15 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

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

I agree with that, but IMO there are not enough interesting threads, as seems any of the interesting ones get shut down. Why can't we discuss the specifics of prostitution, given it's the reason many of us are in LOS in the first place? It's not a family forum.

19 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

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.

It's a glass that's half full or half empty issue, isn't it? Not all the change has been for the good, that is quite true. The road network/infrastructure is much improved, it's way easier to get around the country in a semblance of ease. The cookie cutter shopping malls that have popped up in every city and town are not bad things plus the expansion of English language skills has been useful. More foreign restaurants and food exists, more hotels have begun to understand what service means. More locals have moved from working in the fields to work in the tourist industry, in better working conditions and earning more. Importantly, fiscal discipline by government has bedded in since the crash, successive governments have become almost fanatical about wanting to avoid a repeat of 97 which is why government debt has remained so low and foreign currency reserves so high. And finally, predictably, loopholes are being closed to prevent visa's from being abused, taxes being avoided and non-resident bank accounts being abused. I recall walking to work down Sukhumvit, early one Saturday morning in 1998, right after the crash. The road was a mess as the piles were being sunk for the sky train and everyone looked very poor, a gaggle of girls were competing for my affections by undercutting each other and calling out their charges which started under 100 baht! Now, even the poorest villages have seen many of their houses replaced with modern well built structures, all built with Bangkok and tourist center earned money.

25 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Why can't we discuss the specifics of prostitution, given it's the reason many of us are in LOS in the first place?

 

      No! Some are here for the food and the temples.....oh.....and the wonderful culture! Here some face, there some face, everywhere some face face!😏

 

 

17 hours ago, 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.

 

Ok, I'm going, do you think I can find work in GAZA?

16 hours ago, Neeranam said:

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. 

In this thread I've noticed many comments about people being banned.

 

I'm aware that 1 or 2 members were banned (over many years) for strong rudeness / insulting comments, for I wasn't aware that it was large numbers. Comments welcome.

Just now, scorecard said:

In this thread I've noticed many comments about people being banned.

 

I'm aware that 1 or 2 members were banned (over many years) for strong rudeness / insulting comments, for I wasn't aware that it was large numbers. Comments welcome.

 

     Play to the referees whistle! 🤔

1 minute ago, 2baht said:

 

     Play to the referees whistle! 🤔

What does that mean?

2 minutes ago, scorecard said:

In this thread I've noticed many comments about people being banned.

 

I'm aware that 1 or 2 members were banned (over many years) for strong rudeness / insulting comments, for I wasn't aware that it was large numbers. Comments welcome.

It was far more than 1 or 2, during one protracted period it was almost wholesale. In some cases it was a vendetta, almost a game to see how many times the same reincarnated posters could last before being detected and banned yet again, for different reasons of course.

Just now, scorecard said:

What does that mean?

 

      Don't upset the controllers!

Just now, 2baht said:

 

      Don't upset the controllers!

That says it all really, hopefully that aspect has finally gone away.

On 10/21/2023 at 8:55 PM, sirineou said:

I have been a member of this forum for about 15 years and I have seen this forum change. It used to be a vibrant community of expats, now it is just people reacting to news stories, and posting stupid , anonymous emojis.

It has always been the latter, but most of the interesting characters have moved on, died, banned, or had enough of you know what and switched off. There is also nostalgia at play, but it was tighter during the George, Dr Patpong days. Remember the TV parties? Everything changes. The world in general today is pretty S.  

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

It's a glass that's half full or half empty issue, isn't it? Not all the change has been for the good, that is quite true. The road network/infrastructure is much improved, it's way easier to get around the country in a semblance of ease. The cookie cutter shopping malls that have popped up in every city and town are not bad things plus the expansion of English language skills has been useful. More foreign restaurants and food exists, more hotels have begun to understand what service means. More locals have moved from working in the fields to work in the tourist industry, in better working conditions and earning more. Importantly, fiscal discipline by government has bedded in since the crash, successive governments have become almost fanatical about wanting to avoid a repeat of 97 which is why government debt has remained so low and foreign currency reserves so high. And finally, predictably, loopholes are being closed to prevent visa's from being abused, taxes being avoided and non-resident bank accounts being abused. I recall walking to work down Sukhumvit, early one Saturday morning in 1998, right after the crash. The road was a mess as the piles were being sunk for the sky train and everyone looked very poor, a gaggle of girls were competing for my affections by undercutting each other and calling out their charges which started under 100 baht! Now, even the poorest villages have seen many of their houses replaced with modern well built structures, all built with Bangkok and tourist center earned money.

Maybe reducing post sizes would help, personally I don't bother reading long posts anymore, times have changed

2 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

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

Yes you can make a report if you believe someone is stalking you.

There's no forum for suggesting improvements to the forum, so mistakes of direction can't be corrected

4 minutes ago, scubascuba3 said:

Maybe reducing post sizes would help, personally I don't bother reading long posts anymore, times have changed

Often, complex problems and questions require more detail, I don't subscribe to the short simple answer just because some people  have short attention spans (not you).

