‘Groundviews’ calling people idiots on Facebook. Classy
Sanjana Hattotuwa has got a personal beef with me, but he’s hiding behind Groundviews and the CPA. Sanjana, if you have something to say, why don’t you say it to my face? I’m here, I’m under my name and I try to be as honest and transparent as I can. You don’t need to hide behind Groundviews or your NGO, just be yourself. If you’re going to make personal attacks, the least you can do is be a person.
I am faced with the odd situation of getting tweets from a website like this:
Groundviews: 7: We apologise to @knightfdn & @ashokanews. They would do well to reconsider @indica’s current & future applications. We rescind support.
This is odd because I never asked Groundviews for anything, and because it comes of as remarkably douchey for a non-human. When one of his readers objected, ‘Groundviews’ just doubled down.
lohang: @groundviews just saying what I feel as one of your readers. that’s all. This is bad, immature and arrogant :)
Groundviews: @lohang On the contrary given strong letter of recommendation to @knightfdn, content now @indica deeply embarrassing. Needed to distance.
As mentioned, however, I never asked Groundviews for anything. I picked up the phone and called Sanjana Hattotuwa. I thought we both understood the tech despite disagreeing on politics. So why is that private conversation coming up on Groundviews? Why is he using that account to try and blacklist me instead of his own name? Why is he trying to blacklist me at all? Simply for disagreeing with him?
He’s done this twice now, though the second time I wasn’t surprised. When I previously asked him why he was publishing my emails, he said emails were effectively public domain. I said I’d prefer my emails to be private and he gave me his word. He of course broke his word and used private emails and phone calls again. At this point I’m used to it, but what does that say about his character? I also found out that I’m not the only one. Any conversation you have with Sanjana can end up on Groundviews if he wants to slag you off.
Sanjana And The CPA
In the same way, Sanjana is using the Center For Policy Alternative, his NGO employer, to spread rumor and outright lies, in this case about me and my family. And the CPA is backing him up. When I tried to join the newsgroup, he denied my request. When I asked his boss, Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu for a right of reply, Sara said that the group was ‘restricted’. Newsletters can be private, fine. But it’s generally considered decent to allow someone to defend themselves where they have been attacked. For Sara, however, that right of reply does not apply to his own organization.
Is this really the character of the CPA and Groundviews? To slander people you disagree with and hide? The Groundviews persona on Twitter and Facebook comes off as a total asshole at times, which is odd because it’s not a person. You get stuff on Facebook like:
You idiot, we post content here not because we agree in toto but because we think it is content worthy engaging with. Geddit? Kapish? Comprende?
When people are like, whoa, Sanjana (or is it Nigel his co-editor?) again doubles down.
Thilina Rajapakse: ?@Groundviews please attack the points and not the person.
Groundviews: What points? A troll who claims we get ‘dollars’ from the ICG to post a link to its report on our Facebook page? That’s a point? Oh my.
I mean, seriously, how mature is that? Does any institutional Twitter go around calling people idiots? You also get comments on Groundviews like
Feel free to defend, interpret, follow heck even venerate him, but there’s that adage that springs to mind with a loose parallel here – when you sleep with dogs, you get up with fleas.
Referring to me of course. So Sanjana thinks I’m (loosely) a dog, fine. Does Groundviews? Are Groundviews and Sanjana the same thing? I don’t think so. So why doesn’t Sanjana just come out and say what he thinks instead of speaking in the royal we all the time?
I Am Just Me
I’m not paid for this and everything I do is under my own name. I never speak as Kottu (a blog community I support) because I am not Kottu. I am just me. I moderate comments on this blog (like Lefroy) but let them write whatever they want about me on Kottu because that space is not me. I’ve tolerated, hosted and promoted slander against myself through Kottu because I respect the community and won’t use its weight for my personal agenda. I won’t even use it to defend myself, beyond writing a post like everybody else. I think that’s the decent and ethical thing to do.
So, Sanjana, if you’ve got issues you don’t need to hide behind Groundviews or the CPA. Just say it. Just come out and say it, and take personal responsibility for your words. I do.
Your Twitter is private and the Groundviews account follows zero people, but I’m sure you can find a way to honestly and ethically debate. At the least, you don’t have to cower behind institutions. If you’re attacking my name, use yours. Don’t besmirch that of Groundviews or the CPA. If you want to take shots at me and my family, if you want to publish private emails and conversations, if you want to blacklist dissent, at least have the decency to do it under your own name. If you’re going to get personal, it’s only polite to be a person.
