DesiPundit

Feeling sad to hear about this. But all good things come to an end.

I just wish if you could have found some alternative to keep it going. Anyways I had good time reading this. Thanks a lot. Best of luck for your personal and professional commitments.

It’s not April 1st is it? God no!!

*sniff*

Good bye DP.

No-one could get a stat-counter soaring like you could.

NO !!! oh heck no ! Damn ! I still can’t believe this is true !

Good God! is it the 1st of April? I think I need to read this post twice to make sure.

Damn!

ohh please come up with a next post saying “GOTCHA!”

Instead of deleting it..why not hand it over to the other people who can take up from where you leave off?? DOnt delete Desipundit!!!

Can’t say I don’t understand, even though blogsphere really needs you guys. Perhaps, you can consider it handing it over to someone else, if possible.

Thanks Pat and everyone at DP for the great job you guys have done.

Hi,
Why don’t you hand it over to someone. There will be many willing to take it over.

Regards
Manu

Well, its a pity. I just happened to stumble upon this site yesterday! and Bang…before I know.Its shutting down.

Personally, I think it would be a good idea to maintain a page with just links to personal blogs of all the contributors for desipundit.

I really liked many of the articles here.

First, this is not a typical Patrix post so there is no reason I would ever believe this.

I don’t know what you guys are up to, but if this is some exercise to gauge reader loyalty, I think it’s in poor taste.

Are u guys serious?

Desipundit

Okay after reading Ash’s post I must say it makes complete sense. We can only imagine how time consuming the whole thing is. You guys have done a great job. DP will be sorely missed.

That is very sad. One of the highlights of my surfing each day.

Pat, I second Confused’s suggestion ->

Perhaps, you can consider it handing it over to someone else, if possible.

DesiPundit is an excellent blog. I have come to read several interesting posts through this blog. Please don’t do us a dis-service by shutting down DP. You can hand over the blog to other folks and still do consulting work for the blog.

What say Patrix? What about the other contributors? What do you guys say?

any ideas how you guys can cut down the time and still make it work?

A model which is more like digg.com ? Where everyone could be contributors and the present contributors could become hawk-eyed editors looking out for Spam?

Oh no no noooo!!! Come on, at least hand over to someone else to take up the charge. We bloggers have enough free time and surely we could handle a little more.

This is not 1st April, Pat. It’s easy to destroy something, difficult to build it. Please reconsider?

Do a rethink. Of course, it’s your site and whatever you want, you can do but readers/surfers also have an emotional contact with the site for a long time.
And such abrupt decision! Why were you then adding features like other language blogs, directory of bloggers and so on. If it is taxing for you, don’t update it every day, do it once in 2-3 days or a week but then…

no!!!!!! can there be no other way??

Desipundit is a great platform for a novice blogger like me to reach wider audiences.

You can change the model as Gautam or confused suggested, but pls don’t delete it.

Hope you’ll reconsider the decision.

What you have built here is an awesome community, Patrix. It’s not just the contributors; it includes a whole lot of people who have come to depend on it as a fabulous filter blog.

If you are unable to be a part of its future, could you at least consider seeking volunteers who can take this blog forward.

I’m sure that you’ve all thought through the options available before coming to this decision. But please do reconsider, in case there are other solutions possible, you would be making many of us very happy. If not, then this is the right time to say thanks, DP has been a fantastic place to visit/blogroll and I, for one, will sorely miss it!

Lets try to find another model to make it work. Maybe the digg model or the slashdot model can work. DP is a great effort, don’t shut it down!

DP introduced me to Indian bloggers. Too bad you have decided to shut down. Thanks anyway.

Agree with Abi and Shivam above. Please reconsider. You’ve created a huge community and I definitely bank on it to discover new blogs. I shudder to think what all I’d have missed out on if you guys weren’t there.

Hi Patrix, As a number of readers have pointed out, it would be a big mistake to destroy something that has gained so much credibility and traction in a mere year.

If need be, I am glad to take up the responsibility of editing as well as the costs of hosting etc.

Please drop me an email and we can discuss things a bit more. I would be really sad if we lost a useful resource like this and I am sure you would prefer to have it live on.

Guys/Patrix,plz seriously dont take such drastic steps outta the blue!for God’s sake, trust me there are countless ppl out there(which u obviously know) who start their day in office with desipundit..atleast i do! think abt whether it could be taken over by other ppl..i’m sure many’ll come forward..this is one amazin blog, let it live.

