FREQUENT ... aka ... KOMMENTARIAT ... BOYGENIUS

[Smiles]

In general, I am quite happy to support Surfcrest's philosophical dislike of banning anyone, unless it becomes obvious that the goal ~ and methods ~ of some troll are so egregious as to be a serious existential threat to the Board itself. For myself, other than that ... carry on.
I applaud Surfcrest's World O' Message Boards overview " ... I'm not interested in the game ... "

I think that Fountainhall is a great and knowledgeable poster, has a clearly intelligent mind, and is a formidable debater. It would be a great shame for him to vacate the premises because of a visceral dislike of specific members, when in fact such posters can be easily ignored.

'Latinpoxx' IS a troll, no question in my mind. He enjoys trolling, winding up ('truth-telling' he would call it ... though he really isn't that smart). Does that make him a 'danger' to the Board itself? Of course not.

'Frequent', for myself, is not a troll (he's not my hero either), but I can easily see why another member ~ one who feels he's being overly 'personalized' by Frequent ~ might get to a point of such great frustration that he would feel that ridding the Frequents of this world altogether might be the best decision. But that's also too personal: there is no 'danger' to the Board itself. Ignoring is the best solution under the circumstances ... even though Fountainhall has stated above he will not do that.
I sincerely hope he will change his mind on that.

[frequent]

I think if Surfcrest re-examines his own posts he will find that he once wrote that he had "accidentally" deleted kommentariat's account, he didn't know how, but he invited kommentariat to rejoin and ask Surfcrest to link up his old posts with his new login

That never happened. Kommentariat was never "banned", accidentally or otherwise

However I'm intrigued to read that boygenyus and kommentariat are one and the same person. Boygenyus as Surfcrest says is icon513 on the CfS forum. But if boygenyus and The Colonel feuded and then The Colonel became homintern and homintern became kommentariat, and frequent = kommentariat = boygenyus?? That doesn't add up

[frequent]

I'm looking forward to a fountainhall response, full of the invective and bile for which he is justly famous

[fountainhall]

Putting aside - temporarily - any animosity, perceived or otherwise, with other member or members, I absolutely fail to understand Surfcrest's view. He mentions the other Boards he suggests are over-modified. We all know that GB is in the "heavy" category and actively moderates. Inevitably that Board has a smallish membership base, and it does appear to be overly Pattaya-centric. I recently started posting again on that site after several years. Frankly I am quite enjoying it.

What has happened over at gaythailand I really have no idea. No one seems to know who Scooby might be - who cares? - but there appears to me to be little active moderation. Years ago there was a panel of moderators that included Michael, GB and z909. Since the Scooby take-over, there appears to be only Scooby himself (or themselves since they are supposed to be a gay couple). From the times I have looked at that Board there has been little evidence of moderation, apart from a few trolls thrown off and a couple of threads closed. That hardly appears to be over-moderation in my view. Indeed it seems to be a pretty sensible way of running a Board.

As for this Board, I know precious little of its history and the regular posters of the past and their handles despite being a member for 11 years. I joined to get information. However, as I stated earlier, for many years it was very difficult to access the site in Bangkok other than via a slow proxy server, so I gave up. What re-sparked my interest was the photo competition which Neal ran some years ago. I decided to enter and, along with others, won some prizes which I think most of us donated to charity. After a couple of years when I had a lot of work, I gave up posting anywhere. Then I decided to return here for a variety of reasons, not the least being the new ease of access.

As far as posters and banning them is concerned, I still completely fail to understand how anyone who is banned can then be invited back. Banning by accident on the face of it seems a bit of an oxymoron! If that is the case, why not another general amnesty and have Khortose and Kjun12 back? Yes, Surfcrest has given his reasons but I find them tenuous at best! He then says there is no mechanism for lynching other members. If there is not, then I suggest that there has to be – even though I believe the word lynch is wholly inaccurate in this context.

Let's face facts - and again, (other than in one instance below) not point any fingers at individuals (including me). This forum is dying. The Board itself seemingly has loads of members and equally quite a large daily readership. Yet the posting base is now the lowest of the three main forums. gaythailand was once losing members at quite a fast rate. Yet for whatever reason for well over a year it has been by far the most successful in terms of its posting membership. It's way out ahead. It's also way out ahead in terms of the variety of subjects discussed. Like all forums it has its ding dongs from time to time, but there are few signs of the very deep-rooted animosities evident here.

Even GBT is now illustrating a wider variety of subject matter (even discounting that long Trump site), whereas here we have a bunch of regular posters, some of whom try to start and continue interesting threads, some of whom chip in helpful comments occasionally, and others whose sole objective appears - note I say appears - to be destructive. Destructive in the sense of not contributing anything of value and destructive in rarely posing anything other than their perceived delight in putting down other posters, especially regular posters whom they appear just not to like.

The whole purpose of a Thailand gay forum, in my view, is the provision of a space where gay guys can sensibly and rationally discuss a wide variety of gay issues that include information – especially about gay nightlife in all its various forms, others of especial interest to gay men, accurate travel reports within Thailand and elsewhere that have some interest to gays, the updating of general information for locals and tourists and the occasional banter that is common in any type of conversation with friends and colleagues.

What is should not be, in my view, is a centre of negativity. You can’t avoid that completely, but you should certainly be able to control it. (I have now to be specific in just one instance. There is a poster here whom I shall not name whose posts are consistently very negative. The same poster posts on GBT but is permitted to continue to do so only provided the negativity is toned down almost to zero. So he posts positively on one forum; and then posts all his destructive negativity here).