Quite frankly, the exchange between the two of you on twitter has been embarassing. I won’t comment on who is right or wrong in their opinions, but definitely this person (whoever it may be) cannot use the Groundviews twitter and/or Facebook accounts to mock, insult or taunt other people, regardless. It’s beyond unprofessional, and not what you should expect from “award winning journalism” sites.
oh, where has the work ethic gone?
what’s sad is that these are the guys pushing for equal rights, accountability, transparency, etc in Sri Lanka. No wonder that is not getting anywhere. What a bunch of idiots.
Just because a dog bites you, one does not bite the dog back. Therefore i think its prudent of you to ignore this immature fellow and get on with your important work. By blogging on this you are giving him unnecessary publicity, a single well worded response on your blog will suffice Indi. This Sanjana obviously is a arrogant, immature person with low selfesteem too from this replies, so forget about the little turd and blog about something more worthwhile…
I never expected SH & GV to be er.. so .. odd. Whatever else is thrown against you, you’ve been upfront about your allegiances etc. Agree with Don about not giving them any more ‘oxygen of publicity’. :)
i.m was working for srilanka armforces who ever what ever said majority of srilankan military rank behave like barbarian i have seen this hapening in north but southern people never worried bcoz itt happenned in north. if some one beleave that srilankan arm forces teach decipline is totally bull shit whats really happend when some one join the arm forces he or she is loosing the decipline what they had before join the armforces becoz of war arm forces was important but nothing to respect them from top to bottom but still there are few good one too
What on earth does this statement have to do with the current topic? Moderator, please remove this comment by this fellow who can’t even spell his name correctly!
dont think he’s a sri langan
Anyone familiar with Groundviews and its pompous buffoon of an ‘owner’ Sanjana Hattotuwa would know that the guy is a total ass most of the time.
There was never a work ethic with Groundviews… and there still isn’t.
I own a website with a .lk domain name, and we have been receive spam from Groundviews and CPA over many months now. They send their newsletter to those who never subscribed to it (email is addressed to admin@…. or info@…)
Sometime back, I saw Groundviews’ twitter account being used to argue immaturely with another Sri Lankan blogger. When Hattotuwa was losing the argument, he began pointing at grammar and spelling mistakes.
Hattotuwa, with his immaturity, arrogance, lack of appreciation for others’ opinions and his desire to be the center of attention has undone all the hard work done by volunteer writers, contributors and donors to bring his website to where it is now.
Honestly, using tools on the web (like Alexa) one can see just how poor Groundviews’ reach is, which means that only a handful of people visit the site. You would expect a site that has been up since 2006 to have more than a handful visit the site – this is usually classified as a failed venture.
While Groundviews may have a few articles with thousands of views, that in no way reflects a far-reaching medium. One is better off sending letters to an editor in a newspaper than publishing content on Groundviews.
Agree with the Don. Don’t bother Indi. I stopped following @groundviews eons ago.
It’s a shame that a person who claims to be a proponent of freedom of expression, transparency and accountability resort to this kind of unethical practices to fight his opponents. Hope those who think Sanjana is some serious activist take note of this.
I don’t now Indi or Sanjana personally. But I’ve been following what you both write for years. I even have argued with you two.
My understanding is that Indi is an evolving person. He changes as he learns and I think that change is honest, though we may not agree with him. Some may see this as a betrayal but he is learning to get the best out of available space. On the
Sanjana, on other hand sounds like a person who had ceased to grow long ago. I think, rght now, his only goal is to move up in the ladder doing whatever it takes , doesn’t matter how ethical what he has to do. To me he sounds like a person rotten inside and on a self-destructive path.
Nail on the head regarding Sanjana Hattotuwa.
And tell Sanjana to get rid of that fake accent, it is corny like the rest of him.
Ugh! Does he have one of those too? Watched him a couple of times on TV but cant cant recall noticing it.
Real accents can sound nice. American is hip, British classy, Spanish hot, and other European accents can be charming too sometimes, as long as they’re real. But fake accents can be so off-putting.
I have known Sanjana Hattotuwa since his school days. He is a bright intelligent fellow. But as a person he is a pompou arse. He has no sensitivity to people. He is egoist to max. His way or the other. So i am so surprised how someones in the likes of SH can be a conflict resolution journo, or what ever he likes to call it. He thinks he is it. Burt I awill admit the guy is a smart arse.
Guhan G (SL)
Terrible fellow. Shall ‘we’ send a white van?
How is this Sanjaya fellow putting a fake accent? Did he live abroad?
Ah, it all makes sense now.
all of you are moving away from other realities in this Country.
Religious extremism, Political extremism,
killing the judiciary, killing democracy, killing the media
and finally killing its citizens economically.
