123Stodg

Trust me, nobody would miss you, not even a little. In fact, nobody would even notice you disappeared. Try it and see.

If you wait to renew until one day after your license expires, then you get 6 years on the renewal. Same reaction, vision, perception, and color tests for at least 20 years. All the same. Nothing new. People under the age of 50 can now start renewing online starting June of this year. It won't help anyone over age 50, but queues and waiting times should be reduced with fewer younger people renewing in person. Renewing at Taling Chan is better than at Chatuchak. Shorter lines. No foreigners.

I say Thailand should ban entry to anyone whose forum username results in the initials GG, HF, BS, and KSM. Others can add to the list as they see fit.

I’ll simplify it. I generally don’t read anything from those who post an average of more than 10 times per day. If they do, it usually means they have nothing useful or important to say.

The fact is we all consume online slop. I’m probably consuming too much of it myself. When you scroll on any digital content platform now, it’s repetitive AI slop everywhere. Clean, polished, structured, and somehow saying absolutely fark all. Like cheap fast food that looks like a perfect plastic specimen in the photo and then tastes like rubbish. Then you come on AN and there’s a different flavor. Human slop. Spicy, salty, often unhinged and weird, sometimes comedic. Low effort snipes, boring, recycled arguments, drive by sarcasm, bickering sprinkled on top. Not exactly nutritious, but oddly addictive for quite a few residents here it seems. So which flavor do you prefer? The polished artificial stuff, or the messy home cooked forum version? Both probably bad for us, especially in excess. Yet here we are, either going back for another big plate of it in the morning, or just a little nibble.

Well that was quick. This topic went from zero to hyper unhinged, unintelligible cyber babble courtesy of one man in record time.

Quite a bit of what people post on here is fiction. And much of what people write is for effect, to conjure a reaction, or to be sarcastic or humorous. Windups, as they are known. So I never believe any of it, nor do I ever spend a moment trying to work out whether something someone wrote is fiction or not. Some people also have strange senses of humor that I often do not understand, so I cannot always judge whether someone is trying to be funny or serious based solely on written words. In fact, whether it is fact or fiction does not even matter to me. It is the meaning that I focus on more. So for me, it was never about whether your story about a girlfriend who had her brother murdered was true or not. I did not give that a second thought, and I have no way of knowing whether it is true. What caught my attention was how you worded it, and that is why I pointed out that I can understand why another poster could misinterpret the meaning. You have already said that wording the sentence differently would have prevented any ambiguity, so we are past that. My only real point is simply not to assume everyone will automatically recognise something as too incredulous to be true, especially if it is not worded clearly. It is better to be more careful with one’s words if you do not want them to be misinterpreted. Cheers...

Thank you for the info, but how greatly disappointing it is to hear that. The last three or four days have felt much better on the forum for a change, without all the constant anger, nastiness, and trolling he relentlessly brings to the party. I do wonder what triggered the new account, whether his other account was finally permanently shuttered by the mods or whether he decided to walk away from it after his reputation score turned gravely negative. Either way, it is a disappointing development. And it seems this time he is keen to emphasize in his new username that he is male rather than female, but in my view he/she will always remain confused about his/her gender.

Yes, my understanding is that when he has been fully blocked in the past, he has returned almost immediately with a new username. So far, I have not seen anyone trolling in his usual style, though I am not online that much or watching that closely. As you mentioned, if he does return under a different name, he will probably be easy to recognize. I agree that he is unlikely to stay away for long. He seems to rely on the forum for his human interaction. The only other possibility is that he is dealing with a health issue that is keeping him offline. If that is the case, we may never know what actually happened to him.

The way you wrote the sentence, “I was dating a woman who had a brother murdered in the streets of Bangkok,” could be misunderstood as meaning that she arranged for her brother to be killed. I suspect the other poster was making a sarcastic remark based on that possible interpretation, implying that she was responsible for her brother’s death and joking about wanting to meet her sister. I am not sure whether English is your first language, but your sentence could have been phrased more clearly to prevent confusion. To avoid any misunderstanding, the sentence could have been rewritten as: “I was dating a woman whose brother was murdered in the streets of Bangkok.”

That is an inaccurate comparison. AI is primarily a source of information and an advanced form of data collation. It functions as a powerful learning tool and can carry out meaningful tasks that improve productivity, support research, and assist with problem solving. From education and business to science and healthcare, it has clear and measurable utility. Like any technology, it can be misused, but that does not negate its practical value or the benefits it already provides. Social media, by contrast, is largely designed to capture attention. It often amplifies superficial content, misinformation, and carefully curated images intended to attract clicks rather than inform. While it can connect people, it frequently prioritizes engagement over substance. Equating AI with social media overlooks the fundamental difference between a tool built to enhance capability and platforms optimized primarily for attention consumption and cognitive addiction.

What is actually a bit ironic is that he hasn't logged in since Sunday. I don't think I've ever seen him not log in for a few days. I wonder if his account is fully locked now or if he willingly dropped off. Or maybe he'll login tomorrow. Anything is possible I guess.

I actually held back from spelling out some of those points in the original post because these topics can quickly get framed as country bashing, which was not the intention. It was more about acknowledging that situations can unfold differently depending on where you are. Anyone who has successfully lived in Southeast Asia for fifteen years or more has usually absorbed those unwritten rules fairly early on. The ones who never quite grasp them often end up learning the hard way. Your point about consequences is interesting as well. In parts of the region, drug offenses can carry extremely severe penalties, sometimes far harsher than what people might expect when compared with certain violent crimes. That contrast inevitably shapes how risks are viewed and which lines people are most careful not to cross. In many Western countries the balance tends to look different, with drug penalties often lighter and crimes like murder bringing life sentences or similarly heavy punishment. Different systems, different priorities, different deterrents.

