20 November 2008 345 views 10 Comments Print This Post  Email This Post

Image by: Andre de Montsegur

The 21^st century is more advanced both technologically and socially from any of the past centuries of the world. If, this is true then let me tell you that it is not the complete truth because every social and economical infrastructure today is the output of the initiative taken by the people who left this world hundreds and thousands of years ago. That’s History and History is the only way to trace out those hidden foot marks of our ancestors.

Such, exploration and studies related to history especially the middle ages are enthusiastically being discussed, debated and talked openly on one of the most unique, well constructive and dynamic community, Medieval History, on Orkut.com, a social networking site.

The community has more then 16000 members, from all over the globe like India, Pakistan, Mexico, Canada, Brazil and Europe too. Since the community is something which relates to ancient times and incidents of middle ages, there are also members from slighter known places like, Pacific Islands, Fiji and Cyprus. Medieval History is an extensive subject and has a lot stored in it. So the focus of the community is the medieval history itself and does not include ancient and modern history, however such topics sometimes muddle up the objective of the community. The community is one of the most interesting one which keeps you eager about next post always.

The community was created by one Spanish orkut user, Eliza. Since it was the first community of its nature lot of members joined and frequently posted threads but Eliza had some other priorities as well so she handed over the ownership to Khodadad, a Persian from U.S.A, who himself was an intellectual. During his ownership, a lot of members stepped in but out of some technical problems and some personal reasons he wasn’t able to devote much of his time for the community and that became a reason for spammers and anti-social elements to attack the community. However, he returned back and apologized to the members for whatever happened and started looking for dedicated and responsible moderators. At that point of time there was one person who was most active on the community, who eventually became the owner because Khodadad was pursuing his PhD.

The man, who was then the most active member, is today a proud and responsible owner of the community, Saber Qureshi. Saber an Indian, has done Journalism and Mass Communications and is presently working as a consultant with Times of India. History has always been a fascination for him. He comes from a sound background in terms of his favorite subject History. His mother herself is a historian and father is passionate about historical books and journals. Saber has a vast collection of Books, resources and even games he plays are based on medieval history. Some of his most favorite games based on history are Age of Empires, Medieval Total War I and II, Stronghold and Rome-Total War.

As Saber joined the community he started paying full attention towards deleting of repeated threads and non-relevant information and banning the spammers. He also appointed a moderator from Mexico who gave the equal contribution. And the fruits could be seen today. According to the owner, it’s a community today where, there are always more than 50 members lined up for approval everyday.

But the community’s success wasn’t a cake walk for Saber as it also has some hard core fundamentalists, and history is a subject where anything can lead to a controversy very easily. And at such point of time it becomes difficult for the owner to handle the situation because of the heated exchange of words in the forum. For example, The Taj Mahal discussion where some people were with a view that it was not built by Shahjahan, or The Spanish and Mexican issue which became a subject of controversy between some Europeans and South Americans.” Whatever it has been, I and my moderator Alicia have taken umpteen care not to hurt the sentiments of anyone. We also have a lot of racists; they eventually get banned after several warnings or are simply removed”, informs Saber when asked about how do they manage and come over controversies. He has wisely appointed a Mexican moderator and is looking for a European as well, so that they can maintain a balance, because for instance, if Asians go on discussing Indian or Asian history then its of very little connotation to South Americans and vice-versa. Saber and the moderator Alicia work with patience and politeness and the members of the community understand them and are equally co-operative. The topics discussed mainly includes, European History because Asians as well as South Americans uniformly find it attention-grabbing.

Saber has traveled around few other social networking sites as well but finds Orkut the best in terms of arrangement and serving his purpose. He anticipates, developing Medieval History Community a brand name in future.” Saber, what message do you want to give to our readers?” The answer to this question is worth knowing for all of you.

” Well, for those who think History is a bore and stale subject, think twice. Many of our members ended up knowing their roots and their origin. Of course the past helps a child know, who he is and so history does matter. And let me tell you, some of the events like the Crusades, 100 years war have created heroes who in turn have changed the course of History, think of the many inventions, if it wouldn’t have been for the Mesopotamians who invented wheel, things would have been different. So, let us not forget our past.”

Well said Saber! My visit to this community was an eye-opener and I believe it will be for most of our readers as well. Medieval History community today is an inspiration for people who loose hope when face obstacles. Go and have a visit to this community and enhance yourself.

Request from the author: We constantly feature some best user created online communities of orkut, if you come across any such potential community(s) please contact us on tara [AT] orkutheroes [dot] com.