Iranians disappointed with ‘Gooder’ changes

New changes in Google Reader made many Iranian users surprised.

On the last day of October 2011, Google changed its services on Reader and integrated it with Google+, which had announced 10 days ago in advance.

Iranian users of Google Reader (who call it Gooder in abbreviation) has been objecting and protesting the Google‘s decision to reduce some social features from Reader and integrate it with Google+.

There has been the same objection from other users as well but it seems that Iranians has been more motivated to put their objection.

They put tens of comments on a post by Google’s Alan Green declaring the impending changes.

Iranians has been suffering a harder crackdown on media and cyberspace especially after the 2009 protests. The government has closed down some papers and made the internet censorship tighter. The filtering which doesn’t allow Iranian users to open Facebook, Twitter, Friendfeed, and any opposition news websites.

Even Google Reader has been blocked in Iran for many times, mostly during 2009 protest days, but this map shows Gooder has been the most popular website in Iran, although lots of users who surf the net with VPN or proxies and Iranians abroad are not counted.

Amirhm.com, Iranian blogger, says

Google Reader matters for Iranians” and integrating it with Google+ “will make it like any already available and banned website like facebook.

Google Reader with its removed social features has been something more than a Feed Reader and users could collaborate in reading with sharing options; which is not the same as other social services like Facebook or Friendfeed.

Even a pro-government newspaper in Iran, Haft-e Sobh did a full story on this changes in Gooder; with a title which reads [Fa]: A requiem for Gooder.

Amirhm.com writes:

In a country which all social websites and video or image sharing services and all international Persian news and all other non-governmental news website are banned, Google Reader acts like a social websites in lack of any independent news source and like a news spreading website.

The other upset users also suggest that after disputed June 2009 presidential election in Iran, developed an strong community for spreading the news.

In Iran, Google Reader has been acting more like an undercover media outlet and even there has been some services for Iranians based on Gooder; namely Likekhor which was counting the most shared and the most liked items on Gooder.

Due to this stats service, VahidOnline is one of the most popular Gooder user among Iranian users with almost 7700 followers.

He used to act like a hub for spreading and sharing the news from different sources like many other popular users.

While Iranian blog services ought to apply Iranian regime rules for their content censorship, “foreign” Blog services like Blogger.com and Wordpress.com are blocked in Iran, and that’s why many Persian blogs depend on Google Reader to be read and many user put notes in Gooder, like a blog.

Arman Amiri, Iranian blogger on Divanehsara, in a note in Google Reader implies with humor that [Fa]:

Google is shaking hands with censorship chiefs in Iran.

Another Gooder user and blogger, Kathy says [Fa]: It is like being after bombing attack warning alarm [during Iran-Iraq war]; everybody is waiting to see when then destroy here…

There were also some Iranian users who are welcoming these changes in Google Reader and this integration in Google+.

Amin Sabeti, an Iranian blogger on 'Neda-ye Emrooz', says [Fa] in Friendfeed:

I’m satisfied with changes in Google Reader. Google is stepping in a true way ahead and that was a good job to remove social features from this service.

Before the changes, Parham, an Iranian blogger and web developer, wrote in his blog [Fa] about the business aspect of this changes. He believes:

Google have been unsatisfied with the costs of keeping millions of posts and hundreds of millions of comments and likes.

He believes that Iranian users have been using social features in Gooder in a wrong way; posting in it like a blog for example.

Parham reminds that users have not been paying for this service and suggests that the profits of companies like Google and Facebook is more important than the users prefer and “the user can easily get used to new service and new designs”.

There was some endeavors to save the social features in Google Reader; including signing a petition suggested by Brett Keller which gained over 11500 signatures and a page on Facebook with more than 38800 members but none of them made any change in the Google decision and it made the changes in Google Reader and Google+ today.

Due to upcoming reactions, it seems that Iranian users are disappointed with their Google+ and they seem to have problems in finding previous features of Gooder in this service.

Here in a post on Friendfeed, These users who are not welcoming the changes say [Fa] they are not satisfied with the new manner in sharing items with friends, They are not able to read their friends shared items any more, and they are confused in finding those who used to follow in Gooder now in Google+.

