Dear friends,
TOC began with a simple aim in mind: telling the stories about Singapore and Singaporeans that weren’t being told in the mainstream press.
Now, as TOC celebrates one million page views since our creation, we can honestly say we never expected to come this far. With growth comes the very practical need to rationalise our content.
The objective of our migration to this new site is to allow as many of our contributors as possible to have their work featured, and to give you, our readers, as much content to choose from as possible.
TOC now has a stable of regular volunteer contributors, with writers from all walks of life. From students to the retired, from the working class to the self employed to the upper crust, the TOC team has grown to resemble the Singapore demographic. TOC has truly become a community of Singaporeans.
The power of the Internet is its ability to empower people to be both consumer and creator, reader and writer. Many in our writing team started off as random pseudonyms in our comment boxes, but eventually came to believe in our project enough to come forward with their own stories to share.
This is precisely why we believe the Internet is the best platform for developing an honest reflection of Singapore: there are no barriers to entry.
Readers, writers, friends and supporters of TOC: you have made us who we are today, and it’s only with you that TOC can continue to tell the stories that matter.
But more important than reflecting the real Singapore, we hope you will seize the chance to grow TOC into a microcosm of the Singapore you want to see. Hopefully, like the TOC team, you believe and want to build a community that respects the free flow of information and ideas, regardless of how uncomfortable, politically incorrect, or downright silly those ideas might seem.
We may not be polished professionals, or have as high recruitment standards as the PAP, but we take pride in telling it like it is.
From the TOC team, thank you for being a part of us.
Choo Zheng Xi
Chief Editor
On behalf of the TOC team
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With special thanks to:
– The Intelligent Singaporean, who began aggregating TOC stories and directing traffic to us in the early days. You made getting noticed much less difficult.
– Special thanks also to the many non-bloggers, who have helped us with advice and words of support, and the ex-writers who once contributed to TOC.
TOC announcements:
– We’re happy to welcome on board Gerald Giam, who is our new second Deputy Editor and Selene Cheng as sub-editor.
For the nostalgic, TOC’s former blogsite is still available at theonlinecitizen.wordpress.com
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