This is a suck ass site

[Guest]

Currently active boards include:

Gaybutton Thai

Gay Ting Tong

Sawatdee Gay Thailand

Baht Stop

 

Also, there is a gay section within the Thai Visa board that gets some custom. I see no reason why the boards cannot continue to coexist, just like they have done over the last couple of years. After all, the overheads will be very modest.

[Guest fountainhall]

Gaybutton and Baht Stop seem to be exclusively Message Boards. Consequently will be cheap to get off the ground, although as GB has often pointed out, they take a great deal of work to maintain and keep the membership from being flooded from overseas, to say nothing of those who abuse their privileges.

 

When I can be bothered going through the proxy server, SGT has some advertising and seems to have a membership scheme which will allow you to view personals and photos. Gay Ting Tong, which I have visited maybe half a dozen times max., is a much more advanced website with a whole smorgasbord of offerings on its front page - with the message board as a kind of optional extra. Just on its front page, anyone can access a vast amount of nudity and hard-core pornography, and so much information on Thailand that I cannot believe many actually read it (if only because it is way out of date).

 

It therefore seems to me that, simply in terms of volume of content and trying to be many different things to many people, the overheads of GTT and GT must be a great deal more costly to run and maintain than GBT and BS. GTT's site is certainly very eye-catching, but what I like about it is that the porn elements are kept well clear of the message board. Yes, there are links to personals and gay venues at the top of the Message Board, but there are also links to charities. But I can find no link to soft or hard porn. That is elsewhere on the site. And with all respect to the owners of this site, I feel any link to hard core porn should similarly be kept away from the Message Board.

 

And can someone please tell me why I am daily getting idiotic messages from westerners in my in-box? Not the Messenger box which is working normally - but in the Inbox at the top right of the page? The latest of from a "Native-American" who plays rugby(!) and has this message "am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love". I can do without this, thank you very much!

[Guest fountainhall]

Sorry to say we continue to have a log out problem which I understood had been fixed quite some time ago.

 

Log in at the top right of the site and you are automatically logged in to all aspects of the site, including the Message Board. Then place the cursor on your name, scroll down to "Sign Out", 'click' and you will be signed out of the site - yes? Well, actually NO! Your name no longer appears in that box, but click on the Forum or Message Board and guess what? On the black horizontal bar you are still signed in and can still post! You are not in fact logged out. And before someone asks, 'No' I did not tick the box "keep me logged in".

 

Why can't everything be kept simple? Either "Sign In" and "Sign Out" or "Log In" and "Log Out". Why both? And as I have already asked, why "Forum" AND "Message Board"? Surely it's one OR the other.

 

And for some reason, I am getting this hieroglyphic ​ popping up when I click return. Why? I have no idea.

 

From my admittedly limited experience, going back to basics is usually far more effective and takes less time than trying to fix all the little things as they crop up.

[Gaybutton]

And for some reason, I am getting this hieroglyphic ​ popping up when I click return. Why? I have no idea.

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?

[Guest fountainhall]

As for the hieroglyphic, that might be easy to fix. Check the character encoding on your browser

 

Why should it be my computer, which has had no similar problem in the last 5 or more years? This has only just started with the site changes. Surely it is a site software problem?

[Guest]

And can someone please tell me why I am daily getting idiotic messages from westerners in my in-box? Not the Messenger box which is working normally - but in the Inbox at the top right of the page? The latest of from a "Native-American" who plays rugby(!) and has this message "am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love am looking for love". I can do without this, thank you very much!

Scooby, surely there must be some way of booting such spammers off the board or stopping them from sending such trash?

[Gaybutton]

Why should it be my computer, which has had no similar problem in the last 5 or more years?

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 . . . ?

[Guest]

Maybe this is a stupid question, but where does the resolved security issues part come in . . . ?

The cynic would say IT industry professionals have to identify "security issues" so there's continuing a income opportunity for them.

[TotallyOz]

OK guys. I'll try to help even more on this thread. But, I am only giving advice for which is worth nothing.

 

There are so many issues in this thread about issues that individuals are having with the board software. Has anyone reported those or e-mailed those to the owners? If not, do you think they will read through this thread over and over to pick up issues when this thread has gone off in many different directions many times? I was bored with this thread on page 2 and it is now on page 7 with 132 posts. Only the first few had anything to do with the original topic which was posted by me (not by me) and thus, you are posting questions in the midst of a jungle of a post and IMHO, this is not the place to post your specific questions and esp if you expect an answer. I can't even keep up with everything here. My advice, start a new post or better yet, email them.

 

GayButton as for security issues, you seem to be of the mindset if it isn't broke, don't fix it. There are reasons that the manufacturers of board software update their code on a regular basis. They do so to fix issues in the code. They do so to fix possible issues with security and spammers. They do so for a variety of reasons. IMHO and only IMHO, when you pay a fee to a company (Invision, PHPBB, etc.) and you have the ability to have the latest code you are being prudent to keep it up to date. I have said this hundreds of times over the years and I still believe it and I would recommend to you and anyone else to always use the latest code of the forum software. They update for a reason. Just like Apple updates for a reason. (I had a major update to my OS yesterday). Having said all this, as I have for years, I don't think you and I will ever agree about keeping software, code and OS up to date. I'll let you believe "if it isn't broke don't fix it" and I'll keep believing that the best way to provide customers with the best experience is to keep your code up to date.

 

That said, I have said all I will say in this long thread.

[Guest thaiworthy]

I was bored with this thread on page 2 and it is now on page 7 with 132 posts.

