Rumahpanjai - Rumahdayak

It was like opening your refrigerator at home. You would expect the stuff inside the fridge to be in the same arrangement. But it was a few weeks ago that I discovered that there was some kind of rearrangement in the fridge. When I opened it up, the contents were somehow different. So it was natural to be surprised. One of my favourite community discussion rumahpajai.com (rp.com) seemed to have undergone a transformation in appearance. And from it another forum rumahdayak.com (rd.com) has come into existence. I tried to get some information on how this event occurred. I presumed that the two owners, both whom are my good friends have decided to develop their in their own vision.

I assumed that there has been some form of communication between them before this - as such seperation could cause much confusion among existing forum members - I know I am one of them. Having my feet in one forum and the other in the second was more of disorientation rather than participation. I had perceived that that rp.com would pursue a social agenda, while rd.com pursues a business approach and e-commerce related agenda.

I had informed both forum owners and also posted my thoughts about having two forums. To me there should have been an earlier discussion between them in relation to aligning thier strategy for having two forums so as not to confuse members - and that the two forums exist to develop themselves according to their respective vision, at the same time complimenting one another rather than competing. An analogy would be that of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Pizza Hut - both different products and customers can still have fun. The grey areas would have to be sorted out and the mind frequency of the forum members needs synchronisation to avoid any future misunderstanding about the other's existence. Until that has been decided I believe the objective of getting the forum members to agree on a common goal for the betterment of the community will continue to elude us.

At the back of my mind, I would have wished for just one community forum to exist because for me I do not have the luxury of time to really be in too many forums but since events have passed it would be best that the owners and members set their own destiny. There is nothing wrong in having two forums also provided both continue to develop themselves and their members in a constructive manner and not destructive.

There, I have set my mind clear on this issue and I must congratulate the two owners for their creativity and commitments towards making their existence in cyberspace possible - it is not an easy task. At this point in time I would best describe myself as an observer in both forums. I have reduced my foruming activities due to my commitment to my other webpages which are under my care.