World News closed: Entertainment News still open.

[pedro01]

Used to log in the AM, take a peek at world news every day.

 

The topics generated a ton of comments.

 

Now it's gone, I have no reason to pop in on a daily basis.

 

I guess we were a minority.

[pedro01]

On 4/2/2021 at 12:52 PM, herfiehandbag said:

I doubt many, if any, used "World News as their News Feed. It did provide a useful summary, from which you could pick things which you could investigate further; and it provided a place for discussion and debate. That function has become a much less attractive prospect off late, partly as a result, in certain topics, of concerted efforts to drive views seen in certain quarters as "opposing an accepted interpretation" off the forum.

 

 

I agree with that too.

 

The members are the product here but the news forum was a harsh place for views right of centre.

 

Still, it appears to be a success, but forums are for us old duffers I think.

 

Younger people are on insta-tok and the like.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/6/2021 at 12:20 PM, Fat is a type of crazy said:

I think you are right that the election and aftermath was a high point. For me, and I noted for some others, it got tedious when the trump supporters started on the election fraud stuff. That was a turn off. Not talking about you. 

It's not that I came to Thai Visa for the actual news - it was for the opinions. Not sure why Thai visa was good for opinions on news  - may be there were like minded older white guys who like Thailand. After Trump left the scene it was in some ways better as issues rather than personalities could be discussed.  I didn't post much in any case.

For me I probably look at the pub and world news and not much else. They were a good counterpoint to each other - some trivia and fun and then some more serious discussion.

I guess I may have a distorted view of World news importance to this site. When I look at other Thailand topics now I see a huge range of topics and so many long term posters who I never come across otherwise. 

 

 

LOL. For some people anything America is a non issue, even though it ( or Trump ) dominated the world news threads.

Posters should remember that not everything is about America.

 

Given the situation on world news ( which anyone that used it knows about without me having to be more explicit ) I have actually been expecting something like this closure. I'm only surprised it didn't happen long ago.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/2/2021 at 10:38 PM, Phoenix Rising said:

I sincerely hope a drastic drop in the amount of "traffic" makes them reconsider. I will log off now and have a look every now and then as a visitor to see if things have changed. Bye for now.

If they do reconsider, I hope it's not a return to the same situation, which IMO was not satisfactory for anyone with the "wrong" opinions.

Before it was closed, IMO most with "conservative" opinions just stopped posting, or drastically reduced their contribution, and that, IMO applied to everything from Trump to climate change.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/2/2021 at 11:00 PM, nkg said:

The "World News" was dominated by a small number of "super-posters" who drove new users away with their aggressive, overly-argumentative posts.

It was the personal attacks that drove me away. In the end I rarely contributed.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/3/2021 at 9:53 AM, Jingthing said:

Interesting theory but not sure a private business really should be expected to reveal such internal details. We got a general reason which people can take as credible or not, but at the end of the end, that forum is kaput. It's in the category of things we can't change. Just accept. 

The upside of the closure is that certain posters don't get to denigrate anyone they disagree with, and the language used by some was certainly not "polite". In some cases it was so nasty I had to report it. I guess the moderators will be receiving a lot less reports of bad behaviour now.

[KannikaP]

Some members are saying that the closure of World News will be reflected in advertising revenue.

Let's have a poll.....how many of you log on in order to see the adverts,  have looked or responded to one of the ads on TV?

I seem to think that there have been more complaints about the number and content of the ads than the closure of said World News.

Edited April 8, 2021 by KannikaP

[EVENKEEL]

41 minutes ago, KannikaP said:

Some members are saying that the closure of World News will be reflected in advertising revenue.

Let's have a poll.....how many of you log on in order to see the adverts,  have looked or responded to one of the ads on TV?

I seem to think that there have been more complaints about the number and content of the ads than the closure of said World News.

I've never clicked on any advert. My way of thinking that's how you invite unwanted stuff into your computer.

[Fat is a type of crazy]

For the past few months I have had no ads. I use a work computer and they must have put some ad blocker on or something. It's faster now. I can't recall the adds much - they were often to other websites which had some supposedly amazing story about a celebrity like Nicole Kidman or something  so I never clicked. 

Edited April 8, 2021 by Fat is a type of crazy

[Rimmer]

A misleading troll post has been removed

[Jingthing]

10 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It was the personal attacks that drove me away. In the end I rarely contributed.

It sounds like you suffered greatly.

[7by7]

11 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Some members are saying that the closure of World News will be reflected in advertising revenue.

Let's have a poll.....how many of you log on in order to see the adverts,  have looked or responded to one of the ads on TV?

 

I stand to be corrected by those more knowledgeable than I, but my understanding is that a forum such as this is paid by the number of clicks a page receives, whether someone clicks on the actual ad or not.

 

Having said that, obviously clicking on the advert also generates income. Hence the adverts being tailored to each visitor. I can see one headed "A Cremation In Surrey Should Only Cost You This Much." I somehow doubt that any members in Thailand can see that!

