Three Things You Like And One Thing You Dislike in India Forums - Page 2

Ohhh god there is so much that i like about IF... n too summarize it in 3 pros is a challenge 

Pros:  

1. Chatting and talking about things that we generally don't share with any known friend, without being judged.
2. Fanfics,  games, discussions about different shows.... its a wholesome place.
3. I have found everlasting friendships here.... ❤️

Cons:

1. Still DP is boring... why we changed it from avis friendly dp days????????????😒

Thanks for the tag, Madhu!

Likes:

1. The ability to make any topic under the sun and find like-minded people who will respond!

2. Freedom (with responsibility) to express your views and opinions without being attacked (to a great extent thanks to moderation)

3. FF section, creative contests, games, chat clubs, initiatives by the development team to engage members. - so many other options available to people that are not actively watching any TV show. 

Dislike:

FF section needs improvement. There are many factors here that have been outlined in this post: FF forum enhancement

Tagging a few people for their views!

Thanks for the tag! ⭐️

Things I like:

1. Lots of like minded people who love intense romantic TV shows. This is the only place I don’t feel weird about sharing my strong opinions about Indian TV characters 😆 I dare not utter the word Naagin in the real world 🤭

2. People are incredibly kind here. They leave the sweetest of responses on my stories. Even when I was an amateur, they would encourage me to write more. That’s one of the reasons I improved over a period of time and finally, got the courage to take a sabbatical to pen a book ❤️

3. IF teaches me new things. I experimented with story writing, graphics, video editing etc., seeing the stuff people were creating here. I ended up using these skills in different areas of my work life too.

So thank you, talented IF artists. I learn a lot from you guys 🤗

Thing I dislike - 

Where do I even start? How do I choose just one to highlight? 😕

Many important forums are dead. It’s no fun discussing anything there. Even the ones on popular international shows hardly see any activity. It’s hard to even find these forums on the site. On the other hand, apps like Reddit are thriving with discussions on these very shows. 

Even the Bollywood forum barely sees any activity, when just 5 years back, it was buzzing with hot topics. 

Creations Corner, where I learnt quite a few things for, is just dead. 

I see a lot of viewer numbers against forum topics, but I don’t think that’s a true estimate. Hardly 10-20 people are seen in most forums, while the viewer count for some topics shows in thousands.

I feel that IF over the years has just declined, in terms of traffic as well as engaging content. I wish there were more people, more artwork, more discussions on not just saas bahu crap but even international shows. It’s not like people don’t discuss things anymore. It’s just that they stopped discussing it here.

I would say IF has a better interface than Reddit, but still the discussions thrive on that platform instead of here 🤷‍♀️

Hoping things improve and I can live the days of old IF again. Intezaar rahega…shayad kisi din…

This content was originally posted by: LizzieBennet

Tagging a few people for their views!

This content was originally posted by: gurl-enchanted

Thanks for the tag! ⭐️

2. People are incredibly kind here. They leave the sweetest of responses on my stories. Even when I was an amateur, they would encourage me to write more. That’s one of the reasons I improved over a period of time and finally, got the courage to take a sabbatical to pen a book ❤️

I've been on IF on and off over a period of 10 years. When I first started out, it was on a TV show forum when I penned a fanfic and got a lot of appreciation, likes and followers that I'm incredibly grateful for. Like you, I was inspired to improve and write more.

However, I find this is not true in the FF section. I barely get any comments on my stories. I know there are people reading but they hesitate to comment or even like my stories. I do not write for any particular forum and my stories are usually original fictions, so that could be a reason. Or it could be the interface in the new section that stops people from commenting.  

Another reason (I maybe wrong here!) is that I find most people gravitate towards stories that are written on their favorite ships, rather than by quality authors, which is truly sad.

We have some brilliant authors in the FF section that barely get likes/comments on their stories, but other authors that write on popular shows walk away with accolades and followers.

I wish the members here would be more discerning. And I wish they would not hesitate to leave a comment. Whatever the reason, it needs to change, and good authors need to be recognized. We're trying to do this in our own small way by featuring some of these stories every month. But we need to do more.

This content was originally posted by: LizzieBennet

I've been on IF on and off over a period of 10 years. When I first started out, it was on a TV show forum when I penned a fanfic and got a lot of appreciation, likes and followers that I'm incredibly grateful for. Like you, I was inspired to improve and write more.

However, I find this is not true in the FF section. I barely get any comments on my stories. I know there are people reading but they hesitate to comment or even like my stories. I do not write for any particular forum and my stories are usually original fictions, so that could be a reason. Or it could be the interface in the new section that stops people from commenting.  

Another reason (I maybe wrong here!) is that I find most people gravitate towards stories that are written on their favorite ships, rather than by quality authors, which is truly sad.

We have some brilliant authors in the FF section that barely get likes/comments on their stories, but other authors that write on popular shows walk away with accolades and followers.

I wish the members here would be more discerning. And I wish they would not hesitate to leave a comment. Whatever the reason, it needs to change, and good authors need to be recognized. We're trying to do this in our own small way by featuring some of these stories every month. But we need to do more.