In the comments of this post some users suggest that Google should have allowed the users to move their followers and those who they follow to the new platform in Google+.

Alireza Majidi, a famous well-read blogger, wrote [Fa] about this new changes:

I doubt that new changes in Google Reader would be affective to make Google+ more interesting.

He also urges that there is no alternative tool for Iranian users and others who are so attached to the late social features of Gooder and now they should get used to Goolge+.

The Google blog in Persian says Google+ is in its first steps ahead and we are working on improving it.

This post by Alan Green, Google software engineer also recommend for those are not interested in Google+ to back up their data here; which is not described that how this exports could be used in other services.

At the same time some prominent Iranian users of Google Reader are looking for some semi-alternative social features.

Nima Akbarpour, an Iranian blogger and presenter or Persian Click TV program on IT and gadgets, suggests a user style for Firefox and Google Chrome which "rolls back Gooder" for Iranian users; giving them a very few social features of Google Reader.

The "Shoe Intifada"

It might sound funny to you if I tell you about how the Iranian media sources have gotten so excited about the shoe which missed Bush in his visit to Baghdad (just like some Arab media).

IRIB and some other conservative media sources, such as Farsnews, named the incident the "shoe intifada".

An IRIB reporter went among Tehranis and gave them his own shoe. Pointing to a tree or something else, he asked them to imagine that Bush is standing there and to throw the shoe at him.

A young man told the reporter that he believes "a journalist's gun is his pen not the shoe". But there were so many others who tried their chance to beat Bush in their imagination with the IRIB reporter's shoe. This was played over in all the news programs in the Iranian state-run TV channels.

This is the "shoe intifada", according to the IRIB, Farsnews and Kayhan. By the way, there were lots of Iranian journalists who have criticized Al-Zaidi's attack.

Ali Haq is only one of them who askes in his blog: Is that ok for me to shoot a shoe to someone who is responsible for all the economic problems by which Iranians are suffering severely?!

Iranian students remember same December days two years ago when some shoes were aiming Ahmadinejad in Amirkabir University (AUT)!

Read more on how "Shoe-sympathizers advise Bush".

Correction on Fox News

I noticed that Fox News made a big mistake in describing the reason for shut down of a weekly magazine in Iran, “after featuring President-elect Barack Obama on its front cover and asking the question, Why doesn't Iran have an Obama?"

But the fact is that the weekly magazine, Shahrvand-e Emrooz, was not shut down for its speculations about the "Iranian Obama", as Fox News suggests.

Indeed, The magazine had already been closed down by the authorities before Obama won the elections. The administration of Shahrvand-e Emrooz, however, enjoyed the Iranian slow bureaucracy which let them publish another issue before the verdict was submitted to their office.

The commentary, which is referred to by Fox News and other sources, was in fact written by the editor-in-chief of the weekly as a reaction to the shut-down of the magazine. The regarding sentence reads "Why don't we have the Iranian Obama? Why does the Iranian government make the friends to be foes, instead of making the foes to be friends?!"

But, to mention the accurate justification for closing down the weekly, the Press Supervisory Board has announced the verdict to be based on what they mention as "the license mandated the weekly to address social and cultural issues whereas the publication in fact had contained political commentaries".

In addition, the editor-in-chief of what many consider to be "Iran's Time Magazine", Mohammad Ghouchani, has opposed the verdict, which is still to be approved by higher courts. Ghouchani still hopes to negotiate with the officials for the reconsideration on the verdict.

There were lots of criticizes even by conservatives. Even the Parliament Spokesman, Ali Larijani, who is a close political figure to the Iranian Supreme Leader, has criticized the weekly's shut-down.

Some other Iranian MPs have questioned and summoned the Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance of Iran specifically for the event as well. In the Iranian constitution questioning a minister in the Parliament can potentially result in an impeachment.

Based on the political reactions to the shut-down of Shahrvand-e Emrooz, its staff are still very hopeful to be able to revive their weekly from the ban.

[Great thanks to The Archer for smoothing my English.]

