CrazyEngineers
CrazyEngineers

  • Know Your Mods - Durga

    Anil Jain

    Member

    Updated: Oct 25, 2024
    Views: 927
    Second in the KYMod series is Durga. She joined CE around 3 years back and soon become the integral part of CE. first as member then ambassador and now Moderator. I was privileged to interview her and thanks her for answering the questions:

    [CB]: A brief journey for English Tutor –Durga to Ambassador - Durga to now…Mod Durga?
    [Durga]:     English tutoring was just a few threads, later all my other initiatives (few of them secret) it died off too. Durga (Ambassador) and Durga(Mod) have one thing in common. They don’t tend to fullfill their job responsibility though the responsibilities differ. I know that sounds bad .

    [CB]: Over a time we have seen a maturity in posts of Team member Durga and Mod Durga? What difference does this Mod post bring in you as a CE member?
    [Durga]:     In a span of 3 years anyone and everyone matures so did I. Mod role as such brings no difference. In real life, I don’t like people littering on streets nor I like people breaking traffic rules nor I like people jumping queues. So moderating is my natural instinct. As a cean it makes me more responsible.

    [CB]: As per me you are one of the coolest Mod we have on forum, any comments?
    [Durga]:     Cool.. me??? Alright. This is different from my previous tag of being ‘strict’. By the way in what sense am I cool?? I think many of them have seen me agitated most of them time here 😉.
    [CB]: You are being modest here...

    [CB]: In Your KYCEan, and past discussion you told that you wanted to ask biggie about a new section, “How Stuff works”. Any updates on that?
    [Durga]:     I think patty, did start off such topic , he was expecting comments and discussions to start off , but nothing solid came out of it. As far as I doing it is concerned, nopes I did not take the initative.

    [CB]: One thing you want to change in CE?
    [Durga]:     Nothing much. But sometimes I feel CEans tend to become hypocrites. This is another discussion all together, and I don’t want to pull it off.

    [CB]: What about your dream of house running on blue tooth and a greener world? Could you explain it for all new users 😀 ? Any progress in that?
    [Durga]:     Nopes, I have gone anywhere with that. I had something of this in mind. I have a centralized Bluetooth device and all my electric equipments are configured with Bluetooth clients , and I can operate each of them individually with my Bluetooth.
    This is now commercial though, through a different technology known as zigbee. I have other home projects which are running, but won’t be live before Dec 2011

    [CB]: Except Biggie, Name 5 CEan’s that crossed your mind within 5 seconds and you think are the most potential folks on the forum
    [Durga]:     Ash, Gohm, Maro, Vikram, Pradeep , shalini goel , rifaa and many more.

    [CB]: Pardon me,
    [CB]: a. Your few shortcomings… excessive Sleeping / lots of time waste on TV / and all time confused. Any improvement on that 😛
    [Durga]:     😁 , my sleep is actually a boon for me. I can sleep where ever and whenever I want.
    TV – I have stopped watching it. Now a days I get severe headache when I watch T.V for more than 1 hour.
    Confusion : I think I am no more 😛, I know what I am supposed to do and I have my priorities right. So things have actually bettered up.

    [CB]: b. What if you un-knowingly disable any spammer (Not actually a spammer)?
    [Durga]:     Hmm, I don’t remember doing it. But incase I do it, I think there is a facility to reverse the effect.

    [CB]: c. Have you ever had a clash with admin? What was your stance then?
    [Durga]    : I did have many ideology differences. They are left best un-discussed.

    [CB]: d. In last three years by any chance thoughts of leaving CE had crossed your mind, how you overcome with that?
    [Durga]:     Yes, I am currently in one such instance. I had thought of leaving CE over 3 times now. This time around it was Ramani Sir’s small talk which pulled me in again.

    [CB]: Fun Zone
    [CB]: a. You stopped teaching English to CEan’s why?
    [Durga]:     I felt there were much more better things to learn than English.

    [CB]: b. Any blooper of your Life? On CE?
    [Durga]:     Too many to remember and recollect.

    [CB]: c. What was your first reaction when few CEan’s thought you were a guy (May be confused with name). Was the change of Avtar, a result of that?
    [Durga]:     I am used to it. People who listen to me on phone for first time, think it’s a guy whom they are talking to. Until recently I never used gtalk or skype as my voice would be severely modulated to sound like a guys. My sister used to record and send me voice samples. Only recently is that Gtalk seem to be working ok for me. As far as avatar is concerned, I watch too much of anime. This character is of anime called – AVATAR – the last air bender

    [CB]: How do you feel now when Aussies are not at the top of the world in Cricketing world?
    [Durga]:     As such when INDIA won, I was on streets celebrating, so it doesn’t make much difference when AUSSIEs don’t.

