badh bhangar awaaj recent posts http://www.somewhereinblog.net http://www.somewhereinblog.net/config_bangla.htm copyright 2006 somewhere in... bangladesh computer security incident response team " that will act upon national, social, political and religious disturbance or hatred from today!!!

the news report is very upsetting and disturbing, it seems to be a direct attack on the universal human right of freedom of expression! this isn't just about fighting crime, this would easily turn to censorship of the internet in bangladesh. somewhere in... is a signatory to the kathmandu statement about the internet and freedom of expression. we are deeply concerned about this development.

in most countries, a "computer security incident response team " is a team that ensures that government computer networks, websites and databases are protected and available, at least in my understanding. it should have nothing to do with people expressing their opinion and views on national, social, political or religious issues.

from somewhere in... we say: "ensure freedom of expression on internet!"]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29529261 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29529261 2012-01-25 21:26:19
somewhere in... is against any government intervention that may compromise the universal right of freedom of expression and we are strongly against any law affecting the operation of blogs and online communities or criminalization of expressions.

somewhere in... is concerned that some individuals are abusing this freedom to victimise or spread hatred against individuals or groups of people, which may lead to unforesighted intervention by the government curtailing the freedom of expression.

somewhere in... wants the private sector, the civil society and the government to work together in the governance of the internet so as to ensure that the internet´s benefits reaches everyone in bangladesh while also safeguarding any user against cyber crime.

somewhere in... and most other local actors in the internet industry are continuously developing best practices. some things we have done right, some things we have done wrong, but we always try to learn and improve ourselves. this gives active users and providers a deep understanding of the dynamics on the internet.

any act, law, regulation policy or intervention relating to the internet and social media must be done through a participatory co-creation process with bloggers, social media activists, analysist and companies. if there is any cyber law in the making, it must ensure full freedom of expression, uphold democratic values and focus on good internet governance and the prevention of cyber crime only.

from our side, jana has participated in several local and international conferences and meetings about the freedom of expression on the internet. please join us in the debate on freedom of expression as we share with you the "Kathmandu Statement " to which she is one of the signatories.
]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29516847 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29516847 2012-01-05 18:27:08
what an inspirational story about forgiveness and mercy. for me, this is about the making of a new bangladeshi hero: rais bhuiyan. i just hope that as many people as possible get to know about the broad mind and big heart of this man. rais, a bangladeshi US citizen, was shot in his face and nearly killed in the days after 9/11. his attacker, mark stroman, was sentenced to death and executed just a few hours ago.

what is so unusual is that rais bhuiyan went through a legal fight until the very last moment to save his attacker from the death row. he says about his attacker: "he did what he did, but now he is a different person, and can talk to the people - those who are as ignorant as him - so there is a chance we can live in a better society. execution is not a solution in this case."

many people see executions as a final revenge against criminals, but is it right to fight hate and crime with more hate and crime? when the state kills a person , what good does it make? rais is focusing on the future, not the past. he even see that something good could have resulted, if the man he tried to save from the gallows could have been allowed to educate other criminals after realising his own mistakes.

it is indeed a noble act when the victim wants mercy for his attacker, that is an act of the deepest love for human beings. can rais inspire more forgiveness amongst us?-


]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29416987 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29416987 2011-07-21 09:20:56

এক্সক্লুসিভ- সামহোয়ার ইন নেট নামক সফটওয়ার কোম্পানীর অবৈধ ব্যবসার তদন্তে নেমেছে গোয়েন্দারা


সৈয়দা গুলশান ফেরদৌস জানা

বৈধ ও অবৈধভাবে বাংলাদেশে এসে নানা বৈধ অবৈধ এবং অস্ত্র ও মাদক ব্যবসা, প্রতারণা-চোরাচালানসহ নানা অপরাধে জড়িয়ে পড়ছেন অনেক বিদেশি। আইনশৃঙ্খলা রক্ষাকারী বাহিনীকে ফাঁকি দেওয়ার জন্য তাঁদের কেউ কেউ এ দেশে বিয়ে করে স্ত্রীর সহায়তায় অবৈধ ব্যবসা এবং অপরাধমূলক কাজ চালিয়ে যাচ্ছেন।

