Dating part of GayThailnd Board..HELP!

[PattayaMale]

Outside of the forum part, I really am confused about the dating part.

I started a new Topic instead of using problems with Board since it seemed to be a separate discussion

 

I don't really see any directions or help on how to use the dating section, and I am not able figure it out. (Until yesterday I did not recall knowing this was also a dating site)

 

At some point I see member profiles. It seems just to be a list and picture. I click on a picture and it takes me to a profile of someone let's say in Germany. The person is looking for a "date". Well, that is not going to help me. So, I try to search for Thailand (since the site is GAYTHAILAND), what I get is "no results" or something like that.

 

I went to help and could not find any on this.

 

Would some please explain how it works? Also when I registered my profile as a member of GAYTHAILAND, did I get put into the "dating" member part? I really am not looking for a "date" here. Just info about GAYTHAILAND.

HELP Please

[PattayaMale]

Since it has been 2 days since my original post on this topic with no replies, I am guessing

• No one else understands the dating part well enough to help explain it
  
• Everyone else understands it so well they don't see why I asked for help
  
• My question is so confusing no one understands my question
  

Any of the above correct?

[Guest fountainhall]

I understand there is a problem, but cannot provide any answer to it!

 

I think it is part of the bigger issue of the gaythailand site focus, function and organisation that I raised in the "Problems with new Interface" thread. I am sure the owners need a few days to digest all these quite major comments that have been made, and will respond in due course.

[Guest]

Since it has been 2 days since my original post on this topic with no replies, I am guessing

• No one else understands the dating part well enough to help explain it
  
• Everyone else understands it so well they don't see why I asked for help
  
• My question is so confusing no one understands my question
  

Any of the above correct?

Partly. I don't understand the dating part of the board at all & had to do a quick investigation to see what it's all about. Also, I have no plans to use it any time soon, so it's difficult to comment.

 

Several people have commented about trying to improve the focus of the home page.

I also think it would be advantageous to increase the prominence of the forum, so people realise it's there when going to the home page.

Of course it would be a sensible commercial decision to also prioritise any other part of the main site that draws in traffic, above those that do not.

Perhaps that could be done in conjunction with a freshening up of the header. I'm thinking new logo & a colourful picture involving blue sky, a deserted tropical beach & a couple of hot skinny Thais guys disappearing off into the distance.

[Guest fountainhall]

a couple of hot skinny Thais guys disappearing off into the distance.

 

In speedos, no doubt

[Guest]

In speedos, no doubt

Well yes. Uncovered rears could be even more artistic, but too much for the home page.

I was just thinking of nominating you as the photographer.

[Guest fountainhall]

 

I may need to upgrade my camera because of the time it might take to focus on retreating rears!

[Rogie]

Re: The conundrum of rapidly retreating rears.

 

Undignified it may be, but just imagine the spoils of the chase, the sweet spot of some delightful close-up shots - resulting not from dexterous or liberal use of the lazy man's friend, the zoom lens, but by good old-fashioned legging it in 'hot pursuit'.

[Guest thaiworthy]

My question is so confusing no one understands my question

 

Yes, i'm confused. Are you just looking for info on how to use the gay dating features or are you interested in getting info on gayThailand?

 

I gave my answer in the old thread. I don't know why there is this new thread. This board is like a smart phone, it does many things but perhaps no one thing exceptionally well. If you want to use a computer, buy a really good computer. If you want a really good phone, buy the phone that works best for you. If you want to take pictures, buy a great camera with all the bells and whistles. But one device that does all of them may not be the best approach. Mebbe GayThailand.com is like that. Why use the dating features when there's GayRomeo?

 

I really am not looking for a "date" here. Just info about GAYTHAILAND.

 

I don't think you are going to find info on GAY THAILAND by looking in the dating section. At the bottom of the home page are many links to various other sites and general info on gay Thailand, besides the City Guides. That may be all there is or that is as good as it gets. Perhaps if you gave us an idea of the kind of info on GayThailand you were looking for, someone could answer this. Or the answer may be that there is no answer.

 

I sometimes find that when websites don't make any sense it could mean that traffic is being driven here and there because money is a factor. It may not look that way now, but it may have been originally designed with that intent and got misaligned in its evolution. I hope this helps.

[Rogie]

But one device that does all of them may not be the best approach. Mebbe GayThailand.com is like that.

