Password Of Thai Advanced Readers

[Gaccha]

As a big fan of Voca, the computer programme to help you learn all your Vocab (http://www.oriente.nl/voca/), I was very pleased to discover that Benjawan Poomsan Becker's website offers a free vocab list with sounds (you can get it completely free with no sounds at the website here: http://www.thaiforbeginners.com/index.php?...y&Itemid=27) if you buy the book.

So I bought the book at Bookazine. But there was no password to be found. And when I went back to the store they said they knew nothing about any password. I went back to the website and found it says this:

"Word List with Sound for Thai for Advanced Readers. PASSWORD IS NEEDED TO OPEN. "

and this:

"The program Vocatude can be used to test your memory of the vocabulary words in the book. You can use it to enter your own words or use our own pre-prepared word lists which can be downloaded using the link to the left. If you bought the book and sound course from us you can download the quiz with sound clips for free. Please contact the book store if you don't have your password yet."

(http://www.thaiforbeginners.com/index.php?...2&Itemid=26)

I fear that my attempts to get a password offer an insight into the mechanisms of policy decisionmaking a la Professor Allison (Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis), but little chance of me resolving the issue.

It seems to me straightforward:

1. I want the password for the wordlist

2. the password is contingent on me getting the book

3. i got the book

4. the bookshop don't know anything about a password

5. there is no way to contact the book website to ask in the kindest way for the password (the contact message here, if it is the same people, does not seem to work: http://www.buythaibooks.com/index.php?opti...1&Itemid=82)

Solution:

1. explode with rage

2. drink myself to a stupor

or

3. write a thesis adapting Prof Allison's analysis of US decision-making constrained by bureaucracy and standard operating procedures for the Cuban missile crisis from a Thai study guides perspective

any suggestions on how I should conceptualise my thesis? Or any other thoughts?

[Fore Man]

Uh...I believe the right response here is...caveat emptor and TIT. Sounds like the stereotypical 'Mexican standoff' to me. Once again, a Westerner has been fooled into thinking the Thai mind works the same as his does. Unfortuntately, the Thai don't think logically in the same way we think logically; very frustrating to us when we expect an outcome that the Thai cannot fathom. You need to reach the publishers if possible to get a satisfactory solution. Good luck.

Edited January 1, 2009 by Fore Man

[kriswillems]

If I browse to www.buythaibooks.com with google chrome I get the following message:

Warning: Visiting this site may harm your computer!

The website at www.buythaibooks.com contains elements from the site 193.111.244.157, which appears to host malware – software that can hurt your computer or otherwise operate without your consent. Just visiting a site that contains malware can infect your computer.

[OlRedEyes]

Uh...I believe the right response here is...caveat emptor and TIT. Sounds like the stereotypical 'Mexican standoff' to me. Once again, a Westerner has been fooled into thinking the Thai mind works the same as his does. Unfortuntately, the Thai don't think logically in the same way we think logically; very frustrating to us when we expect an outcome that the Thai cannot fathom. You need to reach the publishers if possible to get a satisfactory solution. Good luck.

Ummm... OK.

[Gaccha]

Password is needed to open this zip file as it contains copyright sound files. You can get a free password for the sound version when you buy the book together with the CD course at www.BuyThaiBooks.com. If you bought the CD elsewhere you cannot ask them for the password as you do not have proof of purchase.

The implied point made in this reply is simply not true (that you can only get the password if you buy direct from the website). Their website clearly states you can get the password from the bookshop where you bought the book. Please read the exact quote from my original post.

My bet is the website owners have long forgotten they even offer this password, have certainly forgot to tell the bookshops that supply their books, and the bookshops have no standard operating procedure in place to provide passwords when you buy the book. Hence my point about Prof Allison in my original post.

Any thoughts?

[eric67]

The implied point made in this reply is simply not true (that you can only get the password if you buy direct from the website). Their website clearly states you can get the password from the bookshop where you bought the book. Please read the exact quote from my original post.

Uhm, you mean this one:

If you bought the book and sound course from us you can download the quiz with sound clips for free.