তেমনি একজন হল সামহোয়্যার ইন এর মালিক নরওয়ের নাগরিক আরিল। বাংলাদেশে এসে তিনি বিয়ে করেছেন, বাঙ্গালী মেয়ে সৈয়দা গুলশান ফেরদৌস জানাকে যিনি কোম্পানি টির হেড অব অ্যালায়েন্সেস হিসেবে রয়েছেন। বিদেশী একজন নাগরিক বাংলাদেশে এসে আইটি খাতের মত স্পর্শকাতর একটি খাতে এতদিন ব্যবসা করছেন সেটা গোয়েন্দাদের তেমন নজরে ছিলনা এতদনি। কিন্তু অতি সম্প্রতি সরকার ব্লগ-ফেসবুক সহ বিভিন্ন অনলাইন মিডিয়া নিয়ে মাথা ঘামাতে শুরু করলে কেঁচো খুড়তে সাপ বেরিয়ে পড়ে। প্রথমে গোয়েন্দারা মুলত সরকার বিরোধী লেখা নিয়ে মাথা ঘামালেও বর্তমানে তারা সামহোয়্যার ইনের পুরো ব্যবসা নিয়ে তদন্তে নেমেছে। তাদের কাছে গুরত্ব পাচ্ছে বিদেশী নাগরিক অরিল কিভাবে এতদিন এদেশে ব্যবসা করছেন, কোনপ্রকার তথ্য ও মুদ্রাপাচারর সাথে এরা জড়িত কিনা, ব্লগে সরকার বিরোধী প্রচারনার সাথে এদের সাথে বিরোধী দলের সাথে সংশ্লিষ্টতা রয়েছে কিনা, ধর্মীয় উস্কানীমুলক লেখা দেয়ার পিছনে সাম্প্রদায়িক উস্কানী দেয়ার উদ্দেশ্য আছে কিনা এবং অরিলা-জানার সাথে পার্শ্ববর্তি একটি দেশের সুসম্পর্কের কারণও খতিয়ে দেখা হচ্ছে।


একসাথে জানা-অরিল

এদিকে রাজস্ব কর্মকর্তারাও নেমেছেন বিদেশে মুদ্রাপাচার ঘটনা তদন্তে। বিদেশে সামহোয়্যার ইনের অবৈধ মুদ্রাপাচার নিয়ে এনবিআরের কাছে যথেষ্ট তথ্যপ্রমান রয়েছে। তারা এজন্য শিগ্রই সামহোয়্যার ইনের আর্থিক লেনদেন সর্ম্পকিত সকল ডুকুমেন্ট চেক করবেন বলে জানা যায়।

বলা চলে নতুন বছরের শুরুতে সামহোয়্যার ইন গ্রুপ বিশাল এক ঝাকুনি খেতে যাচ্ছে। এর পিছনে অবশ্য একটি ব্লগের হাত থাকার প্রমাণও পাওয়া গিয়েছে। সরকার সমর্থিত চট্টগ্রামের পটিয়ার এক এমপি পুত্রের পরিচালানাধিন "আমারব্লগ" এর পিছনে মুল কলকাঠি নাড়ছেন বলে সুত্রে প্রকাশ। তারা যেকোন ভাবে সামহোয়্যার ইন গ্রুপের ব্যবসা বগলদাবা করার জন্য উঠেপড়ে লেগেছে বলেও গুঞ্জন।


সম্প্রতি অবৈধ ব্যবসায় জড়িত আটক কিছু বিদেশী।

আমার বর্ণমালা


]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29313951 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29313951 2011-01-25 11:02:16 somewhere in net ltd as a company, the process was very frustrating and took 2-3 months even with professional help. now, nearly six years later, the registration of a new trade organisation took only 24 hrs, with submission of all documents online. congratulations bangladesh, i am extremely proud of you!

i have been actively involved in starting a new trade organisation, the nordic chamber of commerce and industry in bangladesh. we are not a lot of companies from the nordic countries (norway, sweden, denmark, finland and iceland) in bangladesh and it makes sense for us to stand together, reuse earned knowledge and better visualise what we do.

i thought that registering a trade organisation would be more troublesome than registering a company, but poof, the certificate of incorporation was in our inbox with a nice message from the registrar of joint stock of companies within 24 hrs.

this was at least a fantastic example of the new and upcoming digital bangladesh. if citizens and businesses gets access to more e-government services like this, making processes transparent, rapid, easy and user friendly, we are heading for a strong future. we should embrace the good initiatives and push forwards with pride and confidence. go bangladesh, go digital!

