49 minutes ago, billd766 said:

including plans to charge a monthly subscription fee for users to be verified on the platform.

He also proposed that those paying the $8 per month fee would get their tweets boosted in replies, mentions, and searches, prompting criticism from some people on Twitter that he was creating a two-tier system that would benefit those willing to pay.

In my opinion, any social site changing to a "pay to post" platform is in danger of dying from the exodus of posters.

Given that a social site is basically pub chat on line, who is going to be so needing to post their opinions that they would pay to do so?

An example of well known people that attempted to start a pay to use site vanishing into history would be Bernard Trink. He was extremely popular when he had a page published on a well known Thai newspaper, but after they sacked him, he attempted to start a subscription site, and it didn't last long.

Multiple off topic posts and replies removed.

 

If people persist in going in different directions this will be closed.

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

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?

 

Both. But, the tragic part is that it gives dumb, ignorant, nasty, grouchy, uncharitable and hateful people a voice. That is a horrendous thing for society. They simply were not heard before, and the world was a better place for it. 

48 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

It was more like a community back when I joined and lots of threads about ladyboys and suchlike which got the conversation going. Check out any really popular posts now and likely they will be about bargirls or suchlike.

I spent a lot longer on the forum then, but now I might have answered all the threads I was interested in in half an hour, and struggling to find anything new and interesting to read.

Indeed. I don’t tend to get embroiled much in ‘conversations’ nowadays; no time or inclination, not to mention the inevitable suspension. Just say my bit and scarper. ????

Has the 2 million dollar purchase from George paid off?

 

How many USD millions is it worth now?

6 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Just to be clear, adding a member to your ignore list has no effect on them, whatsoever, and, judging by your response to that post, you're not ignoring him!

I don't know if you've ever blocked anyone, so in case you haven't, what you see is a one line item rather than the blocked persons post. That one line gives the reader the option to take a peek at the blocked persons post or to ignore it. I have six people on my block list, from time to time I take a peek to see if any of their behaviors have changed and they are writing things that are intelligent and sensible,  or whether they continue to post the usual nonsense that got them blocked in the first place. I realize the blocked person may not think their post is nonsense (actually, I'm pretty sure some of them do) but as this thread has demonstrated, we all want a slightly different experience here and the ignore list helps provide that. I do realize that being on an ignore list doesn't affect the blockee in a big way, but I do know that some do find it annoying when they don't get a response. You're on my list ever since the debate about agents, so is the poster you mentioned, along with ST and three others. I wish you six would all put me on your ignore lists, that would make my life really sweet, something for you to consider perhaps. In the meantime, we can happily co-exist, side by side, without needing to interact or even be aware of each other, that's almost perfect. Byee.

Lots of social sites have seen an exodus of their users over the past couple of years, essentially because of the censorship they have enforced on dissenting views, with regard to the Covid crisis and the political responses to it. This has been very problematic given the dire consequences of the said crisis and responses.

Asean Now heavily censors dissenting views in the name of "fighting misinformation", a trope which has been used ad nauseam in recent times to stifle any attempt at intelligent, productive debate. It therefore comes as no surprise that smarter individuals migrate elsewhere in order to have actual conversations rather than partake in mindless copy/pasting of subsidized media narratives.

Authoritarianism is never popular, nor are those who side with it, and the platforms who condoned all of this will inevitably end up in the garbage heap of history.

6 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Both. But, the tragic part is that it gives dumb, ignorant, nasty, grouchy, uncharitable and hateful people a voice. That is a horrendous thing for society. They simply were not heard before, and the world was a better place for it. 

It's the simplest thing EVER to not have to listen to the "hateful" people- just don't listen to them, don't turn on that channel, don't turn on that station, don't click on that forum. It's probably never been easier to disregard them.

On this forum there is a wonderful function that allows me to completely ignore those that are too OTT for even myself to tolerate, and believe me, it's really pleasant not seeing their posts on some of the threads. The danger is, of course, that I might ignore so many it would be rather pointless even clicking on certain threads.

 

 

1 hour ago, rattlesnake said:

Lots of social sites have seen an exodus of their users over the past couple of years, essentially because of the censorship they have enforced on dissenting views, with regard to the Covid crisis and the political responses to it. This has been very problematic given the dire consequences of the said crisis and responses.

Asean Now heavily censors dissenting views in the name of "fighting misinformation", a trope which has been used ad nauseam in recent times to stifle any attempt at intelligent, productive debate. It therefore comes as no surprise that smarter individuals migrate elsewhere in order to have actual conversations rather than partake in mindless copy/pasting of subsidized media narratives.

Authoritarianism is never popular, nor are those who side with it, and the platforms who condoned all of this will inevitably end up in the garbage heap of history.

I recently mentioned a forum that became so devoid of posters that it became irrelevant, precisely because a new owner imposed a woke moderation policy.

 

In the case of A N though, much of the forum is devoted to local affairs with the subforums, so it's not entirely a social media type of forum, though whether they are sufficient alone to sustain the forum as a whole is hard to say. I do know though that the recent removal of world news did seem to cause a big drop in numbers, till they reinstated said subforum. It's still pretty quiet though, IMO.