Edited January 2, 2009 by eric67

[Gaccha]

The implied point made in this reply is simply not true (that you can only get the password if you buy direct from the website). Their website clearly states you can get the password from the bookshop where you bought the book. Please read the exact quote from my original post.

Uhm, you mean this one:

If you bought the book and sound course from us you can download the quiz with sound clips for free.

Yes. If you quote in full it says:

"If you bought the book and sound course from us you can download the quiz with sound clips for free. Please contact the book store if you don't have your password yet."

This is not rocket science. Why are you finding it so difficult to read a hundred word explanation?

This is very simple: they induced me to buy their product and now there seems to be no procedure in place to provide me with this essential part of the agreement.

[eric67]

You're missing the point:

I quoted only the important part, quoting the important word in bold letters: us

Meaning you only get the password if you bought the book at their bookstore (www. buythaibooks.com).

They're not the publisher of the Benjawan Becker books, just an online bookstore that have developed a little extra software exclusive for their customers.

So if you bought the book at any other bookstore (like Bookazine), then you are out of luck............

Hope this helps.......

[Gaccha]

You're missing the point:

I quoted only the important part, quoting the important word in bold letters: us

Meaning you only get the password if you bought the book at their bookstore (www. buythaibooks.com).

They're not the publisher of the Benjawan Becker books, just an online bookstore that have developed a little extra software exclusive for their customers.

So if you bought the book at any other bookstore (like Bookazine), then you are out of luck............

Hope this helps.......

They are the same. They are a sales arm of the publisher. The publisher links to them as its sales arm.

[kriswillems]

They are the same. They are a sales arm of the publisher. The publisher links to them as its sales arm.

mmm, www.buythaibooks.com is part of the paknam network of Richard Barrow.

They have lot's of web-sites. Many are not very interesting, not very often updated and seems to fit in a marketing strategy to have as much as possible different websites (with links to each other) to increase the advertisement income and to increase the chance a user ends up on one of their websites by using google (and not on a competitors websites).

I don't like this marketing strategy (I think it's a kind of internet pollution) but some of the older websites from their network are really interesting, like:

www.learningthai.com

The company of Richard barrow is not "THE" sales arm of the publisher. They sell books from several publishers and they give something extra to people that buy the books with them. My impression is that their prices are honest and Richard looks like honest man that answers questions on the forum:

www.thailandqa.com

Edited January 4, 2009 by kriswillems

[kriswillems]

WWW.thaiforbeginners.com

Is a website of the paknam network (discussed in my last post) and not of the publisher!

This proves again that the paknam network is polluting the google search results in Thailand. They have more than 50 websites that link to each other (many are almost never updated). They always turn up number one on google (because google prefers websites that are often linked to). So, by typing the title of a book on google you ended up on the wrong website.

This is the website of the publisher:

http://www.paiboonpublishing.com/

[Gaccha]

WWW.thaiforbeginners.com

Is a website of the paknam network (discussed in my last post) and not of the publisher!

This proves again that the paknam network is polluting the google search results in Thailand. They have more than 50 websites that link to each other (many are almost never updated). They always turn up number one on google (because google prefers websites that are often linked to). So, by typing the title of a book on google you ended up on the wrong website.

This is the website of the publisher:

http://www.paiboonpublishing.com/

Now I feel bad.

It is strange a sales company adding an expensive extra bit of product that they themselves created to sales for a particular product that they had nothing to do with. If you are a sales company then you try to specialise in sales. The 'extra' that they are offering is worth more than the original product. The hundreds of hours it must have taken to create this extra could surely have been better spent...

My next question is: why not sell this 'extra' product? Half the people on the Thai language forum would kill for it...

And Mr Barrow is a naughty boy in having a website with the same name as the book...

[kriswillems]

WWW.thaiforbeginners.com

Is a website of the paknam network (discussed in my last post) and not of the publisher!

This proves again that the paknam network is polluting the google search results in Thailand. They have more than 50 websites that link to each other (many are almost never updated). They always turn up number one on google (because google prefers websites that are often linked to). So, by typing the title of a book on google you ended up on the wrong website.

