Why I Moved from the Bangkok Post Forum to ASEAN Now

[renaissanc]

Firstly, ASEAN NOW is a far superior Forum than the Bangkok Post's (BP). I realise now that I was wasting my time each day there. 

To be quite honest, I didn't leave voluntarily. One day, 2 weeks ago or so, the Moderator decided that s/he didn't want me around anymore and banned me without any justifiable reason. I'd been commenting almost daily on the BP Forum for over 15 years.

I wrote to the Editor 7X, but he ignored me, as did all the sub-Editors and the "Tell Us What You Think" folks. They write articles about injustice in Thailand, but they are happy to turn a blind eye to it in their company. I suppose I eventually got to know their true colours.

Anyway, here I am. I like the zero-tolerance here to rudeness. The BP Forum is like the Wild West with the few posters insulting each other regularly. 

[Boomer6969]

Reading your post I can see clearly how "ASEAN NOW is a far superior Forum than the Bangkok Post's (BP)".

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

I also have some gripes about BP's moderation policies.

 

In my opinion, too often BP allows comments to descend into name-calling and ad-hominem attacks on those who post sentiments not in line with mainstream opinion. Some of the comments are distasteful and not on-topic. This isn't proper and BP needs to be stricter in controlling this. Besides, being civil lends weight to one's words.

 

BP also publishes letters in Postbag that contain widely-debunked conspiracy theory nonsense, anti-vax cant and fact-free assertions about Covid and other issues. Since these seem to be genuinely-held opinions of those who post, especially if real names are used, I'm not sure what BP should do about it. But some posters submit this kind of stuff on an almost daily basis and that's perhaps a bit too much.

 

Then there are posters whose opinions may be genuinely held, but are expressed with such consistency and frequency on certain subjects that many readers might come to the conclusion that they are operatives similar to China's wumao. I realize the difficulty in differentiating between genuine reader opinion and that of possible volunteer or even paid operatives and I have no idea if any of BP's posters are working at the direction of others. But some do seem exhibit such characteristics. At least Russia's ambassador, when making outrageous statements about his country's war against Ukraine, is identifiable as a government mouthpiece. It would be nice if such disclosure were forthcoming from others if they are also posting as part of a coordinated effort.

 

 

[smutcakes]

Is Bangkok Post even a forum, just seems like a comment section. But i agree its pretty much unreadable when the same 4-5 people just desend into childish name calling, with each point getting more and more nonsensical. Its like kindergarten over there and defies belief that the posters are actually adults... you to were very much the same so you should fit in quite well here.

[josephbloggs]

13 hours ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

....that contain widely-debunked conspiracy theory nonsense, anti-vax cant and fact-free assertions about Covid and other issues. Since these seem to be genuinely-held opinions of those who post, especially if real names are used, I'm not sure what BP should do about it. But some posters submit this kind of stuff on an almost daily basis and that's perhaps a bit too much.

 

Then there are posters whose opinions may be genuinely held, but are expressed with such consistency and frequency on certain subjects that many readers might come to the conclusion that they are operatives similar to China's wumao.

Erm. yep, definitely don't find that here!!

[bang saen guy]

Zero tolerance to rudeness? Really? Too funny. This forum will definitely have more self proclaimed experts and know it alls. You really will not even have to think for yourself

[Tropposurfer]

Concur entirely. We have a far superior class of reprobate here.

[San Fran Dan]

What annoyed me with  ASEAN , is The Ganja Sensationalism , they had Horrible Stories on Ganja with No Research just Ganja Bashing 

[Hummin]

21 minutes ago, San Fran Dan said:

What annoyed me with  ASEAN , is The Ganja Sensationalism , they had Horrible Stories on Ganja with No Research just Ganja Bashing 

Worse, is those who making ganja a wonder drug that cures everything. There is no limits conserned both ends of it. 

[OneMoreFarang]

I was writing comments over there some time ago.

I don't know if that changed, but when I was still active it took hours before post were published. And if I was up early and commented maybe at 6am then it was never published. It seems all comments before a certain time were just deleted.

And then obviously the same posters again and again and again and no ignore-button. I gave up with them.

[renaissanc]

On 6/28/2022 at 3:01 AM, smutcakes said:

Is Bangkok Post even a forum, just seems like a comment section. But i agree its pretty much unreadable when the same 4-5 people just desend into childish name calling, with each point getting more and more nonsensical. Its like kindergarten over there and defies belief that the posters are actually adults... you to were very much the same so you should fit in quite well here.

I was the only person who tried to stamp out the rudeness. The moderators never did. Often the rudeness became so bad that I withdrew for a while.

[renaissanc]

23 hours ago, Tropposurfer said:

Concur entirely. We have a far superior class of reprobate here.

Nowhere's perfect. LOL! Seriously though, the atmosphere here is very different. The BP Forum is numbing and I didn't notice it soon enough.

[renaissanc]

23 hours ago, bang saen guy said:

Zero tolerance to rudeness? Really? Too funny. This forum will definitely have more self proclaimed experts and know it alls. You really will not even have to think for yourself

On the bright side, that will save me time.

[MarcelV]

Bareback lover Munin and junta sycophants like Renaissance chased me away from there. AN is not much better though. At least the mods still actively intervene when someone oversteps the line.

[sipi]

Never heard of it.

[LaosLover]

GammaGlobulual did this kind of why am I here?-post better.

 

As to moderating contretemps, you can usually see the worm turning and know when your day has come and gone. This is my last forum. If I get bounced, I'll go and read a book. Just to see what it's like.

[smutcakes]

4 hours ago, renaissanc said:

I was the only person who tried to stamp out the rudeness. The moderators never did. Often the rudeness became so bad that I withdrew for a while.

No one listened to you as they all thought you were a troll as your viewpoints were mostly absurd.