 

The funniest thing is that post generated more interest and posts then the Board has had in a long time. Frankly I stopped coming here because there was rarely anything of interest.

 

Two different opinions or the same?

 

The first day I had problems, I emailed Scooby and he promptly responded and resolved all my issues right away. In fact, he went far out of his way to resolve them. And I might add, I was less than tactful in my appeal. One of my many faults. I'm satisfied that my issues have been resolved and the next time I need something fixed, I shall drag the charm out from my inner being and let nature do the rest. Thank you, Mr. Scooby. Ruff, ruff!

 

Dare we flirt going for page 8?!

[Gaybutton]

I don't think you and I will ever agree about keeping software, code and OS up to date.

 

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."

[Guest]

I'm quite please to see the board freshened up & don't have any significant opinion on the software changes, as not much has changed. OK, the moderating tools don't work quite as well, but as far as upgrades go, that's a result.

Particularly when the moderating tools are rarely needed here anyway.

So overall, a good result.

 

However, on the issue of software upgrades in the wider world, they are rarely an improvement.

The software industry seems to launch something which works reasonably well, then spend years mucking about with it and making things gradually worse. That's in the competitive world. Should you be unfortunate enough to work for a multi-national corporation, then any bespoke internal applications frequently get worse at every upgrade. That's the effect of having a captive market.

[Guest thaiworthy]

We are going live with the updates. There will be a few rocky roads especially as we have changed the way the Location data was stored in database and all will need to update their location. We apologize in advance for any bumps along the way as we know there will be a few but this was an update we had to make with code that was old.

 

This explanation by Scooby from another thread was good enough for me. I guess that's why there are no noticeable improvements. Both the words updates and upgrades have been bandied about and it can be confusing as to what they actually mean. In the words above, Scooby uses update, which has a different connotation for me, than upgrade. In my mind, upgrade implies new features, where update is simply a code change. As operating systems change and technology improves, I fully well understand why updates have to be made, as long as they are not chaotic and problematic. Updates are a fact of life, and if they are imperceptible to the user, then so much the better. Obviously, it doesn't always turn out that way. I also don't consider a new look and feel a genuine upgrade. it doesn't meet my criteria for defining the word feature. As Z said, the software hasn't really changed much.

 

On my iPhone, there's hardly a week that goes by before the App Store tells me there is update waiting for one or more of my applications. I can see how this would drive some people crazy. For me, it is a fact of life. I punch in my password, and viola, all done. It won't get any less frequent, but will probably be a lot more-- for all those little apps we just have to have. Get used to it.

[Guest fountainhall]

There are so many issues in this thread about issues that individuals are having with the board software. Has anyone reported those or e-mailed those to the owners?

 

Scooby was very kind an gave me a preview of the new look of the Board. I will not breach confidence by outlining my comments, but I do not think he will mind if I say I felt there were still problems. That's nothing new, because I, along with others, made extensive comments some months ago. Also, I have no idea how to run a Board and there are a lot of issues I do not understand.

 

I fully accept that upgrading and revising will throw up new problems. Perhaps I have been too quick to bring these to the fore and too impatient in highlighting such problems. But I was trying to be constructive in Post #128. The log in/log out problem is nothing new - indeed, it arose as result of the first post in this thread. And the issue of maintaining the same basic terminology is also not new.

 

I said some time ago that rather than keep changing and adding, it is surely better to go back to square one, have a complete rethink of the various elements that make up the site, about the objectives of each, of how they should look and be presented to the reader, and how they should then be interconnected so that the whole process of navigating this site should be as simple and obvious as possible. I'll leave it at that.

[Guest fountainhall]

A note for Scooby and the mods. The message center policies are quite clear -

 

No links to pornographic websites are allowed. Posting these links will result in immediate removal of the post and disillusion of the membership of the poster.

 

As I think I mentioned earlier, the poster may be disillusioned by being banned, but the word should surely be "dissolution" or "termination".

 

Since I have mentioned in at least one post the two sites at the foot of this board, both of which contain hard-core porn, I guess I am forthwith banned from further posting - no doubt to the delight of some!

 

I also note today that one of the Flirt-for-Free photos shows full frontal nudity (albeit behind a very thin scrim). The model in question is Sean Thomas. I raise this for the same reason I have questioned the hard-core porn sites. If the site permits virtual nudity and porn sites on its message board page, how can these not be permitted in the Board posts themselves?

 

Please be assured I am not trying to be difficult. I am merely seeking a logical explanation.

[Rogie]

The model in question is Sean Thomas.

 

Maybe Sean should be shorn of his scrim, as he's probably quite happy to let it all hang out. (My, I have lived a sheltered life, never come across that word before!)

 

I think I shall rechristen him John Thomas

[Guest fountainhall]

I think I shall rechristen him John Thomas

 

From the photo, John Thomas Junior would be more appropriate

[Guest fountainhall]

can someone please tell me why I am daily getting idiotic messages from westerners in my in-box? Not the Messenger box which is working normally - but in the Inbox at the top right of the page?

 

Today I got yet another message in the same Inbox and not in the Messenger box. It reads -

 

Hi

 

I am Allen from Navanakorn,Thailand, I would like to be your darling friend.

And lets have fun this weekend.

 

Love u

Allen

allensoly2012@gmail.com

 

This person is not a member. This person has no profile. As far as I am aware, Navanakorn is an industrial estate. My profile only has my age. Will someone please tell me why I only started getting these stupid messages since the Board was revamped?

[Guest]

I've not had that problem at all (so far).

Perhaps Scooby could explain that one & advise how to block messages from non-members?