I was thinking about this recently. If you compare many of the larger cities in Southeast Asia, perhaps with the exception of Manila, to major cities in parts of Europe or the wider West, Southeast Asia often feels noticeably safer. Random street violence is pretty uncommon. You are unlikely to be attacked for no reason or aggressively targeted for your watch or phone in broad daylight. In day to day life, that sense of security is real, and many people value it. But there is another side that is worth understanding without turning it into drama. In much of the region, if you cross certain lines, situations can escalate quickly and seriously. An argument that might end in a shove or a bruised eye somewhere else can take a far more severe turn. The takeaway is that the social rules, the concept of respect, and the consequences for losing face all operate differently. Most of the time, safety in Asia does come down to applying smart behavior. Keep your head down, show respect, avoid confrontation, don't wrong anyone and life will be rather smooth. The important thing is not fear, but awareness. Different cultures, East and West, draw their lines in different places. So is Southeast Asia genuinely safer overall, or just safer in certain ways and riskier in others?

I just realized that I actually forgot to answer the question in my own OP... I only chose Thailand for two reasons... Botany and pick-up trucks. _users_7da2f47d-ec9e-432a-967c-91d009448a13_generated_4eb06b69-3533-4691-aa96-a1cd53cfb7b6_generated_video_hd.mov

If you strip it back and answer without any fluff, would you honestly have ended up living in Thailand long term if you had zero interest in the women? No attraction. No wife hunting angle. No romantic curiosity. None of it. Would the food alone have done it. Or maybe the markets, the temples, the elephants, the beaches, the pad kra pao and mango sticky rice. The Thai smile. The chaos. The heat. The lower cost of living. The rhythm of it all. Or would this have stayed a holiday destination you visit for two weeks, take photos, tell your friends about, and then fly home? I am not judging, but often people talk as if they moved here purely for the culture, the cuisine, the spiritual depth. Yes, there is something addictive about the energy here. The mix of serenity and madness. But would that alone have been enough to uproot your life? For some people, maybe yes. If you are deeply into Buddhism, photography, food culture, language learning, tropical living, or wanted a lower cost base and a different pace, that is fair enough. For others, if we are being real, the women were at least part of the initial spark. Maybe the whole reason. Maybe not. Maybe not even the main reason long term. But the spark. The more interesting question might be this. Even if that was the initial magnet, is it still the reason you stay? But take romance completely off the table. No dating. No relationships. No flirtation. Would you still have built a life here? Be honest.

The turd that wouldn’t leave… At first I read the title and thought you were talking about one of the members that everyone loves so much.

Many new hires get paid extra for their first short-time when they leave the farm to go to work in a bar. I say sell your virginity to the highest bidder. You'll only get "one-shot" at it.

Just because I jerk so much in Thailand, does that really make me an animal? Maybe I don't want to waste so much money on short time hotels with ladyboy accomplices anymore.

Dunno if they really should've arrested him on his birthday though. It doesn't really matter, the bloke is a creep and it was well overdue, but I'm not sure the optics of that will weigh so positively for Scotland Yard. It does seem a bit cruel and royal family apologists might be a bit bothered by it. They could've done it tomorrow or yesterday.

Read some of his old posts under the user NowNow, then all of this will make a lot more sense.

I am quite impressed by the level of constant bickering on this topic about the difference between 100 to 200 Baht on a Pattaya hotel room some 20 to 25 years ago. You even have one of the site's biggest fools with his -140 site reputation score comparing Pattaya hotel prices from back then to current hotel prices in Udon. It is hard to grasp the level of boganism here on offer. I was also in Pattaya many times during that era. Yes, there were various places in North Pattaya or up on the hill where you could get very decent air-conditioned rooms for 300 to 500 Baht, but they are all gone now. They were usually smaller properties that have since been demolished and replaced by bigger and more expensive hotels. So most of those places no longer even physically exist. But who really cares. Many people seem to be missing the real point of the topic. The OP took us on a pleasant journey down memory lane about what it was like to experience the glory days of the easy going joys of Pattaya back in the day. Even if you paid a bit more than the OP for a hotel back then, does it really matter. It was about the destination and what it had to offer that made it all worthwhile and why it is still worth remembering today. Try noodling that instead. I would gladly pay 1,500 to 2,000 Baht a night for a hotel down there today if the feel of the place were still anything like the glory days. But I have written it off. Too many undesirables, too commercialized, too many low-budget tourists who ruin the atmosphere making it very unappealing in so many ways. If you are truly worried about the price of a beer, a bungalow, a bar fine, or a burger back then, you probably should not even be reading this topic. Rant over.

Presumably the issues go much deeper than that. On a good day, it looks like OCD. Most of the time, however, it seems more like deep rooted loneliness together with a combination of schizophrenia, manic depression, bipolar disorder, and delusional disorder.

There are always signs that say don't feed the animals, and they are there for good reason, but nobody ever listens.

He's probably considered moving back to the trailer park, but cost is an issue. He's better off buying some air freshener spray and staying in his ฿3000 apartment in Pattaya. Without any windows, you would think the smell wouldn't even be an issue. 😂