Gaybutton

Thank you very much. I hope your board and mine will be able to work together as "sister" boards, supportive of each other. Some people, and even some other boards, view it as if the boards are in competition with each other. Who has the most members? Who has the most posts? I have never understood what difference any of that is supposed to make. I thought the purpose of the various boards is to try to enhance and promote Thailand and gay life in Thailand, along with helping "newbies" and providing what information we are able to provide in a joint effort from board owners and moderators, along with the membership. I believe this board and mine are already doing just that. I hope the day will come when all the boards and everyone involved can cooperate with each other.

That one appears to be closed.

No. Mine works just fine. As a matter of fact some of what I have been wanting has actually been coming in much faster lately.

Google. There is a Thai version and they can search using the Thai language.

Since when . . . ?

If Jesus was looking down, three guesses who He would have most likely been looking at.

Maybe so. I've offered my advice. Now I'm going to keep my nose out of it unless asked. People usually don't mind free advice once or twice. After that it becomes very annoying.

I understand that, but if you're looking for more gay Thai men, don't you think advertising in English language publications is kind of a strange way to go about it? You need to advertise in Thai language publications and web sites and you're going to need a Thai person who is bilingual and at least nearly fluent with English to help you create the kinds of ads you want.

Do you mean errors such as writing 'use' when it should be 'used' or writing 'loose' when it should be 'lose'? Sorry, now that I no longer hold moderator status here I can't get into your posts to keep doing that . . .

What for? Everybody and his brother already knows this web site. My free unsolicited advice would be to save your money for other things.

No. It occurred in anticipation of your own possible arrival, though. Meanwhile, does anyone know if the raid actually took place?

Everyone seems to know a raid is on for tonight, but nobody seems to know what kind of raid it will be if it does take place. Of course, when everybody knows in advance that a raid is going to happen, then anyone caught up in it would have to be a little "tetched" in the first place. I was in Sunee Plaza this evening. It started really emptying out about 10:30pm.

That's tellin' 'em! Well, if you're going to name and shame people you can start with me because I'm going to go to any bar I please and I couldn't care less who does or doesn't like it. I am vehemently opposed to sex with under-age boys, but I'm not going to enter a bar and start insisting upon seeing ID cards for the boys working there. I don't think it's incumbent upon customers to check ID cards unless they are going to take a boy off. That's when to check. Dealing with the problem of under-age boys is,to my mind, the job of the bar itself, the police, and the Thai government. It's definitely not the job of the customer. If I take a boy off from a bar, he's going to be at least 18 years old, but I'm not going to deprive myself of finding the 18+ year old just because the bar may also have under-age boys working there. I'm not the police. I'm not going to check the ages of all the boys any more than I'm going to walk into a bar and insist on pee testing all the boys. That's not my responsibility and I'm not that great at correctly guessing ages at a glance.

12 employees tested positive for drugs. That's about 25% of the entire staff. Way to go! 40 foreign customers? 40? In one bar? Are there even that many customers in all of Sunee Plaza these days?

I wish they were all at my place, but "I no lucky."

I hope you do well. I'm curious. What motivated you to buy this board and web site and what plans do you have for it?

The entry and exit stamps in your passport might give them a clue . . .

That's the part that bothers me. Is there really anybody left who isn't aware that Customs is very likely to inspect a laptop computer, especially if a single male coming from Thailand is carrying it? Is there really anybody left who is actually stupid enough to have illegal photos on his laptop anymore? I would have thought by now people would have more sense. Customs has the right to inspect anything coming in from a foreign country . . . anything. Many think it's unfair for Customs to single out males coming in from Thailand. Fairness has nothing to do with Customs law and profiling is a major part of how Customs operates. Fair or not, that's the way it is. I used to bring plants back from Thailand. I had a valid plant import permit and and valid paperwork from Thailand agricultural inspection. I knew what I was doing and how to bring plants back legally and alive. One time I had an entire suitcase loaded with plants and the Customs officer waved me right on through even though on the Customs card I had checked off that I was bringing plants. I pointed that out to the Customs inspector and told him I need to go through the agricultural inspection line. My property was designated as a certified plant quarantine area and I would have had a rough time trying to explain to the inspector what I was doing with a lot of plants of foreign origin without having Customs certification. The point is, since I had checked off that I was bringing in plants, I asked the Customs officer how come he was going to wave me through if I hadn't verbally volunteered I was carrying plants despite the fact I had checked off the correct box on the Customs declaration card. His answer - "You don't fit the profile." I only wish I was smuggling jewelery!

That's a very good point and I'll bet Customs has software and retrieval methods far more sophisticated than is available to the public. I think, if you are carrying your own computer, the best way to protect yourself is to assume that anything that ever has been on your hard drive can be retrieved no matter what you do. The safest solution I can think of would be to buy an inexpensive external hard drive or a memory stick and leave the damned thing in the trash before returning home. If you have photos or whatever, you can always Email them to yourself before traveling.

If you ever decide to change your mind you'll be welcome on my board. I don't have a problem with you at all. Everybody has his own preferences and there are enough boards so that there's something for everyone's preferences.

I've never seen any laptops offered for rent in Thailand. Some hotels might offer laptop rental for their guests, but I have no idea which hotels, if any, offer such service. Some hotels have lobby computers for their guests. If that doesn't work for you, one possible alternative might be finding an inexpensive computer in a pawn shop, buying it, using it for the month, and selling it back when you're ready to leave. You'll lose money, but other than the above suggestions or bringing your own or using the internet shops, I can't think of what else you can do. It would seem to me that the best thing for you to do, if you own a laptop, would be to back up everything important onto a portable hard drive or something before your trip, coming to Thailand, doing whatever you're going to do while you're here, and then formatting the hard drive or deleting just about everything before you return home. You still might be searched, but that way there would be nothing for customs to find.

Everybody I know who has 3BB has had similar complaints. I stuck with Maxnet. I'm glad I did. I very rarely have any problems. Once in awhile I do, but not often. If I ever switch to 3BB it will be after I no longer hear complaints.

I appreciate that. I hope you will stay on here as a moderator. This board will be in excellent hands with you moderating. I hope the new owners have the good sense to keep you on as moderator.

For the record, I am no longer a moderator on this board. My moderator status, at my own request to GT, has been removed. I enjoyed the better part of the 4½ years I moderated this board, but now that the board has been sold and I have started my own board, I will be happy to continue posting here on occasion, but under new management, people I don't know, I prefer to be just any other poster rather than a moderator. Also, I'll be far too busy moderating my own board and I will do the bulk of my posting on my own board. But I'll certainly be checking in here from time to time. If I can be of any assistance to the new owners, I will be happy to do so if they request it of me. I hope this board and my board will be companion boards. If the new owners need assistance from me, I hope they won't hesitate to come to me. I also hope if I need assistance from them, I will be welcome to come to them. I thank GT for having given me the opportunity to moderate this board and I thank him for putting up with all the trouble I gave him over the years.

Have you tried the Office Depot at the HomeWorks shopping center, on Sukhumvit next to the Big-C on Pattaya Tai? If they don't have it they can probably order it for you.