22 minutes ago, temuFarang said:

I hadn't noticed; thanks for taking the time to provide a count.

The one abusing the emoji system is the same person with roughly 10 known user accounts who regularly posts angry and abusive snipes at others. It seems likely his posting privileges were temporarily suspended because of his wide-reaching abuse, leaving him with only emojis for the moment. So he continues his contempt by attacking others with as many negative emojis as he can. Such a sad way to exist for someone who seems to have nothing to be happy about.

2 minutes ago, johng said:

No not at all, posting emojis is just a quick way to express an opinion if the 'receiver' is offended then that's 'up to them'.

That's the normal way to use them. But when you see the same people using them again and again without ever posting an opinion, it's just stalking.

Edited August 13Aug 13 by IsmeUno

Just now, IsmeUno said:

That's the normal way to use them. But when you see the same people using them again the same people without ever posting an opinion, it's just stalking.

Stalking, that is exactly what it is.

2 hours ago, josephbloggs said:

There is one. Ignore.

Living life in the echo chamber can be incredibly beneficial.

Just now, Kyoto Kyle said:

Stalking, that is exactly what it is.

Does the thought of being stalked make you feel terrified?

10 minutes ago, temuFarang said:

When you sense a disturbance in the Force, does it feel like a punch in the gut or a punch to the face?

Why are you posting much the same nonsense in your every post?

It doesn't bother me at all, I'm just using this thread to point out their behaviour, so they cannot claim later to be victims. 😊

I roll with the punches and can even take the punches. But when it comes to their turn, they run and hide.

5 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

The one abusing the emoji system is the same person with roughly 10 known user accounts who regularly posts angry and abusive snipes at others. It seems likely his posting privileges were temporarily suspended because of his wide-reaching abuse, leaving him with only emojis for the moment. So he continues his contempt by attacking others with as many negative emojis as he can. Such a sad way to exist for someone who seems to have nothing to be happy about.

That describes two here, one a lot worse than the other.10 usernames each with one denying they do and the other not.

Edited August 13Aug 13 by fredwiggy

1 minute ago, fredwiggy said:

That describes two here, one a lot worse than the other.

@fredwiggy and @Hummin ?

1 minute ago, fredwiggy said:

That describes two here, one a lot worse than the other.

If the worst one was removed entirely from the equation, this entire topic of discussion wouldn't even need to exist.

1 minute ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

If the worst one was removed entirely from the equation, this entire topic of discussion wouldn't even need to exist.

When you have narcissists and egotists who do not ever admit to being wrong or when forced to do so, will respond in an absolutely backhanded manner, you know nothing will change until they day they die. That behaviour is baked in. The young ones live and learn. The old ones think they've experienced it all.

4 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

If the worst one was removed entirely from the equation, this entire topic of discussion wouldn't even need to exist.

True, but both would be ideal

2 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

True, but both would be ideal

Awww @fredwiggy ...better you confine your fantasy to your ex giving you even 1 baht for your pile in the middle of nowhere.

6 minutes ago, IsmeUno said:

When you have narcissists and egotists who do not ever admit to being wrong or when forced to do so, will respond in an absolutely backhanded manner, you know nothing will change until they day they die. That behaviour is baked in. The young ones live and learn. The old ones think they've experienced it all.

With the nastiest ones who generate much of the ill will on the site, it goes far beyond narcissism and egotism. It seemingly comes down to being angry, unhinged, and deranged, with a wholesale abuse of others and a general hatred of other people, as one of the abusers openly admits in his posts almost daily.

Funny how some that only have visited the US think they know all of what goes on there, especially behind closed political doors. Naive in the least. Those assumptions. And comprehension of the written word too. The worst troll here and still doesn't realize his deflections aren't anything but ignored. A psychological nightmare dressed in a narcissist suit. Talking about a member as if he knows what goes on in his life.

Edited August 13Aug 13 by fredwiggy

Just now, Kyoto Kyle said:

With the nastiest ones who generate much of the ill will on the site, it goes far beyond narcissism and egotism. It seemingly comes down to being angry, unhinged, and deranged, with a wholesale abuse of others and a general hatred of other people, as one of the abusers openly admits in his posts almost daily.

I cannot agree that that one person is generating much of the ill will. The truth is closer to people simply not liking each other. That is normal and that is real life. To pretend otherwise and to try to buck nature is doomed to failure.

5 minutes ago, fredwiggy said:

Funny how some that only have visited the US think they know all of what goes on there, especially behind closed political doors. Naive in the least. Those assumptions. And comprehension of the written word too. The worst troll here and still doesn't realize his deflections aren't anything but ignored. A psychological nightmare dressed in a narcissist suit. Talking about a member as if he knows what goes on in his life.

Deranged...

On 8/11/2026 at 11:59 AM, PhilipHabib said:

I've noticed what feels like an uptick in repetitive, hostile, and bigoted posts here lately. Curious if others are seeing the same thing, or if this is just a loud minority making the whole place feel worse than it is ?

