Announcing: A New Virtual Hangout

[bruce_nyc]

:ymparty:

Just for the fun of it...... I decided to create a new web site..... My initial idea was to create a blog for me..... but it's actually running forum software because I really like the way the software works, and looks, and how it allows others to discuss.... so it's also a full-fledged online "community" too.

I've been discussing it with Surfcrest, and he's fully supportive of the idea.

I won't be running it as any sort of a business. It won't need any income. It won't contain any ads. Probably won't accept any donations either.

It will just offer another place to discuss.... adding to the many existing options. In my opinion, forums are like fun bars... There's no such thing as too many.

Go grab your handle before someone else does... and start checking in daily.... http://gaysexthailand.com

:)

( Wow. That sounds like a perfect tagline..... "Grab your handle before someone else does..." ha ha )

[bkkmfj2648]

Hey Bruce,
I grabbed my handle on your new site - same as the one I have here - I know, not much imagination.

I like that you created a sub-section for "Trip Reports". One of my biggest disappointments with the Sawatdeenetwork, GayThailand, ChristianPFC, and GayButton boards is that there is not a repository for the trip reports. For me, they are one of the most valuable resources that these boards have - especially if you are a first timer coming to Thailand, or a many-timer and want to know the latest on the situation on the ground, or you want to plan a trip to some remote part of Thailand where the minute details for planning it become crucial in order to have a successful trip.

So, in other words, in my opinion "Trip Reports" should be given a Top Priority in the management of ALL the boards. Bruce, thanks for organizing your new site in this way!

M.

any ideas on perhaps providing a suggested trip report template?

[Smiles]

If you go to the Sawatdee search and type 'Trip Reports' into the 'Key Words' field you will get back 555 topics from the past, over 37 pages.
Creating a separate forum is just adding one more to a message board which already houses too many ... (my opinion only).

[Smiles]

Just for the fun of it...... I decided to create a new web site..... My initial idea was to create a blog for me..... but it's actually running forum software because I really like the way the software works, and looks, and how it allows others to discuss.... so it's also a full-fledged online "community" too.
I've been discussing it with Surfcrest, and he's fully supportive.
I think the last dude who did this was Neal. That went well. (Ha Ha)
Brucie, do you fly a lot? (Ha Ha)

[cdnmatt]

I'll go under the assumption I'm not welcome there, lol

[bruce_nyc]

any ideas on perhaps providing a suggested trip report template?

Thanks, M. And great suggestion. Let's start a thread about that. Maybe we can come up with the ideal template. Not too complicated.... just the essential information at the top. Here is a new thread: http://bw.gl/11u


I'll go under the assumption I'm not welcome there, lol

Everyone is welcome there.

( Just don't expect me to respond to inane nonsense posts... no matter where. )

[Nirish guy]

Good luck with it - but all things considered would it not just have been quicker / easier to buy Sawatdee perhaps if you wanted to own your own board I wonder ?

[bruce_nyc]

Good luck with it - but all things considered would it not just have been quicker / easier to buy Sawatdee perhaps if you wanted to own your own board I wonder ?

That could still happen.... maybe. But it's definitely not quicker or easier. It only took me a few minutes to set up the new forum.... with the latest new software. The base software it runs on... is free open source software ( same as bitcoin is ). But it's the latest new version. Then it's pimped out with the latest responsive theme to make it much easier to use on mobile devices (90% of users now use mobile devices primarily). That cost $17. Then I added every pimped out extension ( extra feature ) that the theme developer makes. Many I won't use.... like the Membership Module and the Paypal/Bitcoin Donation system... But I wanted to play with them and have all options available to me.... plus I consider it almost an extra tip to him for his excellent work. That added $200. To make certain that everything was installed perfectly, I paid him to install it all. That was $30. ( Yes, he accepts bitcoin of course. )

While he was at it, I had him set up 7 sites at the same time --- all with very different purposes; totally different audiences.

The hosting is all on my same hosting account I've been using for years. They're excellent and they offer unlimited capacity, unlimited bandwidth, and an unlimited number of websites..... for $3.50 per month.... for life. Which, as I said, I've always had.... so it's not any added expense for me.

