Yet another Desi Facebook... Some painful observations

Recently, I came across another replica of Facebook, apart from PakFacebook, called MillatFacebook.

While visiting it, I got some interesting observations that I'm sharing here.

In fact, all these desi replicas of Facebook remind me of the advertisement techniques where some issue, usually, religiously oriented, is highlighted and people are told that we should not use these foreign things, and we MUST switch to our local cloned versions of these products. These local brands cash the situation and try to gather customers. Sometimes it's the entire America that we should boycott, and we should not drink Coke/Pepsi, and then there are those ill-tasted Amrat-Cola, that usually highlighted that religious part somewhere in their slogans and ad-compaigns.

Coming to MillatFacebook, I wonder why any social networking site specially for Muslims need to have the word Facebook in it?

Why "Pak Facebook" and "Millat Facebook", that now I'm expecting some "Watan Facebook", "Mulk Facebook", "Islam Facebook", etc. Can't they even come up with any title without the word Facebook in it? And then, this same Blue color, almost same interface and more or less same features, means, no creativity... That in fact depicts an overall slave-mind.

Here's the screen-shot of the very first welcome screen. [Click to enlarge]

And the welcome message reads:

"MillatFacebook helps you connect and share with more than 1.57 Billion Muslims and Sweet people from other Religions."

So, they say they are providing a platform for connecting more than 1.57 Billion Muslims, as if they actually have this many members.

And after logging in, we can see a Notice in BOLD, as seen in the screen-shot. [Click to enlarge]

The very first line of this notice says:

Dear Bother/Sister, !! CONGRATULATIONS & Salam to all: Over 70,000 Muslims already united as One Millat/Ummah at MFB.

Wow, so they say they already have 70,000 members... But what a marketing technique.

Upon browsing, it's revealed that in fact they don't have this much real members, perhaps not even a 1000, and they might have used some programming techniques to show some users from all over the world, with no data, but only names.

Then, the next part of that notice says that "We are doing a server upgrade to ensure high speed..."

So, a site serving so many users need to take "48 hours" to upgrade, and they don't even have some backup or temporary alternative server?

Then, upon further researching about the domain name, i.e. millatfacebook.com, I found out that it is registered on 20th May, 2010.

Here's a screen-shot of these records:

Now, we know that due to that [so-called] Anti-Islamic issue, planned to be held on 20th May, [as discussed here], Facebook was blocked in Pakistan from 19th May onwards. That was, in fact the best time to launch a new site, because Facebook is not accessible in Pakistan. So, they might have come up with the idea and created this site. And here, they are claiming to have 70,000 members from all over the world. In only 10 days, they got so many "members"... It's quite hard for me to digest, especially when the site has a borrowed name, features, and such worse quality of service.

I took these screen-shots in the afternoon, and now, at night, while I visited this site, they are DOWN.

And just look at the quality of the Notice this page is displaying, image below: [Click to enlarge]

And what a surprise for me, now they decided to even increase the number of their members in this new notice, as it reads:

"Dear Brother/Sister, !! CONGRATULATIONS & Salam to all
Almost 90,000 Muslims already United as One Millat/Ummah at MFB."

So, during a span of few hours, they got 20,000 [Twenty thousand] more members, even while their site is temporary down for upgrading.

My idea here is not to discourage or humiliate anyone but why people use Religion as a tool, and then, why they tell such blunt lies in the name of Religion? I'm not aware of any Religion that encourages deceiving your fellows.

I appreciate their efforts, and perhaps, according to them, they are serving and saving the respect and integrity of Muslims by doing all this.

May God give us the vision to see things clearly!

Amen!

---

The other side of blocking Facebook in Pakistan

It's been around a week since Facebook is blocked by official orders in Pakistan.

Here are few of my personal observations and ideas regarding this important decision that created a sort of change in our life-styles.

What is Facebook? Of course, a social networking site.

There are so many other websites, some ever better, less fussy, and even older and more mature than Facebook, but it is considered one of the top sites among other social networking site. Almost everyone has a profile there. Every Local TV channels, brands, local/international celebrities, hobbyists, etc. have their fan pages there. It's an age of Technology, and it's practically impossible to meet and interact with so many friends and acquaintances all the time, so we need a platform to enjoy our social lives in this virtual world.