Sanjana has done it again. His immaturity has got the better of him and divulged information that was provided offline by a writer (who is a friend of mine) and attacked him on GV and allowed Colombo Telegraph to attack my friend on the GV thread. I think a case must be made for professional misconduct and official complaint must be made to his Boss. My comment on GV never appeared. I didn’t expect it to and I can live with that. But I find it hard to live with hypocrites. So I do hope Hanjana will answer his phone and sort out this matter by apologizing or better still on his own call people / organizations that he has offended and get to the next level in his career.
Let’s say we give the smart *** man a chance to grow up big time
This was my comment which never appeared
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Someone in office sent me a link to this article because my name was mentioned. I got a rash the last time I was on GV and the Doctor ordered me to get off GV. I was somewhat disappointed about the first response of Colombo Telegraph and at the tone. Maybe I am expecting people to behave in a orderly manner when it is supposed to be a free for all.
The splitting of hairs is probably due to general upbringing and the insecurity of people.
Out of 29 comments, maybe there were just couple regarding the subject and the rest was on Padraig Coleman or Michael.
So Padraig is Michael, big deal
Bob Dylan is actually Robert Zimmerman and Elton John is actually Reginald Kenneth Dwight. So let’s not listen to their songs anymore and let’s string them up people because they have done the unthinkable. Used multiple identities. I can think of 1000 others.
Get a life you people…
Padraig,I think you are wasting your time engaging with people
who probably get a orgasm by insulting another person.
Sanjana, bad show my friend. This could have been managed far better
Daily telegraph – I really don’t get it. Was it actually you who made the first few comments.
My last question to you all is simply – Where do we all go from here?
– How can we deal with the past?
– What about the Sri Lankan identity and our future?
All of you out there ( wherever you may be living) are entitled to have your opinion
But those of us who live in Sri Lanka must work things out and live together.
Either help us or stay out of all this
Have a nice day
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Here is something Sanjana sent to me yeaterday when I complained that he was allowing personal attacks on me on GV which were not relevant to the subject under discussion:
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attack |??tak|verb [ with obj. ]1 take aggressive military action against (a place or enemy forces) with weapons orarmed force: in February the Germans attacked Verdun | [ no obj. ] : the terrorists did notattack again until March.• act against (someone or something) aggressively in an attempt to injure or kill: a doctor was attacked by two youths.• (of a disease, chemical, or insect) act harmfully on: HIV is thought to attack certain cells in the brain.2 criticize or oppose fiercely and publicly: he attacked the government’s defence policy.3 begin to deal with (a problem or task) in a determined and vigorous way: a plan of action to attack unemployment.4 [ no obj. ] (in sport) make a forceful attempt to score a goal or point or otherwise gain an advantage against an opposing team or player: Crystal Palace attacked swiftly down the left | (as adj.attacking) : Leeds showed some good attacking play.• [ with obj. ] Chess move into or be in a position to capture (an opponent’s piece or pawn).noun1 an aggressive and violent act against a person or place: he was killed in an attack ona checkpoint | three classrooms were gutted in the arson attack | the north-western suburbs cameunder attack in the latest fighting.• [ mass noun ] destructive action by a disease, chemical, or insect: the tissue is opento attack by fungus.• a determined attempt to tackle a problem or task: an attack on inflation.• [ mass noun ] forceful and decisive style in performing music or another art: the sheer attack of Hendrix’s playing.2 an instance of fierce public criticism or opposition: he launched a stinging attack onthe Prime Minister.3 a sudden short bout of an illness or stress: an attack of nausea | an asthma attack.4 (in sport) an aggressive attempt to score a goal or point or otherwise gain an advantage.• Brit.the players in a team who are in the position of trying to score a goal or win points: Baxter was recalled to the attack.• Chess a threat to capture an opponent’s piece or pawn.ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from French attaque (noun), attaquer (verb), from Italianattacco ‘an attack’, attaccare ‘join battle’, based on an element of Germanic origin(see ATTACH) .
Just to explain- you guys must sympathize with Sanjana.
He and I were both from Ratmalana. He is from a very modest family and he suffered from terrible insecurity in front of his fellow Thomians. He an expert at putting others down. He talks about people in an extreme disrespectful way.
He is a typical example if brains and no character. Maybe his too modest upbringing in Ratmalana and financial difficulties got the best out of him. So one must forgive him and understand where its coming from.
He is terrible insecure he won’t be seen on FB/Twitter or anywhere except under the disguise of GV – and of course fake accent- the accent was fake because the first ever trip he made was to India in 1997.
I know his family well, basically he used to live at the end of our lane.