So all together, it cost me $247 and an hour or two of my time each.... to create 7 new similar sites.

On the other hand, if I buy Sawatdee, I will have to figure out many details about how to migrate it. If I want to use my own hosting, it will have to be moved. Also, it's using an older version of the software. So upgrading it would be another project.

Or.... Maybe the most sensible thing to do would be to leave it as is.... for archival purposes. Then eventually migrate all *new* posts and messages to the new platform. ... leaving the old platform as a permanent archive. It would be a tragic loss to lose all the history of all the old posts here, in my opinion.... of course. Similarly, I'd hate to lose any of Russ' archives of his "bangkokbois" blog.

[cdnmatt]

I'll go under the assumption I'm not welcome there, lol

Everyone is welcome there.

( Just don't expect me to respond to inane nonsense posts... no matter where. )

No thanks. If I need to trust someone to provide impartiality, I think I'll stick with Surfcrest.

[bkkmfj2648]

If you go to the Sawatdee search and type 'Trip Reports' into the 'Key Words' field you will get back 555 topics from the past, over 37 pages.
Creating a separate forum is just adding one more to a message board which already houses too many ... (my opinion only).

Hi Smiles,

Yes you are right - I can just do 'Key Word' searches to mine out of the Sawatdee database all of the Trip Reports but thats a lot of effort to do something that should be easy - hence the purpose of a good database design.

Unfortunately, the 3 boards in Thailand were not designed with Trip Reports in mind. Instead they were designed like a ticker tape where the history just strolls into the past and the current stuff is posted on top.

For example, when I was planning my last trip out to the hinterlands of Thailand, I was hard pressed to find useful information for Sukhothai and Kanchanaburi. Yes I could search in Google - but I had hoped to find information with some gay elements - where are the gay places in these places, people to know and meet, massage info, restaurants, hotels, bed&breakfast, cruising points, etc. These are things that I would expect to find here at Sawatdee or over at GayThailand or GayButton or ChristianPFC.

In addition, many users post trip reports but they don't use the key words "Trip Report" nor do some of them tag their info with the key words that are available to aid the user to mine out this information.

So, if Bruce designs his Trip Report section in his new Blog/Forum http://gaysexthailand.com
in such a way that when a new trip report is created that it identifies the appropriate key words (i.e., place, date, categories of things/places visited, perhaps gps, etc.) then this important information can be easily retrieved and even displayed in an easy manner. Over time, it will become a treasure chest of invaluable information.

Another example is with ChristianPFC's blog - Christian has posted MORE information about ALL of Thailand and the best far away and interesting places to visit. Unfortunately, if you as a user do not keep a log or database of what he writes - then that information becomes lost. For example, Christian's data should be pinned onto a map of Thailand where each pin would be clickable to investigate what Christian reported for that place. Then if one were to plan a trip, they could link the digital pins to GPS and then a trip would be organized easily. This would be fantastic and would give a lot of extra value to these wonderful forums.

unfortunately in the manner in which data is stored in these forums/blogs - this opportunity is lost....

[Smiles]

Then, good luck. Not willing to do the search, then hardly surprising that you should be disappointed.

[Surfcrest]

When Bruce explained his new site, he did describe it as being another forum...but more as "his own blog" and "similar to what Rush did". I was a bit surprised to see it as an "out of the box" message board platform, similar to some of the many other "one hit wonders" we saw with "cruisinggaythailand.com" and that site the Lonely Wombat owned briefly.

I wish Bruce all the luck, but maybe he wasn't aware several others have tried this unsuccessfully because they lacked the one key ingredient we have here...that being participation.

The new owner of Sawatdee has be to inclusive. Whether you like cdnmatt, tobi, kommie or Smiles...putting them on ignore early in the game shows that within a small amount of time many others would be on ignore...taking us back to where we were with out last owner and the many members we had to track down, reactivate or undelete.

When the right perspective new owner comes along, we'll look at transferring everything over. If that doesn't happen, I have no problem keeping Sawatdee on the same course as it's been on for the last 2.5 years.

Surfcrest

[bruce_nyc]

Inclusive. Yes, absolutely. But a free-for-all of spewing attacks. No thanks.