11 hours ago, Lacessit said:

It is true the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. It is true no-one has succeeded in circumventing the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It is true if one steps off the twentieth floor of a condo, the probability of surviving the fall is vanishingly small.

 

Perhaps you could explain what you think establishes your own credibility. I suspect ontology and epistemology are not your strong suits.

He has no need to establish anything about himself!

Like any other poster he comes with his own viewpoint on life, and is, within forum rules, free to express them in any way he chooses.

Just because you may disagree with him is no reason to be going all school teacher at him.

16 hours ago, billd766 said:

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.

Indeed, but you are not walking down the street looking at the screen and expecting everyone else to avoid you walking into them.

15 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

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.

Add Crossy to that list. He gave me invaluable advice when I needed it and your comment about Sheryl also applies to him.

10 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe the newbies should just read all the previous answers.

 

Does it really help to open a new topic: Does she still love me?

Errrr. Without someone opening new topics the forum would die. If there was never anything new to look at what would be the point of coming on?

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Errrr. Without someone opening new topics the forum would die. If there was never anything new to look at what would be the point of coming on?

I mentioned newbies asking the same questions again which were already discussed every couple of weeks or months. That is boring.

The fact the platform decreased in users and activity stands entirely aside the new domain name, even that took a while. However the name change sucks regardless.

5 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I mentioned newbies asking the same questions again which were already discussed every couple of weeks or months. That is boring.

It is but would actually help a lot with Google and result in more visitors and potential users. This is why you usually setup a forum properly to divide these areas, one where the long-term members don't have to follow those repeating or new posts.

9 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

If that is referring to the one I think you are, it was busy till it was sold and the new moderators closed down all the interesting posts, so most of the posters that were able to give good information left. Last time I looked it was rather pathetic and not very helpful. When covid started they closed the forum anyway.

I just checked and it was closed permanently last year, so as it is now not contravening the rule about competing websites ( as it no longer exists ) I can tell you that it was Thorn Tree on Lonely Planet, where I posted info under the same username as here.

It was sold to the BBC which explains why it went woke.

3 hours ago, nigelforbes said:

9 hours ago, Liverpool Lou said:

Just to be clear, adding a member to your ignore list has no effect on them, whatsoever, and, judging by your response to that post, you're not ignoring him!

I don't know if you've ever blocked anyone

No, I've never been that petty and nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence or has any adverse effect on me.

41 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I mentioned newbies asking the same questions again which were already discussed every couple of weeks or months. That is boring.

It may be but without new posts the forum would lose advertisers and we would lose a "free" forum.

It's the price to be paid. It's not like you have to click on threads you know will be boring. There are plenty of subjects I'll never click on as I know what is going to be posted on them.

38 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

It is but would actually help a lot with Google and result in more visitors and potential users. This is why you usually setup a forum properly to divide these areas, one where the long-term members don't have to follow those repeating or new posts.

I said before I wish the forum would separate world news from the rest so if I was suspended there I could still post on other subforums.

That's why i stopped posting on world news for a long time.

46 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

The fact the platform decreased in users and activity stands entirely aside the new domain name, even that took a while. However the name change sucks regardless.

IMO the decrease started in 2016. I could be wrong, but that's my take on it.

8 hours ago, spidermike007 said:

Both. But, the tragic part is that it gives dumb, ignorant, nasty, grouchy, uncharitable and hateful people a voice. That is a horrendous thing for society. They simply were not heard before, and the world was a better place for it. 

Those people have always had a voice - just not so public.

You still have the choice to ignore them.

Do you read posts from Fanatics - of any stripe - on any subject ? If you do, you gotta ask yourself "Why ?"

55 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I mentioned newbies asking the same questions again which were already discussed every couple of weeks or months. That is boring.

You could always "not" click on it... your choice

14 minutes ago, Skipalongcassidy said:

You could always "not" click on it... your choice

Obviously, I am not clicking on it.

 

Somewhere in this thread was mentioned that people don't get answers to their questions.

Many of these answers exist already because the question was asked already. So nobody should be surprised that the same members won't answer the same questions again.

That was and is my point.

 

 

I've never before on any forum seen posts deleted for being "Off Topic", nor mods feeling the need to comment such.

 

Obviously it was not "Off Topic" to the one who posted, nor the ones who post responses.

And (unpaid) posters are the ones who provide the content to this site.

 

The non-problem would be solved by using forum software like Reddit's where the main thtead continues and sub threads trail off to the right side and sometimes to a 2nd page.

 

55 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

No, I've never been that petty and nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence or has any adverse effect on me.

"nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence".

 

I already guessed this was how you felt.

19 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

No, I've never been that petty and nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence or has any adverse effect on me.

"nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence".

 

I already guessed this was how you felt.

Shame that you misquoted me, I actually wrote, "nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence or has any adverse effect on me.

22 minutes ago, nigelforbes said:

"nothing any other poster writes here is of any consequence".

 

I already guessed this was how you felt.

Still whinging, moaning and sniping. 

 

More off topic and responses removed.

If I want to find out information about a country I'll go to a forum that is that country specific. I don't know whether the rebranding has proved commercially successful but looking at the other Asean country sub-forums and lack of discussion traffic I'd say it's been a bit pointless in expanding membership.