One of the biggest changes that has taken place is that the forum used to be Thai centric, if anyone wanted information about how things work here, tourists or expats, there was a ready source of retired expats who had been living here for many years that were only too willing to share knowledge. But in an attempt to attract and appease the younger crowd, many of the old timers were banned hence the base of experts shrank. The following step was that the focus of the forum was expanded to include other countries in Asean which doesn't seem to have worked that well. That left the site with no real focus and a much smaller base of experts who genuinely understood what was what in Thailand. Posters such as Dr naam and Fletchsmile, both understood the financial and economic landscape in great detail, they were both expert at that. Today, there's nobody who has filled that void but lots of people with only a partial understanding have tried. Many people complain about Immigration, but not many remember the state of play 15 and 20 years ago  and understand how much things have changed. Ditto the massive improvements that Thailand has made over the past 25 years, all many see is the things that make that complain and usual end with them labelling Thai's as hopeless and incompetent. The forum needs the depth of understanding and history that the older crowd had, otherwise, what does it have apart from a bunch of complainers who don't understand much at all about the country we live in.

22 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

 

I, like many other members, like the emoji reactions.

I think they are helpful in many ways. I.e. if someone asks a question in the visa or electric forum and there are different answers. Maybe one answer has a few thumbs up. That is obviously a good sign that the answer is correct.

 

And if I write my opinion about something in the pub then it is sometimes interesting to see how many people support that, etc.

Sometimes I expect that many won't like what I write, but I get positive reactions. And sometimes the opposite. It's interesting how other people think and react.

 

And all this works only with emojis counted directly at the posts. I don't want to look through all the following messages to get and overview about the reactions. I might read the other posts, but not always. 

Agree emojis are useful for a quick reaction without having to start a whole new post.

 

If a poster on an all text forum posts something good or useful or even funny it's not always worth it to send a whole post saying "that was good, useful, funny" a simple emoji covers it, and the poster has the knowledge that his post has been appreciated.

 

Emojis   

 

 

 

 

Another gripe with the forum is the way smart asses are allowed to jump in with stupid misleading information.

 

If a newbie askes a question, say about 90 day reporting, guaranteed one of the first posts will be wrong information, the newbie doesn't know, that's why he's asking the question.

 

The forum should have rules to say that smart ass posts are only allowed after the correct information has been posted and the original question answered. 

  

Plus the amount of Thai bashing by the usual suspects is over the top, if someone doesn't like Thailand, why choose to live/visit here and then complain at every opportunity? Go home.

Just now, bbko said:

Plus the amount of Thai bashing by the usual suspects is over the top, if someone doesn't like Thailand, why choose to live/visit here and then complain at every opportunity? Go home.

People moan about their 'home' country too!  If you choose to live in Thailand, or if, like me, you don't have much choice as it's where your work is, why can't you moan about the things that annoy you?  

On 10/21/2023 at 7:07 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe it's just that forums are something the granddads who still know the world from before the internet use, but new generations use social media or whatever.

What is going on? Is there still hope for this forum?

 Great comment. 

I was sickened to be attacked on here last night because I expressed an unpopular view that there are only two genders, male and female. And that I was not supportive of a bid to hold a World Gay Pride in Bangkok in 2028. 

It was more or less implied that I was a pedophile by one poster, whom I reported to the moderators. This was in response to a post of mine where I actually expand to the typical audience who do not understand legal and psychiatric definitions of pedophilia (Note: Pedophilia is not a legal term as pedophilia is not against the law, it is simply a psychiatric definition. I researched this carefully in response to a post off mine in which I had used the term in its vulgar usage by gutter press etc, and that is to label older men who have sex with underage girls as pedophiles. THIS IS INCORRECT as any simple view of wiki will tell you). Anyway I was predictably attacked as homophobic and predictably no-one answered any of the questions I posed but simply and stupidly implied as I say homophobic and a pedophile myself for knowing the psychiatric definition, as though I had confessed my fetish to a psychiatrist. But the usual suspects like the one liner "transam' who posts literally thousands of inane one liners or one word posts.

 

It is pretty easy to seem there is a competition to dominate certain topic by certain people and those who post thousand of posts. As for myself I spend far too much time on here, and I have posted less than 3000 posts. Looking at  trans-am he has posted over 81,000 inane posts, how the hell do you find the time for that? Or 'jingthing' with 120,000 posts or so. Or indeed yourself with 21,000 posts, all of them of the highest quality.

 

I'm losing energy for the whole board here to be honest.

Here is an example of what is happening to this forum. 

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1310478-did-you-get-the-easy-way-in-life-or-the-hard-way/#comment-18456757

 

Not even remotely related to Thailand or S.E.A.

I miss the days of Dr. Pat Pong, George, etc when we could say anything we want.  

