UBC Comp Review

[fthomas1]

Franco, we really missed you man

Now I feel bad for not coming lol

 

[Kartik]

Hey everyone, it really does mean a lot to have all of your support. A lot of my dancers were just left shocked and afraid of returning to a bhangra competition, as for some it was their first. I was glad that the crowd showed up after the first few acts, because at the end of the day I don't want a bhangra competition to go under.

@ Nikhil: I'm glad you guys had a good time, and that why I said in my post that our experience was ours and may have been unique. I know a few other teams had major issues as well but the stuff I wrote was all only about us. Also, just wanted to point out that Ravi Mehta was our liason too, and he's been a good friend of Cornell for a while now. He tried to help us throughout the day but the fact that help didn't arrive wasn't his fault. He was severely limited by the committee and it was clear that every time I asked him for something, the committee was turning a deaf ear to his requests. No love lost with Ravi, good guy got stuck between a poorly treated team and a poorly organized committee.

I hope this doesn't keep other NYC comps from starting up, I was looking forward to my first since Fusion Royale back 2-3 years ago. I heard BAB was great in the summer, so hopefully another NYC comp during the academic year will pop up.

Thanks again to all of you, I've seen a lot of my dancers cheery the past day because of how you all responded to the thread.

 

[MaviKehal]

Didnt have a liason all weekend some of the commitee members were very unfriendly not willing to help..at one point while we were getting ready for the show we were asked if we could leave our dressing room so a 4th team team could change in such a small room..We didnt get our tech time till 3 a few hours before show n sound check was done 30 mins before the show for a live team that needed it..disappointed thats all im going to say

 

[Jungly_Jatt]

Kartik bai i dont knwo how u didnt end up snapping one of their heads off :| i would have went loose. Props to you guys though for rising above and beyond the negative comp

 

[Saleem]

i have a feeling this competition won't happen again, or if it does, it will be under a dif. name. The lack of transparency about this competition was glaring, and I along with many in nyc saw this coming. I partially blame btf for giving ubc the benefit of the doubt. (see the threads and how the mods. protected the competition.) Maybe in the future this forum can be more about team rights and transparency. IT'S NOT DRAMA TO CALL OUT SHADINESS, IT'S NECESSARY.

Hah, wow. You can call out people for not bringing up their doubts but don't call out the mods/staff. In fact, I myself made comments about my doubts about the competition, see my long rant here. Secondly, when your teammates came to me with suspicions of "shenanigans" and ill intent at UBC, we all encouraged them to voice it to the community at large. It was their decision to not voice these concerns, which turned out to be true. It would have been out of line for mods (or ANYONE) to voice the concerns on their behalf, second-hand, as a "i heard from someone that they heard that x y z". Again, I had no interaction with this competition, I didn't see mods endorsing this competition other than boilerplate "give them a chance on BTF, not necessarily all the way to competition day". My post should have raised enough warning flags with teams, but given the overabundance of teams (or shortage of competitions, however you want to put it), any first year competition seems to get top-tier talent. Not sure why this is the Mods' fault at all.

 

[Nikhil]

It's not the mods fault.

Side note/personal message to UBC:
That kid who went to the ER was my best friends brother. My best friend and I are going to be merging our careers together. I know his family because they are my neighbors and we grew up together. This kid is like MY little brother. Thanks for taking excellent care of him! The next time this happens YOU BETTER PRAY TO GOD IT'S NOT A COLLEGE AGE KID COMING DOWN WITH WHAT COULD BE MENINGITIS OR ENCEPHALITIS, because guess what? You fail to take care of that kid, and you will be speaking to his or her parents. It's not a nice thing to see parents crying about their kid in the ER. Oh how do I know? BECAUSE I WAS CONSOLING THIS KID'S MOM.

 

[Jeeti]

Amen Saleem. Thank you.

 

[HarmanSingh]

Also, the criticism was often times misdirected. Talking about the name of the competition as a sign that it was going to fail was silly considering half the competitions out there have names similar to this one. Legit criticism was discussed, but a lot of it was not at all reasonable.

And maybe I am wrong but wasn't there a controversy over a certain team secretly running this competition (and that team didn't even end up placing)?

 

[Govind]

BAB set a pretty high standard for an NYC competition and was as well-run much like many of the other comps I attended last year. I think NYC competitions should definitely follow Virsa's model in the future.

