3 minutes ago, LaosLover said:

Or as was actually said to my face: A ham sandwich to the picnic.

 

 

LOL.  I hope you wife was not standing next to you....

1 minute ago, Adumbration said:

LOL.  I hope you wife was not standing next to you....

My wife loves whoremongers. She would pay to talk to one. And be called a ham sandwich.
 

But that's a one way affection. Interest from an old, curvy white woman is not exactly their dream social encounter.

16 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

Internet forums are quite dated and old fashioned now and on the decline , have been for about ten years now .

What's the alternative? Twitter, Instagram, fb or what?

I have to admit I didn't even try most of above. I can't imagine it would be an alternative to a forum.

15 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Spot on. One of the worst things to happen to civilization and popular culture in a very long time. Along with Twitter and Instagram, these (fame seeking) platforms are dumbing down society, and helping form a netizen victim culture. Also, when you give ignorant people like Kyrie and Kanye a platform, they will misbehave and say dumb stuff. Social media is not a step forward for mankind.

 

(This forum excepted, lol).

Are these platforms dumbing down people?

Or were lots of people always dumb and now they found something that fits better to their challenged brains?

 

43 minutes ago, BangkokHank said:

I think he meant free speech. Why are you afraid to hear opinions that differ from yours? Can't you just refute them?

I don’t have a problem with anyones opinion.

I do have problems with people who spout opinions as unchallengeable facts and those who for reasons known only to themselves spread outright lies.

 

Id like to return to the world that had a modicum of respect and decency to/for others.

 

As to your question about “just refute them” ever tried discussing anything with a trumper or qanon type ?

16 hours ago, Lacessit said:

You forgot Sheryl and Crossy.

 

I'm fortunate enough to be married to a Doctor so I usually ask her for medical advice.

 

But yes, both excellent contributors.

 

2 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Says Google ! Who provide Ad feeds which generate income to provide you with a FREE access forum.

If their rules are not followed the forum is penalised.

 

 

 

I had noticed the occasional ad. ????

6 hours ago, nigelforbes said:

FWIW, speaking as a long term observer who has noticed the transition over time, one of todays problems is the over posting rate by some posters. It causes reader fatigue because the posters don't say anything useful and there are so many of them, it's a real turnoff. Fine if posters want to engage in focused debate but half a dozen comments each on a dozen or more topics daily is stifling. 

I agree with this.  There are certain posters who seem to feel it necessary to make a comment on virtually every single thread.  It is posting just for the sake of posting, not engaging in any debate, just making an inane post and then running to the next thread to do the same.

17 hours ago, Mac Mickmanus said:

I don't think that its much to do with the name or format .

Internet forums are quite dated and old fashioned now and on the decline , have been for about ten years now .

  Like  E-mails and things , technology moves on 

I'm fairly new here and I've found this forum to be great. People with considerable knowledge willing to respond to questions and offer advice. Not too many idiots. This forum has hepled me a lot.

5 minutes ago, Des1 said:

I'm fairly new here and I've found this forum to be great. People with considerable knowledge willing to respond to questions and offer advice. Not too many idiots. This forum has hepled me a lot.

It's been quite helpful to me also.. many times.

A perfect example, one poster has made 10% of the posts and said absolutely nothing.

From the beginning in 2002 there has been information and knowledge that was useful to me. That has remained the same over the years. There is not a better source of that information and knowledge relating to Thailand anywhere.

As the forum has grown of course it will get it's fair share of the morons and idiots but in general a good all round bunch of people.

Still, preferred the old name ThaiVisa.com,  and  probably a very large percentage of the info and knowledge is still Thailand related.

 

20 minutes ago, rumak said:

AHA ........ the big problem is which "side"  is actually the one doing so .  

 

If i had billions of dollars i just might buy AN myself     hahahaha    

With some things there is a clear truth.

 

We really don't need more people and media spreading lies - or omitting correct information.

3 hours ago, metisdead said:

 

Google has this forum rated as a family oriented forum, therefore profanity is not allowed and that is why profanities are edited.  This forum has received warnings from Google in the past for profane language being used on this forum. 

oh that's why! thanks for letting us know.

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

With some things there is a clear truth.

when you start with that assumption........ you lose all credibility       

 

because you then try to assign "truth"  to all that your brain thinks is so.    but thanks for sharing.  a good example of what turns others off ....... 

7 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Indeed they are and it's making them so stupid they don't even look where they are going.

<deleted> phones are an ideal medium for the sheeple. The clever people I know have them, but only use them when they need to, not all the time.

On my desk is my pc which I use most of the time, my sort of smart phone which is used for phone calls and my tablet that I use for reading Ebooks and playing the odd game.

 

I might not use my phone for 2 or 3 days at a time. but I use my pc most of the day and my tablet for an hour or so in the evenings.

5 hours ago, Thailand said:

George was the founder member I believe, 20th November 2002.

I joined 30th November 2002.

 

Any other November 2002 members still around?

November 2003 for me.

43 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

A perfect example, one poster has made 10% of the posts and said absolutely nothing.

I hope your going to pick all that lot up.

 

2 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

How has Musk "screwed up" Twitter?

Well there is this from the BBC News website this morning.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-63524219

 

Twitter's new owner Elon Musk has defended sacking about half the company's workforce, saying he had "no choice" as Twitter was losing more than $4m (£3.5m) a day.

A tweet from Yoel Roth, Twitter's head of safety and integrity, referred to "approximately 50% cuts company-wide".

