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

[Old Curmudgeon]

34 minutes ago, atpeace said:

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.

 

Correct, on both points.

 

That list is NOT accusing all those as trolls.

It is merely an example of how much my screen has been cleaned up by using the "ignore" function.

I'd considered "fuzzying" the actual names, but didn't do it.

[cdemundo]

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.

 

I have had pages like that with 2 or 3 users that I have blocked repetitively yakking at each other.

I didn't post cuz I feel it would be inflammatory.

Interesting if this is genuine, looks like we have blocked different folks LOL.

[cdemundo]

2 hours ago, bigt3116 said:

 

With 311 posts

 

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

 

 

 

so he only posts when he has something to say.

Nothing wrong with that.

[atpeace]

1 minute ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

Correct, on both points.

 

That list is NOT accuing all those as trolls.

It is merely an example of how much my screen has been cleaned up by using the "ignore" function.

I'd considered "fuzzying" the actual names, but didn't do it.

I like that you didn't fuzz them 🙂 Now I have a better understanding of how you us the ignore function.  I like many of the posts some on your list make but to each his own.

[Old Curmudgeon]

19 minutes ago, atpeace said:

I like that you didn't fuzz them 🙂 Now I have a better understanding of how you us the ignore function.  I like many of the posts some on your list make but to each his own.

 

@atpeace's comments have helped crystalize the idea that ignored users and trolls are not the same.

Can be a lot of overlap, yes, but not necessarily.

 

The focus on this thread is NOT who is or isn't a troll.

Rather the focus is on how to use the ignore user function ... for trolls or anyone you don't want to bother with.

 

I may host a PM group topic on how we can most effectively select "ignored" users.

Not actually "who", but "how" to select who.

 

I have five explicit criteria, and am looking for more.

 

But that topic sure won't appear here on the open forum.

[Old Curmudgeon]

24 minutes ago, cdemundo said:

I have had pages like that with 2 or 3 users that I have blocked repetitively yakking at each other.

I didn't post cuz I feel it would be inflammatory.

Interesting if this is genuine, looks like we have blocked different folks LOL.

 

I have ignored about 80-90% of the most frequent posters; many hundreds of users.

On the Chiang Mai forum: over 90%.

[Old Curmudgeon]

This topic is just about "done".

 

Almost every topic here, when it gets past 2 pages of posts, the life has been wrung out of it.

This topic has just flipped over to page 3.

I don't expect much more useful discussion on this topic here.

[josephbloggs]

2 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.

 

I have an idea - why not put everyone on the ignore list then you will only see your own posts and finally you might be happy (but somehow I doubt it) as everyone will agree with you always about everything.

Worth a try?

And yes, sure I just bought a place on your hallowed list. Woo hoo!

[G_Money]

12 hours ago, Lacessit said:

Too many to list. Some have been banned, or left in various ways.

 

I sometimes leave people on I should ignore, either because they are witty, or absolutely banal.

 

I am undecided about you.

What about me?

[G_Money]

IMO I see the ignore button as the cowards way out and the report button as the a rats way out.

[simon43]

14 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

...

#5. Follow simon43's thread "Day to day life in Myanmar". Fantastic reading, and very refreshing as it is someone posting positive experiences from deep inside a country that very few of us will experience ourselves, and is a poster doing good things in the country they live in. Such a contrast with the Thai bashing negativity that infects the rest of this site.

Thanks very much for your good comments!  Actually, my posts from Myanmar are 'on hold' for a few months, commencing from yesterday evening.  Why?  Because yesterday evening, the retina in my right eye detached!  The retina tore in this eye some 6 years ago and degraded my vision by about 10%.  So when this event occurred yesterday, I knew how time was of the essence. I was on a plane to Bangkok at 8am this morning, and have had the retina reattached already 🙂

 

However, I have to rest for a while and cannot travel on a plane (the air pressure in the cabin can affect the eye in some way).

