3 ways to make TV/AN a more pleasant and more useful experience

[BarBoy]

3 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

So accurate, also.

....yeah right.

[BarBoy]

1 minute ago, norfolkandchance said:

Pot. Kettle.

Kettle. Pot.

[gargamon]

The mods should publish a list of the most blocked users. I'm sure that data would be available to them. Maybe they could use it to actually remove the troublemakers.

[Bday Prang]

Its not rocket science, just reading the title of the thread will indicate the chances of it degenerating into a troll fest or not. I have never put anybody on ignore neither have I ever gone crying to a moderator, in my opinion some people are simply just too sensitive, and many others have an over inflated sense of their own importance.   Retired teachers in particular along with the permanently offended lefties. 

 

[atpeace]

37 minutes ago, gargamon said:

The mods should publish a list of the most blocked users. I'm sure that data would be available to them. Maybe they could use it to actually remove the troublemakers.

That has to be the worst post idea I have read recently.  Lets all get along by ostracizing those we determine troublesome?  That will surely end well...

[Lacessit]

13 minutes ago, Bday Prang said:

Its not rocket science, just reading the title of the thread will indicate the chances of it degenerating into a troll fest or not. I have never put anybody on ignore neither have I ever gone crying to a moderator, in my opinion some people are simply just too sensitive, and many others have an over inflated sense of their own importance.   Retired teachers in particular along with the permanently offended lefties. 

 

Good to know it's impossible to permanently offend a right wing person.

 

Their symbol in America is an elephant, very thick skin. They probably need it.

[Lacessit]

3 minutes ago, atpeace said:

That has to be the worst post idea I have read recently.  Lets all get along by ostracizing those we determine troublesome?  That will surely end well...

It would probably result in ASEAN losing 20-30% of its posters.

[atpeace]

1 minute ago, Lacessit said:

It would probably result in ASEAN losing 20-30% of its posters.

Maybe but I think the idea eliminating people that some group deems troublesome is not the solution.  I have a choice to respond to them or not engage.

 

My really only major complaint at AN at the moment are a few posters that post numerous summaries with images that literally will consume sometimes 80% of a threads real-estate.  That Tallguy... poster is the most aggravating...  He makes some good points I gave up on reading his posts.  Maybe I should ignore him???

 

Other than the above, nothing else causes me to get uncomfortably angry.

[billd766]

17 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

This thread is about what you and I can do -- starting right now -- to make this forum more pleasant and more useful.

Can do individually, on our own, without any collective agreements or permissions.

 

I started following this forum more than 20 years ago, so I have earned the privilege of using the TV designation (from the original name, "Thai Visa".)

Even 20 years ago, the level of monkey chatter here was high.

But since then, the noise level has gotten so high, that it drowns out any useful signal.

That noise, of course, is from trolls.

 

I say there's no need to moan and complain about trolls here.

That won't accomplish anything.

But when trolls attack -- as they always do -- there are three things you CAN do:

 

 

 

#1 - Ignore User:

 

Just 5 clicks and that troll disappears from your screen forever.

Not just on one thread, but on ALL threads, everywhere.

Gone!

A very powerful feature of the software behind this forum.

 

Some trolls will think, "Okay, OldCurmudgeon, you ignore me; I'll ignore you!"

And that is exactly the effect I want.

Better for me.

Better for everyone if the trolls just wash out with the tide.

 

 

 

#2 - Report Post:

This feature sends an immediate message to the people behind the scenes who keep this forum running.

I'm certainly not going to use proper name for them here, but you know who I mean.

They usually remove reported posts.

But that removal affects only one post on one thread and is not a long-range or wide-range solution to trolls.

 

I use the Report Post function clean up threads I start, but you can use it to clean up any troll posts, anywhere.

Does not have to be on your threads.

 

 

 

#3 -- Start private message (PM) topics.

 

PMs are a very powerful, but little used, feature of this forum software.

Can be 1:1, but also can have group conversations in PMs.

Your own private, hidden, forum.

Trolls cannot interfere in PM conversations ... impossible.

 

 

That's a start to my thoughts on this topic.

Is there anything I've missed that would help??

 

Thoughtful comments welcome, either below or (of course) in a private message.

