Today it is two years since our very first New Mandala post. This is post number 1,254. In June 2006 we had five comments – two of them by Nicholas. So far this month we’ve had 231 comments. We’ve grown, just a bit.
We marked previous milestones by commenting on some of the highlights of New Mandala‘s short life (our 500th post; our first year). This time we would like to hear what our readers have to say. Feel free to join the birthday celebrations by giving us your comments. What have we done well? What have we done badly? Highlights? Lowlights? What would you like to see in the future? What do you never want to see again?
One of our regular readers, Thai historian and commentator on all manner of current affairs, Chris Baker has set the birthday ball rolling with these thoughts:
Two years? Somehow it feels that NM has always been around, and that’s intended as a big compliment. Clearly, it takes a lot more time and effort than it looks. Sympathies to all the beloveds and dependents who suffer for this mission. But it’s worth it. NM is a forum you don’t realize could be so interesting until it pops into existence. Congratulations to N and A. Keep it ragged. Stay out of jail.
Thanks Chris!
So, lets get some other comments rolling in. You don’t have to be positive. As you can see, we’re big boys and we can take it!
A big thank you to Nicholas and Andrew for the vital service you provide to those of us studying the machinations of Thai politics and society.
Chris Baker is right, it does somehow seem like New Mandala has always been there. Long may it live on!
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Now regular reading. Thx and good work
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In no time you became a refreshing, insightful and always reliable reference site.
No mean task!
Congrats and keep on staying alert.
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… and a big thankyou from me. Especially thankyou for the ecological posts. As with many topics, it is difficult to find teachers who don’t treat students as passing mosquitos– maybe Andrew and Nicholas do that, but as an online mosquito I can lurk about and leech as I please.
As Chris Baker and Tony Loader have already said, it does seem like New Mandala has been here since the dawn of the internet. Surely it will be around at it’s sunset. With this sense of manifest destiny, I wonder, do Andrew and Nicholas stare into tea demanding new perspectives from deities? Two years have gone by, surely the ‘new perspective’ (maaan) meter is running low by now!
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Thank you for digging deep with all the controversial juicy stuff, almost not fit to print, but should be in print.
New Mandala is the shining example for Web 2.0 interactive news focused on Southeast Asia.
It’s also nice to see a place where people can engage in heated, even troll-like, arguments while still maintaining some semblance of reason and respect for those who they are talking to. Some web forums suffer from something akin to lobotomization where everyone is taking some happy drug and agreeing with everything everyone else says. Yuck.
As media profit margins are pressed to the breaking point by internet news, blogging academics, acting as public intellectuals through their blogs, will claim some of that territory abandoned territory for themselves, slashing an intellectual pathway through the media jungle with the machete of their specialised expertise. You guys are the leaders.
New Mandala’s interview series is proof against the widely held notion that blogs are just a place where monomanic ranting ragamuffins hang out and cause mischief.
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2 years and going.
Cheers for successfully dodging net police and skirting certain law!
Hope this site (and your visa) continue!!!
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Well done Andrew & Nicholas!!! Don’t know how you can consistently feed stuff into it, whilst looking after your day jobs. Amazing! It’s a great service, and we all benefit. Thank you.
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Many congratulations.
The combination of cutting-edge academic insights, must-have Thai political analysis & fruit cake wannabe war heros is a winning comination.
MANY happy returns – Ashley
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In just two years, NM has grown so well. I read NM regularly. It’s Resourceful and refreshing among many. Thanks to Nich and Andrew… Keep rolling!
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Congratulations on reaching this milestone, and on creating a site that is both academically useful and a pleasure to visit. I’m certainly glad that I discovered this place–thank you for providing it.
Happy second, and wishing you many more.
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Happy 2nd Birthday NM!!!
And a big congratulation to Andrew and Nich for creating a medium that brings in contents/debates/discussions of very high quality and diversity – from what can be classified as extreme elitist to on-ground, in the field commentaries. Can it get better than that?
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