happy " style="border:0;" />]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29310730 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29310730 2011-01-20 09:44:22

a mind blowing theory about our universe, challenging the big bang concept, is being put forward by dr. anup rej today at 11:00 in geological survey of bangladesh, 153 pioneer road, segunbagicha.

i never stop being fascinated by the universe, as a kid i could spend hours just gazing at the stars. i met dr. anup rej here in dhaka a few months ago and found his new theory very appealing and believable. today he is holding a lecture for the first time in bangladesh. as one of my facebook friends said: "how extremely cool"! i think so too.

dr. anup rej is a bengali cosmologist and doctor in nuclear physics, his theory: "we live in a fractal universe, without beginning and end, though everywhere its ever-changing and undergoing birth, death and re-generation. the universe bears close similarity with the living world we observe around us. like the structures in geology, biology and botany the universe is a fractal built in a self-similar way. the stars, the galaxies, the clusters of galaxies etc. replicate the similar pattern differing in sizes by billions of times. time itself is rooted in a cosmic design, which is timeless."]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29308973 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29308973 2011-01-17 09:04:02 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29263979 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29263979 2010-10-30 15:38:58

dear bloggers,

somewhere in... has today been announced as a finalist for the "red herring top 100 asia award 2010 ". on behalf of all of the happy people here at somewhere in..., i just had to share this news with you.

the red herring top 100 asia award is a prestigious list honouring the most promising private technology ventures from the asia business region this year. being a finalist means that we are listed among 200 cutting edge tech startups in the whole of asia and oceania. if we do well in presenting our company in shanghai in november, we could end up among the 100 winning companies with widened opportunities. as to my knowledge, unfortunately, no other company from bangladesh has so far reached a "red herring" final.

we share the honour of being the first ever company from bangladesh reaching a "red herring" award final with one more bangladeshi company, "onecall solutions". to us, this is a seal of quality for what we believe in, what we work for and what we do. it also means that social media, the way we do it in bangladesh, has been noticed and appreciated on an international stage, again.

to all of you that have embraced bangla blogging through somewhere in... blog and created such an interesting community, to all the addabajs of aawaj, to all of my colleagues that year after year have worked hard to build and operate our services:

congratulations!
]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29261090 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29261090 2010-10-25 16:20:09
the blog was unavailable for a few hours the last two nights and is still periodically slow. we apologise for the inconvenience this is causing you. we are working on the problem and will inform you later through a notice board post when resolved. minor disruptions may occur over the next few days.

for the blog team,
arild]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29187062 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29187062 2010-06-28 14:50:08

i have been working for a while with maps over bangladesh, using the official upazila maps and comparing those with google maps. can you guess where i found this beautiful peace of neckless? it must be the largest in bangladesh " style="border:0;" />

it is an aerial photgraph from ghagra and haturia beel when flooded, in mithamain upazila, kishoreganj. perhaps i should get a silver smith to create a miniature copy, it would be a smash hit design, don´t you think? ঘাগরা´র হীরের হার]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29150424 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29150424 2010-05-07 14:24:44 >" style="border:0;" /> তবে, আমি ও বাঁধ ভাঙার আওয়াজে আছি আর আমার খুব ভাল লাগছে আজকে। ডয়চে ভেলে আর বব্সের মাধমে অনেকে এখন জানতে পারে বাংলা ব্লগিংএর কত দুরে গিয়েছে।

আজকে রাতের মধে ভিট দিন @ ডা বব্স। আলি মাহমেদ খুব ভাল করেছেন, ২৮% ভোট পেয়েছেন এই পরজন্ত। ১১টা বাংলা ব্লগ্স লিস্তে আছে। আপনার ফেভরিট কন্টা? ভোট দিন আজকে ।

]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29134759 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29134759 2010-04-14 11:58:34

you may have seen the "the BoBs" banner on somewhere in... blog for a couple of months now, but have you nominated your favourite bangla blogs? the BoBs is the world´s largest international weblog award event organised by germany´s international public broadcaster, Deutsche Welle .  the BOBs award has been organised yearly since 2004, and this time bangla has been included as the 11th language .  spread the word about this contest around the world to everyone who blog or read blogs in bangla.  for nominations you should turn every stone in the bangla blogosphere independent of community, platform or hosting. we could only do justice to the best bangla bloggers of the vast and diverse blogosphere if you all help in the online nomination process which is open until 14th february 2010.  bangla is the only south asian language represented and it is a fantastic opportunity to display the most talented of our bloggers to the world.