Hey hand it over to somebody - don’y shut it. :(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((

Bad timing. I am away and out of desk to write an in-depth request to keep the show on.

Partrix, may be those of you, who started DP should upgrade yourselves to a higher role of overseeing stuff (like being mild moderators, if you’re burning out) instead of leaving it or shutting it down entirely, if at all possible considering the amount of time this activity on DP drains you fine folks.

In any case, DP has had a wonderful ride. Burnout is a destiny, but instead of quitting completely, how about you fabulous fifteen, becoming a guiding force for the newer team (assuming you all want to quit)?

I will add my voice here to the chorus of requests to reconsider the decision of shutting down the blog. I am sure you will find many willing volunteers.

Either digg way or handover will be a sensible decision rather than shutting down. DP no longer remains only “your” property, Patrix

It’s really unfortunate to read this. Please reconsider the decision.

Is this really true? If it is, I hope you will reconsider. I think this was a great site - a one-stop shop for all interested blog articles. And it will be really sad to see it go this way.

I don’t get it. You say you don’t have time. Fair enough. Why not just let the rest of the contributors run the site? Is it some kind of ego thing for you?

You got to be kidding…

WTF.

if this is not just a rude joke, you guys have been doing a great job! Thanks very much for the daily picks and pointing out some gems for us.

still in denial

just read Ash’s post. So it is true then.
I must say I always marvelled at your team’s efforts to be able to do such a great job outside of what you do for a living.
Several people on here have expressed the desire to help / contribute in some way to keep it going. I’d like to add my bit to. Could you keep this post and comments section up for a while, to see if folks on here can come up with an alternative (”After desi-pundit”) option..may not be as slick; but a functional way of picking good posts and alerting the rest of the community about it?

I completely understand how a volunteer job can be such a “time sucker.”

However, deleting this blog is a bad idea. Strip down the extras to reduce bandwidth and keep it ALIVE.

why on earth would you want to delete the blog? Move it some free hosting service, if it is getting costlier…

you can always invite other contributors, turn it into weekly magazine, take a break…

i am commenting again to apologise for bringing that old hacked url into the room, attached to my name in my earlier comments. sowwy. :p please feel free to delete them.

PLEASE DON’T GO DESIPUNDIT!!! :’(

i hope the suggestions on here materialise into a solution of some kind. okay, last comment.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

Saket announces that he’s not going to let the spirit of Desipundit die: http://www.vulturo.com/2006/10/desipundit-no-more/

He says that if Patrix does not change his mind, he will launch another such site.

Oh no! Can’t you keep it with reduced frequency of updates and lesser posts?

This is sad. But you got to do what you got to do. Have you considered selling or giving it to somebody or a group of people? I am willing to pitch in but can’t do it all myself.

Hey Patrix,

As usual woke up and logged into DP after checking my mails…and I see this. Dont know what to say. I totally understand your situation. But like many others said here passing it on to someone worthy within the blogosphere would be a good option. And who knows, you can return back sometimes in future.

DesiPundit is too huge and is a big part of all our lives to just disappear like this..

I have been rather loud previously against Desipundit. I have been where you two are now - no time, let alone for blogging. But killing a site isn’t much going to do much. So, for this once, I shall join with the rest of your commentors and say - don’t react too quickly.

Er - Killing a site isn’t going to do much. Ignore the superflous, misplaced much.

I would second/third suggestions to mould this into a digg model. It would be a shame to kill an established brand.

AWWW AWWW… Oh what a day… I was all excited and pumped up when Writer Director Anurag Kashyap started writing his online diary on Passion for Cinema. Ran here to tip you guys off and then get to read this news of you planning to shut down. Aww man, this is so sad now!

I don’t understand this decision. It seems too sudden. I hope it was meticulously thought out and not just a knee jerk reaction to something. That being said, if this is indeed good bye, thank you DP for all the traffic and all the posts and please reconsider.

I am (relatively) new to DesiPundit, and have only been linked to twice. I do enjoy the daily dose. If Patrix or Vulturo or anyone else plans to continue this, I’d be glad to pitch in.

How about letting someone else take over?

Thank you for providing all the wonderful links.

First of all you guys have maintained an excellent site. Kudos Kudos. It have had been hard maintaining this site all this while.

Why not hand over the site to someone else? Or go the digg way?

I perfectly understand your reasons for shutting it down. But please consider handing it over to someone in your contributors list.

