Gaybutton

I would agree about keeping software up to date if what the software people say the updates are for would actually work. As for the software upgrades to this board, I don't know why you are defending it when you ended up being a victim of the very security issues they're supposed to have fixed. Worked great, didn't it? You post as if you think I'm trying to criticize the board. I'm not. I'm criticizing Invision for selling software that isn't working properly. And it isn't working properly. If it was, nobody would have anything to complain about. People are blaming the browsers, the ISPs, their own settings - everything except the software itself. You seem to think a software upgrade is equivalent to an improvement. That isn't always the case and most of the time when I upgrade software, board software or any other software, aside from a few icon and graphics changes, I'll be damned if I can tell the difference between what I had before and what I've got since the upgrade. With almost every piece of software I've got, whenever there's been an upgrade I almost never see anything working any better than it did before, doing anything differently from what it did before, working no faster than it did before, and adding nothing new that I needed. So you're right - when my software is working just fine and doing everything I want it to do, I fail to see any reason to upgrade just for the sake of upgrading. Most of the time I think "upgrade" is the wrong word. That makes it sound as if, "Oh boy! Now I'm going to have something much better!" I almost never do. Most of the time I end up with something that's essentially no different from what I already had and I can't find any sigificant difference or improvement. So, what's the point? "New and improved. What were we using before, old and lousy?" - Rob Reiner (Michael Stivic), 'All in the Family' If you really think the latest upgrade improved the software that runs this board, fine with me. I think the board worked far better before this latest upgrade. I would reject my "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" opinion if upgrading the software actually fixed something. So, I'll repeat the same question I've asked several times and still nobody has answered: What security issues were actually fixed and did this board, Gay Thailand, ever experience a security problem in the first place? I don't know the answer to the first part of that question, but I'll bet the answer to the second part of the question is "no."

It might be the board software, but even if it is, if you can fix it on your own side with a couple simple changes, why not? It's either that or you'll have to put up with it. I asked a question weeks, or maybe even a month or two ago by now, about upgrading the board software, but the question was never answered. When I asked why upgrade the board software at all, the answer I got was by upgrading, it resolves security issues. The question that was never answered was what security issues even existed? I know of no security breaches that ever occurred while I was moderating this board and I know of none after I stopped moderating here. Then the software was upgraded and people have been complaining ever since. Then, recently, apparently Michael's password was hacked. I know of no incidents of anyone's password or any other aspect of the boardmever being hacked until after the software upgrade. Maybe this is a stupid question, but where does the resolved security issues part come in . . . ?

There are still a few problems. For example, when I was using an older version of my browser of choice, Firefox, I couldn't access this board without going through the main web site to get here. Now that I'm using the current version, I'm no longer having that problem. I do have to log in every time I visit this board, though, but that's no big deal. A click of the button and I'm in. As for the hieroglyphic, that might be easy to fix. Check the character encoding on your browser. Simply changing it to something else might fix the problem. If that doesn't work, try a different browser and see if the same problem is happening. If it is not happening with another browser, then set your browser of choice to the same character encoding and default font as it's set on the "good" browser. That's the best I can come up with. If none of that fixes the problem, then you need someone who knows much more about computers than I do. That's the latest inovation I'd love to see them come up with. Instead of all the bells and whistles innovations that seem to come out all the time, how about coming out with a computer that simply works?

That might be true if 3 are competing. I don't know where you got the idea that this board, Sawatdee, or my board are competing. Competing for what? The most members? The most posts? Winning a "my board is better than your board" contest? The fact is all three board owners fully cooperate with each other. Whenever I have contacted Scooby or z909 about some sort of problem, they have never failed to respond, and quickly. The owner of Sawatdee and I are friends. I have even been to his home helping him with some problems he was having on his board. Whenever the management of this board or Sawatdee has asked me for help or cooperation, I have never refused it and probably never will. The boards are not competing with each other. They're cooperating with each other. You know who is competing? Some of the board members. It's those folks who are playing the "which is the best board" game, and that's something the board owners don't do. To me, trying to decide which is the 'best' board is utter nonsense. There is no such thing. Each board offers its own unique attributes. If you prefer one over the other, that's fine. If all three boards were the same and operated under the same sets of rules, the same moderating styles, and were virtual clones of each other, then why not just consolidate all three into one board and save the web surfing time? If people want to play a "the board I like is the best board" game, that's up to them. Go right ahead and play it. Meanwhile, I'll bet most of them read all three of the boards. In any case, if there really is some sort of competition going on, include me out. I'm not interested and never was. And I don't think any of the board owners are interested either.