learn more about the international best of blogs contest
get to know the different award categories  for nomination. there are several topic/style categories where you can nominate as well as the regular bangla blog category. the blogs you nominate could be the best because of their fantastic writing, amazing creativity, excellent design or use of multimedia elements, or for their great user friendliness.  the blog award has its own faq page , a road map and a list of all submissions .  

nominate your favourite (or your own) blogs now
do not hesitate, do bring out the best of the bangla blogs and nominate them here .  you may also nominate anyone´s blog in any of the other languages of the bobs as well, using the same link and criteria , just make sure you specify the correct language and country. ]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29091637 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29091637 2010-02-05 11:19:00
someone may be trying to create a negative impact on somewhere in... blog by sending out false mail using a hoax mail service to make you believe the mail is sent from somewhere in... blog. these mails pretend to be from the somewhere in... management or from the blog team. some mails try to make it seem that we want to obstruct another planned bangla blog day, other mails try to make you believe that we have applied a ban on your profile.

you may check the authenticity of such mails from the "message details", "show original" or in other ways find the full email heading. find the line: "mailed-by:" and confirm whether or not it says "somewhereinblog.net". if it says "mailed-by" some other address, then please ignore the mail as someone has forged our email header. forging email headers is a crime, it is a punishable offence in many countries.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29087771 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29087771 2010-01-29 11:45:25

dear bloggers,

the unimaginable horror of the earthquake in haiti has caused a good number of bloggers to write with engagement and concern about the disaster. we are the host of a large blog community and have been thinking what would be our best action. we thought that it makes sense to collect all blog posts about haiti in a topic blog, highlighted on the right side of the blog, with direct link: http://www.somewhereinblog.net/topic/haiti .

we do apologise for being somewhat late in our response and hope that this initiative will encourage you to maintain the focus on haiti and earthquake awareness. with this service we should be able to gradually start collecting posts for several important topics, we are open for suggestions. for the time being, the selection process is fully manual, so please help us identifying posts that we should include by adding the links in comments.

under this topic blog, we want to collect posts approaching the haiti disaster in multiple ways; be it reports and updates, debates on relief efforts and fund raising, earth quake awareness, criticism, praise or concerns. you may send requests for adding posts to .

let this joint effort enable all of us to mobilise for social causes]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29085962 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29085962 2010-01-26 12:30:10
i quickly found that amarblog had dedicated their banner in support for the haitians, a very good gesture that i give my praise for.   i found a number recent posts on "হাইতি" from different sites, but not as many as i expected.  personally, i hope to see our blog communities leading the way in building awareness and mobilise for social causes.  its easy to just say "ahare, poor haitians, what a terrible disaster" and then life goes on in busy dhaka.  however, it gives me shivers down the spine thinking about how dhaka would have looked like with an earthquake of magnitude 7 hitting us.  

all the blog communities in bangladesh are pretty strong online media where we publish our thoughts, share our observations and knowledge and gradually create a picture of what we are concerned about.  could we play a greater role to educate our own people and build awareness?  how many of you have an activist inside that you want to unleash for social causes and what would these be?  which role should and could somewhere in... blog play to facilitate your activism?  i am just curious to learn from you.

for those who don´t know me, i may introduce myself as a part of the somewhere in... team and a full time social media builder, and not good enough in written bangla to write a full post, my apologies.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29080098 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29080098 2010-01-17 10:39:17
i will not dwell on the goods or bads of stopping the exhibition here, thats national politics on a big, international, heavyweight scale. however, if we are to say that we have a free press in this country, we would expect them to report without "fear or favour", as one of the leading papers claim. its up to the priorities of the editors what to squeeze into 20 pages, however, i would have expected that a real free press would have found this happening worth a good mention.

when the traditional press choose to hide certain news, it seems quite obvious that we need social media and citizen reporting to bring transparency and create open debates. happy blogging]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29036904 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29036904 2009-11-03 12:05:08
i managed to get inside at 4pm, just before the police came. still inside with shahidul and his people. three lines of police blocking the gates. i had expected a more free society in 2009. anyway, now the whole world knows and even more attention brought for the tibetans through blogs, live casting and the big news names.