 

-- Old Curmudgeon

   Chiang Mai

 

 

 

 

I agree with you 100%,

 

I joined TVF back in 2003 and way back then it didn't matter if your opinion was different as you could have a discussion and at the end you both agreed to disagree, and that was the end of the matter. There were no insults or bad feelings.

 

What I have seen over the years is that with every change of ownership the quality of posters has got poorer, the insults started and got worse and my poster on ignore list got bigger.

 

Like you I am reading less and less posts as the quality of posts get poorer, many of them seem to be nothing but click bait and are not, IMHO, worth opening, let alone reading.

 

 

[Centigrade32]

30 minutes ago, billd766 said:

I agree with you 100%,

 

I joined TVF back in 2003 and way back then it didn't matter if your opinion was different as you could have a discussion and at the end you both agreed to disagree, and that was the end of the matter. There were no insults or bad feelings.

 

What I have seen over the years is that with every change of ownership the quality of posters has got poorer, the insults started and got worse and my poster on ignore list got bigger.

 

Like you I am reading less and less posts as the quality of posts get poorer, many of them seem to be nothing but click bait and are not, IMHO, worth opening, let alone reading.

 

 

 

Even back then I had friends complaining about how bad it was and that they don't bother to post anymore. Take off your rose coloured nostalgic glasses. The world is full of idiots and this forum is just a way for them to show us.

[In Full Agreement]

 

 

Out of the tens of thousands of TV members, I've only placed 5 people on ignore.

 

 

[KannikaP]

5 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Sure, lots of traffic is good for advertisement.

It would be interesting to know how many members actually click on any of the adverts, how many would be happy to see them all go away.

[scottiejohn]

1 hour ago, KannikaP said:

It would be interesting to know how many members actually click on any of the adverts, how many would be happy to see them all go away.

What adverts?

 

[Negita43]

9 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

It would be a sad world with no humour or different viewpoints. I agree but there is no need for personal attacks and denigration - of which there seems to be quite a lot

 

 

[save the frogs]

6 hours ago, cdemundo said:

Lots of things wrong with me but plenty of Ricardo Cabezas here that are on the wrong side of the continuum relative to me.

 

As a wise man once said "Jesus loves you but everyone else thinks you're an A-hole".

who the heck is Ricardo Cabezas?

 

yeah, the whole "jesus loves you" thing is a scam. 

Jesus probably thinks we're a bunch of a-holes, but you can't put that in a religious book. 

[JBChiangRai]

1 minute ago, save the frogs said:

Jesus probably thinks we're a bunch of a-holes, but you can't put that in a religious book. 

Jesus can’t think, he’s been dead for 2000 years

[Lacessit]

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

Jesus can’t think, he’s been dead for 2000 years

Christians believe he is alive. So do followers of the electric Jesus.

[KannikaP]

51 minutes ago, scottiejohn said:

What adverts?

 

Actually they seem to have all disappeared since I started using Mel Gibson's browser. 555

[Old Curmudgeon]

9 hours ago, atpeace said:

take my opinions with a grain of salt 🙂  Ignoring and reporting  people like me that you might disagree with is silly.

 

Wrong conclusion.

"Disagree" is not a factor here.

 

(I will not presume to lecture you on what is important.)

 

Thank you again @atpeace for your thoughtful and detailed counter-points on this topic.

You seem to have a knack for doing that really well, and I appreciate your posts.

[Old Curmudgeon]

5 hours ago, atpeace said:

That has to be the worst post idea I have read recently.  Lets all get along by ostracizing those we determine troublesome?  That will surely end well...

 

Careful, careful:  NOT allowed to even mention mods here, neither in a positive way nor any other way.

 

The whole purpose of this thread is asking what individuals can do (without involving mods or anyone else) to make this forum a more pleasant experience.

 

I do it by "pulling the plug" ... "ignore user".

[bigt3116]

22 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

I started following this forum more than 20 years ago

 

With 311 posts

 

15 per year, wow, you really are the backbone of the website.

 

 

 

[Old Curmudgeon]

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

I joined TVF back in 2003 and way back then it didn't matter if your opinion was different as you could have a discussion and at the end you both agreed to disagree, and that was the end of the matter. There were no insults or bad feelings.

 

Well said, @billd766.

