I joined ThaiVisa for visa advice. This is still its most useful function.

The bickering and politics is fun though.

On 2/4/2026 at 7:13 AM, 123Stodg said:

I love it, because you can come here and feel confident that you'll never encounter any losers, angry weirdos, bitter shut ins, trolls, or lonely old drunks who clearly have nothing better to do outside of forum life.

As an angry, weird, bitter, shut in, lonely old drunken loser I resemble that remark!

On 2/3/2026 at 7:08 PM, Explorator en Actione said:

I joined ThaiVisa.com to learn about Visa’s in Thailand, that was many, many moons ago, even have had a few beers and lunches in the old The Lounge Bar (defacto Thaivisa.com bar) have joined, de-joined, re-incarnated a few times since then. It used to be a wealth of information, electicians, construction engineers, plumbing experts, farmers, gardners, animal husbandry, Computer and IT afficianado’s, and of course Thailand Visa Information. It has since turned into a Barstool Commando’s playroom, a wealth of dis-information, and all around attacking posters. They could get rid of the Political forum and I am sure it wouldn’t be missed by many of ‘ole timers’ Like the efficient feature that allows you to ignore whomever you wish, and it works, got three folks on ignore and haven’t read a peep out of them. They pbly know who they are, don’t care.

You could always just ignore the political forums? Like I do with the animal husbandry and gardening ones.

Perhaps I should pay more attention to the electricians one though

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1AcxzJ9BAF/

14 minutes ago, Surasak said:

But I guess you haven't met them yet!?

Actually I have met a number of members from this forum. Most were decent people. There are some however I would not ever want to meet. They hold way too much hate and anger inside. Too negative.

But thats just my personal experience.

On 2/3/2026 at 6:37 PM, Harrisfan said:

I joined to discuss the regions of Thailand and gain insights in each area.

I wonder when you're going to start.

It does act as a small news aggregator on SE Asian news with a focus on Thailand.

1 hour ago, Harrisfan said:

11 thumbs down. They must have serious issues given what I wrote was normal.

Why have you received 11 thumbs down so far? That questions suggests you're either dillustional or dishonest. I believe you received them because you don't discuss regions of Thaiiand, nor gain insights in each area. You generally have a negative effect on the whole forum.

You post excessively and are frequently rude and disrespectful to other posters. We can all draw our own conclusions as to why you do this. Perhaps you should look in the mirror for a change, instead of pi$$ing everyone else off as a result of your underlying issues.

Oh, have a nice day.

1 hour ago, Harrisfan said:

Nothing in life is personal. In the book The Four Agreements. People are angry cause they hate themselves.

Easy to read but not so easy to implement :)

Wow. That is a while ago. Not sure I can remember that far back.

Probably something to do with local motorcycle/scooters and riding, that and DIY. Or the odd joke.

Just kind of " hung out" for a year or so on here before " joining" . As many others stated I did join 10 or so years ago to ask Ubon Joe ( RIP) some questions as he always answered and had patience , knowledge and class that no other poster will ever have.

Second reason was to block just one poster who just seemed to have a strange reign on the forum with I think 2 or 3 million posts and continues on now but luckily he is still the only one I had to do this to.

More by accident. Somewhere there was an article with "source: The Thaiger / aseannow". I then thought it had only to do about news.

1 hour ago, IsaanT said:

Why have you received 11 thumbs down so far? That questions suggests you're either dillustional or dishonest. I believe you received them because you don't discuss regions of Thaiiand, nor gain insights in each area. You generally have a negative effect on the whole forum.

You post excessively and are frequently rude and disrespectful to other posters. We can all draw our own conclusions as to why you do this. Perhaps you should look in the mirror for a change, instead of pi$$ing everyone else off as a result of your underlying issues.

Oh, have a nice day.

And ruins every thread for most people. No more then a grub.

I use it as I take short breaks from writing iPhone app on my computer in my office at home in Phuket.

If I get stuck on a particular area of the development I take a break to clear my head and do something simple so I see what the latest crazies are saying on this site and then laugh at the nonsense, I don't mean the articles from ASEAN NOW, I mean the replies and comments the readers make.

It makes me laugh to see there are a lot of nutters out there who believed all sorts of nonsense.

There are also some very funny comments made though in reply to the mad comments I read, @richard_smith237 for example is a wordsmith when it comes to funny replies.

I do not understand how anybody can take the comments seriously or get annoyed, they make me laugh. 😀

I joined Thai Visa many years ago when I was new to Thailand but planned to stay; hence, the moniker 'newnative'. I originally joined to keep up-to-date on visa issues, changes, options, etc., and to also read about subjects relating to being an expat living in Thailand. As a newbie, I found TV to be very helpful in the information it provided, through other members, on a variety of topics. If I had a question about something, there was usually someone with a good answer.

I'm still enjoying being signed up, as Thai Visa has segued into Asean Now. I usually read it every day and I often respond to topics that I am interested in. I find many of the threads to be quite interesting and entertaining. Plus, I'm still learning things, even if I am no longer a newbie.

I especially like when a thread will go slightly, or more than slightly, off-topic, maybe around page 2 or 3 of the posts. I, myself, find that can be when a thread becomes most interesting and entertaining to read. For awhile, it seemed like the AN editors were very quick to delete posts they found to be off-topic. Lately, though, it seems that they have lightened up a bit--all for the good, if so. Posts certainly can be deleted for various reasons but I hope never for simply being off-topic.