this is the power of the new media, just wish the big brothers would adjust better to the new reality. would be less shameful.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29035929 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29035929 2009-11-01 17:54:23

শুভেচ্ছা সবাইকে। somewhere in... blog just crossed a solid milestone, 3 million pageviews in one month (31 days counted from 26th sept to 26th oct, the way google analytics count). over the last year, your favourite blog community has grown in average by 7% every month in terms of visits, with 2 60 496 visits and 78 153 absolute unique visitors in the same period.

congratulations to you all for achieving such a popularity! your passionate and engaged blogging have placed somewhere in... blog, actually all bangla blog communities, as a major factor on the local media landscape.

in mid december 2005 we planted a small bangla blog seed when just a few hundred bloggers where around. you nurtured it, you safe guarded it and you helped it grow into a huge tree in the online landscape. this makes us very humble and proud of the position of the bangla language. if somewhere in... blog was made in english only (which would have been easier for us back then), somewhere in... blog would neither have been prominent nor influential. still, there is a long way to go and millions to get online. let your success be an inspiration for more bangla language initiatives to come online. the more the merrier. it is actually very important for the language that web and mobile content is not just made available, but that most new content to come should be created in bangla. allow me personally to be the exception, writing in english " style="border:0;" />

শুভ ব্লগিং।


]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29032772 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/29032772 2009-10-27 15:09:05 the daily star has for the last 12 days dedicated 50% or more of their front page for a campaign to save the rivers of bangladesh.


the daily star front page, 21st may 2009

in very clear words and pictures, the disastrous results of encroachment and pollution have been highlighted. i am impressed and inspired by such responsible journalism and the fact that the daily star dedicate so many days of their most valuable asset (the top half front page) to force through a positive social and environmental impact. i have never seen any major newspaper run such a massive campaign before and i applaud them for their solid statement. here are some of their front pages from edailystar :


the daily star front page, 23rd may 2009


the daily star front page, 24th may 2009


the daily star front page, 28th may 2009


the daily star front page, 30th may 2009 ]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28958591 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28958591 2009-06-01 12:00:09 the morning paper told us today that the national probe of the bdr mutiny found no militant, no foreign or no political links. it just happened due to dissatisfaction with operation dal-bhat...

do we believe? will the 309 page report answer our critical questions?

bangla bloggers unite! you are the toughest panel of judges in this country. demand the report to be released and ask questions until you have a conclusion you can believe!]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28954099 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28954099 2009-05-22 10:14:36
when people stand together, it is easy to build up a demand for selected topics. however, you should select your topics with care. if someone enters a dead end road or go against the rules to meet their demands, we all end up wasting a lot of energy and lose our respect for each other without achieving anything else but harm.

every day bloggers of somewhere in... blog create 250-300 posts and 7000+ comments. i think you all agree that moderation is needed, and therefore we review all abuse reports and feedback mails submitted by you and take action where needed. we try to check most posts, we are incapable of reviewing all comments made and therefore fully depend on your reporting.

we will always be against hurting the sentiments of any group, be it for issues related to gender, culture, race or religion. we will always be against personal attacks, offensive language and harassment of others. sometimes we moderate with a warning, sometimes we terminate memberships. termination will either be caused by a severe offense, or the sum of long time behavior. our only gain in termination is to protect the stability of the community.

to maintain a good environment, it is also important that the respect and authority of the moderators and blog team is not undermined. we therefore have clear rules against using the front page or comments to criticize moderator actions or attempting to destabilize the community. i invite you to try to see some issues also from our point before criticizing:

* we cannot publicly give reasons for why members have been moderated or terminated, this would be against our privacy policy. as a result, any blog protests against moderator actions normally remain unanswered by us and some bloggers then pour more fuel to the fire by placing demands which we will not meet.

* if you have complaints, please email us or send an abuse report. do not use the front page to protest against the moderators or try to ridicule us. to maintain order, we have to remove such destructive posts from the front page and as a result, your status may fall for a temporary period. if you again use the front page or blog page to protest this and go into a non-stop protest mode, we see no other option than to react even more strictly, causing further loss.

* if you are a new blogger that do not know somewhere in... as a company, then please do not throw in or create rumors that have no base in reality. try to learn more about who we are and why we have set out in our mission to give you this free platform.