What is the future for the BBC?

Although there would b more news corporations as large & as professional as BBC in the years ahead, this corporation would still b the most quoted & the most reliable broadcasting corporation in the near future because of its structural independence which has been institutionalized by its disciplines & guidelines. I think the BBC would manage its budget 2 maintain & develop its quality. But the corporation should get more active in other countries like which lack the variety of medias like Iran.
(Published on BBC haveyoursay)

"God's Warriors", the Jews

Tonight I watched Christiane Amanpour’s “God’s Warriors” first part which has been made about Jewish fundamentalist people and organizations. I think that was excellent and a little late!

As an Iranian student in Sociology and a freelance journalist, I should deeply thank Christiane because of her brilliant work with which I saw new horizons in my studies and in my interest. I got exited by watching the scenes she got portrayed and the quotes she made documented. If we agree that there would not be any story or documentary which would be really objective and wholly true, her Jewish “God’s Warriors” would be one of the best documentaries which have got close to be objective and true, ever I saw.

The documentary has truly represented the real nature of fundamentalism which leads to terror; the nature which is multi-religious rather than being Muslims', Jews' or Christians'. I believe that she have truly managed to show the obscure line between being faithful to a religion and being so fundamentalist to let call yourself a terrorist so easily that those people in her documentary could.

Terrorism which originate from religious fundamentalism in some part, is the final synthesis of lots of trends; the point which lots of people – even decisive ones – could not realize. Such works like hers would be watched globally and I believe she would take part in shaping the future world by doing such documentations.

Although her documentary was almost the first one in its field with such an in-depth view, I can tell that it's quite late for such a documentary. Maybe there are some concerns and observations which she have to take care and might step slowly forward because of them, but I’m sure she would do agree with me that sometimes it would be too late to talk and make documentations about a trend. They do not wait for us to pull together and make such brilliant works like she did. But I insist she were the first and that’s what she’s been called as Christiane Amanpour!

Considering the sharpness and the objectivity of the first part of “God’s Warriors”, I would follow the other two parts. My image of her has aways been a Zionism-friend! Although I still could hardly imagine her as a Muslim-friend journalist yet, but what she have done in the Jewish part of the documentary made me to reduce her position in my mind to an Israel-friend and may be truly a Zionism-foe.

Christiane and journalists alike her, are teaching me great by their lessons as I am virtually in a distance-class. I hope to be such a journalist; even with more objectivity, curiosity, and intelligence.

P.S.:
Christiane Amanpour responded to me:
"Many thanks for your comments and I am so pleased you enjoyed the report. CNN won the ratings and we are pleased that the message seems to be: serious news wins!"

Best wishes,
Christiane"

P.P.S.:
The Other two parts on Muslim God Warriors and Christians, were as shocking and brilliant as the first part.
Don't miss them!

In Hope for Pluralistic Iranians

Iranians new generation differs a lot to their parents’ generation. One of the most important sights of this difference could be observed in their relationships with people who do not exactly believe in similar ideas.
Iranian parents were not tendentious to relate largely with people holding different ideas and lifestyles. Despite the parents have been grown up and educated under a so called secular regime who have deeply willed to omit the religion from Iranian lifestyle and the youth have been grown up and trained by an ideological regime which is still targeting the Iranian society in wish to extend Islamic lifestyle among them, now it is ironic that Iranian youth are experiencing a view to their believes in a full contrast with their parents. You can easily address young Iranians who have various ideas about the life and the universe and even about the God and they are really friends! This ideological tolerance is so strong that even some youth people have friendly relationships for years but they do not know what exactly their friends do believe in and do not believe in - and that is because they do not really care about the issue.
This tolerated multi-ideal sphere could help Iranian young society to reach a pluralistic culture, which could bear various colourful ideas and believes - just the factor that Iranian society suffers lack of it today!

:: This post have been published in News From Iran, a weblog wich represnts a chain news-program with the same name in Channel4. The program is being contributed from Iran. Best wishes for Jon Snow and the crew his Iran! You can post a comment about my view of Iranian life, like here in my weblog.