For those of you wondering what happened to SurfUnion, here’s some bad news – the forum got affected in last week’s hacker attack with all its data destroyed. I called up Ron who had been its caretaker for many months and could sense the shock and awe over the phone, that dismayed look on his face. The plans to resurrect it are being put on hold for the time being.
Sadly, Surfunion died an unsung death. In its last days, there was little traffic and virtually nothing being generated which would have created some amount of interest amongst the community. Eventually it was left to survive on its own, with even its creators staying away from it. The greatest achievement of SU however would always be the network it created of local designers (Mumbai members had a strong presence on the forum) through MegaMeets.
Good Bye and Good Luck SurfUnion. I will miss you always!
WWHATT!
Surfunion was my beloved too!. Got to visit it first time from a link in aqshar.com website. I loved the very first impression of the site homepage. like.. i have found a treasure. But as i have said u before. Just by placing the forum, it could not get the popularity. Though, i kept visiting it once in a while just with hope, someday it will comeout with great features like http://www.stylegala.com or atleast.. http://www.devlounge.net.
Now, i request to the creators of the surfunion. Please make it live again. but not just with automated forum. But, some extra features like articles, gallery etc. Yes, the main topic should be desi only. :)
Also i am interested to know… if the owner of surfunion.com domain doesn’t want to keep it live, is there a chance to buy the domain? i m planning to create community based on this topic.
Anyway, best of luck. long live SU.
Hi Bliss. Just elated to know that you feel an emotional loss with the demise of SU. I really appreciate it.
I was one of the founders of the forum (the name was suggested by yours truly) but over the past few months, I had begun to ignore it completely. However, I am hoping against hope that SU is revived once again and just the way that you want it. Send me a mail with your details so we can get back to you in case we need your help :-)
As for the domain, I think we like it too much to sell it now :-)
well, will write you detailed mail later if needed. right now, i m planning to create a community on an indian topic. but, here’s few idea for SU if it counts.
1) generate money: :) vitamin M is the vital thing that makes the creators admins in long run. ok, dont profit from it but atleast it will help u for some bucks for maintenance etc. so, few sponsored links are not at all bad.
2) Mumbai is not the whole india: There exists other cities too. So, instead of talking to each other locally like.. ‘shyam bhau, that was great!.. we are meeting at megameet bla bla’ how about having a showcase like logopond.com or stylegala.com gallery? (selected only. not every work has to be featured there.) and if u really put the desi in design.. We need pure desi.
tell u one secret. I love aqshar.com works and i had the feeling like i found a treasure seeing surfunion.. because there might be lot of similar work. But what i found was a forum.
just think honestly. why a user comes in here? not to talk yaar! we comes there to find inspiration. to showcase our works and to improve it. To get some career/business opportunities if possible (side bar of alistapart). News on whats happening in design world of india. Interviews. Resources (again it should be desi. because if i need others, there are loads of them). Desi wordpress themes. etc. etc. etc.
and all. all of this should be placed as such, its easily locatable. (seeing SU wallpapers in mangesh’s site, i thought, i might find other such great wallpapers in there.. but i was lost!)
i know its easy to say all this. and too hard to create. but, these are my humble opinions as a desi net user. best luck to all of u. (again, Mumbai is not india! hope it makes sense. if u guys feeling like talking.. Messengers are always there.)
:) reading my post above, i see a loads of grammatical mistakes. just look at the views and not at the poor english!
Never mind the spelling errors, your thoughts regarding the future of an indian community are invaluable. As I have said earlier, things went beyond my control a long time ago.
When SU was founded, the admins or the founders were all freelancers. We could devote a lot of time to it. Everybody joined some organization or the other and began pursuing their careers. The members too did not feel like posting anything and the forum itself did not churn out enough material to bring them back. There were rifts created within the core admins due to personal reasons, some of us started staying away from the board for reasons which I will never know. Funnily, I am sure most of the admins aren’t aware of this disaster which has happened. It’s sad to be one of the few to preside over the last rites of Surfunion. Frankly speaking, I am happy that I am debating this issue with you on my website. My thoughts and yours as well, must be read by every Surfunion lover who thinks he was a fan of Indian design and its values.
I can’t promise anything now. I don’t even know whether I will be a part of the new look Surfunion whenever it comes up. BUt your views on SU must be pondered upon before any step is taken in setting up a new community.
it would be fine if you revive it…and if you need any help i can be the first person to count on…bets of luck to you too….and its good to know that you too are in the same field as mine i.e usability…:) be in touch my email id is dearthelusion(at)gmail(dot)com
Hi Rupa. I have edited your email ID to protect it from spambots.
Anyway, I would like to thank you for showing your support for Surfunion. Maybe we can start something exciting in Usability, perhaps a forum or a community. Stay in touch and take care :-)
Cheerios!
Bhooshan please! atleast put a page in there explaining the situations and let them know there might be something in future.
or just collect mail addresses in order to inform them when the site is ready.. ever in future.
ok and one more question on usability. Define usability in maximum 3 sentences. in desi language. so that i can understand what exactly it is. :)
I will inform Ron about putting up a page on SU but I don’t know if he has rented a server space as yet :-(
Usability has many definitions. It’s a subject area which entails studies and research that apply to interfaces and systems which aid users in achieving their objectives, effectively and easily (phew). That’s as DESI as I can get buddy. For more information you can pay a visit to the guru’s humble (online) abode – http://www.useit.com
:) have pity on surfunion guys! put up a page atleast.. RON? my ethics and values stop me using abusive language for that poor fellow! but you guys have some responsibility towards a community you created.
anyways, it certainly make me think twice to join any community now on. best luck with your jobs. and your careers.
never live su.
Hi Bhooshan,
Remember me… I tumbled into SU at Ryche’s behest. I was working at Wipro for the last one and a half years. Just got back into graphic design recently… my first thoughts went to SU… but couldn’t find it (WTF!!) so I googled for it and came across this post. Sad demise. Me and frogface, Ryche’s younger bro are trying to carry on with Media Mistry since Ryche has taken over the family business. Would be great to see SU back in the limelight again.
Hi Hybrid. I have strong recollection of you Froggie and Ryche. Yes it’s a very sad stuff to happen to the Union, especially when a lot of us had met through the Board. I wish we can all come together like old times and create the magic which we initially created. Thanks for dropping by :-)
Me too googled to find if surfunion is still alive. I wasn’t an active member, still learned a lot from there.. so it is really sad to see that a great community is just gone.. like that.
:(