    [CB]: Quickies (Answer In a second)
    [CB]: a. What activity you will like the most in free time- long drive with - Boyfriend / long drive with friends, or sleeping?
    [Durga]:     Hmm, I don’t remember myself being free since long time. May be since 5 yrs or so. Thanks for reminding. 😀 . But yes, I did have a snow-white sleep for 13 hrs straight. Followed by sever headache and then I slept again. I think the next day being Monday myself and my roomie decided we bunk work and stay home.

    [CB]: b. Which responsibility you liked the best, Ambassador Durga / Mod Durga
    [Durga]:     Nah! I rather don’t talk about responsibilities

    [CB]: c. Who you admire the most - A politician / a Social Worker?
    [Durga]:     Politician. Politician has the capability to implement the changes, while a social worker can only suggest changes.

    [CB]: d. Name any 5 CEan’s that crossed your mind?
    [Durga]:     Too many

    [CB]: Some advice for fellow CEan’s as an CE Member
    [Durga]:     I aren’t in a position to advice. I might need some 😁

    It was nice to know about you Durga, Thanks!

    -CB
    0
    Replies
Howdy guest!
Dear guest, you must be logged-in to participate on CrazyEngineers. We would love to have you as a member of our community. Consider creating an account or login.
Replies

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    Ever oldie CEan is going to miss the 'technical CE' that we had built and we all understand that we're losing out on the technical nature of the forum. I too, sometimes believe whether we're gradually moving towards turning CE into a content 'sharing' site. It's always been our dream to make CE so useful to all engineers that they won't have to look elsewhere for any of their professional, technical & study related needs.

    @Durga: It would be nice to bring back the days when we had more technical discussions than chit-chats. I believe initiatives like "best technical thread" award would prompt all our CEans to focus more on technical sections. Do you have any ideas that can be worked out, without putting restrictions elsewhere?
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Sahithi Pallavi

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    Nice Interview 😀

    I had thought of leaving CE over 3 times now. This time around it was Ramani Sir’s small talk which pulled me in again.
    How?


    @Biggie : Yes Biggie, start some good initiatives, make the forum activity booster. And one more thing, we were tired of reading lots of useless posts 😔
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    @Pallavi: Isn't it everyone's responsibility to contribute useful posts? Is it that the quality posts are declining because there's no incentive?
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Sahithi Pallavi

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    Apologies for spamming this thread.

    Yes I agree Biggie, its the responsibility of all the CEans to contribute useful posts. But who are doing this? lot of CEans are trying to boost their post count. What makes a CEan to look over his/her post count - titles? If yes, I have a suggestion like - How about offering user titles based on the started thread count?


    Is it that the quality posts are declining because there's no incentive?
    I can not say the quality posts are declining only because there's no incentive, there might be various reasons. But I can say we will definitely get quality posts and we can surely boost our forum activity if we have incentives. Isn't it?
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    @Durga: Your comments are expected 😀 .

    What if we remove the titles? 😀
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Sahithi Pallavi

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    How about offering the 'user titles' and 'user name colors' based on the started thread count excluding chit-chat section? We can boost out the activity too, Isn't it?
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • durga ch

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    ahem!
    There are many forums where any kind of incentives arenot offered, still they strive to be the best ones.
    Posts good or bad are contributed by CEans only. Everyone is equally culprit in posting unnnessary details.
    A small task - go to user profiel ( your own user profile) and click on - 'find posts by this person'
    all the posts made by each of us would be populated. Now surf atleast thrugh first 5 pages and count number of useful and useless posts made. The ratio will make us understand its we who spam, not anyone else
    Anyways, its again- I am like a social worker in the question asked. I can only suggest.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    The question's been asked many times. What should we do to improve the quality of posts? In earlier days, there were only few CEans who were super-active and they all contributed awesome posts. We need to find our heroes in our existing team 😀
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • lovejeet

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    @biggie- sorry to say, but you are pretty late in recognizing the declining standard of the site....... sorry if i m too rude...
    the thing is, too much activities in chit-chat section and loong thread have turned the mind of the many cean's..
    cean's are now just running behind to increase their post count, so as to go higher in the rank, no matter what the quality of the content is..., so better decide their rank on the basis of likes they get........ sorry again if i m wrong....
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    lovejeet
    @biggie- sorry to say, but you are pretty late in recognizing the declining standard of the site....... sorry if i m too rude...
    the thing is, too much activities in chit-chat section and loong thread have turned the mind of the many cean's..
    cean's are now just running behind to increase their post count, so as to go higher in the rank, no matter what the quality of the content is..., so better decide their rank on the basis of likes they get........ sorry again if i m wrong....
    I don't think I'm late in recognizing it. Everyone including me and Mods and editors are aware of it since long time. We've asked for feedback from all the members for a long time. I look at the discussion threads started in CS, Electrical, Chemical, Civil sections - and all I see pretty regular discussions.