If that happens, it won't come from me. I've said my piece on this subject and have nothing to add to what I've already said. I'll resist the temptation to respond to the attack responses I fully expect to come from the usual suspects, one of which already has appeared.

I had planned to file the paperwork for that right after Songkran. Can I use you as a lack of character witness? Of course, if I ever apply to be burned at the stake instead, I have no doubt you'll be right there volunteering to light the match.

Unless I'm missing something, it also has nothing to do with gay Thailand. In my view, people who come to a gay Thailand board because they enjoy putting down and abusing others don't belong on these boards in the first place. When the question was asked, "If people want to tear each other apart whose place is it to tell them not to," I can't speak for other boards, but on my board I thought the answer was plain: Mine.

Since moderators are being discussed, I'd like to chime in. First, if you talk to six different people you'll get six different opinions about how to properly moderate a message board. When it comes to my methods, like what I do or hate what I do, one fact I don't believe anyone is going to dispute is from among all the gay Thailand message board moderators, I've been around a lot longer than any of them. If I've learned nothing else from my experience I've learned, and have posted this several times before, "No matter what I do, somebody doesn't like what I do." I don't believe there is any such thing as a right answer about how to moderate a message board. Most people I know who, including me, who have been on the administrative end of these message boards tried at first to give as much leeway as possible to what people wanted to post. I think most moderators ended up realizing in the end, that just doesn't work. I wish it did, but it doesn't. If one is not experienced on the moderator end, it's easy to think the job is very simple. It isn't. In my own case, over the years I've been called every name you can think of, have been criticized, lampooned, and have been personally attacked in posts more times than Carter's has Liver Pills, have lost friends, have been the subject of hatred, have been subjected to a blackmail attempt, have been threatened with physical violence - you name it. 99 times out of 100, the moderators are going to hear all about what individuals don't like and almost never about anything they do like. Despite all that, like it or not I'm still here. I agree with that with one exception - even with that many boards available there are still going to be some who don't like any of them. What it all boils down to is a moderator can only do what he believes is the best way to do things, despite the opinions of the critics. I don't think any moderator is doing things because he thinks it's the wrong thing to do. As soon as a moderator tries to moderate based on what others have decided is the way to do things, that's when he's in trouble. When you want to criticize a moderator, ask yourself whether if you were in his position, would you be doing what you think is right or would you be doing what somebody else thinks is right? Moderators are human too. We make mistakes, errors in judgment, and do things we later regret just like anyone else. We do the best we can. If that's not good enough, sorry about that, but that's the way it is. One thing is very clear to me. Michael did not write the "This is a suck ass site" post.

I hope all of you realize, and should have realized the moment the post appeared, there is no way Michael submitted that post. It's perfectly obvious to me that somehow someone managed to obtain his password. To me, there are four questions: 1. Who got his password? 2. How did he get Michael's password? 3. Once he had the password, what reason would he have to use it to write that post and do nothing else? 4. Why didn't that person change Michael's password so that when the real Michael saw the post, he would be unable to respond? I also don't believe any of the moderators would have or could done this, even if any of them actually had gone off the deep end and conjured up some reason to do it. Even the board owner cannot see people's passwords. All the owner and moderators can see is that series of large black dots that we all see when entering passwords. Michael, is there any possibility that rather than hacking into your account, someone had access to your own computer and used it as a means to log in and post that?

At least they won't need a police artist to make a composite of what the thief looks like . . .

Congratulations. You got it. I've done it on my board before. I did it here as a follow-up to fountainhall's OP. I got a little carried away with it, but had a good time. I also just noticed a typo on my movie quote answers. "A Dunny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" 'Dunny' should be 'Funny,' but I didn't notice it in time to be able to edit the post.

