Dear Thai Visa - Are we censured here?

[ChiangMaiThai]

Actually, a bit of a serious question. Are you free to disclose whether or not the Thai Government has ever contacted Thai Visa and told you to be careful as far as criticism of the government?

[fester]

Yes and no. Thanks for bringing this up. This forum is in no way affiliated with anything Government.

We have been in contact with them, asking for advice how to handle for example political issues on this forum and asked for advice regarding if we can discuss or not. Should we censure or monitor harder? We have been told to be "reasonable" and "sensible", which I believe we are here.

We have also been told that several high ranking officials are reading this forum as a good source of input for their govt. work with farang related issues, immigration, labour, law etc.

The moderators of this forum are continiously monitoring this forum, and are also deleting or moving inappropriate postings.

Please read our TOS, Terms Of Service and Forum Rules, which also applies to similar web sites in Thailand.

For your information, this web site and forum is NOT hosted in the Kingdom of Thailand, so it cannot be easily cut off.

If they want to stop this website they are in a bit of trouble, becuase it can be surfed by open proxies free of charge to anyone.

We have not heard anything that should motivate us to be more "netiquette" than we are here. The moderators would like to you thank all users for your support!

My wish, as a moderator, is that we use more sensible language when we speak about government officials or about politics when we are critical.

Sometimes we get criticism from forum members here when we delete or move posts. We take that criticism rather than being notified by the "government".

It's free speech a la Thailand! Please respect that!

Fester

Chief Moderator

PS! Dr_pat_pong, one of our 12 moderators, maybe can give you more details, as he is in contact with the heavies at work.

[p1p]

I think another question, which needs some clarification, would come under Data Protection in the West.

If we were to make comments, which are seen to be critical of the Government, do the Powers That Be have the legal right to discover our true email etc., and hence our identity from you??

I, like many long-term residents here, am somewhat nervous of placing true thoughts etc. on record. Criticism here is not always taken in the helpful way it is intended and messengers are seen to be being shot on an almost daily basis…

[dr_Pat_Pong]

The ' over the top ' postings served only to inflame further the farang / government situation. By all means  put your points of view in sensible and moderate ways, but accept that ranting will never influence the Government's decisions. The chances of anyone shaking mail addresses or other ways to identify members can't happen, but keep the postings rational, and don't add to alienation.

[Rambutan]

Why has the fake visa stamp warning been removed?

[george]

Why has the fake visa stamp warning been removed?

That post was pinned at the beginning, but the pin got lost when closing another thread. It's back at the top at the visa forum now again. Thanks for heads up!

[wolf5370]

We have also been told that several high ranking officials are reading this forum as a good source of input for their govt. work with farang related issues, immigration, labour, law etc.

I wonder if that's why the 1M Gold Card has been suspended?

Didn't exactly get rave reviews here!