Jan 2014 a good opportunity to put 2013 behind SGT?

With 2013 being one of the worst years in the history of SGT along with 2012 and the whole period of Neal's awful tenure here, wouldn't it be an ideal time to draw a line in the sand with regards to the patchy life of the New SGT in 2013 and use 2014 to get this Board back to the highs it had before Neal was involved?

I think all it needs are a few of the long-time members to get back to regular posting here and get some momentum going, the past year where posting members have simply got "out of the habit" and become apathetic only needs a bit of a kick-start to the year to get things going and SGT could easily achieve the potential it should have had when Surfcrest first took over.

I don't however think Neal and some of the old stuff should be entirely forgotten, there should be a place on the Board where members can go to vent frustrations, but more importantly "set the record straight" regarding comments and claims made on TBB that are untrue, inaccurate or false. The Flaming Room was ideal for that, and don't know to this day why it was terminated. The Holding Room, according to the Board description, is different to what the Flaming Room achieved but that would be the next best place to have all Neal or TBB threads/ posts deposited. Not locked, not archived......just put where they can be read and posted to and any new posts started. Even if it was only one thread simply called "Neal and TBB" with all relevant posts/threads remaining there. A small corner of SGT.

There are till outstanding issues with regard to Neal, TBB, the owner/management here and some SGT members, this could certainly be dealt with in the Holding Room without any real impact on the main purpose of the Board. The splitting of threads which have gone out of control, been argumentative or seriously off topic could still go there so that all extreme elements that make up this diverse Board can be managed and accommodated to the exclusion of none.

On that theme wouldn't it be a good start to have a Timmberty amnesty so he could return if he so wished, (I know many don't care for his attitude but we are only dealing with words on a page after all) and his, along with any other posts the management doesn't 'care-for' instead of censorship, deletion and banning simply move these 'contributions' to Holding Room or re-introduce a Flaming Forum. There should be no reason for any members to voice any complaints about posts and posters if they are moved from the main Forum.

This year has started with a positive quantity of posts, I know there are many long time posters who do want to get back to regular posting, some who have good information and experiences outside the sex-for-sale areas of Pattaya and Bkk. The Pattaya/Bkk posts about boys and the sex trade are still the main topics for posts and one of the main reasons many come to SGT and that is perfectly fine. The bulk of my own posting contributions over the years are mainly trip reports about these areas, but it would be good to see a more wide-ranging array of topics in general appearing long side them.

I don't believe for a second there has been any so-called "natural decline" of the actual members who posted, I can only recall a handful of prominent posters who have passed-away over the last 2 years.......the readers and views are still there so therefore the potential posters must be too, it just needs motivation to get them all back on board. We have got rid of most of the snipers responsible for members not posting what may be seen as "run-of -the-mill" "nothing exciting" "mundane" posts such as my own non-pattaya/Bkk one's where these type of posts were subject to ridicule and abuse from a very, very small element in the past who declared their attacks on these posts and posters as 'fun' and more laughingly 'banter'.

The one most prominent in this category of trouble-makers has toned down dramatically over the past few months since members across all the gay Thailand boards made their feelings clear that his crap is unacceptable, and if it were not for his crawling up the arse of owners and moderators would have faced a more concerted response here too. Some excellent members who posted superb info and experiences simply left....they still read but post no more, I would dearly like to see some of these guys back.

The move by Surfcrest to sort-out the True Move issue where members had to use proxies has greatly helped the chances of some of these expat and long term posting members hopefully returning. If Surfcrest can keep the snapping attack-lapdog on a tight leash no reason why they won't return if things 'get going' The re-vamp of the 'look' of the Board along with Spike's return have also been a boost for the Board. It just needs to get the posting quantity back up to match it's potential.

All IMHO of course, and whatever you think of those opinions, you have to agree it would be great to see SGT back to the highs enjoyed pre-Neal's near fatal 'influence' and involvement and make visits to SGT far more worthwhile. I hope, time allowing, to try to dig up a few posts outwith Pattaya/Bkk (as well as some on them), how about some trip reports from members in Thailand over the last few weeks and start with some recent updates? There must be a few members there now with some valuable info. Even Sooty (not one prone to verbose outbursts) has already got the ball rolling.

Regarding your comments about Timmberty.

If he has been banned then the membership should be told, because it is entirely unfair to attack someone who does not enjoy the right of reply. So, Surfcrest, has he been banned?