Ok, since nobody seems to know these, or not bothering to try, here's the answers to all but identifying the 'mystery' movie. I know somebody will come up with that one: 1. "I'm a soothsayer. I'm about to say the sooth." - Zero Mostel, Pseudolus, 'A Dunny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum 2. "Made it Ma! Top of the World!" - James Cagney, Cody Jarrett, 'White Heat' - Rogie gets the stars 3. "I'm King of the World!" - Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Dawson, 'Titanic' 4. "I'm having a friend for dinner." - Anthony Hopkins, Dr. Hannibal Lecter, 'Silence of the Lambs' 5. "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with a pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true" - Mildred Natwick (to Danny Kaye), Griselda, 'The Court Jester' 6. "Is it safe?" Laurence Olivier, Christian Szell, 'Marathon Man' - Rogie gets the stars 7. "It profits a man nothing to sell his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?" Paul Scofield, Thomas More, 'A Man for All Seasons' 8. "Let's win one for the Gipper." - Pat O'Brien, Knute Rockne, 'Knute Rockne All American' 9. "I've got the motive which is money and the body which is dead!" - Rod Steiger, Sheriff Gillespe, 'In the Heat of the Night' 10. "I am not an animal! I am a human being!" - John Hurt, John Merrick, 'The Elephant Man'

No takers? Ok, one last hint:

Yep . . . you got those right. Here's my big hint for that movie challenge to identify. Anybody have it now? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4NXEKx7GuU

I know quite a few, but certainly not all. Here's a few more - some relatively easy, some difficult - same gold star rules: 1. "I'm a soothsayer. I'm about to say the sooth." 2. "Made it Ma! Top of the World!" 3. "I'm King of the World!" 4. "I'm having a friend for dinner." 5. "The pellet with the poison's in the vessel with a pestle. The chalice from the palace has the brew that is true" 6. "Is it safe?" 7. "It profits a man nothing to sell his soul for the whole world. But for Wales?" 8. "Let's win one for the Gipper." 9. "I've got the motive which is money and the body which is dead!" 10. "I am not an animal! I am a human being!" _______________________________ And double gold stars if anyone can identify this movie: The son runs into the bedroom, sees his father and his aunt, says "Uh-oh," and turns to run out of the room again. Father: "Wait! Why aren't you in school?" Son: "It's Saturday." Father: "Always some excuse!" -same movie- She: "You couldn't wait to marry me. You had to marry me. Or you couldn't live without me." He: "And nothing's changed." She: "Nothing's changed!?! You're going to marry her!" He: "That's the only thing that's changed."

Please give me more of a challenge than that: To Kill a Mockingbird You almost aced it, but not quite. #3 is Sonny - with 2 n's. #6 - right actor, right character, wrong movie. Are you sure you didn't do any cheating? In 'Jaws', Quint's first name is never spoken. In 'The Great Escape,' the SS officer's name is never spoken.

You get all three gold stars for #5, even though you wrote "actor" where you should have written "Character." You get one gold star for #8 Zero for #9 - sorry . . . You're in the lead with four gold stars. Of course so far you're the only contestant.

