Thank you, dear Pathers:

Thank you for your loyalty through this period of change. Some of you took the time to donate, others to request a payment and still others to offer helpful hints.
 

We are in the midst of reshaping the site while trying to process your requests. Please bear with us and you will see the results soon.
 

In the new site, we would be in search of Pathfinders; people who have initiated or would like to initiate something that might make our world a better place today and leave a positive legacy for generations to come. If you are a Pathfinder yourself or know of some one who is, we want you to let us know.
 

No effort is small and no achievement without significance. Small steps can lead to big changes for tomorrow. So please share even the smallest gesture as it might inspire another to build on this foundation.
 

We will be holding a contest to select the Pathfinder of the year. This will be done in an open category meaning that there would be no barriers of age, geography or gender or of race, colour or belief.
 

We will be seeking your input as participants, judges and finally as voters to determine the final winner.
 

We will make it possible for individuals, families or groups to sponsor Pathfinders of the year in specified categories. For example, some one could sponsor a contest to identify a High School student in British Columbia as a Pathfinder. This will be in addition to the open category.
 

We will provide our featured projects the opportunity to raise funds, recruit volunteers and ask for advice from experts on issues of interest. You or some one you know would be able to play these roles.
 

We will initiate this change as soon as possible: hopefully by June 1, 2009, the date of our anniversary.
 

You would be able to participate in another way: by providing your view of what is happening or should happen in your community. Some times identifying an issue is more than half the work. We hope that through this effort, you will stimulate individuals and groups to find creative and sustainable solutions.
 

Collectively, anything becomes possible.

On June 1, 2009, Path10.com will be one year old.  We have had some successes and some failures.  It is appropriate for us to take stock of our failures. Others could discuss our successes, if any.

One of our major problems has been our inability to effectively transmit our focus on education, economic and community development and on charitable endowments to our members. We thought we did. But neither the content nor the tone of uploads represents that on the site, at least not to the extent that we had hoped for.

Our second problem, and we believe this to be a phenomenon related to sites that dare to share their revenue with its users, is that the revenue becomes the focus for most. As a consequence, everyone seems to spend much of their time on complaints about this or that point not being received. Many potential members, who are interested in joining feel side tracked. They either lose interest or just don't join.

Our last major problem has been our inability to engage Pathers in any meaningful discussion on issues of education, economic and community development including alleviation of poverty for their area and for the global community. We have not yet succeeded in creating a caring community despite our efforts and visits to Chandigarh and Assam (in India) this last November.

So the question now is where do we go from here?

One view was to let this site be, continue as before, distribute whatever real income is generated by Pathers' efforts and let things take their own course. If it succeeds, good for it, and if it does not, well so be it.

In this scenario, the idea would be to create another site representing our original plan of promoting education, economic development, reduction of poverty and creating a charitable endowment for the benefit of humanity today and tomorrow, starting with a clear idea and focus right from the beginning.

The other view, and the one we finally decided upon, was that there would really be no purpose in continuing this site as is. In this case, the two options were:

A.            Close this site and start a new one or,

B.            Transform this site into the one we envisioned in the first place.

And this is what has been decided. We are going to change this site to better reflect the ideas we want to promote and let Pathers decide if they want to stay and grow with us.

Here is what we are going to do:

1)         We will clearly state that the focus of this site will be the promotion of education and economic development (elimination of poverty) in order to enhance the quality of life of people around the world and this in collaboration with Pathers.

2)         We will promote the creation of communities wanting to discuss issues of concern locally and globally in order to help Pathers find and implement practical and sustainable solutions.

3)         We will continue to encourage donations to Path 10 Fund and other endowments so that their proceeds (interest income) can be used for solving today's problems while leaving a positive legacy to our children and grand children especially for the purposes enumerated above.

The Path 10 Fund will be managed as a Common Heritage of Mankind (COHEMA).  This means that the funds of Path 10 Fund would be held in trust for the future and its proceeds (interest income) used without discrimination.  People receiving help must be in need and be partners in their development. We will encourage all Pathers to identify projects and communities that need help and actively participate in realizing these projects.

4)         We will honour our prior commitments and allow Pathers who earn money till May 31, 2009 to do one of the following two things:

a)         Donate your earnings to Path10 Fund and if you chose not to donate,

b)         Request a payment and cash in your earnings.

Special buttons will appear on May 1, 2009 on each Pather's account giving them the two options above. For those who chose not to donate, we will pay via Pay Pal, Cheque or any other method that is cost effective.  Pathers would be required to pay for the cost of payment.

Pathers will have to prove their identity to the satisfaction of Path10.com to receive the money.

Those who don't respond before May 15, 2009 midnight local time will see there points and money donated to Path 10 Fund.

5)         We will stop verifying uploads, award points and paying Pathers in points or money.  Pathers would continue to be able to rate content of others with 1-5 stars.

6)         Only content relating to subjects listed below would be shown on the site. Other content will be available through searches or member profiles only. Subjects will include:

I.     Common Heritage of Mankind (COHEMA): organise activities once a year or more frequently to make everyone aware of the common history and future of mankind and to raise funds for Path 10 Fund or other endowments. We hope to make the first week of June each year as the COHEMA week globally.

