Thinking about re-jigging board Forums ...

[Smiles]

This post was originally in one of the threads on the Main Forum
Obviously Off-Topic there, but better perhaps here ...
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


" ... For the most, that's the way the Forum has been used and so provided (in the context of the rules) we're not discussing a "member's" profile and the Gay Romeo review is about a "commercial" person then it's a commercial review. If you'd rather I delete the Forum or you have any other suggestion for it, please let me know!... "
OK ... an invitation. Wildly off-topic ~ i.e. in it's original home ~ I know, but here goes:

This is the board forum lineup as it stands now:

Sawatdee Gay Thailand[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Sawatdee Gay Asia[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Gay Romeo Forum[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Sawatdee Gay World[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Open Discussion[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
The Sunday Funnies Collection[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
The Holding Room [/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Board Business[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]

This is an example of a forum list which is simpler; more intuitive; cleaner/less cluttered; arranged by forum number of topics & threads (i.e. Member 'traffic'); fewer forums; and discards so-called 'forums' which don't really qualify under a wide definition of what a 'message board' actually is.

Sawatdee Gay Thailand[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Sawatdee General Forum[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Sawatdee Gay Asia[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Sawatdee Gay World[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
Sawatdee Board Business[/*:m:2ab4q4o6]
DISCARD: The Holding Room (Probably has outlived it's purpose. Someone croaked! And besides that, the board seems more peaceful now ... even gentrified :-B Hell, even Fountainhall is posting regularly now)
DISCARD: Gay Romeo Forum (Very limited use, from the statistics. Last post: April 17/14)
DISCARD: The Sunday Funnies Collection (??)


Just an idea and my opinion, made in good faith, reaching for a more simplified message board experience.
And Nirish is quite correct. Probably these last few posts belong in the 'Board Business' Forum.

[Surfcrest]

Let's move it back into Sawatdee Gay Thailand and have a general discussion about it.
b.t.w The "The Sunday Funnies Collection (??)" was just updated.

Surfcrest

[Nirish guy]

Well if we're moving it can we move ALL the posts relating to it and stop being selective perhaps ?? !!!

[Nirish guy]

My post on the PREVIOUS thread was as follows :

Surfcrest wrote:
"If you'd rather I delete the Forum or you have any other suggestion for it, please let me know! Surfcrest"


What a great idea, yes lets delete an area of the board that has upwards of 86,781 page views ( yes I did count them), which means that whether some people ( well one person) may complain about thai guys privacy or not people here DO read that forum and I assume then get some form of valuable information or just vacaroius enjoyment out of it.

The bottom line and ugly truth that some people here seem to forget or want to try and brush over is that the guys we are all mainly meeting / who are posting there on GR ARE mainly, if not all, money boys / hookers / go go boys call them what you will, but they ARE there offering and providing a service to those of us who wish to use it and hence there's not a damn thing wrong with us sharing information we chose between ourselves as to the quality of that PAID FOR service, whether that be "yes, he's a great fuck be sure to look him up during your trip" or "hey, make sure your laptop is still in the cupboard before he leaves" - if they were guys who weren't "working" then that would of course be an entirely different matter, but they aren't and so it isn't.

Let's not forget also that Thai guys have a bush telegraph system that would put anything we can say or do here to SHAME and just try pissing one of them off or short changing one of them intentionally or otherwise and your name will be MUD in Pattaya in days if not hours. So, as far as I'm concerned SAME SAME here and it's a useful tool to have such a facility here to sort out the wheat from the chaff when on a short break and time is important as whilst some people here might not like it the plain fact is that some of us go there and fuck said money boys / go go boys / hookers call them what you will..... and apparently 86,781 other board ( or non board members) who read this forum also find it of interest and or use.

So UN PC or not my "vote" ( not that it was asked for) is that it stays.