The point of that example is, I suggest, to illustrate how there are some posters here whose sole purpose, in one case actually declared, is to destroy the geniality of the forum. Gingering up, being deliberately provocative and so on is again not unusual. But when it becomes the norm with a certain group of posters and just goes on and on with nothing positive being posted, over time it starts to eat away at the attractiveness of the forum for more general readers and posters. That is undeniable fact! It creates within the forum factions, as is certainly the case here.

And I submit that leads down a slippery slope that ends at the bottom of which are the various bitchboards which appeared 2 or 3 years ago. We all know who started at least one of them. Their entire raison d’etre seemed to be to settle at old scores and ridicule others. I think it is not a coincidence that some who post here posted on one or more of those loathsome boards. Why do they not just leave and restart another bitchboard for all the moaners?

And that is my fear for this forum. By permitting members to hurl personal insults at each other (yes, I include myself in that group) and to do so time after time after time inevitably makes it into, for the time being, a mildish bitchboard clone. Someone has to step in and lay down some sort of law that prevents what is generally a small group of posters from ruining the reading experience of others. The occasional admonition won’t work – and this forum does not even have that!

You can’t expect those who continuously bitch and attack to change their spots – UNLESS you are like GB in the case of the anonymous poster I mention above. So in fact it can be done. But if Surfcrest and Moses are happy with a general free-for-all here with one group pitched against another, then I definitely will not enjoy contributing more. Yes, I know. I attack when I am attacked. Fair point! But others have to agree that vastly more of my posts are in the “of interest” category than the attacks. Compare that with the posts from the destructive element. How many of those are actually positive? Is that really what you want Surfcrest? Is it really what you want Moses?

Freedom is a word much touted on this forum. Yet those who say it seem always to forget that there is no such thing as total freedom. It comes with responsibility. Posting on this forum is a privilege and as such the interests of the Board in general and the other membership have to be considered. I maintain some posters never even consider this.

Well, I have never been noted for brevity and I have given the destroyers tons of ammunition. Fire away, guys, if that is what you want. Show your stripes! You have free reign here, remember!

[fountainhall]

in fact such posters can be easily ignored

Indeed they can - but my question is: why should they be ignored? I have had experience of this over on gaythailand. You put some irritating poster (not vindictive) on ignore, but when you come to read a thread, since other posters are frequently quoting from his posts or referring to or quoting something he has written, the thread becomes nonsense! Either you have posters who post sensibly and are not continuously vindictive by treating a Board as their personal attack dog; or you take steps to ensure that personal attacks of the type regularly witnessed here just do not happen.

And if you are happy to permit a free-for-all, how come so many members have actually been banned here - starting with Beachlover?

In the spirit of my earlier post, I will refrain from responding to frequent's personal comments on this thread and the one about his exploits in Sydney.

[bobsaigon2]

OK Surfcrest, you own the board. I wish you and frequent a long and happy life together. Bye bye.

[cdnmatt]

Indeed they can - but my question is: why should they be ignored? I have had experience of this over on gaythailand. You put some irritating poster (not vindictive) on ignore, but when you come to read a thread, since other posters are frequently quoting from his posts or referring to or quoting something he has written, the thread becomes nonsense! Either you have posters who post sensibly and are not continuously vindictive by treating a Board as their personal attack dog; or you take steps to ensure that personal attacks of the type regularly witnessed here just do not happen.

And if you are happy to permit a free-for-all, how come so many members have actually been banned here - starting with Beachlover?

In the spirit of my earlier post, I will refrain from responding to frequent's personal comments on this thread and the one about his exploits in Sydney.

What exactly are you trying to achieve with this thread? Just looking for some attention, or what? Surfcrest has already made it pretty clear he's not going to bend, and mold the membership roster to one poster's personal preferences.

He's fine, just do like the rest of us, and ignore him. Ut;s really not that difficult. Like it or not, he has just as much freedom to be on this forum as you do. Grow up, be a big boy, and just ignore him. It's really not that difficult.

You're causing a shitstorm for absolutely no reason.

[fountainhall]

The exodus has begun. So sad!

Bobsaigon is one of this boards gentlemen . . . Can there be any clearer sign (for frequent) to fuck off because while Bob doesn't like to use foul language I have no such qualms.

[arsenal]

Frequent is a cunt and Bobsaigon is a very pleasant menber who has now left which I am extremely sorry about. However, lets be clear here. He has left not because of Frequent but because Surfcrest won't ban him. And in that decision Surfcrest has my support. I want Frequent to fuck off of his own accord but he shouldn't be banned. The same as Minimee.

Fountainhall: In the recent past you have led banning campaigns against about 5 or 6 members with longer and longer tirades. Time for a timeout perhaps.

[fountainhall]

In the recent past you have led banning campaigns against about 5 or 6 members with longer and longer tirades.

That is plain untrue arsenal. Yes, I have expressed my antagonism to certain posters for the manner of their posting - and that has indeed increased as those particular posters have thrown insults at me. I have not called for outright bans with one exception. Perhaps you might tell us about about your own series of posts against some posters like Latintopxxx?

If challenged in a court I do think that in todays' society Sexual Deviant Latin would be held accountable for some of the things he has written and, it must be said that Surfcrest has allowed him to write. Frequent is an arsehole and Minimee is similar but Sexual Deviants' writings display the character of someone who ought to be placed on a register of some kind.

Time for a timeout perhaps.

Time for a departure.