When it comes to movies, I usually seem to remember quite a bit. For me, anyway, most of these are quite simple: 1. “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” - Casablanca 2. “I’ll go home and I’ll think of some way to get him back. After all, tomorrow is another day!” - Gone with the Wind 3. “Well, nobody’s perfect!” - Some Like it Hot 4. “Oh no, it wasn’t the airplanes, It was beauty that killed the beast.” - King Kong 5. “The son of a bitch stole my watch!” - The Front Page 6. “Mother of mercy! Is this the end of Rico?” - Little Caesar 7. “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist. And like that – poof – he’s gone!” - (You you got me on this one. Don't know it.) 8. “Mein Fuhrer, I can walk!” - Dr. Strangelove (I think - not sure) 9. “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” - Chinatown 10. “The stuff that dreams are made of.” - The Maltese Falcon ________________________________________ Now, how about a few of mine? These aren't last lines, but real movie buffs ought to recognize most of these. One gold star if you know the movie. Two gold stars if you remember the movie and the name of character who spoke the line or the actor who played the part. Three gold stars if you remember the movie, the name of character who spoke the line, and the actor who played the part: 1. " Fasten your seat belts. It's going to be a bumpy night." 2. "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" 3. "Attica! Attica! Attica!" 4. "Hello! McFly." 5. "Your eyes are full of hate, 41. That's good. Hate keeps a man alive." 6. "So let it be written. So let it be done." 7. "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." 8. "I am a Hindu - and a Christian and a Moslem, and so are all of you." 9. "Your German is good and I hear also your French. Your arms - UP!" 10. "You go in the cage, cage goes in the water, shark is in the water. Our shark. (singing) 'Farewell and Adieu to You Fair Spanish Ladies' . . ." As an aside, my family has always had this kind of interest in movies. When I was just born, my grandmother came to help my mother with me. She stayed a week and for the whole week they were trying to remember the name of an actor, but couldn't come up with the name. The night my grandmother returned to her home, my mother's telephone rang at about 3:00am. When she drowsily said hello, she heard my grandmother's voice: "Louis Calhern" followed by a click as Grandma hung up her phone. . .

Forget it, fountainhall. Some people argue only because they like to needlessly and pointlessly argue. No matter what you say, that type will still argue no matter how nonsensical it gets.

Extension of stay. When I showed you mine, it clearly shows the word "RETIREMENT" does it not? What's the part I'm so wrong about? What's the part you think I have a problem about? Is it because I call it a visa when on a technical basis it's not actually a visa? As I said before, call it what you want. I'm going to call it a retirement visa because that's what it amounts to. Does this quibbling about technical terms really matter? It doesn't matter to me in the slightest. To me whether the term "visa" is stamped in or not, it's a retirement visa. The Immigration authorities stamped in the word "retirement" and guess what - I never used the word "retirement" on my application and nobody asked me whether it's for retirement. Nevertheless, you saw for yourself the word "retirement" stamped in by Immigration on my . . . whatever you call it. I don't have a problem about anything. What I have, no matter what term you want to use, is what is needed annually to stay in Thailand for another year. I don't give a damn whether technically it's called a retirement visa, an extension, or anything else. There's nothing for me to research and report back about because I couldn't care less. The important thing, and what the subject of this thread is by the way, is not what it's called, but how to get it.

I don't care what the technical term might be either. As far as I'm concerned, once they issue the visa, now you're good for a year. What else matters? By the way, each of my annual visas are stamped into my passport with the word "RETIREMENT" in big bold all-caps letters, surrounded by a box. Bkkguy can argue about it all he wants from now 'til Kingdom Come, but to me that makes it a retirement visa and perfectly proper to call it a retirement visa. If bkkguy wants to call it something else, I certainly won't stand in his way.

Considering it's right there on their own web site, there's not much for me to be correct or incorrect about. Next logical question: When you were there, did they say anything to you about making an appointment next time you come? I'm guessing they didn't, which brings up yet another question: If they're not enforcing what they've posted on their own web site, then why did they post it in the first place and why haven't they either removed or amended it if they're going to take walk-ins anyhow? If I have to go to the embassy for anything, I'm still going to make the appointment whether they enforce it or not. It takes less than a minute and that way, if they're crowded, I'll be walking in with an appointment and maybe get taken a lot sooner than if I was a walk-in.

That comes as a surprise because the embassy's own web site says, "Beginning September 1, 2011, all non-emergency consular services will require an appointment." ( http://bangkok.usembassy.gov/service.html ). I don't know whether you were lucky or whether they're not following their own published policy, but I'd rather make the appointment rather than rely on luck.

You mean you're in Thailand now? Then why not get your retirement visa while you're still here?

Everybody has his first time. Everyone I've ever personally gone with to obtain a first time retirement visa, and me too the first time, was a nervous wreck until having that visa in hand. Considering your entire future depends on getting that visa, it would be difficult not to be nervous. Once you have it and see how easy it is to do, you'll probably have the same reaction everyone else has, which is "What the hell was I so nervous about?"