In fact, it's *not* inclusive at all if half of the posts are made by the same 3 or 4 people and they are all vicious attacks that add no value to the conversations at all. Because when 99% of readers are scared to ever speak up and say anything for fear of the wrath of the grumpy old viscous queens.... the best, quality, participants are lost.

Here's an example of a message I recently received....


So far these people have not yet been assholes to me - but I don't post much because I don't want to run the risk of an altercation. I'ts so sad because these assholes stunt the potential of the blog - but many other non posters have fear and don't post - consequently we have a dull forum.
It's like in real life, there are the few who manage to bully and muzzle the others.
I find GayThailand much more friendly than Sawatdee


This is the result. And it's not inclusive.

[Tobi]

In fact, it's *not* inclusive at all if half of the posts are made by the same...

.... self-promoting snake-oil salesman pontificating about titcoin. :-@

#titcoin #twaddle

The new owner of Sawatdee has be to inclusive. Whether you like cdnmatt, tobi, kommie or Smiles...The important thing Bruce is to keep the posters you really dislike on their toes by deleting some of their posts randomly, just like that other New Yorker did (even proudly announcing the fact that that's your practice). What was his name now? Oh yes, I remember, Neal.

[cdnmatt]

The new owner of Sawatdee has be to inclusive. Whether you like cdnmatt, tobi, kommie or Smiles...The important thing Bruce is to keep the posters you really dislike on their toes by deleting some of their posts randomly, just like that other New Yorker did (even proudly announcing the fact that that's your practice). What was his name now? Oh yes, I remember, Neal.

Yep, and don't forget to create multiple handles so you can talk to yourself. Oh look, you're way ahead of me.

http://gaysexthailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18

Yep, and don't forget to create multiple handles so you can talk to yourself. Oh look, you're way ahead of me.

http://gaysexthailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=18
[attachment=0:32fxpirm]7ad.jpg[/attachment:32fxpirm]
Not only on the Internet can you be a dog and no-one will be the wiser, people can impersonate other people simply by using their posting handle and no-one will be the wiser. I have never, ever on this Forum been me so if someone wants to impersonate "me" - go right ahead

[Smiles]

Whether you like cdnmatt, tobi, kommie or Smiles...putting them on ignore early in the game shows that within a small amount of time many others would be on ignore
I'm on ignore ... uh. I'm not even a member for god sake. B-) ;;)

[Tobi]

...viscous queens...

Hmm, what lube are you using?! :P

[Surfcrest]

The important thing Bruce is to keep the posters you really dislike on their toes by deleting some of their posts randomly, just like that other New Yorker did (even proudly announcing the fact that that's your practice). What was his name now? Oh yes, I remember, Neal.
Oh look Kommie! Even thonglor55 has signed up to gaysexthailand! My far reaching "tools" must be able to see what's going on there too huh?

Surfcrest

[scottish-guy]

Thonglor55 being on Bruce's board doesn't disturb me half as much as the re-appearance of Uncle Albert

I do hope Bruce can control rancid oddballs and misfits like UA

[Smiles]

Thonglor55 being on Bruce's board doesn't disturb me half as much as the re-appearance of Uncle Albert
I do hope Bruce can control rancid oddballs and misfits like UA
Timmberty perhaps? (And there's many more waiting breathlessly at them gates).

[christianpfc]

Good luck for your forum, Bruce!


Another example is with ChristianPFC's blog - Christian has posted MORE information about ALL of Thailand and the best far away and interesting places to visit. Unfortunately, if you as a user do not keep a log or database of what he writes - then that information becomes lost. For example, Christian's data should be pinned onto a map of Thailand where each pin would be clickable to investigate what Christian reported for that place. Then if one were to plan a trip, they could link the digital pins to GPS and then a trip would be organized easily. This would be fantastic and would give a lot of extra value to these wonderful forums.

unfortunately in the manner in which data is stored in these forums/blogs - this opportunity is lost....
All my posts are tagged with name of the province. http://maleangpo.blogspot.com/ (excellent website, in Japanese so I only can look at the pictures and read the Thai names) has all places tagged on google maps, maybe some day I look into it and do the same for my blog. Not just places I have been to, places I want to go to as well so I just have to look at the map to create an itinerary. I have this information for Bangkok in my head, when I am somewhere I look at map (without spots marked) and remember what is around where I want to go.