Yes, this is true.

http://sawatdeenetwork.com/forum/aus...5.html#p284899

Surfcrest

Surfcrest. Ok, fair point...I didn't realise.

I apologise to Timmberty for any comments I have made about you since you were no longer a member.

Newalaan2,

First let me provide some quick clear answers on your initial suggestions;

!) Your тАЬsmall corner of SGTтАЭ for TBB discussions suggestion? No

2) Outstanding issues with regard to Neal, TBB? Deal with those issues there, not here please.

3) Have a Timmberty amnesty? No

I recently wrote a new Article for the front page describing briefly SawatdeeтАЩs history, including that of the early Boards and the people at the time who made that happen for us. While researching the changes this Board has seen prior to May 2011 I can tell you that fighting and sniping and drama have been playing out here..as has moderation from the very beginning.

Some of the earlier posts in this Forum date back to late 2004 / early 2005 including some of the rescued EZBoard threadsтАжhave a look!

I for one notice a civility with the Board today that we have not seen in the many years since the PattayaGay Board and of course, IтАЩm certainly not taking credit for that. Once again itтАЩs the hardening and the maturity of the membership to self-moderate itself for the most part and the exit of this handful of the Board's worst trouble makers.

A great guy was once quoted here as responding to a personal squabble by saying тАЬHey, IтАЩm only the guy keeping the engines runningтАЭ and so hopefully the need for moderation and management will be at a minimum so that we can focus on what we are more interested in, the platform, the software, the business and the future content for the site.

Surfcrest

.
I have 3 difficulties with Newalaan's "declaration of peace" which I suspect is essentially self-serving hogwash designed to provoke yet another fight:

1. It's at odds with his stated aim in that he attacks Neal (fair game??), Surf (for having a "patchy" site in 2013), and myself (check the "banter" reference). I'd suggest that only Newalaan and George W Bush believe that launching an attack is the best way to promote peace.

2. Timmberty/Brithai has been banned/deleted THREE times from this site by two different owners, and has been banned/deleted from every Gay Thailand site he has ever joined. This is the guy who posted jokes about the suicide of a well-known Pattaya bar-owner even before his funeral and also posted jokes about victims of a tragic accident even as the bodies were still being pulled from the debris and tried to justify it as "black humour" It was a complete misjudgement by the former owner to allow him back on here during the so-called amnesty in 2012 - some of us told him so at the time and have been proved correct. It is Surfcrest's call as to whether Timmberty is ever allowed back here again - not a "cause celebre" for Newallan to promote - and it appears from Surfcrest's post that he has made that call.

3. I notice that Newallan does not refer to modifying his own behaviours/attitudes as part of his proposals. It has already been stated elsewhere on this board that Newallan (despite all the useful and informative contributions he makes, and I'm being sincere when I say that) is the most non-compliant member of SGT in so far as he requires a vastly disproportionate degree of scrutiny applied to his output and is completely incapable of accepting any moderation whatsoever without throwing his toys out of the pram.

Now, let's see how much restraint he can exercise in his "fresh start" spirit when he inevitably responds to this post.

:ymparty:

I don't see any problem with the site at all during 2013.
Any lapse in posting may be because of less trolls to counter/less bitch-fights.
Whiney posts are just ignored and no need to counter
(imagined over-moderation and such).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scottish-guy

2. This is the guy who posted jokes about the suicide of a well-known Pattaya bar-owner even before his funeral and also posted jokes about victims of a tragic accident even as the bodies were still being pulled from the debris and tried to justify it as "black humour"

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Oh come along scottish-guy, jokes about Lady Diana were being bandied about before her body even left the Paris hospital where she was pronounced dead, and I think when the Challenger space shuttle blew up it took only seven minutes for the "black humour" to start. The most subtle comment I heard about Diana was "You'd think her fortune teller would have told her to fasten her seat belt", others were way, way more "robust". "Black humour" will always be with us. I don't accept it's a reason for banning someone from posting.

.

I think you can rest assured that Timmberty was not banned just for making a couple of bad-taste jokes.

:-?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scottish-guy

I think you can rest assured that Timmberty was not banned just for making a couple of bad-taste jokes.

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So why include it as the second of your three reasons for banning him? You're now saying he was banned for (1) and (3) only but you thought you would throw in (2) gratuitously to bolster your case?