Help
Sign In
January 2008 
Another Way to be Part of the Change: Goodbye Zaadzsters!
Posted on Jan 16th, 2008
by 
Darshan
Darshan
Not feeling the love
It's true that I haven't been here in ages. That I have dragged my feet about deleting this blog.
But now that there's a new "brand name" in town, ALL of the Zaadz love is gone.
Perhaps one day we will see the day when groups of people are not identified as markets to be targeted, demographics to pinned down and catered to. I have seen social networking site after social networking site become compromised as they become popular. Standards and pledges that are either shredded or completely forgotten. Many of those places still exist, but how many of them are still worth taking part in?
To me it's a cynical part of our current day and information age, that ways must be found to "market" to people, and make money from them. I realize bills must be paid, employees must be paid, but when will the creativity that once fueled Zaadz, extend to developing to methods of deriving income that don't feel as if you are nothing more than a consumer?
At one point Zaadz felt like something different. Gaia feels exceptionally similar. Gaia feels like Facebook, MySpace, LiveJournal, only more targeted. . . Which is MOST alarming.
So as a Zaadz Ambassador, the change I am choosing to be a part of is not only exodus, but I will choose to talk about what a great idea Zaadz was. I'll wear my t-shirt and tell folks about the great idea that Zaadz was. And when people ask me what happened, I'll simply say "what usually happens".
To my friends, many of you still know how to find me. To those that don't, you can contact me at: new(dot)era(dot)artist [at] gmail(dot)com.
This blog will be gone by next week. Here's to the idea that was.
Namaste,
Darshan
POSTSCRIPT: This issue for me goes WELL BEYOND a ToU issue. The fact that the issue has come up, in the way that it has is un-surprising to me. But what remains most unsettling to me is how so-called "enlightenment" has become a tradable commodity. Why, if you know where to look, you can get your own credit card with the word enlightenment, and a pretty aum symbol on it.
What a joke. Unfortunately, it's a joke with a sad punch line.
--D.
Access: Public
This saddens me deeply, Darshan! This has been a work in progress by Zaadz, making the community something better, more expansive… from a seed into a flower so to speak.
“ALL of the Zaadz love is gone.” How is this so when the entire team that has been working so hard to keep this site up and active ARE still very much a part of this new expansive opportunity… it's a name change…. a name change with bigger and more beneficial changes/choices ahead … for the SOLE purpose of benefiting our members…. MY LOVE, the reason I joined Zaadz and agreed to move half way across the country, is still in this…. into Gaia … knowing that *growing* and *changing* is essential to the spirit… we are not GONE … we are still working as diligently as ever to keep this site growing with “this or something better” in mind.
And, just a note…. the ToU issue is already resolved…. you can read about it in the Team's Blog ….
Gaia Team wrote an entry: Gaia's Terms of Service.
Please, please reconsider … ultimately, I do respect your choice to stay or go…. but it would hurt not only me, but so many others to see you leave the community.
Oh, please give it another try on “feeling the love.”
Sadly, the Kosmos is probably “marketable.” Perhaps it is up to all of US, a huge responsibility of those that understand, to preserve the integrity of “enlightenment.”
I truly respect, and know that people like you are a part of what made Zaadz great. There are many people like you that I care for and respect. But to me, this is more than just a name change. I have had larger issues that have led to my leaving Zaadz, and Gaiam's purchase of Zaadz was simply the straw that broke the camel's back. The name change is the headstone for me.
You can read my post-script to see that this does go to a larger issue for me than the Terms of Use. You speak of it being just a name change, and I will say something about names.
Names carry incredible power. Most everyone at Zaadz, including you, knows that. It used to be at one time that places were named for specific reasons, after people or even the places that they were founded. Candlestick Park in San Francisco was re-named 3Com Park, and now it's Monster Park after Monster Cable. Corporate names are transitory. Empty. Useless. And that's sad. To me that is emblematic of what has happened to Zaadz, and what happens day in and day out in our current culture.
I celebrate the people like you who have put heart and soul into Zaadz, and I still believe in people like you to be a part of the greater change that is coming. But in my case, I believe more and more that change will only come by making strong statements. My strongest statement at this point is to say goodbye.
I wish you well. :)
Oh, Darshan. You'll be very, very missed; I remember you from so so far back, and I admire and respect you so deeply.
I don't know. I feel that enlightement itself is some great cosmic punch-line. Right now I'm still waiting for the joke to finish being told. ;)
Hugs, though, and much love, and I do hope, fervently, that you change your mind. And if not, well, we'll be here waiting if you ever need a space in the future.
Darshan,
I have always enjoyed your blogs It is comforting having you as a 'friend' of mine. Of course, if you stay or go - you will always be considered so, however, may I say that I will miss you, and I am surprised that I sit here with a heavy heart. We didn't converse a lot but I read your blogs, I have a feeling for the kind of person you are and I just feel, well.. sad. A “goodbye” seems so final to me. Yes, I have your e-mail you kindly left for all of us and I thank you. I guess I want you to know how I feel… Just a little squeeze on the heart. I am honored to have been in your network of friends. Thanks for your posts and smiles… and your friendship. I understand why you are making your decision - I too respect it, but it doesn't change the fact that you will be missed by a friend.
Be safe and well my friend.