Yes, most of the members follow the fan fics ritualistically, but ignore the real talent which exude from the original Fiction writers. 

This content was originally posted by: Viswasruti

Many vital points you've mentioned Supriya 👍🏼 

Yes, most of the members follow the fan fics ritualistically, but ignore the real talent which exude from the original Fiction writers. 

Thanks, Madhuri!

I'm not saying fanfic writers are not talented - not at all! In fact, there are many FF writers that write on popular shows that are truly brilliant. I also understand that members will follow those authors that are their friends out of loyalty, or others that write on their favorite ships because that's what they like to read, irrespective of quality.

All I'm saying is readers should give other authors, such as original fic writers, also a chance. By featuring some of their work, we are trying to bring them into the limelight. But it's not enough. 

Actually, it’s because of the readership that I don’t feel like migrating my stories. I get more traction and response on the forum itself. There is no incentive for me to migrate to the FF section 🤔

To get around the fact that people only check fanfiction, I create my own character sketch within the show’s characters. Otherwise, like you said, I won’t get much interest, no matter the story quality 🤷‍♀️

Another pet peeve of mine is the restrictions on IF. Writers should be allowed to write freely, with reasonably restrictions like on Wattpad. It should be on the reader’s discretion to read or not, after the author has added a mature tag. Gur shares this view too and was quite annoyed herself with these rules.

@ Gur - Tagging you in case you want to share anything ❤️

This content was originally posted by: LizzieBennet

I've been on IF on and off over a period of 10 years. When I first started out, it was on a TV show forum when I penned a fanfic and got a lot of appreciation, likes and followers that I'm incredibly grateful for. Like you, I was inspired to improve and write more.

However, I find this is not true in the FF section. I barely get any comments on my stories. I know there are people reading but they hesitate to comment or even like my stories. I do not write for any particular forum and my stories are usually original fictions, so that could be a reason. Or it could be the interface in the new section that stops people from commenting.  

Another reason (I maybe wrong here!) is that I find most people gravitate towards stories that are written on their favorite ships, rather than by quality authors, which is truly sad.

We have some brilliant authors in the FF section that barely get likes/comments on their stories, but other authors that write on popular shows walk away with accolades and followers.

I wish the members here would be more discerning. And I wish they would not hesitate to leave a comment. Whatever the reason, it needs to change, and good authors need to be recognized. We're trying to do this in our own small way by featuring some of these stories every month. But we need to do more.

Like:

1. That some people are really clever, original, funny in their answers, sometime they make me laugh, other times I learn something I did not know or confirm something I did.  At any rate the small amount of people that participate are in fact a good representation of a broader group and you kind of get an idea what the average/general public is thinking.

2. You can find news fast, if anything is happening in the world of Bollywood entertainment, ( I know there are other areas of interest in the forum but Bollywood it is what I follow here, if I wanted to know about Hollywood for example, I would have other places for more direct information).

3. I like the set up and ease of user friendly format. You get the opportunity to share or to read opinions and expanded views, you do not even have to participate, you can just read (I did for a long time), Being able to get expanded information that people can add to is something that other mediums do not allow, due to space constrains, and sometimes in those sites you get the headline and that is it.  I like details, and information more than just a headline, being able to read others opinions sometimes helps you see things from another view point or angle you did not consider before.

Dislike:

1. This dislike is not for this site only, it is for all SM. I do realize that opinion sites have to be Moderated or otherwise it would turn into a war, argument site, and that kills a forum, but I hate censorship, the cancel culture, or the power advantages.  Overall I think the Mods here on IF do a very good job, and in comparison to other sites they get high marks, for not interfering until they have to, nor micromanaging every single thread.

2.  I wish that the Removed Content Vault would allow those who posted access to at least their comment, because sometimes people put in a lot of effort on their answers and suddenly it is deleted, they may wish to copy it or save for themselves,  HOWEVER I do understand why it is done, and also understand  the wisdom of deleting it, so that nothing gets dragged on and on.  It may work for the administration as they have it even if I (one person do not agree with it). At any rate those set rules are not deterrents for me, I accepted them when I joined.

3.  Allowing people to discuss some things that IF does not endorse could have a work around by the site posting a disclaimer that people are adults therefore responsible for what they post, and if you do not brake rules, I do not see why some issues cannot be discussed, when people are being civil.

I have been part of IF for many years now and the three things I like are:

1. Different forums where we can discuss everything about everything. There are sports forums, TV shows forums, bollywood forums, hollywood forums, chat club forums. These forums where members can freely discuss everything is the best part of IF.

2. I know lot of people have complaints about the rules and moderation systems. Nothing is perfect in this sm world and I agree this system too is not perfect but frankly speaking, if there were no rules here then this site would have become toxic like other sm sites. We don't see frequent bashing, name calling, etc that is common in other sites.

3. The contests and games are so much fun. Each and every contest and games are unique and interesting.

Dislike

1. Ads! They are so annoying. Few seconds after logging in to this site, I click on something and boom an ad page pops up. It's so annoying. Also, suddenly some random IF video pops out of some celeb and that too is annoying. 

Other than this, for me IF is really one of the wonderful websites to visit.