[Smiles]

Nirish ... for fuck's sake, settle down Doood. Take a pill or five.
This is meant to be a gentle 'discussion' regarding the Forums and/or whether it's a reasonable idea to think about a re-arrangement at this time ... one year and and a bit after Surfcrest's new ownership.
As far as I'm concerned it's all up to him ~ and always has been ~ at the end of the day, and after decisions are made (if any), so be it.

Frothing at the mouth is usually ill conceived, and rarely of help ... in any discussion.

I question the need for the word "Gay" at all. We all know this is a gay message board or better still a message board for gays - sorry Alan The Builder you're now an honorary poof. From time to time we get people complaining about topics in the Sawatdee Gay Thailand forum being off topic because they're not gay. If we must continue to use Sawatdee then let's just call it Sawatdee Thailand. I'm assuming one reason "gay" is there is so the search engines will pick it up and the Board's ranking in the search results will be maintained but there must be other ways of achieving that aim. It's stated clearly on the home page that this entire site is gay.

And for goodness sake KEEP the Sunday Funnies. This week's is a great take on The Kiss thread.

[catawampuscat]

I think one of the reasons gay ting tong went moribund was the layout of the forums and sub forums. Difficult
to navigate and owner ignored advise to simplify and condense. I don't see the same issues here and an occasional
tweak or two should do the job.

[Manforallseasons]

Surfcast are you sure you want to do anything without asking newalaan first ^#(^

[francois]

My opinion is the format used on gaybuttonthai is the simplest and best.
As soon as your enter the website everything is in front of you to make your selection.

[Nirish guy]

Smiles how about you settle down "for fuck sake" - my point is if you arbitrarily decide to open a thread about the boards layout ( even though I would have thought that should have been surfs place not yours) then great, I'm all for discussion but then ALL the posts that previously related to that conversation should have been moved to start the new thread containing all view points already expressed to ensure an open and fair discussion and not just one opinion ie yours - so no sorry you wind your neck in mister not me.

[Halfhansum]

Well i for one would be very sorry to see the Romeo forum gone, as i really appreciate the reviews there, and will save me a lot of time and dissapoinments when i eventualy get back ...

[lego]

My opinion is the format used on gaybuttonthai is the simplest and best.
As soon as your enter the website everything is in front of you to make your selection.
I agree, GB's simplistic forum structure is pure genius.

[bucknaway]

I don't jump around from forum to forum, I tend to stick to one forum and that's it.
Another board I visit has 20 or more sections but has a main section with all the latest posts grouped together.

The Sunday funnies.... What's the difference in him trolling the members and timmberty being disagreeable? Timmberty gets locked out and this guy gets his insults pinned up in his own section for time and memorial.

[francois]

The Sunday Funnies are satire, a well respected form of literature as opposed to diatribes and tirades.

[bucknaway]

I'm sure that timmbertys post could be considered satire and even better, you can defend yourself by debating him. and I don't remember timmberty twisting the words of others or distorting the truth to advance a chuckle.

Perhaps if timmberty would use the south park figures to animate his posts we could dedicate a section of the forum for his jibes and satirical yet acceptable attacks?

The Sunday funnies.... What's the difference in him trolling the members and timmberty being disagreeable? Timmberty gets locked out and this guy gets his insults pinned up in his own section for time and memorial.Oh dear Bucky, someone else who doesnt take you seriously. I must of missed the week with the cartoon about The Look. I can tell you I was in Soi 4 last night and the boys could talk of nothing else than bucknaway and his Look!!!!!!

[bucknaway]

The Sunday funnies.... What's the difference in him trolling the members and timmberty being disagreeable? Timmberty gets locked out and this guy gets his insults pinned up in his own section for time and memorial.Oh dear Bucky, someone else who doesnt take you seriously. I must of missed the week with the cartoon about The Look. I can tell you I was in Soi 4 last night and the boys could talk of nothing else than bucknaway and his Look!!!!!!


Seems my post has got me in your head. :D
I'm off to bed. Have a good night :ymhug:

[lego]

bucknaway, considering that the Sunday Funnies have so far portrayed you in a most charitable light, you might do yourself no favor criticizing them. ;)

[bucknaway]

Nah, why bite my tongue? You mean the writer of the strip may go Neal or Timberty on me just for expressing an opinion?