* if you are an established blogger, then you probably also know that we are always there to listen to your objections or opinions if you want to discuss with us. apply your own knowledge, judgement and wisdom before terming us with hateful or ridiculous words. you know what we have done and what we are doing for the community, as well as how we try to support and stand by your constructive campaigns. can we not lift the debate to a higher level and contribute positively to national issues with our combined intellect?

* somewhere in... earns all the money it needs through two teams doing consultancy work for foreign clients. we invest our own earnings in a strong research and development team that not only have brought you somewhere in... blog, but also classified services and a new online community.

* finally, regarding the say “i may not agree with what you say, but i will defend to my death your right to say it”: this is exactly also our stand on your behalf, that is why we created somewhere in... blog and took it through two years of emergency rule. however, we will defend your right only if you say it within the rules. we should not defend any right to harass, attack, insult or ridicule, should we?

i will have a discussion on this post but i will be happy to discuss with you personally. you are welcome to email me your thoughts to: . we will continue moderation as required. we have applied considerate patience in most cases, now we want to move on. we don´t get far if we keep on discussing people, we may progress if we talk about topics, but our best contribution is through active focus and awareness building on the big issues that we as a nation must resolve. therefore, think positively before you write.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28915217 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28915217 2009-02-23 13:57:33
please do not use the front page for complaining against other users, leave the job of moderation to somewhere in... please draft all posts containing complaints now, before we start moderating.

we do have rules for moderation of posts, pictures and comments. we do take action against bloggers who offend others, we try to take early action when we receive complaints, and we will take action regardless of it being babua or any other person. i have never met babua, i do not know him, to me babua is a blogger which will be treated as others.

i remember many offenses done during the last three years, i remember which words were used against which girl and by whom. please leave the job of complaining to those with a clean record themselves.

babua will be moderated, we do not tolerate insults or harassment of others, and we are extra careful to maintain the respect for women. but in general, can we not show some more respect and patience when dealing with fellow bloggers? isnt it demeaning for us if we as a blog community fail to rise above the "ভাংচুর" and "... চামড়া তুলে নেবো আমরা" culture which has caused so much damage for us as a nation? shouldn´t we as bloggers be a little more tolerant?

please, stop such attacks and let us do our job, it is my sincere request to you all. it is not nice to see the blog as it is, therefore draft your posts regarding the said issue now. moderation will start shortly.

]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28912628 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28912628 2009-02-17 23:14:47

this ad in todays newspaper made me very annoyed. i have probably never seen an uglier ad ever. kfc is not promoting love! they are just exploiting some peoples desire to make their loved one (or potentially loved one) happy, to maximize profit. this is the ugly face of commercialism.



luckily for us living in bangladesh, we have the beautiful celebration of pahela falgun the day before valentines day. to me, that is a much bigger and more beautiful celebration of love and the meaning of life than the artificial hysteria of valentines day created by profit maximizing corporations!

we may all have a romeo or juliet inside of us. my advice is to celebrate love a little bit every day, not wait for 14th february.

ad and photo taken from the daily star, 14th feb 09.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28911054 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28911054 2009-02-14 13:51:37 sushanta from amarblog .

we have chatted, blogged, emailed and phoned each other several times, after all we have many experiences and ideas to share as we all spend much of our time thinking how we can make bangla blogging even more popular " style="border:0;" />

together with sushanta, we were also happy that rezwan , pial and two friends of theirs came. talking was easy, ideas abundnant, engagement great and the coffee good. as blog communities we may be different and thats how it should be. bangla blogging can grow to unlimited heights and there should always be different players to spur innovation.

running a blog community is fun and exciting, but it also carries a responsibility: a responsibility to bring transparency and accountability for the ruling class. at the moment, the issues that bring us together are:
a) build more momentum for the trial of war criminals.
b) take a positive and active role in democracy watch to remind the politicians that we dont forget their pledges and that we want true progress this time.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28905817 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28905817 2009-02-02 21:56:49 দেখুন, এই পর্যন্ত:

]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28898220 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28898220 2009-01-16 13:18:49

this election is probably the first bangladesh election that has been properly covered in the online media. how did the different actors perform during the election night? what you see on the graph above is that somewhere in... blog had the highest number of pageviews of all the local online media during election night, even higher than times online . still, not to hide facts i am also adding that bdnews and prothom alo are ranked higher and have more visitors than us.


lets take a look at how the partnership between a newage and our blog worked. newage made a very good election portal and we set up an election blog with them.



