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GATOR420
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Thanks for the compliment on the forum. One reason it loads slower than this one is that it pulls all categories/forums/topics (as there are several more) on one page. I could change that, and have it only display categories, with forums being hidden until clicked on. This would improve the initial loading speed. This is the type of feedback I was looking for via PM.
However, I can't imagine there is a conflict of interest. In a post not too long ago (minutes ago) by Honolulu Jimmy, he just pasted a link to the ThaiVisa.com board. Is that advertising? Or is it OK, because he doesn't run the board? Or is he disloyal because he's also reading from another board?
The fact is, we all don't go to only one source to get our information. If one chooses to get their information from one source, and one source only, they would have a seriously one sided view of the world wouldn't you think?
This is not a conflict of interest, as it's in everyone's BEST interest to be informed and to have as many places to get information from as they can. I do not feel I am competing with any of those boards. Just providing another watering hole for people thirsty for information with a different structure. In fact, on my board, I have links back to this board. I am not afraid of people getting their information somewhere else. It's natural.
On another note, I receive absolutely no benefit for my efforts other than knowing I've tried to do something good, and give something back. Because I have taken so much tremendously valuable information from this board, and can't provide the same value of information in return, I do what I can. What I can do is provide a service. A service I thought would be most helpful. But hey, that's just me trying to be selfless and give back.
Again, my efforts were in the best interests of the community at hand. No hard feelings, and perhaps we can discuss it further at the RT over a beer if you are planning on attending. If I've offended anyone else by my posts, well, don't read 'em or PM to discuss further. 
-G
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 3:57 pm on Nov. 17, 2003
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Vancouver Jay
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Gator,
You've done pretty well with an out of the box solution. That comes from somebody who has installed UBB, YaBB, phpBB and troubleshot a half-dozen more BBS packages.
I'm going to decline with thanks your offer to host the poll. If a running bars poll is viable and worthwhile, I want BK to have it here if he wishes. It's a matter of first loyalties and frankly I trust my own code more than anyone else's.
The link posting and advertising issues is a hard one. This board doesn't clamp down nearly as hard as the link nazis at that other notable board. Maybe you'll get a PM from BK about this, maybe not. It probably doesn't matter though since you'd be hard pressed to find any new Thailand nightlife board started in the last few years that has managed to catch on and attract a significant membership.
As I alluded to in another thread recently, I've got third-party traffic numbers on all the Thai-nightlife sites and there are only four worth talking about in terms of readership: this place (forum and site), 'plaza, Stick and Bonk's trio of sites.
It's not enough to just to be new, you also need fresh content plus an attractive and unique voice as the "puu-yai board", and do plan on putting far more time into it than you'd planned. There aren't enough dissatisfied users on any board to rely solely on a schism to populate your board and most guys just don't have time to participate heavily on two boards anyway.
Good luck to you but you're swimming against the tide. Just like dot com in general, the bubble has burst on pussy boards and we're in an age of consolidation. The burned out hulks of message boards on the delphiforums service tells that sad tale.
If you've got true talent as a writer -- and you may as you seem to be able to string together coherent sentences -- why not consider blogging? It seems to be a happy medium between message boards and nightlife columns and nobody has done it yet in the LoS sphere of interest.
And for the record I really detest it when anybody posts a link or cuts-and-pastes from thaivisa.com for several reasons. Foremost because they are thieves: they lift content from bangkokpost.net, nationmultimedia.com and other sources without attribution and apparently without permission or compensation. They are also very quick to stifle non-mainstream voices on their forum.
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Bangkok Women : Meet Sensual Bangkok Women
Posted on: 10:31 pm on Nov. 17, 2003
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DeepThaid
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Here's my two cents.
Gator:
Appreciate your offer and the intention behind it, but would have to agree with the other bros on this one. Why bother with an alternative site when BKT seems to be doing so well, has an excellent site layout, a great feature set, wealth of useful information, and a large, active and loyal member base? Why not try and make it even more useful?
VJ:
Replied to your earlier PMs. I've also been thinking about the need to prevent spamming of the poll site while allowing users to update/change/add to their previous ratings, with the changes being tallied up in real time. I think the best way to do this would be to tie votes with individual member tags. If BK is okay with using members' reg data for this, we could put a warning to this effect on the page. We could also freeze and archive each month's final results for showing trends, and tracking the rise or fall of individual bar's ratings.
Another issue that's been bothering me is the possible effect of poll results (if the idea really catches on) on traffic to specific bars themselves. Would the poll negate the very purpose that it's meant to serve (i.e., help point out the winners) by redirecting punters to the best bars, ruining the latter through overexposure (no pun intended!) ? On the other hand, it could be argued that it would only serve to make the flow of information more efficient (by providing another channel to word-of-mouth, FR and other existing sources of news and opinions), and could put pressure on (and provide feedback to) the more complacent bar owners to improve on specific aspects. Also, let's not forget that individuals might use it for different purposes, and not just go for the overall rating (i.e., some may prefer ‘cheaper drinks' to ‘better music', etc.).
Am I being too presumptuous about the utility of our little idea?
Maybe not. Let's make history, and we shall soon find out!
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Thai Girls : Meet Sexy Thai Girls
Posted on: 2:17 pm on Nov. 18, 2003
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Vancouver Jay
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@DT --
Saw your PM. Reg is the best way to prevent fraud, since votes will be tagged with usernames in the background. You can take the proposal to BK?
Sketchy looking votes (I won't define that here) could get a PM -- I can build widget that will flag suspect votes, hold them out of the db until confirm or rejected. Easy.
"Would the poll negate the very purpose that it's meant to serve "?
With members-only access to view results, no.
With guest access to view results, probably not. This is the king-eye whammy of pussy boards, but not the center of the webverse. Even if there are 5 lurkers to evfery registered members, it's still not enough man-days in BKK to really screw things up. And most people aren't assholes, anyhow.
"Also, let's not forget that individuals might use it for different purposes"
Exactly. Your favorite bar for one feature (music, crowd) may be my least favorite for the same reason.
We're not running some "best bar" lameass poll, we're doing a catagorical evaluation.
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Bangkok Girls : Meet Sexy Bangkok Girls
Posted on: 10:36 pm on Nov. 18, 2003
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DeepThaid
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Ok, just wanted to get that out of the way. At least now we can pretend to have thought this through!
Let's get a poll page layout together and put this brilliant idea to BK for consent.
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Thai Women : Meet Matured Thai Women
Posted on: 3:13 am on Nov. 19, 2003
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