Everyone stop posting or you may get attacked on the Sunday funnies!

I'll live. Maybe I'll take my complaint to the creators of south park LOL

[Smiles]

Smiles how about you settle down "for fuck sake" - my point is if you arbitrarily decide to open a thread about the boards layout ( even though I would have thought that should have been surfs place not yours) then great, I'm all for discussion but then ALL the posts that previously related to that conversation should have been moved to start the new thread containing all view points already expressed to ensure an open and fair discussion and not just one opinion ie yours - so no sorry you wind your neck in mister not me.
Don't look now sweetheart, but every thread on this message board is started by someone, arbitrarily.
So, arbitrarily, I started a thread regarding the 'idea' of, a year after Surfcrest took over, taking a second look at how the forums were organized and whether all of them were really necessary. I gave an 'example' of one idea (mine), then asked for comment and ideas from anyone interested.
That's it Babe ... that's all there ever was to it.

Then came you, snorting, heaving, gone amok, thrashing around. Less than useless.

Surfcrest, please just move this stupid thread to where I originally moved it to. (Although I understand that if you do, you'll be accused of, yet again, being not twice, but three times worse than Neal). Better yet ... 8-}

[Rush, Yet Again]

http://bangkokbois-gay-thailand-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/2014/06/Tuesday-Tantrums-1.jpg

Self-fulfilling prophecy: A prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true, by the very terms of the positive or negative expectations about circumstances, events, or people itself, which creates situations in which those expectations are fulfilled.

[Nirish guy]

Don't look now sweetheart, but .......Then came you, snorting, heaving, gone amok, thrashing around. Less than useless.

"Sweetheart" - god you're starting to sound like another twat who used to post here who called people "sweety" in his feeble condescending tone when he was being a highhanded so and so too.

My point, which you seem to have totally missed or ignored really was quite simple and is without the need for all your stupid slagging match comments above. Open a thread or not, up to you, but if you do and there were already comments on the previous thread you could / should have just reposed them both ( to save me the bother or replying twice perhaps as it was YOU moving the thread ) to ensure a fair and open discussion as this was stated intention all along I believe, it really isn't that difficult a concept to grasp and a simple " yeah oops sorry I guess that might have been an idea" would have sufficed - but no, go ahead with the name calling and condescension if it makes you feel better "Sweety" .

[Surfcrest]

Here's a proposal that might simply the forum structure without too much disruption.

We could combine Sawatdee Gay Asia with Sawatdee Gay World, for travel and information on any other destination in the world except Thailand.

Next, as soon as the monitoring of social media in Thailand dies off...eliminate the Holding Room.

We'll keep the Sunday Funnies Library and the Gay Romeo Forums.

If there are any objections to this idea, let me know! If not, I'll get around to sorting it out over the next week.

Surfcrest

Next, as soon as the monitoring of social media in Thailand dies off...eliminate the Holding Room.Wow. So it will be around for a few more aeons then?

[christianpfc]

I find the Thailand/(South-East)Asia/World distinction very useful and would keep it.

[newalaan2]

If there are any objections to this idea, let me know!
Happy to do so.
Agreed keep Sunday Funnies and Gay Romeo.
Agreed combine Gay World and Gay Asia but go one step more and incorporate Open Discussion.

Incorporate Board Business into main Sawatdee Gay Thailand forum, for all the very few threads and posts in this forum there would be no effect on the main forum and anyway anything pertaining to the board business like changes etc.. should be in the main forum anyway where members can actually see clearly rather than having it tucked away. Most of the threads on Board Business have extremely low views and responses because they are tucked away out of sight of the Main forum. When they have served their purpose in informing and requesting feedback they can simply slip down the list.