This is the website of the publisher:

http://www.paiboonpublishing.com/

Now I feel bad.

It is strange a sales company adding an expensive extra bit of product that they themselves created to sales for a particular product that they had nothing to do with. If you are a sales company then you try to specialise in sales. The 'extra' that they are offering is worth more than the original product. The hundreds of hours it must have taken to create this extra could surely have been better spent...

My next question is: why not sell this 'extra' product? Half the people on the Thai language forum would kill for it...

And Mr Barrow is a naughty boy in having a website with the same name as the book...

Mr Barrow is offering these books at a very low price (for people that live outside Thailand), with free international shipping, and you get this addon for free. Mr Barrow lives in Thailand and the people he works with are Thai. That probably explains the low prices. Most of the paknam websites use an open-sources content management system (joomla), so that also helps to keep the costs low. Their servers are also rather slow. And besides this Mr Barrow is (or maybe "was") a teacher, so he has more than one income.

www.learningthai.com was originally made by one of his students (called Gor). Gor, was a very talented boy but he started experimenting with drugs and ended up in jail. Some work from Gor is being sold by Mr Barrow and the money is used for a study fund for the daughter of Gor. I think the free extra was partly created by Gor.

That's why I believe Mr Barrow is a good man and he's very helpful on his forum. But besides this I also don't like the marketing strategy of the Paknam websites.

Did you contact Mr Barrow to explain him what happened? So he can make sure there will not be any confusion in the future? Or maybe you can make a deal and buy the addon from them? (PS. Don't expect studio quality audio recordings).

Edited January 5, 2009 by kriswillems

[Gaccha]

WWW.thaiforbeginners.com

Is a website of the paknam network (discussed in my last post) and not of the publisher!

This proves again that the paknam network is polluting the google search results in Thailand. They have more than 50 websites that link to each other (many are almost never updated). They always turn up number one on google (because google prefers websites that are often linked to). So, by typing the title of a book on google you ended up on the wrong website.

This is the website of the publisher:

http://www.paiboonpublishing.com/

Now I feel bad.

It is strange a sales company adding an expensive extra bit of product that they themselves created to sales for a particular product that they had nothing to do with. If you are a sales company then you try to specialise in sales. The 'extra' that they are offering is worth more than the original product. The hundreds of hours it must have taken to create this extra could surely have been better spent...

My next question is: why not sell this 'extra' product? Half the people on the Thai language forum would kill for it...

And Mr Barrow is a naughty boy in having a website with the same name as the book...

Mr Barrow is offering these books at a very low price (for people that live outside Thailand), with free international shipping, and you get this addon for free. Mr Barrow lives in Thailand and the people he works with are Thai. That probably explains the low prices. Most of the paknam websites use an open-sources content management system (joomla), so that also helps to keep the costs low. Their servers are also rather slow. And besides this Mr Barrow is (or maybe "was") a teacher, so he has more than one income.

www.learningthai.com was originally made by one of his students (called Gor). Gor, was a very talented boy but he started experimenting with drugs and ended up in jail. Some work from Gor is being sold by Mr Barrow and the money is used for a study fund for the daughter of Gor. I think the free extra was partly created by Gor.

That's why I believe Mr Barrow is a good man and he's very helpful on his forum. But besides this I also don't like the marketing strategy of the Paknam websites.

Did you contact Mr Barrow to explain him what happened? So he can make sure there will not be any confusion in the future? Or maybe you can make a deal and buy the addon from them? (PS. Don't expect studio quality audio recordings).

Oh yes, I know about Gor. I've read his blogs and used his Thai language website.

Perhaps Mr Barrow might want to start selling his product. So if he reads this, how about it...? I would also recommed he changes the writing on his website to remove the obvious ambiguity that is pretty misleading.

I am actually sitting on a 38,000 word audio on tape of a Thai dictionary that with a lot of jigging could be pulled down to 3,000 words. I just can't find a cheap tape player. I just want to use it once and then its done. I'll use Audacity software to cut into the right audio. Anyone seen a Walkman tape player around?

Edited January 5, 2009 by Gaccha