 

But I'm going to use my time in a good way 🙂 My UK state pension starts in June, which means that I do not need to teach in-class for a salary (I also have my online teaching income).  So I'm going to spend a couple of months improving my spoken and reading/written Burmese by taking in-person lessons with a nature speaker 🙂

 

This couple of months will also allow the app developer to complete the update on my learning app, and it will then be back on Google Playstore 🙂 In the meantime, I've been creating new videos that follow the lesson-by-lesson Burmese government (the 'real' government) curriculum.

[josephbloggs]

7 minutes ago, simon43 said:

Thanks very much for your good comments!  Actually, my posts from Myanmar are 'on hold' for a few months, commencing from yesterday evening.  Why?  Because yesterday evening, the retina in my right eye detached!  The retina tore in this eye some 6 years ago and degraded my vision by about 10%.  So when this event occurred yesterday, I knew how time was of the essence. I was on a plane to Bangkok at 8am this morning, and have had the retina reattached already 🙂

 

However, I have to rest for a while and cannot travel on a plane (the air pressure in the cabin can affect the eye in some way).

 

But I'm going to use my time in a good way 🙂 My UK state pension starts in June, which means that I do not need to teach in-class for a salary (I also have my online teaching income).  So I'm going to spend a couple of months improving my spoken and reading/written Burmese by taking in-person lessons with a nature speaker 🙂

 

This couple of months will also allow the app developer to complete the update on my learning app, and it will then be back on Google Playstore 🙂 In the meantime, I've been creating new videos that follow the lesson-by-lesson Burmese government (the 'real' government) curriculum.

All the best Simon, wish you well with your recovery and look forward to your posts returning when you are fit and well. Take care.

[CharlieH]

Well, after reading through this, perhaps we'll just turn the "ignore" facility OFF. 😀

 

it undermines the principles of open dialogue and community engagement

 

Forums are designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas, encourage discussions, and promote understanding among members with diverse perspectives. An "ignore" function enables users to create echo chambers, avoiding differing opinions and stifling constructive debate IMHO

 

[billd766]

3 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

Well said, @billd766.

Thank you.

 

 

 

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?

 

 

 

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?

 

Snipped from your post.

 

 

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?

 

IMHO I think that it is 1 and 2 with 3 as an outsider.

 

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?

 

IMO there are posters on the forum with nothing better to do so threads are opened just for the sake of something to do. There are only a limited number of topics that can be discussed, after which they get repeated ad nauseum

 

I don't think that anybody is paid or compensated to ruin the forum but I think that the last2 owners see it as a money making machine judging by the number of ads that seem to be posted. I don't know anybody who actually buys things that are advertised.

 

I also think that advertisers are given the latest number of posters rather than the actual number of regular posters, which is probably not the same thing/ People quit or die off and TBH I think that it would be  nice to know how many people do post regularly against the overall head count.

[billd766]

15 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

Well, after reading through this, perhaps we'll just turn the "ignore" facility OFF. 😀

 

it undermines the principles of open dialogue and community engagement

 

Forums are designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas, encourage discussions, and promote understanding among members with diverse perspectives. An "ignore" function enables users to create echo chambers, avoiding differing opinions and stifling constructive debate IMHO

 

That won't stop people being ignored though.

 

AFAICS ignoring a poster generally, at least to me, means that I don't see any of their posts, unless somebody else responds to that poster. Generally I get a notice that I have ignored that poster, but gives me the option  of reading that particular post or taking the poster off my ignore list, plus something else.

 

What I have been doing in the last few weeks, even before I read the posts, is checking who the OP is and what the topic is. Many times before I have opened the post to find that I have no interest in the topic or the responses, so I then dump the topic and move on to something else.

[NanLaew]

17 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

 

Life is all about different experiences and viewpoints.

 

I can say I have never put anyone on ignore and I've no intention of starting.

 

It would be a sad world with no humour or different viewpoints & I can't help feel you are missing out.

 

 

 

Exactly. The thin-skinned members that have placed me on their ignore lists over the years, all come back eventually.

 

That right @OJAS ?

[JBChiangRai]

 

10 hours ago, Old Curmudgeon said:

 

Correct, on both points.

 

That list is NOT accusing all those as trolls.