Agreed get rid of Holding Room as it serves no purpose and never has except where used as a Flaming Room, so the obvious thing to do would be reinstate Flaming Room. This is a vital component in the long term health and success of the Board. It means there is no reason to polarise and divide membership factions as there is a place where content some find objectionable can go and therefore keep all factions happy and more importantly keep them posting and contributing here.



francois wrote:My opinion is the format used on gaybuttonthai is the simplest and best.As soon as your enter the website everything is in front of you to make your selection. I agree, GB's simplistic forum structure
Agreed that the simpler = the better, is the way, but only in regard to forums which are main discussion rooms. Things like Sunday Funnies, even Gay Romeo and any other resource forums do not get in the way of the forum discussions flow so you can really have as many of these as felt necessary. They are clear in what they are and do not detract from the main forums with posts and threads moving around, they are self-contained.

Only two main forums are needed for general discussion, Gay Thailand and Everything Else. Open Discussion, Board Business, are a total waste of space and just used to 'hide' content. They could easily be incorporated into either of the main forums as there is so little threads and views in these it would make no difference to the main forums having that content there. if there is current interest in a thread it will stay near the top, if not it will slip down and always be there to resurrect if necessary.

The only other important forum to have is a Flaming Forum, where off topic, banter and discussions can be hived off from the main Forum and prevent wild off topic and flaming interrupting threads there, those who don't like and are not interest in such content can know exactly where it is and avoid, but it means there is a place to include everyone, even those with more extreme views/opinions. It allows all members to be managed rather than banned, warned, or have content deleted and locked because it's in the way of the main forum topics.

SGF has always been known as the edgy, more interesting, busiest Board and that was always due to the easy, open unrestrictive management under, originally smiles and then elephantspike and why the Board grew to what it was just before Neal took over, compared to all the other Boards which added together could never match SGT in terms of views, posts, interest, membership numbers etc.. To try and water down this element by not having a place like Flaming Forum will without doubt hinder any hope for progress here.

The Neal Death thread if nothing else proved beyond a shadow of doubt that there are potential posters out there, they haven't disappeared off the face of the earth, they are simply choosing NOT to contribute to this forum on a day to day basis. There were new posters appearing on that thread, former posters returning, long standing members who were previously only reading coming back to post, as well as plenty of posting traffic from current active members.

Instead of locking that thread it should have been allowed to continue just purely out of encouraging some momentum because if members old and new are contributing to it, they will come back to read and maybe, just maybe might add another post here and there on other threads and get some traction going here. Why the owner and those who want that thread closed when it is so busy with potential is way beyond me.

[Surfcrest]

Some good points newalaan2, I like most of them. Combining Board Business with the Main Forum makes a lot of sense. Changing the Holding Room back into the Flaming Room also is a good idea, if it can keep the squabbles out of the other Forums. I'll need to keep the questionable political threads in there until the political crisis ends, not that there are too many lately. As for Open Discussion, I'm not so sure I'd like to see that lumped in with the Main Forum. If we want to rename it, Everything Else for now...that's fine.

Surfcrest

And "Gay Romeo" aka. "Let's all be hypocrites"?? Can we rename that "One rule for the Thais"?

[Surfcrest]

The Gay Romeo Forum was created by the previous administration. Enough of the membership enjoys the Gay Romeo Forum and so, it will stay. I have amended the Posting Rules & Guidelines slightly, to allow for the Gay Romeo Forum to continue to exist within the Rules.


(3) Privacy, Anonymity & Posting Limitations
[quote:2k52ebwy]Sawatdee is a (reasonably) anonymous board, excluding only legal demands from appropriate authorities.
тАЬReasonablyтАЭ because the IP address of every visitor or member to Sawatdee is collected for statistical and other similar purposes.
That said, personal privacy and identity within the membership of Sawatdee must be protected as far as possible. Therefore, the following types of information must not be included in any post.
тАв Last/surnames
тАв Phone numbers, email or residential address
тАв Any other information that could be used to identify an individual or organisation.
[/quote:2k52ebwy]

within the membership of Sawatdee Has been added to protect the personal privacy and identity of the membership and does not extend beyond the membership. This represents no change to the existing posting policy here, as we've been regularly discussing real people in the world and their identity outside of our membership. This is not exclusive to the Gay Romeo Forum and so provided members are not revealing profile information about other members, the Rules are being respected.

