Trip report Writers...

[pacman]

I have already said it 2 or 3 times on this thread & I will say it again.

If the girls know there are certain customers who can be intimidated into paying them "go away" money because they can blame him for their "grief" over a published picture, then they will continue the tactic. Once they discovered that this worked, once the news got around that someone was able to extract a 1000 baht (or two) then the inevitable happened.

Who do we think we are dealing with here? These girls aren't dumb, they survive on the mean streets of LOS by using all the tools at their disposal & intimidation is as old as time.

Yes, there are some guys who are playing right into their hands but if we move the pictures the same guys will continue to show their favourite girls & sooner or later, the girls will break into the inner forum. Moving the pics will only delay the inevitable.

In the meantime, I do agree with Rossco that the login process should be beefed up along the lines of LB69. Access to the Trip Reports & the Picture Posts should incur a modest annual fee. A small amount that will stop the curious & underage. There must be some way to process this. The $1 per month that I saw mentioned somewhere, charged annually is hardly onerous & anyone who coughs up say $50 gets some extra privilege.

Maybe an exclusive monthly email or some such incentive. Plus a gold star next to their name...

[stonefre]

I've only posted trip reports on another forum but I come to this forum often and there was a possibility I would post one here in the future, but having to pay to do so or see what I posted is a turn off to me. The trip reports are valuable to the newbie and the seasoned BM. Personally charging to see the trip reports will be the first nail in the coffin in my opinion. Not being able to see the trip reports without paying makes it highly likely that I will no longer keep this site in my bookmarks. I'm sure no one really cares, just my 2 cents.

[kahuna]

I'm pretty certain that the site owners do care...That is why all options are being
carefully considered...

But instead of threatening to leave, what is your proposed solution to the problem that is
giving rise to this discussion...

[whore]

Its a tough decision. The picture post and trip report forums are the most popular here. I personally cant see too many people paying to see trip reports. Why pay to see pictures when you can pay to see videos on any number of ladyboy paysites.

Also if a guy is sponsoring some ladyboy, and is reading the forum to see if his girl appears in any trip reports, wouldnt he just pay the 50 bucks to get full access.

I got burned by this recently. Some ladyboy who I posted a few snaps of was sent the pics I posted, which fair enough I did post, but the guy put in text claiming I said loads of bad stuff about her aswell, which I didnt. Very annoying.

I dont see any solution to any of this. Its just something we are going to have to put up with.

[tim1212]

why this new idea?? my attempts arn't the best but i've had quite a few pms and passed on numbers , locking them away prob would't be best idea.

if someone wants their pic post/trip reports put into a special vip area thats fine. but i dont understand why they would't want to share and help other lb lovers

[tomscam]

(pacman @ Nov. 27 2009,20:51) In the meantime, I do agree with Rossco that the login process should be beefed up along the lines of LB69. Access to the Trip Reports & the Picture Posts should incur a modest annual fee. A small amount that will stop the curious & underage. There must be some way to process this. The $1 per month that I saw mentioned somewhere, charged annually is hardly onerous & anyone who coughs up say $50 gets some extra privilege.

Maybe an exclusive monthly email or some such incentive. Plus a gold star next to their name...        

Agree

I think paying a small annual or monthly amount would be sensible as we would be supporting the forum as well as discouraging those who just want to take the piss.

The serious ladyboy lovers will stay around and cough up the cash whereas those who have less conviction will/should be deterred. It's not an easy decision to make but I think we have to protect ourselves from the issues described above which will mean less public traffic and hopefully less dickheads ruining what was a great set-up.

[El_hefe]

Well I'm not sure who the "dick heads" are or what they've done but I don't see that a large percentage of non "VIP" members, some of us may have been around for a while, & don't post if we don't have much of value to add to a particular discussion, I don't see a lot sticking around if this becomes a pay site.

I've clicked through on links here in the past to contribute & I understand that the new management want to get a return on their investment, but I think that would send a lot of the eyeballs here to other free venues that currently already exist.

Again, maybe there is a larger issue here that I'm not aware of but I would hate to see this enclave "improved" too much..........

[gart4571]

How will we know whether or not we have been granted VIP status?

[tomscam]

When I said "dickheads" I was referring to those who come onto the forums just to stir shit with others, usually post under multiple names, and have no real valuable contribution to make. Their only contribution is usually negative and they seem to gain satisfaction from winding people up.
Have you not seen this?