 

But even those tailored ads wont attract visits from people who, like me, wont be visiting this place anywhere near as often now that our main attraction has been closed.

 

 

[Cryingdick]

I think it’s more like the amount of clicks and unique visits a site gets helps set the price of the ads. I think the advertiser would only pay if a user actually clicks through. Think of the grand daddy of them all Google. Who would pay Google for a click on their site? You would pay for a click linking to your content.

[nkg]

On 4/5/2021 at 12:53 PM, 7by7 said:

 

That revenue has now been lost as even the archived topics have now been removed.

 

As has the Entertainment News!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I disagree with you on some things, 7by7, but I am surprised that they have deleted all the archived topics. What was the reasoning behind that?

 

With that much content, they were getting a bunch of free pageviews from organic Google searches. Why throw them away?

 

[Cryingdick]

10 minutes ago, nkg said:

 

 

I disagree with you on some things, 7by7, but I am surprised that they have deleted all the archived topics. What was the reasoning behind that?

 

With that much content, they were getting a bunch of free pageviews from organic Google searches. Why throw them away?

 

 

An example I can think of is an old forum Joe Rogan had. He deleted it and it’s entire content permanently. He did this when the site turned nasty during the 2016 election. He obviously didn’t want to be associated with any of it any further. 

 

His site was a .lot more free and had more controversial content but why leave the risk of being associated with anything these days if there is no upside?

 

 

[Cryingdick]

Forgot to add he deleted it with no warning. Obviously didn’t want it archived.

 

Just found the edit button.

Edited April 8, 2021 by Cryingdick

[nkg]

5 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

 

An example I can think of is an old forum Joe Rogan had. He deleted it and it’s entire content permanently. He did this when the site turned nasty during the 2016 election. He obviously didn’t want to be associated with any of it any further. 

 

His site was a .lot more free and had more controversial content but why leave the risk of being associated with anything these days if there is no upside?

 

 

 

 

You make an interesting comparison, but I don't think that the contents of "World News" could harm Thaivisa's reputation or finances. It's clear that the opinions expressed are those of the posters, not of Thaivisa themselves.

 

A forum containing  millions of potential keywords will attract a lot of free traffic from Google, which can potentially lead to extra advertising revenue. That's why I would keep the content, if it was my website. That said, Thaivisa should have all the statistics about how much organic traffic "World News" generated, and how much it is worth.

 

[stevenl]

10 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

I think it’s more like the amount of clicks and unique visits a site gets helps set the price of the ads. I think the advertiser would only pay if a user actually clicks through. Think of the grand daddy of them all Google. Who would pay Google for a click on their site? You would pay for a click linking to your content.

Depends, an advertiser has the choice between paying a lower price for visibility on a page or higher price for click throughs.

[thaibeachlovers]

18 hours ago, Jingthing said:

It sounds like you suffered greatly.

I was certainly offended greatly. There is no excuse for insulting others from safely behind one's computer.

All it did was reduce the numbers of posters that contributed, till the nasty ones were just talking to themselves for most of the thread.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/6/2021 at 1:54 AM, ExpatOK said:

tl;dr

 

Ratings on news media and sites all over the world tanked after President Trump was no longer in the news.  World News Forum here was no different and getting rid of it was the smart thing to do.  That forum became very boring after January 20 and I would guess got very few clicks compared to the four previous years.  The decision to jettison it was simply good business sense.

You disregard the fact that world news was on TVF long before Trump happened. What did happen was that the subforum became IMO a rather nasty place where some posters felt free to attack other posters, and it wasn't a nice place to post anymore.

I could go on but it would become about that which we may not discuss, so I'll have to leave it there.

 

[Jingthing]

21 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I was certainly offended greatly. There is no excuse for insulting others from safely behind one's computer.

All it did was reduce the numbers of posters that contributed, till the nasty ones were just talking to themselves for most of the thread.

 

Uh

huh

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

On 4/4/2021 at 2:52 AM, Cryingdick said:

 

You have this mistaken. The advertisers are the customers. The users of TV are the product. In this sense it’s why TV will never go out of it’s way to please the users. 

 

TV will have trouble because the target demographic is an older crowd that doesn’t want the FB sort of vibe. Many users here think that TV isn’t actually a social media site. So there is limited innovation in regards to messengers, posting pics and memes is discouraged, they hate you linking things, it’s simply way too asynchronous for the times it lives in.

 

In order for Tv to live another decade they need young people to join. Young people don’t tend to gravitate towards walls of black and white text they prefer animated colorful rich multi-media platforms. 

 

 

 

 

Why should TVF kow tow to the younger demographic? I have zero interest in youth oriented channels on tv, and would never watch them because IMO they cater for the lowest common denominator, and are quite annoying.