Genuinely asking — has the community changed, or is this a smaller group posting a lot? Would like to hear from others

If I had to guess, I'd say the 'tone' has taken a turn, and for the worst. A couple recent examples. A few days ago, on a real estate forum, I posted that my spouse and I had just sold a house. One poster responded with a single sentence, "how much u lose ?" That poster actually was you, and, in my opinion, it was a bit on the nasty side, by assuming from the get-go that we had to have lost money, could not have possibly made any. To me your tone was, another chump who lost his shirt. And, we're just dying to know how big the loss was. Inquiring minds want to know. A nicer, more civil response might have been, "Congratulations, hope you did ok. Anything to share with how the sale went?"

Today, also on a real estate thread, I was asked a legitimate, direct question by a poster. I usually try to respond when someone asks me a question, unless it's not worthy of an answer, so I posted a reply, giving some information but also telling the poster that what he had asked me about--leasing--I didn't have any personal real estate experience with. Along comes another poster being nasty for no reason, posting to me, "If you don't know anything then why post". Well, to politely answer a question someone was waiting to have answered, as best I can, that's why.

I think there is more stuff like this now and it's really unnecessary. Also, a lot of bickering back and forth with tiresome, personal insults that are boring to page through when you are following a thread that interests you--sometimes there can be two or three pages of just insult after Insult, back and forth, serving no purpose.

I enjoy the interesting back and forth discussing and debating an issue, and the sharing of information, with other posters--that's really a big part of the fun of the Forum. I try, as do I think the majority, to keep the focus on the topic, not on someone's age, height, lack of height, sexual skills, lack of sexual skills, athletic ability, lack of athletic ability, country of origin, looks, lack of looks, ad infinitum. Sometimes I slip--I recently questioned a poster's reading retention--but I do try. The back and forth personal bickering and being uncivil for no reason that has crept in isn't fun--at least not for me.

For example... @IsaanT suggested that everything would be better if we spoke to each other as if we were in a pub/bar. I don't think it would work in the way that they imagine. Instead of a discussion on the whys and wherfores, there were just negative emojis...by the usual suspects.

There are opinions expressed, but rarely are there any discussions.

11 minutes ago, newnative said:

I think the majority, to keep the focus on the topic, not on someone's age, height, lack of height, sexual skills, lack of sexual skills, athletic ability, lack of athletic ability, country of origin, looks, lack of looks, ad infinitum

I'm not sure that I can agree with this part. In fact this is where I think it degenerates into pub culture.

People lie, exaggerate and cajole. The real problem is that rarely does it de-escalate once it begins. It seems that many haven't ever learned how to de-escalate without getting physical or threatening to get physical.

It's normal for me to be able to have a robust debate with my real friends. We love each other no matter what.

The difference here is that these people are not your friends. Many are involved in a p*ssing contest in their minds. There is no intent to get to the truth of the matter, but only to 'win' or at least not to be seen to lose.

Hence the question..."How much did you lose?"

I, for one, are impressed with your achievements.

1 hour ago, johng said:

No not at all, posting emojis is just a quick way to express an opinion if the 'receiver' is offended then that's 'up to them'.

Yes, but this appears to be a case of severe mental illness rather than normal forum reactionary behavior. The person I am referring to regularly posts about other people’s abuse of the emoji system, and now, since his posting privileges have been suspended for verbally abusing others, his only remaining means of continuing his abuse at this moment seems to be to abuse the very system he has so often complained about others abusing. You can’t have it both ways.

What he is doing is also an outright violation of the forum rules and an abuse of the system itself. At the end of the day it's sad that he seems to have no other way to deal with his anger and hatred or channel his energy into something more positive in his life. But that shouldn’t mean he should be permitted to continue doing this at the expense of others.

27 minutes ago, newnative said:

Also, a lot of bickering back and forth with tiresome, personal insults that are boring to page through when you are following a thread that interests you--sometimes there can be two or three pages of just insult after Insult, back and forth, serving no purpose.

You remove the 4-5 members from the fold who do that and the problem goes away. Although there appears to be so much of it, it really only comes down to a small handful of people doing it. So it can be easily fixed.

On 8/12/2026 at 8:13 AM, CharlieH said:

A lot of people say things on a forum they would never say face to face. Online there is distance, anonymity and often very little immediate consequence, so some people feel free to be rude, abusive or deliberately provocative.

But there is also a responsibility on the wider community here.

Given the volume of posts made on ASEAN NOW, our moderation team cannot read every post in every topic. In many cases, we only become aware of problems when members report them.

So if you see abuse, baiting or personal attacks, report it. Do not ignore it and then complain later that nothing was done and the community is going "downhill".

If the wider community tolerates this behaviour, it becomes part of the culture.