Now it appears we have a new type of dickhead who likes to show LB's pics of them posted on the forum. What there is to gain from this other than having the posting BM look bad is beyond me? It is backstabbing those who give valuable information for everyone else to use and probably manipulation of the LB in question for their own benefit.

I've already decided that my next trip report will be posted in the VIP section only. (as my last one is now when it was dredged up from the past)

gart4571

How will we know whether or not we have been granted VIP status?

You will know when your "Groups" tag says "VIP" and you can enter the VIP section in your menu bar.

[pacman]

(El_hefe @ Nov. 28 2009,06:20) ...but I think that would send a lot of the eyeballs here to other free venues that currently already exist.

A good point El hefe but just what other sites offer what TLF has? After the initial rush to leave, how many guys would come back to catch up on what was happening?

Some would definitely. But we are getting too far ahead of ourselves. I think there must be a better way to organise the forum to limit any damage.

The management does not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater. However, by asking for a modest fee, the problem of the girls accessing the forum would all but disappear.

Then the Trip Report writers would be more comfortable posting their pics & the overall standard would improve. That's the theory but I am sure smarter minds than mine are working on a more equitable answer.

[PigDogg]

It seems many posters believe that this is a roundabout way to monetize the Forum.

That's not the case.

Rather it's about figuring out a way to protect trip report writers and pic posters.

What some of the straight forums do is have "Level 2" status where the pics are racier and the discussion somewhat more candid. One can get there easily for free by posting about 25 times and not causing trouble.

But the str8 forums also have problems with guys showing girls the pics in Level 2.

[manarak]

it will always remain a problem.

I guess the guys showing the pix don't even have the conscious intention to do what they do, but they probably have a tender heart (jai dee !!) and if they like the girl, they will want to (unconsciously) gain further favor from her.

I think these guys are hard to detect, because I suppose them to be of the kind and polite type, not the a$$h0l3 type of guy.


I would propose a layered approach:

1- Members are invited to the VIP section much in the same manner as it is done now - this should keep out any girls, but probably not the guys showing the pix to girls.

2- On the top of the forum and on each pic it should be made very clear that the pic should not be shown to other persons.

3- Keep a log of picture access: pic_id, datetime, username, IP, hostname

4- IF anyone hears about girls seeing pix, this must be reported to the forum admins, along with (if possible) the precise pix, name of the girl, approximative time when this occured, etc.

The logs will show from where the pix have been accessed, at what time and by whom (i.e. by which user).
So I guess there is a good chance to directly identify the rotten apples 30% of the time, and if the same person makes the mistake several times, the probability raises to 60% after 2 times and nearly 100% after 3 times or more.

[pacman]

  I don't know how accurately we can match up the time the girl saw the pictures (like they are going to remember or want to tell us) but I do think that any girl who starts complaining about a pic should be approached in a non-threatening way by a couple of ex-pat BMs living locally who can ask her a few innocent questions.

Such as - "who showed you the forum?"    

"were you told to complain because the farang might give you money?"

"who is your sponsor/boyfriend?"

"did you not know that the pictures were going on the internet?"

etc....

This might sound simplistic, naive even, but we would soon get to the bottom of who is putting the girls up to this.

If I was asking the girl, I guarantee that a 1000 baht would get me all the details I needed to know.

[manarak]

I suppose the girls react relatively quickly to get the pix removed, especially if they have the email address of the poster.

In my case, the reaction came less than a week after I posted, the mail was quite heated, so I suppose she saw the pix the same day.


In case of a VIP forum, the list of suspects would narrow down very quickly.

Take the access log
- eliminate all accesses from outside Thailand,
- eliminate all accesses that occured outside a reasonable timeframe,

This should already yield a shortlist of a dozen usernames or so

then to further narrow it down:

- eliminate users who accessed the pix only once (since they have to show them to the girl)

- eliminate accesses from users located in places that are probably irrelevant (like a user accessing from Phuket when the incident occured in the Pattaya area)

- eliminate accesses from users which are above suspicion (the poster himself and some hardcore members)

the list should then be down to a handful.

[manarak]

Pacman, good idea about the investigations by members on the terrain.

With a modest contribution from members, the forum could even be in a position to finance the cost of the investigation, hehe.