 

Out of curiosity and in the interests of research I clicked on one of the rotating 8 gentlemen in the ever-present banner above the Message Board forums and after ascertaining he was a 21 year old Good 'ol southern boy (can you be one at 21!), I rapidly departed. IMO it is not just a slight annoyance, it is very annoying having this banner there every single time you access any of the Forums. On a slow-loading 'net connection like I have just now at my friend's house in Isarn, it is even more so. I would also agree with others' comments that the style of the dating section looks dated and doesn't look good next to the revamped forums. Please, if any of our posters make regular use of the dating option let us know. If as I suspect nobody does I would politely suggest it be removed. I'd be perfectly happy for it to stay on the main Gay Thailand page, but not for it to hang around like a heavy shroud on all the Forum pages. I say all this hopefully in the spirit of constructiveness.

[Guest fountainhall]

I don't think you are going to find info on GAY THAILAND by looking in the dating section

 

Gentlemen, I am wondering what you mean by the "dating section"? The banner ads surely are not dating, as in gayromeo-type dating? On the other hand, as I pointed out in my long ramble on the "Problems with new Interface" thread, there is in fact a gayromeo-type part of this Board - but you have to work rather hard to find it!

 

It is what I believe ought to be headed "Profiles" *. But no such heading exists. On the Home page it is merely two columns of photos down each side. Click on a photo and you can ONLY find out about that particular profile. No link to a general profiles page. To check another profile, you have to back-click in order to click on another pic.

 

Look at the navigation bar across the top. Again nothing about "Profiles". In fact, it can be found under "Newest photos". (That in itself is a misnomer because it includes ALL profiles). "Newest Photos First" would be more appropriate, but only under a general "Profiles" heading.

 

As it stands, there is absolutely no explanation as to why "Newest Profiles" is there - no heading, no sub-heading etc. You are left to work things out for yourself. But if you do some work, you get a wealth of information.

 

Once you click on a photo, you get some basic info - like gayromeo info. Then click on "Details" and you get even more personal info than on gayromeo. There are in fact 2,825 profiles - a very considerable number! However, sad to say, like much of what I highlighted in my long thread, most of the older ones are way out of date. For example, on the last ten pages (more than 280 profiles), no-one has logged in since 2007. Go half distance to page 50, and a few were logging in last year.

 

So the profiles section certainly has some viewers. But WHY, I wonder, WHY is this dating part of gaythailand,com kept such a secret? WHY is it so difficult to find? And WHY do many regular posters not even know about it?

 

Since it is there, and since it is for hooking up with guys here in Thailand, this should surely be a major feature of the site. But for some inexplicable reason, the site organisation and layout makes it all so difficult to locate!

 

* But some way has to be found to distinguish between posting member profiles and profiles for hook-ups. Maybe the hook-up section could be called "Personals"?

[Rogie]

You are right, Fountainhall - I at least was unaware of the 'newest photos' option. Following your step by step guidelines I checked out the first guy on the list of photos that popped up and noticed you and Z909 had also paid him a visit. He is a Thai-American so if some of these men whose names appear are Thai I can see the potential. However the 'good 'ol southern boy' I came across (see my earlier post #10) would no doubt be perfectly at home in a Gay Georgia site, not Gay Thailand! I would add the 'newest photo' option is very discrete and interferes in no way with users of the Message Board forums, unlike my gripe re the 'banner ads'.

[PattayaMale]

Thanks for some answers. To clarify i was talking about the "GayRomeo" like part. I asked this because Scooby said that the "dating" part of the board was doing well better than the forum part (for revenue??)

 

So when I clicked on HOME (not forum) pictures came up on the left and the right column of the screen. The photos are from many parts of the world, looking for a date in their home country, I think! I tried to "sort" so i could see those just from Thailand and in particular Pattaya, but could not figure it out.

 

Also when I click on "new pictures" the same profiles appear in a thumbnail format. I could not sort those either.

 

When I went to FAQ, I founding nothing on the "dating service" that Scooby mentioned. I would not even have know there was a dating service part if Scooby had not mentioned it in his post about the Board layout and problems.

 

None of this is really a problem as I usually click on "go to message Board" where the dating service does not seem to appear. Just interested in how it works

[Guest fountainhall]

I checked out the first guy on the list of photos that popped up and noticed you and Z909 had also paid him a visit

 

Purely in the interests of research, I assure you! In fact, you will find a wide variety of profiles there. A lot of Thai guys are there looking for western friends, some clearly moneyboys but that is far from unusual, and some obviously from overseas residents. I believe making this part of the site much more visible and obvious should drive more traffic to the site.

