Adil Najam
We are in the process of making some important changes here at ATP and I thought this picture captured very well the mood of these changes. A mood of accomplishment; and of possibly having sown some seeds that might just take root if the conditions are right.
Regular readers would remember that from the beginning the goal has been to turn ATP into a team-blog (here). When I first started the blog on June 11, I was not sure anyone would even come to visit. Today, just over two months (68 days) into the experiment, this is the 158th post and we have had over 60,000 visits. In many practical ways Guest Posters but even more so for the active discussion from all of you.
Now its time to take the next step.
Please welcome Bilal Zuberi and Owais Mughal who are joining me in the day-to-day management and editing of ATP.
Most of you are, of course, very familiar with both Bilal (on Naii, on Ishtiaq Ahmed and Inspector Jamshed, on Mueen Akhter, and on The Greeing of Pakistan) and Owais (on Goth Alla-Bino, on Chai, on Fountain Pens, and on Rickshaws) who have been been regular and frequent posters of ATP. They have already been very active on ATP and now kindly agreed to take on major responsibilities in its management. They will, I am confident, bring even greater variety and diversity to ATP.
We will, of course, continue to have Guest Posts from the wonderful bloggers who have been contributing in the past and, hopefully, from more new ones. I believe that these have been a central element of how ATP has developed and we want to continue on this path. I would like to thank all who have been contributing Guest Posters and also invite our readers to consider contributing Guest Posts (see here).
Unfortunately, none of the above means that I will disappear. Getting rid of me will not be that easy. I am having too much fun doing this to let go. While you will see a little less of me (as I actually start doing work for those who pay my salary), you will probably still see more than you want to; at least for a little while longer.
And, finally, about the photograph at the top of this post. Titled ‘The Farmer’ it is part of the portfolio of Razaq Vance. Razaq sahib is in the same profession as me - a teacher - but is immensely more talented and his photographs always leave me entirely mesmerized. I plan to do a proper feature on his photography soon, but along with Umair Ghani (where work we presented on ATP here and here), Razaq Vance captures the grandeur of life in rural Punjab like few others. Thank you Razaq Sahib.
[By the way, the second post I did with Umair’s photogrpahs - about the rural-urban divide in Pakistan - was one of my most favorite posts on ATP; both because of the topic and becasue of his photographs].
Adil,
Congratulations on making the progress you have on this blog in such a short time. You have already received some good suggestions from Mus on how to improve it further. Here are a few more:
1. As mentioned earlier, please increase the font size of the comments. As it is, it puts a lot of strain on the eyes to read them. As you know it’s the comments and discussion that make a blog interesting. So make them more readable.
2. After reading or skimming a post one always tries to go to the “Recent Comments” parts on the right hand side. Therefore it should always be somewhere high up, if not at the very top so that one does not have to scroll down to look for it.
3. Minimize the visual “clutter” if you can, which means the highlighted parts, capitalization and reference to links should be kept to essential minimum.
Welcome, Bilal and Owais. And I like the ‘Pak Tea House’ metaphor. I think the politics of this site also has a similar bent. *grin*
I actually like the variety of posts of different topics and the mix of words and pictures very much. There is something for everybody. I note that some people comment on some type of issues, and others on different ones. The pictures are a major part of the charm of this place, so I would keep them. If speed of loading is an issue then maybe use lower resolution.
I thought from the post that Adil was taking the very Un-Pakistani step of developing a team rather than remaining solo. The messages suggest is he leaving. Which is it?
By the way, great photograph that of the farmer.
True! This is already a tea house.. in memory of the legendary one recently closed in Lahore. I think the owner is building a commercial plaza in its place.
To be part of ‘All things Pakistan’ has been one of the best experiences for me. We strive to keep our readership’s interest alive and we’ll do out utmost best to bring even more interesting and diverse topics to this forum.
Oops I noted several spelling and grammar errors in my last post.Since there is no option to edit or correct errors before posting so once posted is not correctible.
So ATP is about to change hands and a new team takes over.Whoever takes charge,these suggestions may be noted.
*Several topics may be combined or consolidated into fewer ones.An average visitor visits just a single topic or maybe two,other topics,which might have received replies go unoticed and unvisited.So better to consolidated all those topics into fewer ones,I would say one would make it even more interesting and everybody will get to read everybody.
*emphasise more on text than on visuals(videos and pictures).Keeping in the mind ATP gets loaded faster with more text than with visuals(not everybody had high speed broadband anyway).
Hope it is noted.
welcome!
adil jee.. it would be sad to see you go…. so… please dont
Welcome Bilal and Owais. I am sure this is going to be a great ‘tea house.’ It alreay is.