it is clear from the graph that the newage website got a huge lift by visiting bloggers from the day we put up the election portal advertisement on the top of the blog. we highly appreciate the good efforts of newage to bring as wide and interactive coverage of the election as possible given the short time frame. without the support and visits from the somewhere in... bloggers, their good site may have remained in the dark for many.


let me also share the december blog stats with you so that i can congratulate you with the best blog month ever!



despite a lot of public holidays in december, it is the first month where the number of visits has crossed 150 000! on the 30th december we had 7795 visitors and 89573 pageviews. very solid records that will take some time to beat... congratulations!]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28892802 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28892802 2009-01-04 12:09:13
we are always alert about risks, and we work to keep somewhere in... blog as secure as possible. some bloggers use the front page to draw attention when they suspect hacking. this only creates fear among bloggers for unnecessary reason. such bloggers may get their status lowered by us, so please email us to get an answer to your query.

this post attempts to explain how "hacking"/hijacking happens and what you should do to stay safe:

hacking and hijacking:
1) in all cases mentioned above, the blog hijack happened because the bloggers´ email addresses were hacked due to use of weak password. those blogs were not hacked.
- if you suddenly cant access your email address and suspect email hacking, please notify us so that we can freeze your blog login.

2) when the hacker got access to the email used for the blog, he could ask the blog for a new password sent to the email address, and with the new password he could hijack the blog.
- if your blog is hijacked, please report to us immediately so that we can take action.

3) attempts to hijack or illegally enter other peoples blog will result in a total ban for the criminal blogger with deletion of any blog attempted to be establish later. we are tracking the IP and related info of all login attempt, password reset requests and other blog actions.

general internet security advise:
4) your blog, your email, your facebook, your digital rooms must be properly secured.  how do you lock all your rooms, your main door, your car and your office?  with a tiny padlock?  using the same key for all?  of course not.  you use different keys and you use solid locks.  so for internet, you have to use solid "locks" and different "keys".

5) make yourself a solid "lock" by using a password of at least 6 character and use capital letters, small letters and numbers in each password.  just as an example, you can use a password like: "pAss19"

6) to create different keys, and still not forget your them, you may make a secret code for yourself, e.g. add the 3rd and 4th letter of the service at the end of your standard password, so for this example: pAss19me for swiblog, pAss19ce for facebook, pAss19ai for gmail, etc

with these steps, you should be able to sleep safe and blog happily.

]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28891867 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28891867 2009-01-01 23:44:44

didn´t you feel like putting a comment under the microblog post saying that nizami lost? or the rumours that rangonia is going to AL? or that vp joynal took feni? there may be happiness, surprises or despair in the results - don´t hesitate, start a debate on our microblog, http://www.somewhereinbangladesh.net/election.

see the "add", "2" and "5" in the bubbles on the right side of the picture? these are the comments given for each posting. microblogging is an exciting mix of blog, forum, facebook and twitter. just log in with your blog username and password, and click on the red text/number in the bubbles to add a comment wherever you like.

to make friends, just click on the nickname, e.g. "newage" so that you go to their profile page and click on the "add -nick- as friend" in the yellow box. then just spend the rest of the night in colourful debates over the results.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28890047 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28890047 2008-12-29 23:33:09

voting centers should be closed by now and the results may be published outside the center soon.

we will highly appreciate if you can report the real figures from your center, take a snap of the notice with your mobile if you can or just note down the results and voting center, district and post.

if you share the results through http://www.somewhereinbangladesh.net/election and put the sign "@" in front of your area, district, then your message will also show up:

* under the relevant district in the new age interactive map
* on top of somewhereinblog.net
* in the election microblog
* and on blogs that added the election widget

photos of the election results will remain as proofs forever. the time of manipulation is over, meet the digital bangladesh!]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28889825 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28889825 2008-12-29 16:59:34

bangladesh is voting and 30 000 bloggers are watching. use your reporting power to ensure free and fair polls. join in and share with us what is happening in your area.

send an sms to 5455 from your area in the format above:
! yourmessage @yourdistrict

in this way5 minutes later the world can read your microblog report. it will be posted on top of somewhere in... blog , on the interactive election map , on the election blog , on the election microblog and on the blog of any blogger who have installed our election widget on their blog.]]> http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28889675 http://www.somewhereinblog.net/blog/arildblog/28889675 2008-12-29 11:58:06