Please don’t do this.
This is the first site i visit everyday. And apart from the great filter blogging, Desipundit was the rallying point for Indian bloggers whenever it mattered. I think most of us bloggers look to Desipundit for direction on so many issues.
Reconsider please.

Just read about desipundit closing on Indianpad news, its really sad to see such a great site close down.

If it’s kind of online petition where my voice counts too, then Patrix and co. please reconisder and don’t go away.This now a part of our daily routine,living without it would be tough.May be we can all give our suggestions of how we can help to reduce your workload. If you are already done with the decision part, then let me bid you farewell and thank you for the tremendrous work in bringing the “Best of Desi blogosphere”. But once again do reconsider, we don’t want this site to be closed.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting this - in fact, I was. However this soon, perhaps not.

I think you should not let anyone else take over or hand over your project to others. Desipundit was your baby, and keep it that way.

Differences of opinions aside, I admire you for starting an initiative like Desipundit and sticking to it for so long.

Goodbye, and thanks for all the “links”

Suyog

Hi Patrix and other contiributors,

You guys have done a wonderful job of maintaining the quality of content on this site. I once got bugged by the mess that the number of DP posts was creating in my google reader and made a crib post about it. And I unsubscribed to DP. What happened later was that Google Reader changed its interface to a much efficient one and I subscribed back to DP, happily. Just that I didnt make a post about that!

Guys, one thing I realize now is that positive feedback is probably as important, if not more than the easy cribbing.

I am going to miss Desipundit. Wish all you guys good luck.

Is there a method of keeping this going in a more collaborative way? i.e. involving more people, so that you guys can reduce your time commitment to DP, but we can still keep it going. Notwithstanding the outstanding work you do in linking posts, I think DP has been a brilliant forum for issues that Indian bloggers have faced since its inception. Your stand on the IIPM issue, the blocking of the blogspot domain by ISPs, etc….I just think that the role that DP played in those issues was magnificent. And that kind of single point representation is something that should not be lost; specifically when the blogosphere is now really growing fast in India.

Could you guys consider something like updating only once a week or something? - sort of like the blog melas of yore….There seem to be no shortage of people volunteering to help! Including me…:)

You can hand it to someone else. Things like this are hard to build again.

I perfectly understand that as a founder you may be apprehensive of other people running it. In that case - hand it over to the other contributors and have them change the name of the blog and layout.

Well, I feel this was a great initiative. Don’t kill it abruptly. Being a working professional myself, I understand the limitations of time. However, I would side with most of the commentators here. Rather than closing it down, why not hand it over to one of your contemporaries here? I hope you consider the option.

Sometimes the invention becomes bigger than the inventor(s). May the worthy people find you and may you be magnanimous and pass on the baton. Thank you and good luck.

This is quite a shock. You guys provide a unique service to the community and I sincerely hope that you have thought through this decision. You will be sorely missed. Thanks for the traffic and the links.

Good…!

If you are apprehensive about other people not running it in the way you like, you could assume a supervisory role. Kind of like the chairman of a company. Let others run it, while you retain the final say in how it is run.

I think this is a reasonable solution to avoid the drastic measure of shutting down a great place like this, plus it frees up enough time for you all to do your own work as well.

There have been so many comments on this post, and I think its time for you to respond. What say, Pat?

One more thing I forgot to add….If your decision is final, why dont you consider moving this site to a free host or free blogger/wordpress account and let it remain there as an archive..or a monument of its times so to speak? It doesnt make sense to abruptly delete some many wonderful posts and negate the hard work of so many people, and I dont mean just the regular contributors. I realize such moving will be time consuming, but it will be a one-time thing. Please do consider!

What is the real reason for your decision to DELETE rather than abandon? We have seen a lot of guesses and surmises, but as IndianArchie says, it is time for you to respond.

My response.

Beware, it is long & rambling and you still might not be convinced. But I hope you understand.

If this is some marketing ploy (or a popularity survey), by jove, its working. DP is “Wanted” as you can see from the response and you guys can continue with fresh rigour and strength.

If its not and wot u say is real, then the reason you give sounds so hollow. I mean, 15 contributors cant have “Other personal and professional commitments taking precedence” at the same time.

If its an impulsive decision b’cos of some trivial spat between you guys and a resulting ego situation, then its Childish. I would express the same sentiment if I hear that Mr. N Murthy planned to shut down Infosys, cos he was angry, tired, bored or just wanted to retire.

