I'm Back...But not with a bang!! :-)

Family,

Yes! I continue to address this group as my family, as I have always done and will always do. Coz when I conceived this group and thought of it as an extension of my family, I went ahead and started addressing this group as that. And, like everything at WL, it was accepted with both arms open.

I have always believed in the maturity of this group and respected the transparency that this space should have. I have always used my name while posting admin notifications, and never ever have hidden my huge body ;-) behind this veil of "WL admin". We, the founders, started this space to provide a platform to connect, share and write. It gives me immense pleasure to see the big talented gang called loungers who have joined us over the last 12 months.

Though I have not been able to blog a lot of late, I have been a regular reader and follower. And I thought it was time I stepped in for good.

The moment I noticed the mail from "WL admin" here in the open stating openly that "Leo has been removed from WL", which was very unlike notifications, I was worried. I called up Ste and asked him to check with Leo, Aarthi & Rashi if they had posted it which I was sure they had not. Insiya has been inactive for a couple of weeks, taking her out of the picture. If neither of us posted it here, then who? Ste tracked the IP down to Chennai, and none of our admins are from that place. If the WL admin id was hacked, which I doubt it was, then we have taken measures to ensure that we beef up the security. The password has been changed, and to see to it that things don't go out of hand only me, Ste, Aarthi & Rash will be having it. I also request them to post their names while making announcements.

I appreciate Ilashree in sharing her concerns openly, and I am with her when she demands explanations. Something which came to my mind as well when I read the post notifying Leo's removal from the lounge. I am travelling currently, with limited access to net, and have not been able to contact Leo. I requested Ste to do that, and I understand that Leo wants a break. I will try my best to asking him to get back to weaving his magic again on the lounge.

The basic ingredient that this lounge and the members share is "trust". We are all mature and should be able to see if something strange is happening, there is some external hand involved. We never encourage silence here and that is the reason the WL email id has been put right on top for members to share their concerns. And after all this, things like infringing rights and accusations of deleting stuff unsettle me. Abhri, we connect with other writers on a personal note here. We never wanted Prats to leave and also welcomed her back asking her not to get affected by the mails. The day she messaged me asking if she could come back to the lounge, I simply replied saying that she does not need to ask and its her home. She came back, but was again hounded by the mails. We never posted anything on the lounge to show solidarity and give Prats the message that the lounge is not affected and is her same old home. Different people have different ways of dealing with situations and the mails saw a lot of angry replies from members here. While some remained silent ignoring the whole stuff. And its not that Prats only left WL. She deleted all her blogs as well.

Abhri, we as a group have no intentions of infringing on basic rights to freedom of anyone. The Leo post was deleted because neither of us had posted it, and we didn't want Leo to feel that we want him out. As far as a member going out and we being silent is concerned, it is we who sms/call them up and ask them to come back. I understand it is something which you were not aware of and hence commented, but I would request some "trust" from your side that we will see to it that lounge remains the way we conceived it and shapes up the way we dreamt of it. Something which we so successfully achieved and which we wont let some buggers/hackers to play around with. Something which is home for all of us here, and something which we will stay with in all hardships. Something which no one can shake and point fingers at. Something which we so proudly call a "family"

We were United, we will stay United. If there is someone out there who feels they have it in them to reduce the lounge to a battlefield, then my message to them is : Get a life! Leave my family alone.....Get lost!!

Lets bring back the zeal to usher WL into a new year. Lets celebrate the birthday of our baby in style. Lets show the world that WL is the most rocking place out there. Lets show everyone out there that WE ROCK!!

Love,
Sandeep