Thank you all for responding to the 5Pillarz readers’ survey, writes Roshan Muhammed Salih.
Your honest replies have really helped us to understand your experience of our website and have given us concrete ideas about how to take it forward.
We found the responses very encouraging and motivating in the main, and we know that the criticism that we received was offered in a constructive manner (generally!).
Below I have summarized what you said in response to our questions and have left a brief editor’s comment at the bottom.
What do you like about 5Pillarz?
– Informative, controversial, topical and direct.
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– Anti mainstream.
– No compromising on Islamic values.
– Non-sectarian.
– Reflects the diversity of the community.
– Gives a platform to grassroots instead of elites.
RMS: This is what we sought to achieve from the outset so we are glad that we accomplished it.
What do you dislike about 5Pillarz?
– Too sensational at times, like a “Muslim Daily Mail.”
– Some opinion pieces seem to just rabble-rouse and lack substance.
– Some writers are too interested in projecting their personality.
– The website often loads slowly.
– There are not enough posts.
– The website isn’t mobile-friendly.
– Muslim crime stories.
– Lack of moderation on readers’ comments, with several repeat offenders.
RMS: We seek to achieve a balance between readable, eye-catching stories and stories of substance. If we were to write every article in “PHD thesis-style” nobody would read them, therefore we seek to write in a manner which will attract the layman while always remaining true to our values of quality of content. I’m sure we fall short sometimes, but this is what we strive to do.
We agree that we do not post often enough and that sometimes the website loads slowly and isn’t mobile friendly. We are working on resolving these issues but ultimately the answer lies in increased staff and resources.
Regarding the crime stories, this tends to split our readers. Some believe it is “washing our dirty linen in public” while others say we have an Islamic duty to “root out bad apples.”
Again at 5Pillarz we seek to strike a balance. We think it is right to report on serious crime committed by Muslims when they have been found guilty in a court of law. And in response to the accusation that this is “demonising Muslims like the Daily Mail,” we say that our audience is overwhelmingly Muslim (unlike the Daily Mail) so that comparison doesn’t stand up and we should be able to talk about difficult issues among ourselves.
That said, we do seek to limit these kind of stories as much as possible.
How can 5Pillarz improve?
– Change the name.
– Attract more sponsorship.
– Create an app.
– Have more positive stories.
– More posts.
– More moderation.
– Be more religious.
RMS: We do look for positive stories but the simple truth is that “bad news” is more prevalent and more interesting to our readers than “good news.”
Although we are a British Muslim website we do not consider our speciality to be religion. Rather, our business is news. Other websites deal with religious issues far better than we can so we prefer to leave the fiqh to the experts. That said, we are considering having a weekly minbar-style column which will alternate between scholars of different schools of thought.
We accept and agree with the criticism of our lack of moderation. While we want to let free speech thrive we do have red lines which are often crossed by many of our readers – incitement to violence, hate speech, sectarianism, swearing etc. The only reason why some of these comments are not deleted is because we lack the manpower. That said, we have banned many, many people from our forums and will implement a stricter policy.
Would you pay £1 for a 5Pillarz mobile phone app?
55% said yes and 45% said no.
RMS: We will launch an app at some point this year insha’ Allah and we will charge 69p for it.
If you haven’t already donated to 5Pillarz please explain why.
– Don’t know how to donate.
– Not a worthy enough cause.
– Want to donate but don’t have any money.
– Laziness.
– Where will my money go?
– I don’t pay for news.
RMS: This has been the most frustrating thing for us at 5Pillarz during the last year. Our readers constantly tell us what a good job we are doing and what a much-needed service this is, but then they fail to support us.
Any community will only get the media it deserves and if the Muslim community fails to support 5Pillarz it can’t then complain about “not having a voice.” We realise that we have many defects but the fact is that many of these can be solved by better funding, and we are the only Muslim organisation which explicit publishes its accounts every month.
Please support us, no excuses!
How do you rate 5Pillarz in comparison to other Muslim media eg Islam Channel, Islam 21c and Middle East Monitor?
– Better despite your lack of resources.
– Difficult to compare because you are more political and they are more religious.
– Not at their level yet.
RMS: We feel that in terms of the numbers of people visiting our website and the quality of our content we are at least on a par with other outlets, although we do not see them as direct competition because we have different remits. But we also believe that if we had similar resources to these other outlets we would deliver a far superior product.
What do you think of the name 5Pillarz?
– Brilliant, unique.
– The “z” is terrible, too childish and adversely affects the brand.
RMS: The name really divides readers. Most like it or are used to it (especially younger people), but I would say 20% absolutely hate it, especially older people and non-British people.
We like the name “5 Pillars” or “Five Pillars” and we only chose the “z” because we could not find the appropriate domain name, and we are considering changing it. Watch this space.
Do you think 5Pillarz should have more British or foreign news? Or do we have the right proportion?
Most of you said we had the right proportion.
RMS: We seek to have a 65/35 balance between British and foreign news. We feel it is only right to concentrate on British news in this way because we are based here and our expertise is mainly here, as is our audience.
What kind of stories do you most like reading on the site?
– Controversial opinion pieces.
– Stories and opinions that are not covered by the mainstream.
– Positive stories.
– Exposes of sell-outs.
RMS: We seek to provide a range of stories on the site and we know we can’t please all of the people all of the time, nor do we seek to.
What kind of stories do you least like reading on the site?
– Crime stories.
– Stories where the author puts his/her personality before the content.
– Stories which expose the sins of Muslims.
– Re-posts from other sites.
RMS: We really do try to minimize the re-posts as we want as much original content as possible.
@RMSalih