 

[faizan]

I'll go statement by statement:


1. Hah, wow. You can call out people for not bringing up their doubts but don't call out the mods/staff. --> Why not, are the mods beyond criticism, are the mods God's gift to bhangra? Come on bro, being a mod means you get a cool color and you get to boss people around, it doesn't mean anything else.

2. In fact, I myself made comments about my doubts about the competition, see my long rant here.---> Good post, too bad you never followed up on its message, neither did any of the other mods, that i know of. This post was over 3 months ago, so your conviction was diluted by the passage of time and by your lack of back-up posts.

3. Secondly, when your teammates came to me with suspicions of "shenanigans" and ill intent at UBC, we all encouraged them to voice it to the community at large. It would have been out of line for mods (or ANYONE) to voice the concerns on their behalf, second-hand, as a "i heard from someone that they heard that x y z".----> backhanded, well done...i don't represent the thoughts of aeg or any team...as a long time member of the bhangra community, longer than the mods in some cases (i can be backhanded too), i have the standing to ask for transparency from anyone, as do new dancers and anyone else on the circuit. I agree, the mods have no place voicing other people's concerns...but again, i voiced my concern, quickly, as you all well know, and my post was deleted and lost in the annals of btf overmoderation. they sent you PRIVATE messages, at least try to keep them PRIVATE. basics bro.

4. I didn't see mods endorsing this competition other than boilerplate "give them a chance on BTF, not necessarily all the way to competition day". ---> please see the difference between the word "endorse" and the term "Gave them the benefit of the doubt." See my post, i never said the mods endorsed anything.

5. My post should have raised enough warning flags with teams, but given the overabundance of teams (or shortage of competitions, however you want to put it), any first year competition seems to get top-tier talent. Not sure why this is the Mods' fault at all. --> partial responsibility, not fully your fault. it's ubc's fault for the most part, i think the mods should have done a better job and that's my opinion.

I appreciate the mods stick together, but it's time for you guys to get off your high horse.

Call it btf beef, drama, whatever you want, but i call it being an active member of a bhangra circuit that is quickly becoming an orgy of fakeness, ass kissing, and blind acceptance. the bhangra circuit went from college to high school in three years and it's sad. the last statement is not about the mods, it's about the circuit in general.

I agree Govind, BAB was pretty well run for a first year comp.

Harman, "not placing" is not dispositive of anything.

 

[Mr Sandhu]

ju bee cee, vah vat a show

 

[Saleem]

Faizan I didnt mean to be backhanded and dont see my comments to be. To respond to your posts

1. "Why not, are the mods beyond criticism, are the mods God's gift to bhangra?" -- No, but comment based on evidence. Your initial post was just "mods at fault" and we "protected the competition".

2. I posted based on what happened on BTF and what I saw. Because we didn't have additional interaction with this competition, what more could I say? Teams at this point knew as much as me as to what they were applying to. Our direct responsibility would be to moderate comments, which we did. Our "secondary" responsibility as veterans of the dance circuit would be to voice concern as appropriate, which we also did when this competition started. Not sure if we should have been running around like our heads were cut off for the past 3 months based on hearsay and gut feeling?

3. I raised the issue of the messages based on your post that "the mods protected the competition". And your post wasn't deleted to "protect" the competition and you know it. Your post was the beginning of a violent shitstorm (that's the technical term here), and all posts had to be removed. First Virsa says we're being unfair to them for removing their posts, and now you say I'm being unfair for removing your post? Mods can't seem to win here WOW.

4. You said we protected them. That is an active action beyond giving "benefit of the doubt."


5. Your opinion, which I've responded to.


No one's on a high horse here. Just responding to your post.

 

[faizan]

READ WHAT I WROTE CAREFULLY


[SIZE=x-small] I partially blame btf for giving ubc the benefit of the doubt. (see the threads and how the mods. protected the competition.) Maybe in the future this forum can be more about team rights and transparency. IT'S NOT DRAMA TO CALL OUT SHADINESS, IT'S NECESSARY. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=x-small]1. I partially blame btf refers to the entire circuit/including the mods.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=x-small]2. the statement in the parenthesis was an example of the community failing.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=x-small]3. Protected was a strong word, (although i still think it was appropriate enough). If I had to, I would have used the term "did not do enough." I'm sure that can't be as objectionable.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=x-small]4. The rest of the post is not directed towards just the mods, so yea, it's irrelevant.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=x-small]I will not provide evidence on this thread for fear of having my post deleted, or violent statements being hurled at me, i learned that lesson the last episode of btf. If you wish, I can send you facts in a private message, wouldn't want to bug the mods with more "drama."[/SIZE]

no one's on a high horse? "Hah, wow. You can call out people for not bringing up their doubts but don't call out the mods/staff."

let me break this statement down.