[bkkmfj2648]

Hi Christian,

Please help me to convince Bruce to introduce the idea of GEO PINs based on GPS positions for your blog and also for the trip report section. It would be so cool to capture and display this information to bring your blog and the trip reports into a new and exciting dimension.

check out this link:

http://mundraub.org/map

I found this excellent German blog with a good use of GEO PINs. Inthis one which I found an external link from the phpBB forum http://mundraub.org/map it is a German software to pin GEO GPS positions to a map and it looks real cool - tell me if you like it?

The German one is my favorite because when you click on a PIN, it displays a photo, location, and details section - and when you click on the Details section, it opens a web page - in this case that web page that opens could be a link to the Trip Report section to the related trip report - cool no?

cheers,
m.

[lonelywombat]

The reply from BBB seems a rehash of the old BBB [badboybilly] posts of 10 years ago.
Almost to capturing and publishing what he said.
Seems a big set up.

Seems a big set up.
You don't say. Gosh =))

[lonelywombat]

kommentariat I thought you might have a comment similar to that .

I must go looking for the details of BBB who forced his mother to sell her house, so his siblings would get nothing

[lonelywombat]

I was a bit surprised to see it as an "out of the box" message board platform, similar to some of the many other "one hit wonders" we saw with "cruisinggaythailand.com" and that site the Lonely Wombat owned briefly.
Surfcrest

As I have stated in the past Neal offered me the site for free three times. No payment.

I accepted, but planned to close it down which was a bigger task than I expected.

I had no plans to maintain another forum

[christianpfc]

http://www.atlasobscura.com/ and http://www.tour-bangkok-legacies.com/Ba ... ber15.html (http://www.tour-bangkok-legacies.com/Bangkok_Travelbug-November15.html) have geotags, it can't be that difficult, and I support the idea, but I don't know if and when I will be able to do this for my blog.

[Smiles]

The beat goes on for poor old Bruce.
The latest to join his 'blog' are as follows:

Smirks - Sat Jan 02, 2016 6:19 pm
david - Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:28 am
Homintern - Fri Jan 01, 2016 11:54 pm
Sadie's Snatch - Fri Jan 01, 2016 9:16 pm
Rolling Stone - Fri Jan 01, 2016 2:12 pm
Ann T. Pasto - Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:28 pm
Leoploh - Thu Dec 31, 2015 8:10 pm
Gormless Goorty - Wed Dec 30, 2015 11:40 pm

Sound familiar?

[Manforallseasons]

F.Y.I. As far as I can tell and this has been my experience that once you join the Cheesecake forum you cannot delete you membership, God knows I've tried. I have via email asked to be deleted, asked again and cheesecake' response has been something equivalent to ( why should I clean up your mess)........If you want to protect your username may I suggest you make one up.

[scottish-guy]

... most of the so-called 'Members' are either silent or are the dregs dredged up from the old Bitch Board..

Well, as anybody can see if they look, I joined it and if it turns out like PBB then that'll be a pity and I won't be contributing or lingering. I can see some others have problems with Bruce but I personally do not so I have not pre-judged him.

Obviously it's up to Bruce how he runs his board and who he admits to it, but from a SGT perspective it would be utterly naive to think that the likes of Uncle Albert, Kitty's Kilt, BadBoyBilly, Dolly, Smirks, Clive James, Timberty, Homintern, to name just a few have been sitting silently twiddling their thumbs since the demise of the Bitch Board and waiting for Bruce to open his board.

The infinitely more likely situation is that a high percentage of these characters (those whom Surfy hasn't banned) are amongst us on THIS board and I for one would like to know what handle/s these keyboard gangsters use on here. All PM's accepted :))

[Manforallseasons]

F.Y.I. As far as I can tell and this has been my experience that once you join the Cheesecake forum you cannot delete your membership, God knows I've tried. I have via email asked to be deleted, asked again and cheesecake' response has been something equivalent to ( why should I clean up your mess)........If you want to protect your username may I suggest you make one up.