    As Durga said - it's the collective responsibility. Everyone's pointing out that the quality of discussions is declining. No one's taking a lead to start contributing quality threads. The chit chat section is an integral part of the community. I don't think people are after ranks. If that's true, we'll eliminate titles.

    How many of the CEans have started quality threads in technical discussion in recent past?
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Ankita Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    Everyone's pointing out that the quality of discussions is declining. No one's taking a lead to start contributing quality threads.
    This is what I think too. I hope all the CEans who want the forum to thrive & flourish will work on this (beginning today).
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Harshad Italiya

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    The_Big_K
    @Pallavi: Isn't it everyone's responsibility to contribute useful posts? Is it that the quality posts are declining because there's no incentive?
    As compare to other forums CE has given lot of Incentives time by time CE had arranged various contest and given incentive to winner. Last one was On CE DAY, Crazy Engineer has given TEE to good number of Ceans.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Ankita Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    Moreover, could someone define exactly what kind of 'technical discussions' should be initiated such that they are useful and go with the theme of crazy-engineers?

    *expecting lots of responses over this*
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • yadavundertaker mohit

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    may be all the engineers are lazy like me to take lead..

    i would suggest that the title should be given by the moderator of the particular section not on the basis of number of the counts or number of the threads.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 19, 2011

    I'm not sure how giving titles based on number of thread makes sense. We are talking about starting quality threads. If we award titles based on number of threads, we might get a flux of chit-chat threads.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • ShrinkDWorld

    Member • Jul 19, 2011

    The_big_K
    best technical thread
    Nice idea big. It definitely increase technical discussion..
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • ShrinkDWorld

    Member • Jul 20, 2011

    My suggestions are->
    1) create a color code for member name on basis of like he received.
    2) Make a group like 'CE Team', "CE Experts" , "CE founder", etc and to join this group decide some criteria which pull the members for good post.
    3) Take a voting for Best Moderate, Best Expert , most helpful guy etc. at regular interval.
    4) Count thread started (only those which are currently open). Close all spam thread.
    5) Do not count post in chill chat section.

    Shall we start rep power system?? i saw it somewhere.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 20, 2011

    Even the like system has been abused. Lots of CEans have been clicking on like button just for the heck of it. If we start offering reputation on the basis of likes, then there would be 'I like your posts, you like mine' game to get better titles.

    Why not just scrap the titles altogether?
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • durga ch

    Member • Jul 20, 2011

    I have a suggestion to improve content-
    All college goers can post their academic doubts . People who are aware of the answers will answer. Incase you dont get doubts, you either understand it 100% or you understand it 0%

    Contests , nominations and other might help . but not in long term. by posting your academic queries - their s a high chance of attracting good discussions.

    Techincal discussions dont explicitly mean - R&D stuff, it in general means anything which can impart techincal knowledge.

    Ranks - let them be as they are , its ok. I think compressing a spring too much would lead it to bounch back futher more. Let's not overdo it. Let's do only what is required.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Kaustubh Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 20, 2011

    @Durga: Perfect! Now big question: How do we encourage users to post their academic queries? We are already working on the rewards part and contests and we'll have few contests this year.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Gurjeet Singh

    Member • Jul 20, 2011

    Biggie Can we move this discussion to other Thread as its worth to be discuss there:

    In my suggestion what we can do we can start the thread by making a specific colour code which decide how important the thread ..like we send the mail with high and low importance likely we can start the thread .and ya i am second in favour remove the titles ,if Ceans are now increasing their count just for the sake of title.and for the quality threads we need to improve.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • durga ch

    Member • Jul 20, 2011

    we can answer how much ever we can 😀. only then they will be encouraged to ask more.
    Not answering their questions but gving away goodies wont help.
    We have many CS students, few mechies, few comm students who can ask questions and mutualy get answers. else, they can do a combined research to find it. CE as of now is majority of students, so making it student friendly will help. As time passes we can keep updating our process


    This will work only if people are inquisitive enough to know the answer.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • Ankita Katdare

    Administrator • Jul 20, 2011

    I agree with Durga & Biggie.
    On the similar lines as mentioned above, I started this: #-Link-Snipped-#
    Please don't let this initiative die. It needs a group effort. We have to at least post reply on each others thread.
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel

  • ISHAN TOPRE

    Member • Jul 20, 2011

    All points have been taken. Except one.
    Let people explain what they think about a particular thing.

    We can start a number on threads like "lets discuss nanotechnology" Once regualar members can discuss and post some good posts the others will follow suit. (just decide on one topic and make it a focus for a few days at least)

    The other is "best thread thing"

    A technical activity like project section which I wanted to do only gets comments like 'Awesome' and 'nice idea'. (I have stopped it shortly due to my laziness though 😐)

    Now most importantly: Good to know about you Durga. 😀
    Are you sure? This action cannot be undone.
    Cancel
Home Channels Search Login Register