Thursday, June 01, 2006
Simply Addictive!
Hey all.. So today, June 1st marks the establishment of The English Sabla ..The forum I've belonged to for the past 4 years now.. Sabla has been around for 6! I've written this article as something I'd publish in one of the papers here in Muscat, but alas, I was late.. I really wanted it on Wednesday's The Week, or Times Of Oman today or something!
I never heard from The editors though!! hmph! :(
BUT.. I have decided to get it published it anyway! :) I will inshallah go down to one of the offices and hand it to anyone in charge! Will scan an dpost the page if that does happen!!
I have all month to do so.. In the mean while.. Here it is, read and tell me what you think.. I might add a few changes when I go down to get it published!
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Traditionally, Al Sabla is a term describing the social center of the Omani village. A place where people meet to discuss local affairs and celebrate weddings and other social events.
With the booming technology and the availability of computers in almost every Omani home, online discussion forums have been established, one of which was quickly named “sabla”, as it serves the same purpose of people gathering “outside their homes” to socialize and openly discuss matters of interest.
A Sabla Story:
6 years ago, Saeed Al Rashidy, the owner and administrator of the Arabic website “Sablat Al Arab” (http://www.omania.net), responded to his members’ request for an English discussion board as an equivalent to the Arabic version.
Like the beginning of everything, problems and obstacles surfaced for the new website; as both forums (Arabic & English) shared the same server, it continuously caused tremendous overload and the website to repeatedly shut-down. Another problem was the lack of active members, and the administrator being preoccupied with Sablat Al Arab, the English version wasn’t getting the needed attention and was left deserted.
During June 2001, Saeed Al Rashidy handed the website over to Ahmed Al Riyami who was elected by the members to take complete responsibility for the administration of the forum. In an attempt to solve the overload problem, Ahmed moved the forum to a new server in April 2002, when the site got its official domain “http://www.englishsabla.com”
The English Sabla is being updated periodically, when newer software versions are made available. With each update, new themes, user icons (avatars), skins, add-ons as well as the English Sabla logo are single-handedly created and introduced by Nabhan Abdullatif, who is responsible for maintaining the forum visually and technically, besides being one of Sabla’s two assistant administrators, working side by side with his mentor Faisal Al Ismaely and previously mentioned administrator, Ahmed Al Riyami. In addition, a team of moderators, are selected according to their quality posting, activity and their interests, who handle various assigned Sabla sections and take care of the members’ concerns.
The English Sabla also provides an opportunity for ambitious members wanting to stand out, through an award system with a number of monthly competitions in poetry, photography, visual arts and the “Member of the month” award given to members on the count of their good quality posting, positive attitude and activity.
Today, the English Sabla celebrates its sixth anniversary, as it embarks on a new horizon. Six years of rollercoaster rides, were worth every post. For the English Sabla not only provides a suitable platform for reasonably free discussion, but also creates bonds of friendship and extends bridges to bring members from around the world together.
© 2006, Blind Melon
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13 comments:
A great piece of writing indeed :) I knew pieces of ths story but you, BM, revealed some more details...
Good luck with publishing it...
ES is a nice place, persoanly havent been a part of it for long, but now am somewhat became more active there.
I always wandered what the word Sabla means, but never bothered to ask. Thank you for telling the story of ES, very well written in a nice elegent way. Good luck in publishing the article.
Thank you both! And Im glad you found time to visit my blog! Inshallah I will get it published sometime next week, and I will post it in both Sabla and here.
Stick around!
Interesting post, very well written, although I think that you jumped from the fact that sabla was not very active and so on, to describing the moderators and awards. You didn't mention the improvement in means of activity and number of members, and other differences between now and then.
Okay thats it.. Im disabling annonymous comments.. I was just keeping them for SoMe1.. I did mention that I would add a few changes when I get it published.. hmph!
That's great news, the fact that you're going to publish something in the papers about the sabla :)
First of all I commend you on a well written article! I liked it. But obviously some minor changes won't hurt.
- meaning of sabla is not only confined to that
- more emphasis on the various things that the sabla has to offer (eg. range of topics)
- the fact that its a place for people from all walks of life and of all ages
(the last two sound like you'd be promoting the sabla but are still worth mentioning)
Thank AP. I'll see where and how I can add these parts! :D Great!
- meaning of sabla is not only confined to that
AP I just re-read your comment, please elaborate this point! What more is there to the word "sabla"?
"is a term describing the social center of the Omani village. A place where people meet to discuss local affairs and celebrate weddings and other social events."
That's obviously correct, but that's a general description. After I read that I thought of precise descriptions for 'sabla' and they were:
- a big space or living room in houses where guests and visitors are welcomed and served with fruits and coffee.
- a 'sabla' is also found in mosques, and they are usually separate buildings within the perimeter of the mosque where a 'melka' takes place and probably other religious ceremonies.
Fine, I admit it. I'm a twit for commenting on such irrelevant stuff. But I could've spoken now or forever held my peace.. so I.. spoke. lol
LOL AP.. and I'm glad you've spoken, Thanks for your comments.. I might even use your exact words! :D
I spoke, therefore I am! lol
It's fine dear, I won't even charge you =P
I think the article's very well written... but when it comes to adding here and there i recommend you only add statistics people would want to know... you want to grab your readers' attention and not bore them out... so according to that BM's article was really great... if it should be changed at all, then only minor additions or subtractions... otherwise well done and good luck :)... I'll be looking forward to seeing it on the papers.
"creates bonds of friendship and extends bridges to bring members from around the world together."
i totally agree with that ! and i found that reallly coool :)
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