Used to be great before Facebook etc, it was the only way for rural members to communicate with each other. 

Most of my old mates have been banned. The biggest mistake, IMHO was when we were not allowed to comment on something, kinda like being a kid. 

On 10/21/2023 at 8:01 PM, Denim said:

Well, fact is that there are only just so many people interested  in posting on what is primarily  a forum designed to appeal to ex pats or long time Thailand visitors.

 

Once you have succeeded in banning large numbers of them it is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

 

This is Dan's problem. How to make the forum look like a vibrant and active place. Hence now more than ever before there are a lot of posters of questionable authenticity trying to rake over the dying embers of a much reduced membership trying to get it to behave like an electric car and burst into flames.

 

Perhaps banning posters is unnecessary  and just deleting their more offensive posts would be more in keeping with keeping up the number of contributors.

 

Oh yes. Deleting the most offensive posts, which may well be those described above by 'OneMoreFarang',  "many useless posts they can publish in a day."

Those useless posts, offensive, as there is no 'merit' attached to their content. None. No useful substantive content.

They should be deleted by moderators, who of course will have to determine the 'merit' contained in posts. Perhaps some would disagree with eventual post deletions, but the site would overall benefit from the result.

(But just don't delete all of my posts 😊)

1 hour ago, VocalNeal said:

Here is an example of what is happening to this forum. 

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1310478-did-you-get-the-easy-way-in-life-or-the-hard-way/#comment-18456757

 

Not even remotely related to Thailand or S.E.A.

 

and again https://aseannow.com/topic/1310513-dont-be-bald/ 🤔

4 hours ago, george said:

 

All social media and forums are dependant on member reactions in order to get the algo right. If the algo is right, the ranking in search engines improve. Emoji's are a vital part of user engagement.

 

Or would you prefer a completely text based forum?

 

Anonymous ones. Read the post.

On 10/21/2023 at 9:01 PM, Denim said:

Well, fact is that there are only just so many people interested  in posting on what is primarily  a forum designed to appeal to ex pats or long time Thailand visitors.

 

Once you have succeeded in banning large numbers of them it is tantamount to killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

 

This is Dan's problem. How to make the forum look like a vibrant and active place. Hence now more than ever before there are a lot of posters of questionable authenticity trying to rake over the dying embers of a much reduced membership trying to get it to behave like an electric car and burst into flames.

 

Perhaps banning posters is unnecessary  and just deleting their more offensive posts would be more in keeping with keeping up the number of contributors.

Some of us can post quicker than they can delete.
Some of us can post quicker than they can delete.
...

On 10/23/2023 at 10:46 AM, novacova said:

For the sport of it

Out of badness.

I doubt I will have time to post a Cliff Richards Summer Holiday video link after this...

Just now, StreetCowboy said:

Out of badness.

I doubt I will have time to post a Cliff Richards Summer Holiday video link after this...

 

 

Just goes to show how wrong I can be - we are not living in a police state

 

17 hours ago, smokie36 said:

 

Log in on a laptop and you'll be able to click on em probably...or a tablet etc

I am on a laptop and no, that doesn't work.

17 hours ago, george said:

 

All social media and forums are dependant on member reactions in order to get the algo right. If the algo is right, the ranking in search engines improve. Emoji's are a vital part of user engagement.

 

Or would you prefer a completely text based forum?

It was annoying when a certain poster chased me around the forum putting "laughs" on every post I made, and when I PM'd a mod to complain I was told that it was OK because he's a long time poster with lots of posts.

 

That problem got solved because the poster in question doesn't post anymore, but I used to have a PM conversation with someone that disliked it so much he left the forum because of it.

Now we don't know who is putting them we can't even complain about being stalked.

13 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

 

and again https://aseannow.com/topic/1310513-dont-be-bald/ 🤔

It's The Pub, for the sort of chat one might do at a real pub.

Do you really care if it's not about Thailand or SEA, given there isn't much worth replying to any more? I was down to about a 1/2 hour visit before Gaza happened, as there was so little to bother with.

15 hours ago, Neeranam said:

I miss the days of Dr. Pat Pong, George, etc when we could say anything we want.  

Not entirely. I got suspended for making a political comment on a thread not on World news. I didn't even consider it political.

 

Also there was a female mod that used to shut down any negative comments about western women, while allowing the worst language possible about Thai women. Thankfully she left many years ago.

14 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

 

and again https://aseannow.com/topic/1310513-dont-be-bald/ 🤔

 

it's your opinion that all topics should be strictly about Thailand.

but maybe 50% of people would disagree with you. 

 

16 hours ago, brewsterbudgen said:

People moan about their 'home' country too!  If you choose to live in Thailand, or if, like me, you don't have much choice as it's where your work is, why can't you moan about the things that annoy you?  