It is merely an example of how much my screen has been cleaned up by using the "ignore" function.

I'd considered "fuzzying" the actual names, but didn't do it.

 

It's clear from what little we know about your ignore list that you are ignoring people whose opinion differs from your own.  This is not a good idea.

 

It's a trap we can all fall into as we get older, we risk getting less tolerant and more convinced that our opinion is the only one that can be right.

 

I recommend you socialise more and get involved in debate and learn to value other people's opinions who often contradict your own.

 

It will broaden your horizons.

 

 

[CallumWK]

22 hours ago, Lacessit said:

I ignore people who attack me personally, or are so stupid they are beyond help.

 

That should be everyone on this forum, since it's obvious you consider yourself smarter than anyone

[herfiehandbag]

AN/TV was down, or certainly intermittent, over Christmas and New Year.

 

Initially frustrating perhaps but rather calming overall, in some ways a more pleasant experience!

 

Incidentally, it is becoming a bit of a Christmas tradition in a way, you know: Jingle Bells in the supermarkets, "The Great Escape" on the telly on Boxing Day, Thai Visa collapsing in a heap on Christmas Eve...😀

[cdemundo]

Good info here on practical questions.

Also on movies, books, music etc.

Restaurants and markets as well,

[Yagoda]

On 1/8/2025 at 10:52 AM, BarBoy said:

....I wonder how many ignore lists you show up on 🤭

An ignore list is only a true ignore list if I am on it.

 

Its a Badge of Honour, only Socialists have ignore lists.

[xylophone]

4 hours ago, JBChiangRai said:

 

 

It's clear from what little we know about your ignore list that you are ignoring people whose opinion differs from your own.  This is not a good idea.

 

It's a trap we can all fall into as we get older, we risk getting less tolerant and more convinced that our opinion is the only one that can be right.

 

I recommend you socialise more and get involved in debate and learn to value other people's opinions who often contradict your own.

 

It will broaden your horizons.

 

 

I have no problem in engaging with people whose opinions differ from mine, but I do have a problem in trying to engage/converse with posters whose views are totally nonsensical – – like the Earth being flat, for example, or the anti-vax/conspiracy theory mongers who will gladly ignore decades of research, expertise and medical breakthroughs to follow numpties like Alex Jones and others.

 

I don't need my horizons broadened by such nonsense and as the saying goes, "follow the science" and that's what I do and I'm perfectly happy doing that, broadening my horizons whilst I do so.

[Lacessit]

4 hours ago, CallumWK said:

 

That should be everyone on this forum, since it's obvious you consider yourself smarter than anyone

Thank you for proving my point for me.

 

There will always be people smarter than me. Unfortunately, you are not one of them.

[Lacessit]

14 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Well, after reading through this, perhaps we'll just turn the "ignore" facility OFF. 😀

 

it undermines the principles of open dialogue and community engagement

 

Forums are designed to facilitate the exchange of ideas, encourage discussions, and promote understanding among members with diverse perspectives. An "ignore" function enables users to create echo chambers, avoiding differing opinions and stifling constructive debate IMHO

 

Maybe it is a way forward. Any poster can always mentally ignore another poster on the basis of previous experience.

[BarBoy]

1 hour ago, Yagoda said:

only Socialists have ignore lists.

....And only Communists tell other members that they are going on it!! 🤭

[KhunLA]

Ban Trump topics

Ban Covid topics

Ban Me  

[Thingamabob]

Thanks, but things fine as they are.

[Lacessit]

1 hour ago, KhunLA said:

Ban Trump topics

Ban Covid topics

Ban Me  

Ban Trump and COVID topics, you take away the oxygen of 50% of posters.

[alex8912]

1 hour ago, Lacessit said:

Ban Trump and COVID topics, you take away the oxygen of 50% of posters.

Mainly you. 

[Lacessit]

14 minutes ago, alex8912 said:

Mainly you. 

You're entitled to your opinion, for what it is worth.

 

If the topics of Trump and COVID did not exist, I am sure I could find others.

 

As far as oxygen goes, my lung capacity is 5.5 litres. Smokers are usually 3 litres.