1. haha, wow? douchey, to say the least.

2. but don't call out the mods/staff...call me crazy but that sounds like you're on a high horse...pretty sure objectively, a reasonable person might agree with me.

 

[Saleem]

You're calling me douchey/on a high horse, and meanwhile trying to pull literal 'legalese' of "preponderance of the evidence" and telling me you'll "wait for me to google"? Self-reflect for just a moment.

There don't seem to be any additional points in your post so I'm not responding anymore. Off BTF for the rest of the night.

Cheers

 

[faizan]

no more points? allllright, enjoy the night off.

 

[Jas13]

sexual tension?

 

[A Singh23]

BTF really makes you think before you post lol

Anyway, Faizan, I think you're in the wrong for pointing fingers at the moderators in this case. I too believe "they are not gods" but what EXACTLY do you propose they should have done in this case?

If they were to shun any competition advertisements that seemed shady based off "he said, she said" rumors, how would first-time competitions spring up? Think about the Salem Witch Trials: based off of no concrete evidence, people left and right accused people of being "witches" and off with their head without being given a chance? Also, the jail and deaths of those accused just happened to somehow (monetarily) benefit the accuser? I'm not saying you stood to benefit from the demise of the competition, I'm just saying there are so many unknown factors, e.g. ulterior motives or simply poor organizational skills, that it's impossible for the moderators to follow through with just slight indications of shadiness.

Monty Python for the win:

She's a witch!


You really did believe UBC was a "witch" and that's fine (you were also right to an extent), but the sheer HARSH disapproval and accusations that were baselessly thrown out there made you really resemble the guy in the video who says "well we did put the nose on her....and the hat, but she is a witch! She has got a wart."

I agree, moderators should provide their input on anything sketchy put on the website that they are moderating, and what did they do? Exaclty what they should have done. Look at Saleem's post. He clearly realizes that there is NO evidence aside from the fact that they began poorly organized, YET he cautions everyone following the topic. I'd say he conducted and explained his reasoning appropriately given the circumstances. He gave the competition a chance but warned those who were thinking of applying.

And if you're going to blame the entire circuit, you should truly only be blaming the teams that attended and were "victims" of the competition (Kartik). The shadiness was addressed in the sheer discussion of shadiness so blame the people who submitted a registration packet, not the ones who didn't (especially because everyone knew the chances of it being shady).

In the end, we learn from our mistakes and so do others so hopefully these posts are being read by the people who have yet to learn.

 

[hardeep_singh]

lmao people take bhangra way too seriously. ya it's competitive but the level of tension is absolutely ridiculous, it's sobering to find out that people actually hate each other because of bhangra. lol wtf is up with everyone?

 

[abhigames]

lol everyone needs to relax. The Mods don't have an obligation to do anything for anyone...and whatever they do do, is out of the niceness of their volunteering their time and maintaining this board. If you have a problem with that, you should start your own forum and you can moderate that. As far as I'm concerned, unless you're helping to pay for or maintain this website from an operational point of view, you're just a constituent/user/stakeholder of the forum. This isn't a democracy nor is it ever implied to be. Sure you can voice your concerns about moderator behavior, and they can either respond/not respond or do whatever they want. Simple fact is that if people disapproved of mod behavior so much, they would leave the forum, but that doesn't seem to be the case. There are so many threads and so many issues on a daily basis...the Mods have every right to make whatever decisions they want because they can see the whole story from a larger picture point of view (i.e. endorsing/putting down a competition, setting precedents, etc.).

And in any case, whatever opinion you hold, there is a way to say it that isn't done in accusational or aggressive tone...Play nice noww...

 

[Kush]

Anarchyyyyyyyyyyyyy! I call for the oppressive Mods to step down! This will cause a shift that will change the face of North American Bhangra FOREVER!!!!!!


...Hey if it worked for Egypt...