II.     My Heroes: People that we admire for their contribution to humanity locally or globally. These must be people who are currently active.

III.     Our Artisans: Profiles of people who create handicrafts and the products that they make. This will be to encourage wider awareness and eventually the sale of their products.

IV.     Our world: Listing with details of social causes in order to encourage donors and volunteers to help these causes.

V.     Our Pathfinders: A list of Socially responsible individuals and businesses (SRIBs). This will be a list of those individuals and businesses that contribute more than 1% of their after tax incomes to social causes and endowments. People who volunteer more than 2 hours a month will also be listed here.

VI.     My Issues: A list of issues that individual Pathers want to work on. These are issues that Pathers consider to be worthwhile and would like to encourage everyone to volunteer and donate for.

VII.     My Endowments: Charitable endowments, including Path 10 endowment and sister charities, that help today but will leave a legacy for tomorrow.

VIII.   Members: It will be possible for members to share their profile or stay unknown and still participate in all our activities. The members would thus be able to participate or not in the social network aspects of Path10.com

IX.   New ideas: This will be a place to discuss new ideas for Path10.com

X.   Contest: There will be a link for contests.  We are planning multiple contests. Panels of judges appointed by Path10.com will shortlist 5 entries in each contest. Pathers would be asked to vote and select one. Winner in each category would receive $ 500 Canadian. Full and exact rules for each contest would be publicized on the site. The decision of Path10.com through its judges will be final and irrevocable.

All Pathers will be able to rate these uploads to guide other Pathers. Judges will be free to consider or ignore these ratings during their decision-making.

Welcome to the new Path10.com.  We regret any inconvenience to existing Pathers. We welcome Pather input and thank you in advance for your continued participation.

Hi Pathers from Guwahati,
 

Guwahati has the largest number of members at Path10.com. We want to hold a meeting.
 

We met in Guwahati during our last visit to Assam.  It was our first ever meeting face to face with Pathers. We learned a lot.
 

Unfortunately, we had very little time to contact many of you. Some of you wrote back and showed interest. So here we are holding another meeting.
 

A Pather suggested that those interested in attending should fill a form. This form should include Phone and email, day and time that you are free to meet and the things you want to discuss (other than making more money).
 

It is a wonderful idea. We have created a group for this meeting so that we can communicate. (http://groups.path10.com/manage-groups.php?groupId=65)

Few of you can be volunteer to moderate this Group. Some of you have already volunteered to organise this meeting.
 

We should decide upon goals that are achievable. In addition to discussions on Path10.com, we must identify issues of concern as seen by you the Pathers in Guwahati.
 

Let us find solutions and prepare a road map (action plan). 

A couple of new features have been added to the groups. Now we can send messages to one, a few or all members of a group right from with in the group.

As you might have noticed, there are a few new buttons on the left within your group.  One of these buttons says ”SEND MESSAGES”.

You can see it in every group that you have joined. Any member can click on this button and send a message to other members.
 

If you are the moderator of a group, you can also share that responsibility with other members. This way each group can have multiple moderators. All moderators have same privileges except the privilege of deleting the group.

Coming soon: New section on Auctions:

Very soon, you will see a new section on “Auctions”.  This will give Pathers a chance to redeem their points with interesting goods and services. Examples of goods could be books, electronic equipment, household articles, jewelry, paintings, or decoration pieces. Example of services could include a lesson in photography, help from a computer expert on a given issue or, a first consultation with a lawyer or a law student.
 

To begin with, the auctions will be for the Path10 Endowment (Charity). Later on, Pathers would be able to auction goods and services for themselves.
 

We have introduced an innovative method of auctioning called a Chinese Auction. In this kind of auction, you bid a fixed number of points (say 100). Each time you bid, bid points are taken out of your account. These points are not returned to the bidder so each bid takes away these points from your total. The total number of points required to win the auction are predetermined but are not shown to Pathers.
 

As nobody knows the number of bids that have already been made, you risk the required points each time you make a bid. Any bid could be the winning one. Any one can bid as many times as one wants as long as they have the points needed in their account. You can always go upload or view some stuff and quickly earn enough points to be able to bid again.
 

Watch for this upcoming new development very soon and have fun.

Should administrators and employees benefit from Path10.com?
 

This is a good question and needs to be analysed by all Pathers.
 

A Pather raised the issue in a blog and in a forum.  Some others might have added their thoughts on this issue in either place.
 

I have given my views both as a reply in the forum: (http://forums.path10.com/view-single-topic.php?topicId=47)
 

and through a blog:

 (http://blogs.path10.com/view.php?blogId=7210&blogs=oc).
 

I think that every one should be able to share their ideas on this issue and we should pick one spot so that it is easy to follow.
 

How about choosing the Forums to discuss one issue at a time.
 

We are working on improving the page on Forums. Please let us know if you have any ideas.
 

Hope to hear your ideas and thought on this or any other issue that comes to mind.
 

Republic Day Greetings to all Indians:
 

Path10.com wishes to bring Republic Day Greetings to all people of India around the world on this 59^th anniversary of the founding of the Indian Republic.

Gung Hay Fat Choy: Happy New Year of the Ox