Gay forums

[Guest ryanasia]

I know that there are three or four and don't want an argument. Which ones are the most active or have the most members these days? 

 

I am looking at other forums and you can go weeks without replies. So would it be fair to say that this site has less members but is more active? 

 

Would gaythailand be at the bottom of the scale? I seem to think it is the newest and the friendliest. 

 

So by volume alone how would you rate the top 3 sites?

 

 

[ggobkk]

I link to three sites, this one, gaybutton and sawatdee network.  This one seems to be the most helpful when information is needed. Members seem to want to help.

 

Gaybutton (to me) has a lot of information on Pattaya and has had some interesting extend travel pieces.  It has a good search function. I seem to recall that it almost closed down and then came back strong after a regroup.  There are times when it does not seem to have much activity.  (My impression)

 

Sawatdee has also been revamped. I believe Moses, who is on this board had a big hand in keeping it going.  It was the home of the bangkokbois blog which introduced scores and scores of farangs to the boys of Bangkok. and drew lots of numbers to the site.  When the author died the site needed the revamping it received.   It has some strengths and sometimes can be kidnapped by ongoing back and forth point scoring.

 

If I remember ChristianPFC posted a list of sites from over the years...I believe it can be found on his homepage.

[ggobkk]

Here's the link to ChristianPFC listing

 

http://christianpfc.blogspot.com/2015/02/gay-forums-blogs-guides-and-encounters.html

[vinapu]

I read all three forums and Christian blog daily time  permitting  but have a time to contribute only here, we are least moderated and best behaved of all three.

[ChristianPFC]

Three active forums, of which this is currently the busiest. Everyone who has been around for a while will notice that the same subjects are discussed over and over again (favorites are drink prices, tips for boys and tips for service staff).

 

You have to distinguish between active members and total member number. There can be thousands of registered members, many of them not participating in discussion, maybe not even reading any more. (And those who participate, you have to rate the quality of their participation.)

[firecat69]

On all of the Forums if you just scroll to the bottom you will see how many members have been on in the last hour and also how many visitors.

 

There are always many more visitors then members , sometimes 20x as much. This information is available on all the Forums and is updated continuously .

 

There are many visitors every day that I assume are looking for information without having to register .  So the things we discuss are read and believed or not believed by far more people then ever post anything.

[vinapu]

 

There are always many more visitors then members ,

Correct , for example at this very moment I'm typing it  22 members and 150 visitors, all welcomed I haste to add

[Guest cdnmatt]

There are always many more visitors then members , sometimes 20x as much. This information is available on all the Forums and is updated continuously .

 

There are many visitors every day that I assume are looking for information without having to register .  So the things we discuss are read and believed or not believed by far more people then ever post anything.

 

I wouldn't necessarily believe that.  Granted, most forum software will filter out bots from places like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, etc....  but there's a lot of other companies out there running bots that crawl the internet to garner various metrics about sites.

[firecat69]

You might be right that the visitors could be inflated but even at 1/4 of what is shown would be far more then members.

 

Maybe Michael will chime in because I am sure he knows where those visitors listed might come from.

[vinapu]

Everyone who has been around for a while will notice that the same subjects are discussed over and over again (favorites are drink prices, tips for boys and tips for service staff).

 

 

At least by debating those usually we arrive to some conclusions which can't be said about UN Security Council debating the same peace in the Middle East since 1948 and going nowhere.

 

Obviously there's interest in those subjects and most of us taking part in discussion know what they are talking about.

 

But in between,  there's tons of practical information of use to both new and  regular visitors.

[Guest ryanasia]

Three active forums, of which this is currently the busiest. Everyone who has been around for a while will notice that the same subjects are discussed over and over again (favorites are drink prices, tips for boys and tips for service staff).

 

You have to distinguish between active members and total member number. There can be thousands of registered members, many of them not participating in discussion, maybe not even reading any more. (And those who participate, you have to rate the quality of their participation.)

 

Seems your impression is the same as mine. That other forums are larger but at the moment this one is the most active. For my purposes that is probably why I like it here. The amount of lurkers doesn't benefit me as opposed to the amount of active members. When was this forum started? 

[kokopelli]

 When was this forum started? 

April 2006 ?