But Mr Musk said the social media giant's commitment to content moderation was "absolutely unchanged".

 

There is more on the link.

4 hours ago, Adumbration said:

 

Sheryl is the true backbone of this forum.  If they lose her it is toast.  She is also a very good moderator and not prone to victimise or over police individual posters.

Sheryl and ubonjoe.

 

The site is over (at least with the present rules and that which cannot even be discussed) if they are not here.

 

"She is also a very good moderator and not prone to victimise or over police individual posters."

 

ubononjoe also.

4 hours ago, metisdead said:

 

Google has this forum rated as a family oriented forum, therefore profanity is not allowed and that is why profanities are edited.  This forum has received warnings from Google in the past for profane language being used on this forum. 

I don't understand this.

 

Why is Google involved in policing this site?

Just now, JimmyJ said:

I don't understand this.

 

Why is Google involved in policing this site?

Already explained in previous post

9 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Already explained in previous post

"Google has this forum rated as a family oriented forum, therefore profanity is not allowed."

 

This is what I do not understand.

Google sees profanity, Google can change that rating.

The rating is important for ownership to maintain?

Why?

 

I didn't know Google classifies forums as Family and not Family.

Why do they rate them as such?

What is the point?

5 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

 This forum is over moderated and treats posters like children. We're adults

Several posters seem to go out of their way to try and prove this is not the case, I think under the circumstances moderators can be forgiven if some adults get caught in the middle by accident.

17 minutes ago, JimmyJ said:

"Google has this forum rated as a family oriented forum, therefore profanity is not allowed."

 

This is what I do not understand.

Google sees profanity, Google can change that rating.

The rating is important for ownership to maintain?

Why?

 

I didn't know Google classifies forums as Family and not Family.

Why do they rate them as such?

What is the point?

ad revenue. simples.

5 hours ago, IvorBiggun2 said:

At least on there you can call a spade a spade. This forum is over moderated and treats posters like children. We're adults and we know what swear words are but we have to write F### even though everyone knows it's '<deleted>' in disguise.

Come on 'Aseannow' I'm 70 not 7. See even the forum '<URL Automatically Removed>' can't be mention by Proton for fear of moderation. Give the posters more freedom of expression and I'm sure this forum will roll with the times. I think I've been banned 4-5 times over the years on here but I still manage to get back on. Banning is a waste of time and effort. Aseannow, move with the times or sink.

The problem with moderating a site is walking the tightrope of too much or not enough censorship. I took a visit to 4chan.org a few years ago (I think it's morphed into 8chan and possibly others since then). 4chan is a series of wholly anonymous, anything-goes forums. The wild wild west of the internet. It was HORRIBLE. No cogent arguments, threads went crazily in all directions, it really was a nightmare.

 

As I previously posted on this topic, I personally think moderation in the past here was far too restrictive, forcing members to other venues. The fact we can even discuss mods now is evidence of relaxed scrutiny. In the past, this would have been met with having the post pulled and a 3-day or more suspension.

 

That old saying "until you've walked a mile in their shoes" rings true here. I did just that at another forum and left with a new appreciation for the task. You will never please all members, just can't be done.

14 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

It was HORRIBLE. No cogent arguments, threads went crazily in all directions, it really was a nightmare.

Why? What prevented you from rolling your eyes and scrolling on? The idea is that you be in charge of what you can read, not someone else who has their own set of biases nor an algorithm coded by persons with their own biases.

 

Added: Sometimes I see posts here I myself think are silly which have been upvoted multiple times. So, apparently, we don't all have the same tastes. Good.

You think/say what you believe, I'll do the same.

1 minute ago, Why Me said:

Why? What prevented you from rolling your eyes and scrolling on? The idea is that you be in charge of what you can read, not someone else who has their own set of biases nor an algorithm coded by persons with their own biases.

You make my point with your reply. You just don't understand the difficulty of monitoring a basically anonymous site, trying to keep things in check without appearing too heavy handed. I suggest you find a forum where you can be a mod for a while then get back to us.

1 minute ago, HappyExpat57 said:

You make my point with your reply. You just don't understand the difficulty of monitoring a basically anonymous site, trying to keep things in check without appearing too heavy handed. I suggest you find a forum where you can be a mod for a while then get back to us.

Lordie, just keep out content that is illegal (according to local laws, porn, etc.) and/or spam. It's not hard.

20 minutes ago, HappyExpat57 said:

The problem with moderating a site is walking the tightrope of too much or not enough censorship. I took a visit to 4chan.org a few years ago (I think it's morphed into 8chan and possibly others since then). 4chan is a series of wholly anonymous, anything-goes forums. The wild wild west of the internet. It was HORRIBLE. No cogent arguments, threads went crazily in all directions, it really was a nightmare.

 

As I previously posted on this topic, I personally think moderation in the past here was far too restrictive, forcing members to other venues. The fact we can even discuss mods now is evidence of relaxed scrutiny. In the past, this would have been met with having the post pulled and a 3-day or more suspension.

 

That old saying "until you've walked a mile in their shoes" rings true here. I did just that at another forum and left with a new appreciation for the task. You will never please all members, just can't be done.

Good post

 

And let's not forget that someone wants to make money with this website/forum. It's nice to have happy members and all that. But if members are happy and there is not enough (ad) money coming in, then the end is near.

 

All together I am happy with this forum the way it is. Sometime my posts get deleted and now they sometimes even explain to me why. I think that is fair enough, i.e. if a post was just too far from the idea of that thread.