DP did not grow to this level b’cos of a few individuals. Nopes, I’m not denying the fact that the founding-fathers and the contributing pilgrims made it happen, but the visitors, readers and subscribers were the catalysyts. I guess giving someone an offer to carry the torch sounds prudent.

But then DP now isn’t what it used to be. Maybe b’cos at some point DP mutated from being a Blog Aggregator to a Comment Panel on other blog posts. You started commenting on posts objectively/subjectively. By commenting, I mean you started posting YOUR sentiments in the intros rather than just link to other posts with a reference. DP turned into a regular Blog and we had contributors commenting on other bloggers posts.

At some point, Elitist strains crept in and you were referencing from YOUR Subscribed Feeds rather than browsing the desi blogsphere for interesting stuff. You lost the diversity and became an one-stop shop for an exclusive product range.

In spite of noticing a loss in quality, I continued subscribing to DP, cos you guys are something unique in the Desi b’sphere. I’ll surely miss DP.

Just curious to know your Visitor and Hit Stasitics through a last post or a link.

Pat, as you can see from the time, I posted my comment almost simultaneously with yours and so didn’t get a chance to see your link till I submitted and the page refreshed.

I’m just heading over to read your response.

Guys! i think Patric is already going through some emotional tussles.
It appears to be premeditated and well reasoned decision by the founders.
I think we should respect that now and move on.

It must be a big decision for you to shut down such a hugely popular blog. Desipundit was really a wonderful attempt. We will surely miss it. All the best.
Hope to see you in action when Indian blogosphere is in its next crisis (like the recent ban).

Love DP. Sorry to see it go. all the best –

No!!!!

You are kidding right……. how will i spend time on saturday and sundays henceforth!!!!!

Please Please ……. dont Quit!!!!

No way, Patrix don’t do it! I hope you’ll reconsider, seriously. This is the only place where I can keep a track of what’s going on back in the desi blogosphere.

Surely you can just leave the admining to some people and others can pitch in with help for links. I don’t think you should go as far as deleting it

R.I.P DP

Sorry Patrix but I don’t understand your or some other people claiming it a practical reason for it to shut down. If x,y,z contributors or owners of Desipundit feel it is time to move on, then it is time to bring other contributors/owners in place of them.

That is very much the way to go about it any way I look about it. The main reason I can find is simple - DP has build a brand and a readership. That belongs to the Indian blogosphere and not just X,Y or Z people though Desipundit does technically belong to you.

So it is only right you let others who the current team of contributors feel are able and willing to take on the roll.

Cheers.

role*

Hate to be suggestive, bute, if Vulturo is willing to start some thing similar if DP shuts down, it makes much more sense to let him handle the show if other contributors also feel they should leave and can’t give in time given he has experience with DP if not any one else.

I can’t help but agree with Pratyush.

Patrix,
1st I read this post by you, I thought it’s a joke, then while reading comments I felt no.
Might be you need a break, why not you give the responsibilities to others, share the workload.

This site is quite popular and it’s really a one-stop shop for reading the good blogs from the good bloggers.
Hope to see you revert back.

Good luck.

Paavani

Pratyush,

Ahem. It does not technically belong to Patrix, it really does, in all ways. While respecting your sentiments, I am not sure how anyone can be obliged to hand over one’s own property to someone else!

I wish, as much as you, DP could continue, but lets atleast respect who really owns it.

Cheers

Having gone through much the same soul-searching myself not long ago, I know how you feel. Good luck to you and Ash, and perhaps NOW you will make that trip out to BB!

I think that Desipundit should now pass on to the hands of an extremely capable person, someone who can take the “brand” forward. I recommend Sakshi O Juneja to be the new head of Desipundit. Not only is she India’s best blogger (by common consent) she is also very enthusiastic and totally bindaas. Please join me in requesting Sakshi to take over.

WTF??!!

This can’t really be happening ( yet it is!!)??!!

I am not disrespecting Patrix here. Don’t get arguments mixed up Confused.

Technically, by matter of fact ahem ahem yes it does belong to Patrix as I stated.

But it does belong to to the sections Desi Indian blogosphere it has binded in spirit. The brand as I mentioned.

At a completely different level, because it belongs to the BCCI, does the Indian cricket team have no responsibility towards its fans? How much the BCCI has done to meet that needs is a different issue but I don’t see how you cannot understand what I mentioned.

Sad to see you folks go… but i understand how it feels to get overwhelmed. DP did a great job with covering blogs from various walks of life, thanks to the head bangers, the shakers and the movers behind this fab project.