53 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

Often, complex problems and questions require more detail, I don't subscribe to the short simple answer just because some people  have short attention spans (not you).

Maybe so but also some people don't have the ability to summarize so waffle on

18 hours ago, Neeranam said:

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

No idea who the above posters are but agree 100%.  What are the mods protecting us from?  Let it rip and play somewhere else if you are too weak to be questioned or  insulted.

 

 IMO only blatantly offensive posts should be removed.  Covid brought on a level of policing that was unfair and created a divide where one group benefited and the other simply lost interest in having an intelligent discussion.  What is the point of debating if only "one" truth is acceptable.  Quite boring but at the same time interesting to witness weak individuals organizing into a herd of little demons in the name of good.  

21 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?

I can't use my emojis 😞

5 minutes ago, atpeace said:

No idea who the above posters are but agree 100%.  What are the mods protecting us from?  Let it rip and play somewhere else if you are too weak to be questioned or  insulted.

 

 IMO only blatantly offensive posts should be removed.  Covid brought on a level of policing that was unfair and created a divide where one group benefited and the other simply lost interest in having an intelligent discussion.  What is the point of debating if only "one" truth is acceptable.  Quite boring but at the same time interesting to witness weak individuals organizing into a herd of little demons in the name of good.  

Why would anyone subject him self to insults?

We can disagree watthour being disagreeable. One results to insults when one runs   out of ideas. 

And I dont see how disagree with someone in a civil manner shades the truth one way or another. 

moderators are here to moderate ad the title implies. They are here to keep thing civil  

1 hour ago, Mike Lister said:

Often, complex problems and questions require more detail, I don't subscribe to the short simple answer just because some people  have short attention spans (not you).

True but IMO we would benefit more if you added a paragraph or two,  Hard to read and nearly impossible with a hangover.

2 minutes ago, atpeace said:

True but IMO we would benefit more if you added a paragraph or two,  Hard to read and nearly impossible with a hangover.

How about the punctuation and font, are they OK!

If wanting a forum with a little more "fun" and less "censorship" have a look at the <URL Automatically Removed> forum . 

1 minute ago, sirineou said:

Why would anyone subject him self to insults?

We can disagree watthour being disagreeable. One results to insults when one runs   out of ideas. 

And I dont see how disagree with someone in a civil manner shades the truth one way or another. 

moderators are here to moderate ad the title implies. They are here to keep thing civil  

OK, your opinion and I disagree.  Put them on ignore or simply read the insults with an open mind.   I've learned much from offensive posters and nothing from removed posts.  I am far from all knowing and most are in the same boat.  Let people speak and the obvious fools will be exposed.

1 minute ago, atpeace said:

OK, your opinion and I disagree.  Put them on ignore or simply read the insults with an open mind.   I've learned much from offensive posters and nothing from removed posts.  I am far from all knowing and most are in the same boat.  Let people speak and the obvious fools will be exposed.

In theory yes, in practise the good guys give up and walk away whilst the trolls win the day.

3 minutes ago, Mike Lister said:

How about the punctuation and font, are they OK!

They are fine and sorry if I offended you.  Post as you like and ignore my preferences.

Just now, atpeace said:

They are fine and sorry if I offended you.  Post as you like and ignore my preferences.

We're cool, just playfully proding.

Just now, Mike Lister said:

We're cool, just playfully proding.

Oops -I still have some PTSD from Covid era where I seemed to a magnet for hate.  Back to deep breathing and positive thoughts affirming my value...

5 minutes ago, atpeace said:

OK, your opinion and I disagree.  Put them on ignore or simply read the insults with an open mind.   I've learned much from offensive posters and nothing from removed posts.  I am far from all knowing and most are in the same boat.  Let people speak and the obvious fools will be exposed.

How about the quote" You can disagree without being disagreeable". Do you agree or disagree with that. 

Just now, sirineou said:

How about the quote" You can disagree without being disagreeable". Do you agree or disagree with that. 

I agree but we all aren't perfect.  Also what you consider disagreeable, I might find interesting. It is simply too subjective to judge the agreeability of an argument.  We are left with trying to communicate rationally or relying on the conversations to be policed.   The latter is fraught with inconsistencies.

imo the main problem with this forum is/was the heavy handed moderation.

 

granted in recent times they seem to have taken their foot off the pedal a bit and let comments and threads fly which should always be the case unless said comments are obviously vulgar or offensive.

 

Also the terms and conditions are far too vague and wide open to interpretation.

I think a lot of posters probably got bored being banned all the time for something small like reacting with a cry/confused emoji on a mods post or something similar.

Mods, by their very nature and exposure to online content every day should have a fairly thick skin.

It would seem that many asean now mods are snowflakes and ban people for next to nothing.

 

When you ban your members you are biting the hand that feeds.

Please remember that!