A short AN field guide for the unwary traveller.

1 - Do not post topics proudly announcing something foolish you did in Thailand. It may feel like honesty at the time, but it will usually be treated as a group critique exercise for everyone else.

2 - Avoid being ungratefully critical of life in Thailand unless you are prepared for a detailed forensic breakdown of your personality, your choices, and possibly your intelligence.

3 - Do not assume it is “them” rather than “you.” On AN, this is rarely a winning argument strategy and usually results in rapid educational feedback from the house contingent.

4 - Do not confuse confidence with accuracy. On AN, the loudest opinion is often treated as fact until proven otherwise by an even louder opinion.

5 - Do not expect a thread to stay on topic. It will begin as a simple question and quickly evolve into economics, geopolitics, dating history, an education about ladyboys, common misconceptions and why everything was better 20+ years ago.

6 - Do not ever expect consensus. Even basic observations will usually split into multiple opposing camps within minutes, often with zero middle ground available.

7 - Do not feed obvious trolls unless you have time, patience, and a strong desire to watch a thread slowly detonate into nothing of value spread over several pages of petty squabbling.

Follow these simple steps and you may just make it through without being diagnosed, analyzed, corrected, or thoroughly dismantled.

15 minutes ago, BilllyGOAT said:

and why everything was better 20+ years ago.

Ya well I was here before that.

Then...

Ya well I was here before that.

I’m curious whether @georgegeorgia is actively taking notes and conducting a thorough statistical analysis on number 5.

1 hour ago, BilllyGOAT said:

A short AN field guide for the unwary traveller.

1 - Do not post topics proudly announcing something foolish you did in Thailand. It may feel like honesty at the time, but it will usually be treated as a group critique exercise for everyone else.

2 - Avoid being ungratefully critical of life in Thailand unless you are prepared for a detailed forensic breakdown of your personality, your choices, and possibly your intelligence.

3 - Do not assume it is “them” rather than “you.” On AN, this is rarely a winning argument strategy and usually results in rapid educational feedback from the house contingent.

4 - Do not confuse confidence with accuracy. On AN, the loudest opinion is often treated as fact until proven otherwise by an even louder opinion.

5 - Do not expect a thread to stay on topic. It will begin as a simple question and quickly evolve into economics, geopolitics, dating history, an education about ladyboys, common misconceptions and why everything was better 20+ years ago.

6 - Do not ever expect consensus. Even basic observations will usually split into multiple opposing camps within minutes, often with zero middle ground available.

7 - Do not feed obvious trolls unless you have time, patience, and a strong desire to watch a thread slowly detonate into nothing of value spread over several pages of petty squabbling.

Follow these simple steps and you may just make it through without being diagnosed, analyzed, corrected, or thoroughly dismantled.

What's the matter with you? Why are you trying to ruin it for everyone? 😊

5 hours ago, Effective altruism said:

I’m curious whether @georgegeorgia is actively taking notes and conducting a thorough statistical analysis on number 5.

Number 5 is basically his natural environment.

Every thread of his starts on toothpaste or dental smile clinics and ends up with ladyboys, expat history, sweaty Chang singlets, bookstore ownership deaths, monkey attacks, the Flybird Condo, and where other people’s wives have gone.

So he is effectively documenting it in real time.

#99 We're only here to entertain each other...take it all in good fun 🙄

14 minutes ago, Wuvu2 said:

#99 We're only here to entertain each other...take it all in good fun 🙄

I actually browse AN a couple of times a day, hoping to learn useful things. But it is hard to trawl thru 90% garbage, though sometimes amusing.

Be ready for people to be pedantic too on this site on things that don't matter. For example, it would be pedantic to mention that you posted elsewhere, saying the 'Cave man' topic is the first thread in the pub being on 25 February 2003. But there are in fact ones such as https://aseannow.com/topic/364-thai-nightlife-tough-ladies-and-more/ posted before this. It has an interesting link to an old site called Thai4U.com .

19 hours ago, BilllyGOAT said:

A short AN field guide for the unwary traveller.

1 - Do not post topics proudly announcing something foolish you did in Thailand. It may feel like honesty at the time, but it will usually be treated as a group critique exercise for everyone else.

2 - Avoid being ungratefully critical of life in Thailand unless you are prepared for a detailed forensic breakdown of your personality, your choices, and possibly your intelligence.

3 - Do not assume it is “them” rather than “you.” On AN, this is rarely a winning argument strategy and usually results in rapid educational feedback from the house contingent.

4 - Do not confuse confidence with accuracy. On AN, the loudest opinion is often treated as fact until proven otherwise by an even louder opinion.

5 - Do not expect a thread to stay on topic. It will begin as a simple question and quickly evolve into economics, geopolitics, dating history, an education about ladyboys, common misconceptions and why everything was better 20+ years ago.

6 - Do not ever expect consensus. Even basic observations will usually split into multiple opposing camps within minutes, often with zero middle ground available.

7 - Do not feed obvious trolls unless you have time, patience, and a strong desire to watch a thread slowly detonate into nothing of value spread over several pages of petty squabbling.

Follow these simple steps and you may just make it through without being diagnosed, analyzed, corrected, or thoroughly dismantled

2 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

#99 We're only here to entertain each other...take it all in good fun 🙄

Well said.

2 hours ago, Wuvu2 said:

#99 We're only here to entertain each other...take it all in good fun 🙄

#100 Only here to entertain myself and take in all the good fun.

15 hours ago, BilllyGOAT said:

Number 5 is basically his natural environment.

Every thread of his starts on toothpaste or dental smile clinics and ends up with ladyboys, expat history, sweaty Chang singlets, bookstore ownership deaths, monkey attacks, the Flybird Condo, and where other people’s wives have gone.

So he is effectively documenting it in real time.

If GG is reading, Sassy Smile Dental Clinics, Lake Mabprachan and Bang Saray. Let's get off-topic early. Liked your thread, by the way.

5 hours ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

Be ready for people to be pedantic too on this site on things that don't matter. For example, it would be pedantic to mention that you posted elsewhere, saying the 'Cave man' topic is the first thread in the pub being on 25 February 2003. But there are in fact ones such as https://aseannow.com/topic/364-thai-nightlife-tough-ladies-and-more/ posted before this. It has an interesting link to an old site called Thai4U.com .

Actually, I checked again and sorted the Pub forum by topic start date, and you are right that there are about half a dozen topics earlier than the "Cave man" topic I replied to, which I somehow overlooked yesterday. That was my mistake.

It also looks like the topic you mentioned is neither the first one. "Thai nightlife, tough ladies and more..." is not actually the earliest either, although in all fairness you did not say it was the first one, only that it was posted before the "Cave man" topic. Fair play.

Returning to the off-topic point about the first topic in the Pub, when I sort properly using the following link, although the topic is now closed, the earliest topic is one titled "If you fall for a bar girl here is there job rules", posted on December 12 2002. [https://aseannow.com/forum/4-asean-now-community-pub/page/448/?sortby=start_date&sortdirection=desc](https://aseannow.com/forum/4-asean-now-community-pub/page/448/?sortby=start_date&sortdirection=desc)

At this point the sorted view makes the correct order clearer to me. Either way, at least this discussion now provides a solid dose of pedanticism, which it appears to be what you were hoping for.

8 - Expect concentrated doses of sarcasm, often delivered in bulk quantities to avoid being overtly critical, as forum members attempt to cope with the more verbosely buffoonish topics posted by others.

It was better 20 years ago.

6 minutes ago, sangtip2 said:

It was better 20 years ago.

At least... ;-)