[PattayaMale]

Purely in the interests of research, I assure you! In fact, you will find a wide variety of profiles there. A lot of Thai guys are there looking for western friends, some clearly moneyboys but that is far from unusual, and some obviously from overseas residents. I believe making this part of the site much more visible and obvious should drive more traffic to the site.

 

I too was trying to see how the dating part worked and noticed that my Board name was displayed publicly also. I wonder why this is necessary? It seems to me like it is on the wrong side of privacy.

 

If I use sites like Gay Romeo only the person I have visited will see that I visited their profile. Not all the other users. Why isn't a dating site more private? I think it should be

[Guest thaiworthy]

In my opinion, this is turning into a rout. Clearly, there are things that need fixing and I am sure the owners are aware and are doing their best to fix them in due time. Now we're talking about personal preferences (privacy issues.) Personally, I don't see a problem with that. It's just your screen name that appears. That's simply the nature of this forum when it's linked to a registration that includes a dating function.

 

If you want to talk about how things work or fixing things, that is one issue. But preferences is another. This could go on forever with every little thing in a wish list. Not everyone is going to be happy. In the end, the owners will have a board that will function, but mebbe not function the way everyone wants.

 

If this discussion continues in this new vein, then it will start to invalidate all the reasonable and necessary changes requested so far. Sorry, but I think our grievances have been well-stated. Can't we give it a rest?

 

Of course you could always start a new thread about privacy issues among all the boards of gay Thailand . . .

[Guest]

Re: The conundrum of rapidly retreating rears.

Undignified it may be, but just imagine the spoils of the chase, the sweet spot of some delightful close-up shots - resulting not from dexterous or liberal use of the lazy man's friend, the zoom lens, but by good old-fashioned legging it in 'hot pursuit'.

Well, if a valuable domain name like gaythailand.com decided to revamp the pictures on the home page, maybe the budget could at least extend to paying the models to stand still for the photos.

 

As for all the other comments today, I think they mostly have good intentions and could certainly be put to constructive use. Maybe for a SWOT (Strengths Opportunities Weaknesses Threats) analysis, to decide which features of the board to prioritise & promote on the home page.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Well, if a valuable domain name like gaythailand.com decided to revamp the pictures on the home page, maybe the budget could at least extend to paying the models to stand still for the photos.

 

Well hey-- I'm available! However, if the alue of those pictures are based on how good the models look, I'd end up sending Scooby a check and the glitches wouldn't matter. No one would log on to see my ugly mug. Better to put Fountainhall's. At least he's handsome. And then there's Rogie. Man, we are talking about a great set of bookends!

[pong]

for my 25 satang worth: I have always had the impression (never used it) that this dating part was not particular to this site, GT, but kind of borrowed/lent in from another of the many GR-lookalike sites. Seems to me many of the guys p[osting on it hardly seem to have any interest in Thai boys. Perhaps the new software of GT clashes a bit with the software on that board?

[Rogie]

And then there's Rogie. Man, we are talking about a great set of bookends!

 

As a confirmed bookworm that prospect excites me tremendously - guaranteed to set my pulse racing a lot faster than khun Pong's theories on software glitches!

[TotallyOz]

Thank you all for your suggestions. The front end does not work the way we want it to work and that is why we are going to redesign the entire site (except for the forums). This is a big project and it is currently in the 25 percent completion stage. We will update you more when this is moving toward completion.

[ChristianPFC]

(I only read part of the previous posts.)

 

Long time ago, I checked some of the profiles and wrote some messages, but didn't get any reply. So I assume this part is more or less dead (i.e. people do not use and those who put up profiles are not checking email or whatever).

[Guest TakeMe]

I signed up thinking this was a dating/hook-up site. Never mind.

 

Where do white guys into other white guys meet and hook up in Pattaya?

 

I'm a mid-30s guy exploring my homoerotic side for the first time.

[Rogie]

I'm a mid-30s guy exploring my homoerotic side for the first time.

 

That's all well and good TakeMe, but if you are putting out feelers for other guys why restrict yourself to men the same colour as yourself? The vast majority of men come to Thailand to have a good time with very often the thought of having sex lurking at the back of their minds if they are perhaps a bit shy or inexperienced. Such men are in luck! Thailand is popular because it is very easy to hook up with others, and not necessarily only via commercial sex. The younger you are, on average, the better your chances of meeting other men in a non-commercial context such as discos (eg. DJ station in Bangkok) or saunas (eg. Babylon also in Bangkok). But, and it's a big but, such contact will usually be with local people, Thai people and they are not white. So my advice would be to forget about your obsession with white on white male to male sex and enjoy what Thailand has to offer. Otherwise stay at home or choose another country!