Thailand News Clippings

[cdnvic]

Are you suggesting that the news forum should be free from all discussion and speculation, and only contain news bulletins?

I'm just saying that if you want it to dwindle down to one regular group of posters arguing the same points over and over then let it slowly get taken over by these marathon threads. "News" is current. Topics from last November aren't.

[Plus]

I'll try again

I have no objection to threads that accumulate 50 pages of discussion - that is fine, the comments here specifically relate to these threads taking place in the News area of the forum, this area has a dedicated purpose - it is not a general discussion area,

News is the main feed for political discussion, you can't separate them. There will be unnecessary duplication and the mods will be asked to move either news of comments back and forth, merge threads, update news and so on.

it is my opinion that these valuable threads are being cluttered,

I agree. It's not only you who wants to see mods chopping off-topic diversions more often.

if these posts are made in the general topics area then i have a choice whether i read them or not but if posted in the news area and i want to read news - then that choice is removed, nobody is saying don't post 50 pages - just don't do it in a national news feed on the forum, lets keep it for news and a few on topic opinions rather than the missdirected off topic dribble that people think is relevant in a specific news item.

Maybe there should be "news only" section for those who want to quickly read or find something. But if you let people post comments, then pretty soon it will be "take your Thaksin bashing somewhere else" problem again.

What is wrong with dicussing Thaksin in "general topics" then we can all get on with reading the news and not having hundreds of "OFF TOPIC CLUTTER/CRAP"

You can't stop people from posting off topic clutter/crap wherever they think they'll get your attention, you can only deal with it post-factum. They never do it someplace else - people just need to scream their lungs out and they need audience.

"News" is current. Topics from last November aren't.

But some ARE still current. And many were closed after their best before date expired.

He doesn't have a problem with long running threads, he says they are full of irrelevant crap. Maybe he just needs to see more chopping action. I dread to imagine what would become of "Politics" subforum if it is left without similarly strict moderation.

[sriracha john]

From the Forum Index page, it seems fairly clear to me

Thailand News clippings

Thailand related news clippings and discussions around them

Forum Led by: george, Jai Dee

[ColPyat]

What is wrong with dicussing Thaksin in "general topics" then we can all get on with reading the news and not having hundreds of "OFF TOPIC CLUTTER/CRAP"

That is not very nice to the contributers of these long running debates.

What may be crap for you is interesting for others. If you don't like those threads - then don't read them. It is not that every thread turns into such, most news items stay short, and get replaced with new ones, and slip down the pages automatically.

I believe it would be very wrong to send them to the general folder as these debates are purely political in nature, and cover developments in those areas sometimes over a longer period of time. If something really has to be changed, than i would only suggest to have, as some have suggested, the longer debates moved into a subfolder maybe called "political discussions". The problem though would be, that the long running topics do get news updates regularly, and what would we do with them? Do we then start a new thread in the news folder, or continue in the so far hypothetical political folder, which could easily result that discussion to get really cluttered all over.

[Plus]

It is possible to leave News to Jai Dee and let anyone start a topic in "politics" and if they want to copy paste something from the Jai Dee's news, let them do it.

News then would be called "news clippings and discusssion on anything but politics"

[Mid]

News then would be called "news clippings and discusssion on anything but politics"

and a hush overcame the assembled populous ,

the collective gasp for breath was defining ,

nope that won't work .

[marshbags]

Thai Visa has been running " Thailand News Clippings " in it,s present form for members to debate on since it,s conceptualisation.

Why does it all of a sudden become viewer unfriendly, have to change and stifle ongoing comments.

News items that are active via debate always appear as and when a members observation is posted.

It is ideal for members who take an active interest in a particular topic related to the news to note a comment has been made

If you also want instant / current news then you must surely put it into a sub forum in a format like a stagnant, no comment newspaper to suit this request.

If it is possible from a technical point of view, can it be provided and posted in tandem with both.

e.g.

The yet to be named new sub forum for current news / latest news items and the existing T.N.C,s for members to comment / debate on.

Delete the latest news items from the new sub forum on a daily 24 hour basis to avoid further congestion starting while leaving it in our T.N.C,s as before.

Please do not sacrifice one for the other

marshbags

P.S.

I do not spend hours on the forum, but in the time that i do, i always find it easy to scroll the View New Posts and read what ever is of particular interest to myself.

If it,s time consuming i just pick out the most important ones.

Edited August 29, 2007 by marshbags

[canuckamuck]

When I click over to the news clippings forum, what I see is the same massive threads that are always there. Why I go there is to look for some new bits of Thai news. I rarely find any. What I imagine happens is the new stuff is always pushed down the page by the debates occurring on these mega threads. To be relevant on these threads requires much more of a time commitment than I am able to give. I just don't have the spare time required to bring myself up to scratch on a 50 plus page topic.

I believe that this is the case with many posters, so the news clippings forum, which should be the most interesting forum, is probably the haunt of about 20 or so regulars (a little research will probably bear that out) and the rest of the board likely spends their time in other forums where they will have a chance to make a relevant contribution.

If the mega threads had a way of maturing and being promoted to a topics of longevity section, the news clippings section would become populated with many more fresh faces and contributors. The younger more current topics would then be more likely to remain near the top of the topics page.

One other thing I would like to see is to have the date a thread was started to be listed on the topics page. I would rather know when a topic was started, than the time and date of the last comment. That information is made obvious by its placement on the page.