Surfcrest

[ceejay]

It's your board Surfrcest, and it's up to you, but are you really saying that the members can publish names, addresses of anyone they like, so long as that person is not a member? If a defamatory post comes along then Sawatdee and you personally, are both liable under Thailand's computer crimes act, even if you take the post down minutes after it is put up. Don't forget, either, that truth is, sometimes, no defence against a defamation claim in Thailand.

[Surfcrest]

Very good points ceejay, and I do get these sort of concerns raised on occasion. I'd rather approach the issue in terms of the defamatory and what I need to monitor and do, when moderating becomes necessary

http://sawatdeenetwork.com/forum/sounds-good-true-t30755.html

Even with the Gay Romeo Forum, it has been managed to date in that manner with the occasional thread moved to the Shop or to the Holding Room due to unsubstantiated content.

You can see in our Posting Rules & Guidelines, we have incorporated l├иse majest├й laws into our own Rules, but we are not specifically bound to Thai computer crimes laws. Out of sheer common sense we do our best ensure no one is liable under any legislation for something being written on his Board by the specific content and on a case by case basis. I do not want to be banned in Thailand again, based on anything happening here. As this site is hosted in Canada now, we are bound more by Canadian law and I am constantly monitoring our compliance to Canadian law.

Surfcrest

[fountainhall]

I find the Thailand/(South-East)Asia/World distinction very useful and would keep it.
I agree. I suggest a separate Gay Asia forum is a particular benefit to those living in Thailand who plan on seeing more of the region, as well as to those visiting Thailand who are interested in also adding another country. Also as there are now no trans-Pacific flights directly in to BKK, some readers may consider short stopovers in various Asian countries. It was suggested earlier that the simpler the better and the gb.com layout was mentioned. Yet on this board, there are nearly 50 topics in the Asia thread since the start of the tear. On gb.com just 8 dealing with Asia. Look at those 8 and they have a far higher readership than non-Asian threads.


As this site is hosted in Canada now, we are bound more by Canadian law and I am constantly monitoring our compliance to Canadian law
Merely out of curiosity, if the Board fails to abide by Thai laws, might this not create trouble for you as its owner when you visit Thailand?

[Surfcrest]

As this site hosted in Canada now, we are bound more by Canadian law and I am constantly monitoring our compliance to Canadian law
Merely out of curiosity, if the Board fails to abide by Thai laws, might this not create trouble for you as its owner when you visit Thailand?
Yes, this is true.

I have every confidence in the membership. I believe most know what they should and should not post. I've had very little moderating to do since jinks left us. I also believe that if something did come up, I'd have no problem doing what's best for the Board with the laws of both countries under close consideration. As I said, we've never come close to a problem with that and I'm prepared to deal with it, if need be.

Surfcrest

[lego]

within the membership of Sawatdee Has been added to protect the personal privacy and identity of the membership and does not extend beyond the membership. This represents no change to the existing posting policy here, as we've been regularly discussing real people in the world and their identity outside of our membership. This is not exclusive to the Gay Romeo Forum and so provided members are not revealing profile information about other members, the Rules are being respected.
Just to clarify, if you don't mind, does this provision also cover people who used to be members, but aren't members anymore at the time I'm posting about them? Specifically, can I refer to "timmberty" by his full and real name, or do I still have to call him "timmberty" whenever making a reference to him on SGT?

[scottish-guy]

Just say "Cunt" and we'll know who you mean

:))

[Surfcrest]

I find the Thailand/(South-East)Asia/World distinction very useful and would keep it.
The Forums will be kept, but blended together into Gay Travel Forum.
The Board Business Forum has been blended into Sawatdee Gay Thailand already.

Surfcrest