Marbrouk! as one says in this part of the world... Thanks to Rico, (Oops! Frederick to most) I have benefited, gleaned knowledge & information even if, as Rico puts it and I admit,.....I belong to the "passively read" though I assure you all that I avidly read...... Enjoyed the articles, thoughts & writings of the many writers on this Forum - congratulations to all! Wowow! As usual, Rico, you always surprise me just as you did when you were a tiny tot ... quite a thought provoking introductory para left in mid air .....and .... loved your last two "closing" lines! Looks like you had the same English teacher as I - "one needs to start well in the first para & end well in the last." She probably forgot to say anything, or deliberately did not say anything about the paras in between..... but you did here - I mean the mind boggles - GoaNet I & GoaNet II - are you kidding about the kids? - you should have opted for Goemnet (male) & Goemnette (female) presuming the kids made up a pair!! All the best! Looking forward to the next few years & the first real celebration of this Forum when it reaches its Silver Jubilee! Congratulations once again! Annette
> From: fredericknoro...@gmail.com > Date: Mon, 27 Aug 2012 15:40:19 +0530 > To: gn-n...@goanet.org > Subject: [Goanet-News] Goanet at 18 years > > See more posts: > http://lists.goanet.org/pipermail/goanet-goanet.org/2012-August/date.html > > > Dear all: > > If Herman had not posted this, I would have surely missed the date! Is > this as bad as forgetting your wedding anniversary or your partner's > birthday? :-) Anyway, in this tangle of human emotions that makes up > Goanet, I won't risk probing further.... > > The real credit for keeping Goanet going should go to each and every > one of its members. Those who have posted, debated, shared news, > passively read, disagreed, signed-up, lost patience, critiqued us, > given off-list feedback, added value, whatever... > > On this anniversary, let me once again share a couple of links that > Alberto G. Gomes, PhD, wrote on Goanet! > > http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@goanet.org/msg03429.html > http://www.mail-archive.com/goanet@goanet.org/msg03433.html > > Keeping Goanet going was the easy part, specially after everyone > starts believing in the self-fulfilling benefits of sharing bits and > bytes for information -- which you never know whom it might benefit > where. But without the participation of everyone, it would have been > impossible. > > Of course, to Herman (now, Dr Herman) goes full credit that he > recognised the potential of turning a simple, inexpensive technical > tool like a mailing-list used then mostly by techies, into an arena > for community networking. This, mind you, was quite some time before > Googlegroups came on the scene and Yahoogroups became quite a giant > after buying up Egroups, if I recall my cyberhistory right. > > Goanet may have failed in its "agenda" of shaping itself as an excuse > for more cybermatrimonials happening. (The closest I came to this, was > an email from a you-know-me-but-you-don't-know > -who's-writing-to-you-right-now, promising an invite to his/her wedding. > The invite didn't show up, so I never got to know who was pulling my > leg, alas ... ) > > But, on the other hand, at least we have one exceptional couple that > not only met on Goanet, got married (if I recall, the offer for a live > rendering of the honeymoon wasn't taken to too kindly), and even named > their kids GoaNet I and GoaNet II. That's how it used to be spelt in > those days... and these are their middle-names only, so you probably > wouldn't be able to cross-check my claim here! > > I'd like to thank everyone who put in time on this long journey and > made Goanet possible. From Tim D'Mello, who wrote a letter in Gomantak > Times, alerting me to the existence of Goanet in 1995; to Vishwas Chavan > who used to post news out of Goa when so few had email access here; > Eddie Fernandes, who then as now had an immense ability to scour > cyberspace for Goa-related links; GoaCom (specially Marlon, but also > Tim and John from Ca, Jerry in Miramar, Freddy Faria and Maryln -- the > first webdesigners to work out of Goa! -- also Arati and Luiza) which > hosted us for quite some time; the early Goanetters who were there > before me (including Kendy Menezes, Samir Kelekar, and the "kids" -- > no longer -- of Indian envoy in many countries, Placido D'Souza of > Anjuna/Pune); Uly Menezes, Gasper Almeida and Goa-World in the Gulf; > Joel D'Souza who regularly posted news; Selma and the late Dr. Cornel > DaCosta who helped with the summaries; Vivanne Coelho who was a > moderator for a decade or more; our other moderators present and past > Avelino Fernandes, Sunila Muzawar, Tariq Sidiqui; Christina who has > helped with the cybermatrimonials; Bosco who deserves a Nobel Prize > for Patience; and everyone else who helped in every way. > > For me, personally, Goanet boosted my faith in the belief that it's > possible -- still -- to sustain social capital-building projects. Over > long years, without an emphasis or fear where the money will come > from, or while overruling the inevitability that journalists will just > remain paid hacks always struggling to express their views. > > Without Goanet, it would have been impossible to even imagine a > BytesForAll (which functioned for a decade), Docuwallahs2 (still going > strong, in various parts of India) or even Goa,1556 (making a > difference in the real world... I'd like to believe). At the end of > the day, we owe a lot to Goanet. I'd like to see it as the cyber-kudds > of the 21st century, and also our own version of the miracle of loaves > and fishes. Everyone ate, and there's still so much going round.... > even if our shortcomings are there. > > FN > -- > FN +91-832-2409490 or +91-9822122436 f...@goa-india.org > Books from Goa,1556 http://scr.bi/Goa1556Books > Audio recordings (mostly from Goa): http://bit.ly/GoaRecordings