Making a Fan-page or Group on Facebook is easy. You just need to come up with some topic, and create a group, and then you can invite you friends and that's how the members in a group grow. For that reason, so many pages/groups are created just to be different and then to attract more fans. Then, there's a feature of "Report" with every group, that if some content is against Facebook's policies, people can report it to Facebook management and then they can review it and take action, if applicable. According to their rules, hateful contents, violence, racism, anti-religion, nudity, etc, [All the basic "Morality" topics] are not allowed.

Someone there created a page that started this issue.

A lady came up with an idea that the members should be asked to draw/illustrate the Holy Prophet of Muslims and post them on 20th May, 2010. That page was titled something like "Everybody Draw Muhammad Day". People with like minds started joining it and the members grew.

In Muslim's religious teachings, it's forbidden to draw and depict the faces of Prophets, out of respect and to differentiate from Idolatry. Muslims certainly do not appreciate things like these, especially when their most beloved religious personality is not respected the way he deserved. Creation and mention of this Facebook page created a reaction against it.

First it was a privately created group, and some people joined it. Some Muslim came to know about it and they, for spreading awareness, or for condemning it, joined or shared its link to their other fellows. And then this network started growing. Muslims started sharing this group, and then this personal group, that could have been ignored earlier became to obvious to ignore. That private underground activity took the form of a serious Global Event. Then, others created groups against that page, and then Facebook feed was filled with so many condemning groups. Then many people reported that group but Facebook admin didn't delete it promptly. Many people didn't consider that it's a commercial age and others only go for things someone advertises. There are thousands of Anti-religion sites over the internet, but does anyone protest against them? No, because no one bothers to go there and share its link to anyone. If everyone has adapted this behavior in the start, that reaction could have been minimized. 

Then a point comes that why should Muslims allow anyone to humiliate their personalities like this? Why should they ignore the activities against their religion? But, on the other hand, why should Muslims give much importance to someone who's not ready to accept them? If someone hates your ideas, let them stay in that hatred, while you gather the facts and choose some constructive way to give your peaceful message. If someone doesn't know about your Prophet, and believes only few misconceptions, then you can also invite them and introduce them to that Personality. The respect and position of your Ideal Personalities cannot be tarnished by creation of any Facebook groups. You simple cannot make everyone around to respect and believe what you do. Some people do make fun of you, just like you make fun of others.

In a situation like this when the offensive content is hidden, and you need to search for it specially to view it, otherwise, it doesn't hurt, why take the pain and look for things all over the internet to see if there's something that we don't like? And then, cutting the entire country from using internet isn't a solution. Personally, I do not accept the decision of blocking this entire website along with around 800 other websites, because that is such a weak and impractical solution in the long run. I'll write about this, and some more possible solutions in my next blog.

---

PAC-MAN is permanent on Google! Play it free!!!

Now you can play Google's exclusive Free PAC-MAN online on this URL:

google.com/pacman/

Google is so kind to offer it here on PAC-MAN's 30th anniversary.

Google Rocks!!!

[Src: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/05/pac-man-rules.html]

---

Pacman is 30 years old, and Google is happy about it

So, when the old school Pacman turned 30 this day, Google celebrated it in the form of an interactive doodle...

The "I'm feeling lucky" button has been changed to "Insert Coin"

It's a Google's version of Pacman, having the maze making the word "Google" in it.

I'm attaching a screenshot of it, in case Google replace it again with the regular logo.

---

Youtube Blocked on Orders of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority

Dear Valued Customer,

Micronet has blocked access to www.youtube.com in
compliance with recent orders of Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) for containing
blasphemous material and no-action by Youtube to
remove the objectionable hate material from its web
site.

This access would remain blocked till further
orders by PTA.

Best Regards

Manager
Technical Assistance Center
Micronet Broadband Pvt. Ltd.
Islamabad

[That's the email I received from my ISP, and that's perhaps the second time YouTube is blocked in Pakistan by official orders]

---

Facebook Blocked on Orders of Lahore High Court

Dear Valued Customer,

Micronet has blocked access to www.facebook.com
in compliance with orders of Lahore High Court passed today.
Facebook has been holding a competition to draw caricatures
of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and has not removed the
objectionable hate materials despite thousands of emails
from Pakistani facebook community.

This access would remain block till 31 May 2010 or further
orders by the Lahore High Court.

Best Regards

Manager
Technical Assistance Center
Micronet Broadband Pvt. Ltd.
Islamabad

[That is the email notification I received from my ISP, Micronet]
So that's the first time Facebook has been blocked in Pakistan.