4 hours ago, Harrisfan said:

11 thumbs down. They must have serious issues given what I wrote was normal.

A lot of people do not seem to like you for some reason, there are a lot of angry old blokes on this forum I think. 😃

I think it is funny when I get thumbs down due to the fact some people do not agree with what I said.

Joined thaivisa decades ago to get up to date visa and expat living info.

I joined to be a grumpy old man...

3 hours ago, IsaanT said:

I wonder when you're going to start.

I started over 20 years ago and I put you on ignore for trolling.

48 minutes ago, JamesPhuket10 said:

A lot of people do not seem to like you for some reason, there are a lot of angry old blokes on this forum I think. 😃

I think it is funny when I get thumbs down due to the fact some people do not agree with what I said.

They are all lefties.

3 hours ago, IsaanT said:

Why have you received 11 thumbs down so far? That questions suggests you're either dillustional or dishonest. I believe you received them because you don't discuss regions of Thaiiand, nor gain insights in each area. You generally have a negative effect on the whole forum.

You post excessively and are frequently rude and disrespectful to other posters. We can all draw our own conclusions as to why you do this. Perhaps you should look in the mirror for a change, instead of pi$$ing everyone else off as a result of your underlying issues.

Oh, have a nice day.

I'm polite. Lefties hate life. They project it onto the internet.

3 hours ago, IsaanT said:

believe you received them because you don't discuss regions of Thaiiand, nor gain insights in each area. You generally have

Lol there is only a few of us who do. I started a topic on Khao Sok. No replies for 24 hours.

Lots of trolls on here.

24 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

Lol there is only a few of us who do. I started a topic on Khao Sok. No replies for 24 hours.

Lots of trolls on here.

Nobody being interested in your topic makes them trolls? I think not. Think about who in reality is doing the trolling on threads like the one you mention.

38 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

I'm polite. Lefties hate life. They project it onto the internet.

39 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

They are all lefties.

36 minutes ago, Harrisfan said:

Lots of trolls on here.

Yep, nothing but trolls here who dislike your posts. And of course the lefties, which according to you now means anyone who does not like what you write. Is that the coping mechanism, just relabel the rejection?

The funniest part is that nobody is even talking politics here. That is how deep the delusion runs when people do not respond the way you want. So why not save yourself the trouble and simply leave the place before your site reputation score turns negative within the next 30 days or less?

Oh right, you cannot. You are far too invested. Clearly this is the highlight of your day and, frankly, you have nothing else to do. But imagine waking up and deciding the best possible use of your time is starting the day off by dropping in a condescending topic about gay men. Truly inspiring stuff. I mean, who has time for that level of homophobia? Well, you do. Obviously.

On 2/4/2026 at 7:13 AM, 123Stodg said:

I love it, because you can come here and feel confident that you'll never encounter any losers, angry weirdos, bitter shut ins, trolls, or lonely old drunks who clearly have nothing better to do outside of forum life.

I’m not so sure about that…

I just saw a fella going bonkers - full on mental pest meltdown…

He was wearing a t-shirt that says “Harrisfan Rocks 🤘 “

Seriously though - I came here decades ago & found invaluable advice… I hope I’ve returned the favour on a community level for those in need.

& in the mean time ridiculing the mongrels, grade A1 trolls, half-wits & C0kwombles is a bit of fun when wasting time instead of watching the repeated rubbish on the news.

Some very informative people on here, & the polar opposite - if anything the forum is a true eye-opener to witness the true spectrum of expat society & the opinions they / we form…. Often funny, often shocking, often interesting… often utter boll!!ox - can’t have everything.

Thanks to all contributors- even the vapid nobhids !!!

Hi @Harrisfan

Although rude and disrespectful, you're quite bright. Can we compare some stats to see how you're really perceived around here? I think you'll get it.

Now let's look at another regular poster, @Hummin

So, the stats say that you have 16,902 posts and and an 'excellent' reputation of 1,773. Hummin has 21,880 posts and an excellent reputation of 19,832. Or, to put it another way (reputation/posts, as percentage), you score 10.4% and Hummin scores 90.6%.

Personally, I've always found that posters that have a similar (or higher) reputation score to their number of posts are the good guys (well done, Hummin 🙂).

I hope this helps.

8 minutes ago, IsaanT said:

Or, to put it another way (reputation/posts, as percentage), you score 10.4% and Hummin scores 90.6%.

Good points. But if you dig a little deeper, you'll see that the average reputation to post count, as a percentage, averages 200% to 300% for many regular site users. The OP is truly in a class of his own in the site reputation category, the likes of which the world has never seen before. Winning! 🥇

I joined to help people in my spare time, of which I have a lot. Along the way, I realised that people are weird, really weird. 😊

On 2/3/2026 at 6:37 PM, Harrisfan said:

I joined to discuss the regions of Thailand and gain insights in each area.

You should have asked "how many times did you join this forum"

7 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You should have asked "how many times did you join this forum"

Met any lefties from here?

44 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

You should have asked "how many times did you join this forum"

I think it would need both a good memory and a calculator to answer that one!