A Weekly Gay Thailand Newsletter ??????

[TotallyOz]

When the site is organized, we are considering doing a weekly Gay Thailand Newsletter. We would do this to promote events throughout Thailand. It would be similar to the old Pattaya Gay Report. Is there a need for this to be done? Is it overkill? Are we stepping on anyone's toes?

 

We would do it though an organized e-mail provider like Constant Contact and it would be opt in for only those interested. We would not be sending spam mail to every gay person in Thailand.

 

We would appreciate any thoughts and comments you may have.

 

Hugs,

[Bob]

There has been a weekly report and poster TJ has fairly regularly posted notices of updates on all the boards. For myself, I don't usually look at it as it mainly deals with Pattaya (and, a little, Bangkok) and I'm usually in Chiangmai.

 

So, I'd wonder about the need in general.

[Guest fountainhall]

It's a great idea, but I just do not know how you make it work! Pattaya has its weekly newsletter and that's pretty comprehensive. How on earth you find out what is going in Bangkok, I have no idea! I did once try to help a magazine collate a listing of a certain type of events, but not even the organisers would release the information in advance! You will have to have a pretty tenacious Sherlock Holmes if it is going to work.

[Guest frequentflier]

It's a great idea, but I just do not know how you make it work! Pattaya has its weekly newsletter and that's pretty comprehensive. How on earth you find out what is going in Bangkok, I have no idea! I did once try to help a magazine collate a listing of a certain type of events, but not even the organisers would release the information in advance! You will have to have a pretty tenacious Sherlock Holmes if it is going to work.

I think the one that is there at the moment is very good..Another one would have to be very special to get any notice,but the idea is good...

[Guest]

I was under the impression the Pattaya one closed down its weekly mailings. I may be wrong.

 

But, this is a huge undertaking. I was told before how long the Allan spent on this every week and he was organizing Pattaya only. I am not sure how you would get all the information you needed from the rest of Thailand. The Pattaya scene seems to be the most organized. Next is Bangkok. I am not sure where you would get information from the other cities. Best of luck if you decide to do this!

[Guest Astrrro]

Upcoming events used to be on the Sunee plaza Info site, but now it doesn't seem to get updated much. Would be good to know what's happening before it happens.

[PattayaMale]

The PG (Pattaya Gay) newsletter was continued by Printer Graham and a couple of other volunteers. However almost 6 weeks ago the report was changed to a Blog and is very limited now.

 

I think there is a need. It would be wonderful if the report covered all of Thailand AND had events listed far enough in advance so those that need to travel, would be enough time to make arrangements to enjoy the special events.

 

I remember Allan spending hours and hours on the weekend getting his report out each week. I imagine this would be a big task, but I would certainly be grateful to have it.

[Guest beachlover]

Consider segmenting it. There is so much information and people don't want to have to sift through info about places they're not interested in. For example, I don't care about what happens in Pattaya. Something about Bangkok might be handy though.

 

If you did want to expand on it, consider having a good writer write about articles about various bars, clubs, restaurants, spas, hotels and other businesses relating to the gay scene. They have to be a good writer though, not just any person who offers, because good writing is what draws readers. Plenty of retired or semi-retired farang around to choose from. Perhaps have a correspondent in each city. The business they're doing the story on pays for all expenses (e.g. accommodation cost if it is a hotel).

 

... Anyway, just an idea. Maybe something like this already exists.

[Guest fountainhall]

Something about Bangkok might be handy though

On another thread I have also suggested more focus should be given to Bangkok. How to do that, though, is the real question? There seem to be only a few regular posters who live in the city. If they are farang in, shall we say, the older age bracket, it is quite difficult to find out about and give accurate descriptions of the many new discos, bars, saunas etc, that cater almost exclusively for Thais. Yet even when it's a Thai-for-Thai establishment, often younger Asians are made more welcome/will have more success than older out-of-shape farang. Equally, there's no point someone just listing websites or acting on hearsay. To be valuable information, descriptions and references should come from personal experience.

 

Finding a writer with the time to do this on a regular basis will certainly be difficult. And with the best will in the world, I cannot see most of the establishments paying for having a story on gaythailand.com. These establishments are all hounded regularly to take ads in the various free gay publications that have a far wider circulation that this Board, alas.

 

It seems to me that there is zero point re-inventing the wheel. Because magazines like Spice and Thai Puan exist - and Spice at least has a website, does it not make more sense to do some sort of co-operation, linking deal them, and perhaps another site like utopia-asia.com for travel? WIth traffic being directed in both directions, perhaps some from the other sites may end up being posters on gaythailand.