Thank you.

 

 

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

What I have seen over the years is that with every change of ownership the quality of posters has got poorer, the insults started and got worse and my poster on ignore list got bigger.

 

Very good point, and you have me wondering:

Is the decline in this forum a result of:

1 - changes in ownership?

2 - changes in the character of expats in Thailand?

3 - changes in Western culture that are merely reflected here?

4 - something else, deeply hidden and sinister, which I dare not mention?

 

 

5 hours ago, billd766 said:

Like you I am reading less and less posts as the quality of posts get poorer, many of them seem to be nothing but click bait and are not, IMHO, worth opening, let alone reading.

 

Again, well said.

 

My premise is that we expats need some channel of communication.

(Something better than the bar stool conversations of 20 years ago.)

So why are so many on this forum spending so much time trying to pollute a perfectly suitable channel like this?

Unless ... unless ... unless they are paid or otherwise compensated to ruin it?

 

[Old Curmudgeon]

10 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

... there is one more thing to make the forum more pleasant:

I have removed the little icons in the lower, right corner of every post.

Not only my posts, but every post:

 

 

 

Well, that's working well.

"Somebody" just reacted to that post about the little icons in the bottom right corner.

And I see NONE of the reactions.

 

 

Yes!

Goodbye to all that clutter from trolls.

 

[rumak]

9 hours ago, BarBoy said:

Care to name names?

 

🤭

 

One can always learn a lot about someone...... that always thinks that its "others" that are the stupid ones .   They often use that stupid word a lot in their constant posts

[Old Curmudgeon]

To illustrate the point I'm making in the original post,

after applying the four tactics described above, below is a screen shot

example of what I see on this thread.

So much more pleasant to read than a wide-open sewer of troll effluent.

 

And, yes, that ratio of 1:9 is typical for my arrangement here.

__________________________________________________

 

 

 

 

And before going to all the effort of "ignore user" one by one by one,

I did look into and actually tested using AI to clean up the swamp.

But AI is still too cumbersome to do that.

Would be nice, but still years of development needed.

 

[rumak]

These type of threads are great ..... giving the usual suspects  just another opportunity to slip in the same ignorant ad hominem attacks ( "stupid... right wing... idiots.... tin foil hatters.... anti vax nuts."... etc etc ) into their post.    I guess it makes themselves feel superior .    

Are they ??    Well.... the world and especially forums is full of ..... all types

 

 

[rumak]

I think the OP could be a good example of why all the previous usernames of people here on the forum 🙄should be listed .    

[metisdead]

A personal attack post and the replies have been removed. 

[atpeace]

3 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

Careful, careful:  NOT allowed to even mention mods here, neither in a positive way nor any other way.

 

The whole purpose of this thread is asking what individuals can do (without involving mods or anyone else) to make this forum a more pleasant experience.

 

I do it by "pulling the plug" ... "ignore user".

 

3 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

To illustrate the point I'm making in the original post,

after applying the four tactics described above, below is a screen shot

example of what I see on this thread.

So much more pleasant to read than a wide-open sewer of troll effluent.

 

And, yes, that ratio of 1:9 is typical for my arrangement here.

__________________________________________________

 

And before going to all the effort of "ignore user" one by one by one,

I did look into and actually tested using AI to clean up the swamp.

But AI is still too cumbersome to do that.

Would be nice, but still years of development needed.

 

Some on the above ignore list IMO are definitely not trolls.  It seems to me that you are ignoring members for many reasons other than being a troll.  Another thing to consider is that the person you are ignoring might just be having a bad day and being an idiot. 

 

In the past  I have  struggled online trying to understand how certain posters lacked sincere interest in intelligent debate.  I'll be honest, it frustrated me to the point this forum was detracting from my quality of life.  Now, I've become much better at not letting those that are insincere or lack self awareness frustrate me.  This forum is great opportunity to get a a better understanding of how others express themselves.  Ignoring users would be counterproductive for me but I get where you are coming from. 

[atpeace]

1 hour ago, rumak said:

I think the OP could be a good example of why all the previous usernames of people here on the forum 🙄should be listed .    

That would be interesting.  I had a prior but it was 10 years ago and I think it had been a year or two since posting under the old user name when I changed it. Been around since 1998!