What is Coconut Lounge?
Coconut Lounge is an online magazine and community website primarily populated by the British Asian community. By Asian we mean those who originate from the Indian sub-continent: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. It’s a loose term, and our aim is not to exclude any race, religion or community. A smaller but significant percentage of visitors are also from mainland Europe, Australia, USA and Canada.
The website was created with 3 main aims in mind. Firstly to be a place where people could come to and discuss intellectual issues, and be able to explore their own creativity as well as get inspiration from others.
Secondly to facilitate understanding between the different and diverse communities that come under the “Asian” umbrella. It aims to build bridges in a community frequently fragmented by religion, caste, sex and race etc. Here everyone is on an equal standing, and people who try to start trouble by abusing those from another religion or caste etc are banned. The aim is to create understanding, not let a few haters create trouble.
Thirdly to let the users create their own content. This makes sure not only that the content here is fresh and diverse, but also means that everyone can get involved and have an outlet for what they want to share.
Who runs this website?
This website was created by myself (I’m neo / Naresh / boss / darling whatever you’d like to call me). It’s not owned or affiliated with any companies. This is a non-profit hobby which I run alongside my 9-5 job.
How do I get started?
You can become part of the Coconut Lounge community when you start commenting on the articles. To do that, you can choose to guest post (requires approval) or register a username which is quick and of course free.
Want to contribute article(s)?
All you need to do is register then contact me, preferably with a link to some existing content to see if it is the type of thing suitable for the site, and I will then add contributor privileges to your account. I can also post something anonymously on your behalf.
What I promise is to promote all content around the web via twitter, facebook and paid promotion to get as many readers to view your content. I also promise strict moderation of comments.
Coconut Lounge: A quick history
The Coconut Lounge community is an existing group of people who first came together under a website known as BarfiCulture all the way back in the year 2000. Things don’t last forever. It eventually ended and I decided to take the reins with my own site in January 2012 with the same, albeit now fragmented, community following.
Why the name?
It’s not the catchiest or the most creative name. ‘Coconut’ is a slang term occasionally aimed at folk who are ‘brown on the outside, white on the inside’. That is to say an Asian who has adopted the culture of the country they live in e.g. an Asian living in the UK who has primarily a British culture is sometimes referred to as being ‘brown on the outside, white on the inside’. It’s meant as a light-hearted poke at us Asians no longer residing in our country of origin who now possess a mixed culture.
The Legal Stuff
Comment copyright and ownership:
We have no desire to own your comments. So, when you post a comment here, we take that to grant Coconut Lounge the right to display your comment on the page on which it was posted by you. It may also be displayed on other pages within the site, or reachable through searches or other means. By posting here, you also grant us the right to remove your comment if we choose not to want it here. There are rules that govern what you can debate on Coconut Lounge.
We do not edit comments, except in extreme cases of comments which include html or other characters that damage the usability of the site.
You lose no copyright control over your words, and are not beholden to us in any way shape or form.
Coconut Lounge also claims no liability for the accuracy of user’s comments, and reserves no ownership of them whatsoever. Any views and opinions expressed on this website are of the author of such comment and does not reflect the views of Coconut Lounge as a whole.
Article Contributions:
Unless we have explicitly agreed otherwise, contributing a story here means that you grant Coconut Lounge the right to edit or remove your article as necessary, though we will take great pains to ensure the meaning remains intact.
You also, by submitting an article here, warrant that it is your original writing, and not plagiarized from any other published source, unless stated. Coconut Lounge is not responsible for checking the accuracy or originality of any submission, nor will we be liable for plagiarism or the truth or lack thereof of any submission.
No lawyers were harmed in the creation of this document.