Scotty your in good company.

[Smiles]

Well that didn't take long. That Brucie is nothing if not gloriously predictable: he waited for awhile, but just couldn't hold himself back ... he has finally started up his Bitcoin Discussion topic.

[lonelywombat]

Lead developer quits bitcoin saying it "has failed"

http://www.theage.com.au/business/lead- ... m7nx6.html (http://www.theage.com.au/business/lead-developer-quits-bitcoin-saying-it-has-failed-20160117-gm7nx6.html)
Date
January 17, 2016 - 3:48PM
Thursday, Dec. 10, 2015. Bitcoin, the digital currency, climbed on Wednesday to hit its highest levels since early November, amid fresh speculation that the identity of Satoshi Nakamoto -- the virtual currency's creator -- may have finally been revealed.

Bitcoin slid by 10 per cent on Friday after one of its lead developers, Mike Hearn, said in a blogpost that he was ending his involvement with the cryptocurrency and selling all of his remaining holdings because it had "failed".

Hearn, one of five senior developers who has spent more than five years working on the web-based currency, said he would no longer be taking part in development.

"Despite knowing that bitcoin could fail all along, the now inescapable conclusion that it has failed still saddens me greatly," Hearn said in his post on blog-publishing platform Medium.

Along with Gavin Andresen, who was chosen by bitcoin's elusive creator Satoshi Nakamoto as his successor when he stepped aside in 2011, Hearn has been locked for months in a battle with the other lead developers over whether the "blocks" in which bitcoin transactions are processed should be enlarged.

Each block currently has a capacity of one megabyte, which Hearn says is "an entirely artificial capacity cap", and allows a maximum of just three payments to be processed per second.

In August, Hearn and Andresen released a rival version of the current software, called Bitcoin XT, which would increase the block size to 8 megabytes, allowing up to 24 transactions to be processed every second. While that is still a fraction of the 20,000 or so that Visa can process, it would increase every year, so that bitcoin could continue to grow.

But the new software has not been adopted by the "mining" computers that secure the network, the majority of which are in China, according to Hearn.

Hearn says the bitcoin network is about to run out of capacity as the volume of transactions increases. And when that happens, the network will become unreliable, with payments unable to be processed and vulnerable to fraud.

"If an IT system runs out of capacity like that then all kinds of things go wrong - all hell breaks loose," he said in an interview with Reuters in late December.

Hearn reckons the bitcoin community has "failed" in its governance of the crytocurrency's code.

"What was meant to be a new, decentralised form of money that lacked 'systemically important institutions' and 'too big to fail' has become something even worse: a system completely controlled by just a handful of people," he wrote.

Sudden departure
Just months ago, in August, Hearn told Reuters that whether or not Bitcoin XT was adopted, the crypocurrency would live on. "If we thought it might be the end of bitcoin, we wouldn't do it," he said then.

Bitcoin was trading at around $US390 ($568) on the itBit exchange by 2000 GMT, down from $430 before Hearn's blog post was published.

In his December interview, Hearn said that when people realised that the bitcoin network was at breaking point, the price would fall.

"The current price of bitcoin is supported almost entirely by people speculating on its future, in the assumption that this could be the money of tomorrow," he said. "So if the network starts to collapse, then a lot of people are going to look at it and say: well maybe we've miscalculated (its) future value."

Hearn is now working for the R3CEV consortium of banks working on using the blockchain technology that underpins bitcoin in financial markets.

Stephan Tual, the former chief operating officer of blockchain firm Ethereum, who now works at blockchain-based app developer Slock.it, also reckons bitcoin's future looks shaky.

"Bitcoin is outdated technology - almost prehistoric by crypto standards," he said. "It's because of petty quarrels such as these that it hasn't been able to evolve in five years."

Others were more upbeat.

"I'm not ready to declare that Bitcoin has failed," wrote U.S. venture capitalist Fred Wilson.

"Sometimes it takes a crisis to get everyone in a room... So if we are going to have a crisis, let's get on with it. No better time than the present."