The main poster demographic on TVF IMO would be older male farangs, as they are the main farangs living in LOS, and TVF is  mainly about THAILAND topics. World news was just one of many subforums, though probably the most interesting one, and I certainly spent more time on it than all the rest put together.

Personally, if TVF became a youth oriented website I can't see it surviving in the current format at all, though the subforums dealing with Thai information and DIY etc might survive in some other forum. I can't be the only reader that finds youth oriented media tedious and boring. There are already plenty of forums that cater for the younger demographic, and I can't see how subforums that advise posters where to find the best pizza in Pattaya could even be made more interesting for younger people not actually living in LOS.

[thaibeachlovers]

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Uh

huh

 

 

 

55555555555555555

I don't have to let it go- the offending posters don't have anywhere to vent their vitriol on TVF anymore, so it ceased to be a problem.

[nkg]

49 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You disregard the fact that world news was on TVF long before Trump happened. What did happen was that the subforum became IMO a rather nasty place where some posters felt free to attack other posters, and it wasn't a nice place to post anymore.

I could go on but it would become about that which we may not discuss, so I'll have to leave it there.

 

 

 

Yes, "World News" would have been intimidating for new or infrequent posters. The "regular posters" had deeply entrenched political positions, and would attack anyone who disagreed with them.

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, nkg said:

 

 

Yes, "World News" would have been intimidating for new or infrequent posters. The "regular posters" had deeply entrenched political positions, and would attack anyone who disagreed with them.

 

 

As I remember it the attacks were generally in one direction. I can't say more than that as it would be about the subject we are not permitted to discuss.

[Jai Dee]

Settle down people... let's not get personal OK?

[Cryingdick]

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Why should TVF kow tow to the younger demographic? I have zero interest in youth oriented channels on tv, and would never watch them because IMO they cater for the lowest common denominator, and are quite annoying.

The main poster demographic on TVF IMO would be older male farangs, as they are the main farangs living in LOS, and TVF is  mainly about THAILAND topics. World news was just one of many subforums, though probably the most interesting one, and I certainly spent more time on it than all the rest put together.

Personally, if TVF became a youth oriented website I can't see it surviving in the current format at all, though the subforums dealing with Thai information and DIY etc might survive in some other forum. I can't be the only reader that finds youth oriented media tedious and boring. There are already plenty of forums that cater for the younger demographic, and I can't see how subforums that adv÷ vgcxdz÷≥ise posters where to find the best pizza in Pattaya could even be made ≥/.≤//more interesting for younger people not actually living in LOS.

 

Because they have to if they wish to survive another decade.  The site revamps now are akin to Henry Ford trying to build a faster horse instead of a car. This place is going to go the way of the old BBS boards. That’s essentially what it is. In the tech age you innovate or you die.

 

Pattaya pizza threads will never be interesting to most people. However look at the food porn thread. One of the most popular threads on the site on what normally is a quiet dead end road on the site. It’s popular because.... it has pictures. It is also an agreeable thread. But here is a hint people like pics. 

 

Facebook was a space simply for Harvard alumni, look at it now. In it’s current iteration TV is a dead man walking. It either has to evolve into something you don’t seem to like or it simply won’t exist.

Edited April 9, 2021 by Cryingdick

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Because they have to if they wish to survive another decade.  The site revamps now are akin to Henry Ford trying to build a faster horse instead of a car. This place is going to go the way of the old BBS boards. That’s essentially what it is. In the tech age you innovate or you die.

 

Pattaya pizza threads will never be interesting to most people. However look at the food porn thread. One of the most popular threads on the site on what normally is a quiet dead end road on the site. It’s popular because.... it has pictures. It is also an agreeable thread. But here is a hint people like pics. 

 

Facebook was a space simply for Harvard alumni, look at it now. In it’s current iteration TV is a dead man walking. It either has to evolve into something you don’t seem to like or it simply won’t exist.

IMO TVF is primarily a web site for people living in LOS that need information about stuff like visas and marriage / divorce in LOS etc. I don't see how it can become "innovative" and still deliver that content. I use the "where is the best pizza in Pattaya" thread as an example of what seems to be in demand on the local subforums.

You seem to be advocating that it becomes something completely different, which may allow the ad generating content to carry on, but it won't be TVF any more, IMO.

The probably longest running thread is on The Pub, but it might have not lasted very long if catering to a different demographic.

If TVF goes "young" it's just another thing lost to my generation in an unfriendly world.

 

Interesting that you use facethingy as an example of what to aspire to- IMO it's the most vile thing ever inflicted on humanity, and if it's a choice between that and ending I'd prefer ending. I certainly would never have joined a web site like that, and I don't think I'm alone in that viewpoint.

[EVENKEEL]

Now get rid of the outdated side bar nonsense.

[thaibeachlovers]

20 minutes ago, EVENKEEL said:

Now get rid of the outdated side bar nonsense.

Exactly. Why are we still seeing references to Biden threads?