Members need to help stamp it out, not become part of the problem by allowing it to continue or worse, getting sucked in to retaliating.

So you do nothing until it is reported? That is the most ridiculous manner to handle moderation. I never report people and there are a few people here that don't represent the vast majority of members that report other users incessantly and moderators then delete posts that they report. Do you understand how silly this approach is?

18 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

You remove the 4-5 members from the fold who do that and the problem goes away. Although there appears to be so much of it, it really only comes down to a small handful of people doing it. So it can be easily fixed.

There is a fix which could be applied quite easily. If a poster is generating more negative reactions than postive ones, at a certain point the moderators could remove the poster.

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

There is a fix which could be applied quite easily. If a poster is generating more negative reactions than postive ones, at a certain point the moderators could remove the poster.

So this forum becomes a popularity contest and we can all march along to the same beat? Terrible idea!

10 minutes ago, Kyoto Kyle said:

Yes, but this appears to be a case of severe mental illness rather than normal forum reactionary behavior. The person I am referring to regularly posts about other people’s abuse of the emoji system, and now, since his posting privileges have been suspended for verbally abusing others, his only remaining means of continuing his abuse at this moment seems to be to abuse the very system he has so often complained about others abusing. You can’t have it both ways.

What he is doing is also an outright violation of the forum rules and an abuse of the system itself. At the end of the day it's sad that he seems to have no other way to deal with his anger and hatred or channel his energy into something more positive in his life. But that shouldn’t mean he should be permitted to continue doing this at the expense of others.

Don't worry about it. Are you going to upset yourself about the mental illness of others? Many on the forum suffer to varying degrees. Possibly even you if it's bothering you this much.

When you were at school, was everyone perfectly behaved? Of course not. It's a jungle out there. 😊 Get with it 😊

5 minutes ago, Lacessit said:

There is a fix which could be applied quite easily. If a poster is generating more negative reactions than postive ones, at a certain point the moderators could remove the poster.

This idea is flawed. People can be downvoted for having unpopular political views.

12 minutes ago, atpeace said:

So you do nothing until it is reported? That is the most ridiculous manner to handle moderation. I never report people and there are a few people here that don't represent the vast majority of members that report other users incessantly and moderators then delete posts that they report. Do you understand how silly this approach is ?

The moderators are unable to read every post.

Just now, Mr Awesome said:

The moderators are unable to read every post.

Understood but rewarding members that abuse reporting other members isn't the solution and in many cases eliminates participating in a thread because many members just don't want to hassle with thin skinned members that report members at every disagreement. We know those that do it and avoid the threads they are participating in.

9 minutes ago, atpeace said:

So you do nothing until it is reported? That is the most ridiculous manner to handle moderation. I never report people and there are a few people here that don't represent the vast majority of members that report other users incessantly and moderators then delete posts that they report. Do you understand how silly this approach is?

Apart from your last sentence, I agree wholeheartedly. You just get the same members abusing the reporting system. Giving Admin a false picture of what is really occurring. I also don't use the reporting system, as I believe in free speech. If people are scared to say what they truly believe, then you cannot have a real conversation. So I let then write whatever they want to write.

The imposters want to get rid of the authentic posters.

A prime example of this is a poster who claims to hate foreigners and sex tourists who fly in from their home countries...whilst being a sex tourist who flies in from wherever he is working. One of the biggest abusers of the reporting system. No need to name names.

The reason why I don't agree with your last sentence is that moderation is not an easy task. To be fair, you would sometimes need to peruse a whole thread in order to understand what really occurred. Not enough time nor staff for that. They usually just see the aftermath.

Instead, it's often reactive in response to a report. It's only after a while you will begin to understand that the system is being abused by wind up merchants. Teacher's Pets, so to speak.

10 minutes ago, IsmeUno said:

Apart from your last sentence, I agree wholeheartedly. You just get the same members abusing the reporting system. Giving Admin a false picture of what is really occurring. I also don't use the reporting system, as I believe in free speech. If people are scared to say what they truly believe, then you cannot have a real conversation. So I let then write whatever they want to write.

The imposters want to get rid of the authentic posters.

A prime example of this is a poster who claims to hate foreigners and sex tourists who fly in from their home countries...whilst being a sex tourist who flies in from wherever he is working. One of the biggest abusers of the reporting system. No need to name names.

The reason why I don't agree with your last sentence is that moderation is not an easy task. To be fair, you would sometimes need to peruse a whole thread in order to understand what really occurred. Not enough time nor staff for that. They usually just see the aftermath.

Instead, it's often reactive in response to a report. It's only after a while you will begin to understand that the system is being abused by wind up merchants. Teacher's Pets, so to speak.

I agree but you didn't explain why the last sentence in my post was wrong. Should moderators delete posts based in the fact that is was reported? I never claimed it was easy to be a moderator and just stated that deleting post that are reported is not a good policy and stupid IMO.