[marshbags]

When I click over to the news clippings forum, what I see is the same massive threads that are always there. Why I go there is to look for some new bits of Thai news. I rarely find any. What I imagine happens is the new stuff is always pushed down the page by the debates occurring on these mega threads. To be relevant on these threads requires much more of a time commitment than I am able to give. I just don't have the spare time required to bring myself up to scratch on a 50 plus page topic.

I believe that this is the case with many posters, so the news clippings forum, which should be the most interesting forum, is probably the haunt of about 20 or so regulars (a little research will probably bear that out) and the rest of the board likely spends their time in other forums where they will have a chance to make a relevant contribution.

If the mega threads had a way of maturing and being promoted to a topics of longevity section, the news clippings section would become populated with many more fresh faces and contributors. The younger more current topics would then be more likely to remain near the top of the topics page.

One other thing I would like to see is to have the date a thread was started to be listed on the topics page. I would rather know when a topic was started, than the time and date of the last comment. That information is made obvious by its placement on the page.

You wll probably find that the active members of the T.N.C,s are also active in various other forums due to committment to contributing in the forums and supporting T,Visa sponsors at the same time.

T.Visa is only as good as it,s admin and it,s members, their contributions make it like this at the end of the day.

Anyone can participate in this section but i reckon they are only interested in specific forums and do not have any desire to debate what at the end of the day are not in the main of any importance to them.

The regulars, as you call them, do not, in my opinion deter others from taking part.

To suggest anything along these lines is not going to solve the situation you are making / suggesting ??? it out to be.

We have a slight difference of opinion, in polite terms, anyway.

IMHO as always

marshbags

Edited August 29, 2007 by marshbags

[Kan Win]

One other thing I would like to see is to have the date a thread was started to be listed on the topics page.

If you move your mouse over the topic it will give you the date and time that it was started. Try it and see if it work for you.

Kan Win

[gharknes]

But ThaiVisa is a discussion forum, and the news forum has been running like this since its inception.

Take a look at some of the earliest threads there for example.

Are you suggesting that the news forum should be free from all discussion and speculation, and only contain news bulletins?

you are trying to generalise to make your point (what ever that is) go get a discussion going on the free adds part of the Thaivisa Forum - oh you can't because it is not for discussion - you cannot generalise - news is for news - adds are for adds - general discussion for people that want to post 50 pages of off topic crap which I and other members don't have to read through to keep up with the news.

and no i'm not suggesting it should be free from blah blah blah just not a free for all, if someone can provide another source to read Thai National news online then I will never visit the new area again because it's just so full of crap

[gharknes]

I'll try again

I have no objection to threads that accumulate 50 pages of discussion - that is fine, the comments here specifically relate to these threads taking place in the News area of the forum, this area has a dedicated purpose - it is not a general discussion area, it is my opinion that these valuable threads are being cluttered, if these posts are made in the general topics area then i have a choice whether i read them or not but if posted in the news area and i want to read news - then that choice is removed, nobody is saying don't post 50 pages - just don't do it in a national news feed on the forum, lets keep it for news and a few on topic opinions rather than the missdirected off topic dribble that people think is relevant in a specific news item.

What is wrong with dicussing Thaksin in "general topics" then we can all get on with reading the news and not having hundreds of "OFF TOPIC CLUTTER/CRAP"

not sure why some people don't understand this simple point I'm making,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,how big is this thread going to be ?

Try then reading the Bangkok Post for news and let the forum get on with its purpose, which is discussion and debate.I'm not even really convinced the forum needs a "news" component at all and that is not to undervalue the useful work done in supplying articles.News items when supplied should be a catalyst or reference point for discussion.The assumption can be made that those interested in political discussion keep themselves up to date on current events in Thailand.I don't see much point in supplying articles of the "Thailand and Sri Lanka to increase co-operation on religious matters" type, since these are unlikely to provoke much if any reaction.

oh right - we don't need a news area on the forum now - speak for yourself, nobody forces you to go there, nobody forces you to do anything, but there is a certain amount of organisation required on large forums like this one.

one of the problems on a forum is the reluctance for people to accept other peoples opinions and suggestions, we have I'd say about 30% of the regular posters here that just disagree and argue with everyone, it's an inherent inferiority complex and compells people to just argue and disagree with everyone and everything

anyway I'm done here, I made a point - some got it and some didn't and some just don't want too

[sriracha john]

and no i'm not suggesting it should be free from blah blah blah just not a free for all, if someone can provide another source to read Thai National news online then I will never visit the news area again because it's just so full of crap

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=thailand&c=

[cdnvic]

What's with all the drama? Can't we discuss topic placement without coming to blows?

[Jai Dee]

and no i'm not suggesting it should be free from blah blah blah just not a free for all, if someone can provide another source to read Thai National news online then I will never visit the news area again because it's just so full of crap

http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=thailand&c=

Thanks for posting that link John. That will certainly make our friend 'gharknes' happier in his quest for "blah-blah-free" news.

There have been some very good points made in this thread... thank you all very much for your contributions.

I think that the general consensus has been "leave it as it is" however, so I think I'll close this thread for now.

Should anyone feel strongly enough to want to add some new ideas or suggestions, please feel free to PM me or any other online moderator, and we will consider re-opening this thread for continued discussion.

Ultimately, the way ThaiVisa (discussion) forum is run is determined by Forum Admin, and moderated by people like me under their guidelines. Whilst feedback and criticism can be useful, ultimately it's an Admin call on how the forum runs.

Sincere thanks again to all that have made contributions to this discussion. Good feedback.

/Closed.