Hate Clubs Mushroom on Orkut

If you happen to hate Big B's smug face, beaming across from every other channel, or those tireless 'K's' from Ekta Kapoor's 'soap factory', you now have space to vent your emotions.

Hate communities or hate clubs are becoming increasingly popular on social networking Web sites like Google-owned Orkut.

On Orkut, the Ekta Kapoor hate club leads the pack with a membership of nearly 76,468 and counting. Followed by Himesh Reshamiya (of the nasal twang) with 33,137 members; Shah Rukh Khan with 11,179; Greg Chappell with 7,659; yes, Mahatma Gandhi with 6,647; General Musharraf with 1,362; and the Big B with 1,410.

Psychiatrist Sameer Parekh feels that such communities have become popular as they appeal to our hatred for certain things. Very true, but why would anybody hate Mahatma Gandhi and even have the audacity to start a hate group dedicated to him?

“People have certain amount of hatred, dislikes and complexities and they get a chance to express it on such communities. But, there are very few people who give importance to such things. They reinforce your point of view and you join them without giving much thought,” explained Parekh.

It is one thing to start a community to express common dislikes about regular things in life. Such groups even have a humorous tone. But, it’s another issue altogether when communities on the Internet hurt the sentiments of others.

Social networking sites are thus coming up with new methods to prevent the abuse of communities on the Web.

A Google spokesperson said,

“We take the abuse fo Orkut seriously and are constantly developing new tools to review inappropriate content on the site. Orkut users can report content to our reviewers by clicking the ‘report as bogus’ button. There are also tools for community owners to delete posts or topics, ban users and delete anonymous posts.”

“But, at the same time, we put a certain amount of trust in our users to notify us of violations. We have also introduced a priority reporting tool. It makes life easier for the police to contact us when they get concerns about content on Orkut,” the Google spokesperson added.

So, it is evident that measures ARE being taken to check the misuse of social networking sites such as Orkut, but regulating such communities is what still remains a problem. However, a group that came to my notice on Orkut entitled “We Hate Caste Feeling” is something acceptable in times like ours.