of the site intact by maintaining few rules and regulations.

Out of thousands of visitors who visit the site, I am pleased to note that only a handful have had to be banned due to their inability to follow simple rules that are in place in order to run the site with least moderation.

With respect to Nepal related internet activities, with the growth of the internet, there have been numerous new ways to spend time in the internet rather than a limited few cyber destinations. This growth is in tandem with the growth of internet viewers themselves. This is definitely economics. Previously there were limited number of internet users, hence limited internet destinations. Now with growing number of internet users, growing number of destinations.

Personally, I don't think of all these new destinations as competition, but more of a realistic analogy to a real world situation. In the past also, I have compared sajha to a Bhatti, where people prefer to come to enjoy the hand made alu achar and khasi ko masu rather than buy frozen food (This was in answer to request to modify the forum content to look more like other industrial forums out there with more bells and whistles.)
Building on the same analogy, there are more people looking for places to eat out, and there are more options for places to eat out. Once in a while it's good to go out and try different food but most of these places have different missions and goals and tastes. People even go out to eat at foreign restaurants once in a while. But there's nothing like home cooked meal, and sajha gives a good picture of home, a more realistic picture of home, where you will want to come back to. To take off your socks and relax.

This view has been further strengthened after my recent visit to ANA Dallas where people were very receptive to sajha. I was fortunate enough to meet many sajha visitors who were very kind and generous in their perception of sajha. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the viewership of sajha jumped two folds after the ANA event. Where normally there used to be about 3000 unique users per day, after ANA, the number sharply rose to 6000 unique users per day. This is great for everyone in sajha because the more the merrier.

Unlike lot of newer sites which are business oriented, sajha has focussed on being more people oriented. However, if anyone is interested in promoting their business through sajha, they need to pay a small cost since they would benefit from it as well. A small positive side effect, not at all overshadowing it's main mission.

Sajha does not have any missions besides bringing together Nepali people in the internet. Besides that, the only other mission and goal is to spread the message of peace, love and harmony among us if possible; and to promote the Live and Let Live philosophy.

Didn't mean for this reply to be so long but wanted to share a few things with all the well wishers and new visitors and this was how the flow went.

It's been good this way. Going with the flow...

Best wishes to all,
San

San, don't worry, sajha will survive because it adopts to its environment not unlike a chameleon. Like jira said there are a lot of bhyagutas - bhyagutas not necessarily being bad - and most of the the 'loggers' seem to be fine with it. You want it to be a confessional diary? Sajha seems to be saying - go for it! You want it to be community news server - of course! Forum for debate? Check! Kuruchettra? Resounding yeees! Social acitivisim? who is stopping you?

We old timers have a lot to say given our history. And specially people who make money analyzing market will have a lot to say. People do not see a single object, phenonmenon objectively. [Remember Rashomon?]We see through our color coated lenses - - Sajha is what Sajha is. I t is infront of you. Come to your own conclusion. Ashu has some valid points. But, it does not mean that if San does not listen to him sajha will die ( And of course Ashu is not saying that either). San is willing to tweak here and there but does not want to overhaul it. It seems to be working fine with that model -so far. Who knows it will be fine after 40 years too? Anyway, everything has a self-life after all. Is Sajha an exception?

[deep, timro pani darshan bho, jivan dhanya bho :)]

NK ra Jirako Kura thik...manasib lagyo malai ta

thik cha ..ya bhyagutta, chepegada, macha, bhura, syal, bwasa,Kukur, biralio, gadha, giddha,bhangera, parewa ra adi ityadi huna diu....sajha jasto cha thikai rahancha...

kahilie twarra garchan..kahile ghwarrra garchan... kahile ghurra ghurchan..kahile dara dekauchan..kahile chithorchan..luchaluch garchan..maramar garchan..ghusara ghusar garchan.. sab thik huncha ..Majale

Tara yeutai kura, yeha Manche huna dinu hudaina..manche le aafno swatrha nihit bekarma bhadh-bhailo macchaucha..bhadragoal parcha...

yeha isswarma pani bandej lagainu parcha..nabhaye mancheko sristi huncha..

ani aanandale sab thik huncha....Maja sangale...NK long time no seen..

Deep dai ...pashupatiko yaaad aaayo ..

Jira bro..kata ho aajkal..ke chaldaicha..

Marich...ma yattai chu...hoolmool ma jyaan joggayera basi ra chu.....sambho ko 1 buti lagayera jhagda hernu chhuttai cha saan......para kuna ma basera raat raato ankha parera khissa hasera heri ra chu tamasha......sajha jogawuna bhanesi sabbai laagiparya chan ..yo ramro kuro ho..nepala prajatantra jogawuna yuastai laagi parya bhey hamro KP bajey ko sapana sakaar hunthyo KTM lai din din nwaidini..tara kyarnu bichara arko dhindey sanga kuro namilda bara paani thapna budha byaan tin bajey wothchhan rey bhanya sunya chu.....

aajkaal dherrai bho deep ko lattey nasunya......sambho taanda bhet hunthyo..aajkaal harako cha....ramro khalko buti payo ki......

jaya sambho

NK YOU'RE ONE TO BE TALKING ABOUT BYAGUTAS HE HE LOOK IN THE MIRROR BEFORE YOU START CALLING NAMES TO OTHERS. GIVEN YOUR HISTORY HERE I JUST SIMPLY THINK YOU ARE FULL OF PRETENTIOUS SHIT.

kastso nistabdha sunsanko ratko pratham praharma ...katro awaj aai sakyo....

uh ....uta shuru bhai sakyo...Jira dai...Kata ho tapai...yeta aaunush