[bucknaway]

I like Sawatdee, but it seemed as if many of my posts there turned into a fight and I have grown tired of internet fights.  I don't argue and fight in "Real" life so I don't want to do it on-line on forums.

 

I read Gaybutton.  There are often good topics here.  I tried joining a few times but it never seemed to go through.  When they have a topic that makes me want to contribute, I am sure I will try to join again.

 

I like boytoy.com forum.  They have very good information about many gay destinations and I can't remember ever seeing argumentative posts there.  If you ever plan to go to Brazil, that is the board you should be reading!

 

This board?  I am enjoying myself here.  It has the perfect amount of activity and the topics are fresh and enteresting and the people here are friendly, helpful and not afraid to share.

[Londoner]

I have the impression that a number of the Sawatdee posters know each other and use the board to pursue issues that have their origins in their personal lives. This situation has much improved under recent ownership; before Neal's time, there was a lot of abuse; it was sometimes as though I was intruding on some sort of private argument, fuelled by alcohol. 

[Guest ryanasia]

Yeah I think I tried to join Gaybutton and nothing went through as well. I will check out Boytoy now, thanks for the tip.

[bucknaway]

Yeah I think I tried to join Gaybutton and nothing went through as well. I will check out Boytoy now, thanks for the tip.

You're going to LOVE it over there!  

 

http://www.boytoy.com/forums/

[Guest whall]

Interesting! I'll check out that site!

[pong]

agree with about all above-the last 3-4 monthes this is indeed the most lively forum of the 3.

Small remark re GBT: I think/remember you have to SEND khun lung GB a personal mail to advise him you want to join-a kind of ''ballotage'' but that is mainly to keep out bots, machines etc. he then manually sets you in and sends a passowrd etc. But then he usually also turns in here sooner or later, so he will advise about this.

And a minor remark/quibble from me: I use compters on many places and thus do not log in when i start to read. Do that only when I think I can give some answer, but then the system is set such, that you have to go through the whole process again from start to Question-in other fora you kan keep stayed in the actual Question/topic.

[Guest ryanasia]

oh okay so you need to know the secret knock? I think I also tried to join Sawatdee come to think of it and also the same thing. I am only a member here and that suits me fine I guess. Sometimes it is frustrating because topics get started which are useful on the other forums but there is no reason I can't start them here if I have something meaningful to say. Interesting that open forums wouldn't want new members but I guess if you aren't making advertising money it wouldn't matter. 

 

Interesting reply thanks for that.

[Gaybutton]

Small remark re GBT: I think/remember you have to SEND khun lung GB a personal mail to advise him you want to join-a kind of ''ballotage'' but that is mainly to keep out bots, machines etc. he then manually sets you in and sends a passowrd etc. But then he usually also turns in here sooner or later, so he will advise about this.

 

I require the Email, so that I know the person trying to register is human and not a bot.  First you register, then you send me the Email.  Once I receive the Email, I approve the registration and give access to posting. 

 

I only manually register people if they are having difficulty registering by themselves.  If that occurs, people usually either send me an Email or they send me a PM on this board and/or the Sawatdee board, telling me the screen name they want.  In those cases I assign a temporary password which they can either change to whatever they want after they log in or opt to just keep - their choice.

[Guest ryanasia]

Don't most websites have anti-bot filters these days?

[Gaybutton]

Don't most websites have anti-bot filters these days?

 

Even with filters those bots still sometimes manage to get through.  Moses installed a very good filter on my board and now it's rare for a bot to get through, but it still happens once or twice a week.

 

Also, every so often I'll get a legitimate registration and I approve it, but then the person never logs in.  I usually give it about a week.  They don't have to post anything if they don't want to, but If they still haven't logged in at least once by then, their registration gets deleted. 

[Guest ryanasia]

A week? Hence the stagnation. Most people won't wait a week. 

[Guest ryanasia]

[Gaybutton]

A week? Hence the stagnation. Most people won't wait a week. 

 

What are you talking about?  Nobody has to wait a week.  I approve their registration immediately once I receive their Email and they can start posting immediately.  If they haven't logged in at least once within a week of their registration being approved, I delete their registration.

 

What's the part you fail to understand or isn't clear to you?