You will be missed.. but we’ll see you via your personal blogs…

It looks like a rather sudden development. Anyways, All the best to u guys & it would be nice if desipundit is kept alive

Pratyush,

Interesting discussion! But in the spirit of things, we shally carry it on offline.

But I would just like to point out that BCCI does not own cricket….

cheers

Well I kind of agree with Pratyush that DP can bring in new contributors who are willing to devote time. Patrix has done a great job but then he had to move on so I suppose lets not shut down DP but bring in new contributors without sacrificing quality. As a matter of fact I am even ready to host this site! But I request Patrix to reconsider closing down this.

Would have loved to take it over, on your terms, but then I can understand now. Having read your response. Thanks Desipundit.

Yes, It is better to burn out than to fade away.

Confused: I didn’t say cricket so don’t know where you got that. Also, I respect your sentiment. Cheers.

ah, just read your personal post. Well i can understand your emotions. Good job and best of luck with your studies

Hi,

I hope u have come to a favourable conclusion after reading all the comments above. U know what, I had stopped searching for new blogs bcos I know if some is good, it would be in DP. So sad its been shutting down. seriously think of handing over to somebody.

Regards
Mallik

Oh, mnan. NO.

Anyway, it is your decision. I respect that. Although, I will miss DP terribly. Thanks for all the hard work, all of you. You’ve been an amazing bunch of folks.

i so want to believe that this is a joke! was quite stunned to see the news, actually. desipundit is so popular, i believed that it would be a perennial feature of the blogosphere- well, at least, for some time to come. if there are enough revenues- i don’t know if there are- can’t someone be paid to keep it up?

in any case, thank you for such a wonderful blog. it was lovely to read generally, and it was thrilling to be featured on it once in a while.
thank you:)

sad++

Sad. But understand your need to take this step.

Pratayush,

Same thing, no? Even the cricket team is not owned by the board, they merely play for it. Anyway, enough of this discussion.

Cheers

No it is not the same thing if we take the argument to different levels but no point going into that. As you say enough of talk on this..

Sorry to see you go Desi Pundit.And thanks for a final mention.
Will be visiting all of you on your personal blogsfrom time to time just to see how you are getting on.
All the best.

My day is definitely going to be a little duller from here on. DP was my window to a whole new world, and it is sad you guys are shutting down. Anyways, thanks a ton. Am sure somebody will miss DP enough to start DP-II

You will be sorely missed. You are where I go for India.

I will really miss DesiPundit.
It is a great site, and a highly commendable effort by the contributors. It’s with a sad heart I bid you farewell.

Thank you very much for all your hard work. It was a useful and good site.

So sorry to hear about this. As I have been to many nice posts just because those posts were linked here.

Thank you for all the effort each contributor has put and Pat good luck in your studies.

is there a thought on how you could remodel this or something? a weekly digest or something atleast?

how will we know whats going on in the blogosphere?

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Patrix

Thanks for starting Desipundit and for taking it to heights where it has become the nerve center of desi blogosphere. I am sure you loved this site a lot and that the decision to say goodbye came with a lot of pain.

At this point, please consider letting other people take over the running of Desipundit. I hope there are enough such willing and able people.

All the best in your endeavors.

am going to feel pretty lost.

optimist that i am, i still hope that you might just be around..

good luck and god bless.

I had an ambition to get my posts published on desipundit one day…
neways..not every dreams come true..
really i had a gr8 time..n plz..don say good bye..its intolerable..

Good luck folks! DP was good while it lasted.

At least a couple of creepy souls out there are going to be happy.

I just loved DP, anyways thanks for the experience!

All the best!

oh man! dont be stupid! seriously - this is such an awesome website - at least hand it over to someone else! I’m sure everyone of DP’s contributors and readers have some sort of intellectual property right of say in this… I really hope your post was a trick your trying to play on us!

I am in process of creating one indian blogs portal. Though it is nowhere close to Desi Pundit, nor it can be, but at least it can serve as a place for indian community. Please check http://www.IndiBlogs.com.

This is supersad but I understand how difficult it must be to run a site like this and try to manage other personal and professional committments also.

Wish you the best in whatever ur pursuing Patrix - DP will be heavily missed!

One request though - I love the DP template - is it open for modifications by public?

Cheers and rock on…

We at India2020 will surely miss DP - good luck Patrix with your new endeavors.