---

Punjabi Poem "Ambri" [Mother] by Anwar Masood, with English Translation

A very well-known poem [Nazm] titled "Ambri" [Punjabi: امبڑی. English: Mother] written by a very renowned Poet from Pakistan Anwar Masood. Although, he is widely known because of his humorous poetry, but he has also written some very serious pieces. This poem is probably among one of the most serious works by him.

I'm sharing a video of Anwar Masood reciting his famous poem "Ambri", with a short description in the start, taken from a TV program. I have attempted to translate this entire video, including the poem in English for those who don't understand Punjabi. Please note that this translation is not literal.

[Anwar Masood speaks]

"You have said something really nice in the start about this topic [i.e. Mother], and it surely is very hard to talk about it.
It took Ten Years to write me this poem. I was in Pindi Gheb that time, and one night this poem asked me to write it. And then I attempted to pen it down. I realized it afterwards that this poem was sort of revealed entirely upon me in this complete form and composition.

This poem is a true story, and the names of two student in this poem are real as well.
One boy is named Bashir, while his other class-fellow is Akram.
Bashir was late in the class, and the schoolmaster, called "Munshi", asked for the explanation why he was late.
Here, I'm telling it in front of all the audience that I was the schoolmaster in this poem."

[Schoolmaster asks Bashir]

You are so late today, Bashir!
Even when your village is quite nearby.
You'll surely get some severe beating as punishment,
As you have almost missed two periods.

[The student, Bashir, replies]

Dear Sir, please listen to my reason first.
Akram has really did the worst today.
He beats his mother, and beats real harsh
And this rascal has crossed the limits today.
He thrashed her till that butter-churning-staff broke.
But when some people gathered from nearby
He picked up his books and ran to school.

Sir, his mother then came to our home
Her face was full of bruises, her hands were swollen much
Her eyes were wet with tears, and lips were bleeding too.

She asked me "O sweet Bashir!
Please do me a favor today, dear!
Take this lunch to my son Akram
As he was cross with me and went without it"

She has cooked these special "Paratha" [bread] for him
And egg-pudding prepared with such care.
She has carefully wrapped his lunch
And handed over to me.

She was repeatedly saying this to me
"Please hurry up dear
Please don't be late.
My son must be fainting with hunger.
That poor soul went to school without eating"

She handed me the lunch
And I headed towards this school.
This Akram has really did the worst today...

---

Earthquake in Pakistan- 8th October 2005

• God must be Crazy... Sure He is. But People, there's a God inside everything. Make Him Alive!!!
• What's done is done; And what's happening, can we try to make it better?
• If you can't help the Sufferers, No need to watch TV either.
• It could happen to YOU - Every Life is a Single Soul.
• Do you really Love Someone???
• ...

[Some lines about the event that killed around 79,000 people.
Originally written on 11th October, 2005.]

---

My Phobias and other annoying things...!!!

My Phobias... Hey, I don't even know what this term actually mean in Psychology...

I take Phobias as Fears, or rather "Holes" "Voids" in a person.

As a human being, I too have many. The thing is that I realized many of them and controlled them a lot. That's the most interesting part...

According to my rules, there are two solutions of overcoming your fears:

1. Avoid that thing, if possible.
2. Try to learn to live with it, steadily.

Insects:

Those legged creatures are too annoying, especially when they crawl on your body. I used to fear them a lot when I was a kid. But gradually, I have changed my habits. And now I take these things so ordinary that still I like to catch insects, bugs in my hands. These include Ladybirds, Mantis, Grasshoppers, Crickets, Ants, butterflies and moths, spiders, bees, wasp... still looking for cockroaches.

Heights:

It's not that strong fear, but still, I don’t feel comfortable being on the edges of high roofs and looking down. Maybe, it's a fear of falling. So I don’t usually peep from the roofs.

Certain People:

I don’t feel comfortable sitting in the company of elder people, people having narrow [mental] vision and people wearing Army Uniforms or formal dresses.

Quarrels:

I don't like being into places where people fight, especially physical beating. Similarly, I don’t like wars, neither watch news of this sort. I think that most of our cases can also be solved peacefully.

Accidents:

I always wish to stay away from any big accident or mishap, fire, drowning, road accident, etc.

Vehicles:

That phobia is somewhat still here. I hate vehicles. I always wish to have those old chariots days, or just bicycles around... but we can't help it, these fast moving vehicles are a must. Still, I haven’t practiced driving and not intended to. I guess, I'll do it somehow if I ever try.

Bus...

[Originally written on Aug 25, 2005]

---