I agree that we can moan about things we don't like, but some posters despise Thailand and Thais so much that one has to wonder why they stay.

I hated Saudi as much as they hate Thailand, but I did leave it, even though I missed out on a lot of money for doing so. It just wasn't worth staying somewhere I hated so much.

5 minutes ago, save the frogs said:

 

it's your opinion that all topics should be strictly about Thailand.

but maybe 50% of people would disagree with you. 

 

I certainly do. It'd be too boring if it was only about where to find a pizza, or why don't Thais fix the pavement.

On 10/21/2023 at 10:05 AM, scottiejohn said:

Totally agree!

It has been highjacked by a hard core of approx. 12 idiots/Bots/paid for posters who may be increasing the "click count" but are ruining the site!

No, the site is not being ruined. 

 

Someone who only sees the forum as negative is pretty much the same thing as someone who starts a thread claiming that everything about Thailand sucks. You've lost perspective. 

 

The forum has maybe some posters who start a lot of nonsense threads, etc ... but there are also a lot of useful threads.

 

If someone has a health issue, many people share their experiences and knowledge etc .... look carefully at all the threads over the last year and there tons and tons of people posting useful stuff. 

 

 

16 hours ago, Mike Lister said:

One of the biggest changes that has taken place is that the forum used to be Thai centric, if anyone wanted information about how things work here, tourists or expats, there was a ready source of retired expats who had been living here for many years that were only too willing to share knowledge. But in an attempt to attract and appease the younger crowd, many of the old timers were banned hence the base of experts shrank. The following step was that the focus of the forum was expanded to include other countries in Asean which doesn't seem to have worked that well. That left the site with no real focus and a much smaller base of experts who genuinely understood what was what in Thailand. Posters such as Dr naam and Fletchsmile, both understood the financial and economic landscape in great detail, they were both expert at that. Today, there's nobody who has filled that void but lots of people with only a partial understanding have tried. Many people complain about Immigration, but not many remember the state of play 15 and 20 years ago  and understand how much things have changed. Ditto the massive improvements that Thailand has made over the past 25 years, all many see is the things that make that complain and usual end with them labelling Thai's as hopeless and incompetent. The forum needs the depth of understanding and history that the older crowd had, otherwise, what does it have apart from a bunch of complainers who don't understand much at all about the country we live in.

if anyone wanted information about how things work here, tourists or expats, there was a ready source of retired expats who had been living here for many years that were only too willing to share knowledge. But in an attempt to attract and appease the younger crowd, many of the old timers were banned hence the base of experts shrank.

 

That happened on Lonely Planet Thai forum, on which I spent a great deal of time giving advice, along with many others. The site was sold and new mods installed that were so dictatorial and suspending posters for stupid reasons that most of the old timers, including myself, left and the site became useless as an information source.

I think it's closed now.

 

 

 

Ditto the massive improvements that Thailand has made over the past 25 years,

 

LOL. on that I disagree. Thailand changed, but not for the better. It sold out the tourist environment for the Chinese horde, and did nothing to improve the infrastructure in most of the country. Parts of Bkk, Phuket  and Pattaya are not Thailand per se. The beaches, at least the decent ones have been destroyed by concrete, and in one case had to be closed the destruction was so bad.

Worst of all, the genuine Thai smile has vanished, and people are not happy.

The forum is better in some ways, less stuffy than it used to be years ago, you get a taste of that when a group of them come back from another forum and bang on, like thaiger. Yes it's dumbed down a bit but anyone can post topics so if you don't like it, get posting

Just now, scubascuba3 said:

The forum is better in some ways, less stuffy than it used to be years ago, you get a taste of that when a group of them come back from another forum and bang on, like thaiger. Yes it's dumbed down a bit but anyone can post topics so if you don't like it, get posting

Can't post topics on world news. I was able to for one time recently, but that option ended suddenly.

1 minute ago, scubascuba3 said:

The forum is better in some ways, less stuffy than it used to be years ago, you get a taste of that when a group of them come back from another forum and bang on, like thaiger. Yes it's dumbed down a bit but anyone can post topics so if you don't like it, get posting

My complaint is that it's too boring. The topics that used to make it interesting are shut down, IMO.

16 hours ago, Daffy D said:

Another gripe with the forum is the way smart asses are allowed to jump in with stupid misleading information.

and the ones that just make smart <deleted> comments about other posters that add nothing to the conversation.

Far too many personal attack posts that never get deleted.

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

My complaint is that it's too boring. The topics that used to make it interesting are shut down, IMO.

Personally I'd let threads fizzle out rather than close them, people would get bored arguing eventually

Notifications don't seem to be working since the upgrade, often I miss new threads even though I should be following, so may be a reason the forum doesn't seem as active