Renamed forum

[Hobiecat]

I've been reading HHAD for sometime now. Much longer than I have been a member. As recently discuessed on the Foo thread how about a none related HH forum. Maybe change the name of Foo to "Away from HH"? and keep it off the "lastest topics" list so those of us accually living here with no interest in trivial topics can by pass the none related HH threads.

Dawn, your thoughts? Anyone else.

[chelsea]

No need to change really. If you do not want to read what is in there, do not look, then you will not have to read what you do not want to.
You are the only one complaining so why should it have to change.

[Hobiecat]

As I click down the lastest topics list................Do I know if the topic titled is pertaining to HH or not?...........no I don't not everytime. You can't always tell by the title of the topic until you open it and see it's some someone posting something just so that they can emotionaly remained tied to HH in some way or form. Not contributing to the accual on line community that are here with information that pertains to everyday life.

Am I out of line here?

[dtaai-maai]

Am I out of line here?

You're not out of line, but I honestly can't believe you're getting your knickers in a twist over this issue. It's so uncomplicated. If you want legal advice, you go to the legal section, general HH advice 'ask the expats', there are sections dedicated to Thai culture and relationships, property, travel around Thailand (oops sorry, that's probably irrelevant as it takes you out of HH), computer stuff - just about any question you could conceivably ask about living or holidaying in HH can be answered somewhere on HHAD. Do you honestly not want to read any post that is not directly related to HH?

You're not out of line, but you're in a tiny minority.

[Wanderlust]

I think this is partly down to how people use the forum, or rather how they link to it. Personally, I never use the 'Latest Topics' links, and have the forum front page bookmarked and then use the 'View topics since last visit' link, but that is only available when you are logged in; many people browse without logging in, and many also use the latest topics links that are found both on the HHAD front page and also on other sites as well. I think there is room to tweak the settings and forum names but I'm not sure if the latest topics can be - only admin can answer that one. Probably the easier thing to do would be to add the sub forum names to the list of latest topics.

[redzonerocker]

Am I out of line here?

no, but you seem to be in the extreme minority.
surely if you 'actually' live in hua hin, it would pay to get out a bit more & find out whats going on in the town??
for those of us that don't 'actually' live in hua hin, but are regular visitors & possibly future residents, this forum is a good link to find out what is going on there & the changes that are occuring during our absences.
whether trivial or not, does every conversation by the members of this forum revolve solely around hh?? i think not!!
maybe you are trying to create an elitist society of hua hin dwellers???

[Big Boy]

Hobiecat,

We are all entitled to our own opinions on this forum, and I would be the last to criticise yours.

I've given your suggestion quite a bit of thought (been thinking about it quite a lot since KD's posting in FOO).

My personal opinion is that there just would not be enough to write about regarding just Hua Hin to keep the forum viable. Recently, we've heard of several rival web forums in the area that have basically petered out to nothing eg:

- There was a web forum specific to one of the local housing developments.

- Cha am tried to create a forum almost identical to Hua Hin - the last time I took a look, there was almost nothing happening (quite appropriate for a sleepy hollow such as Cha am).

This forum is paid for by its sponsors. To keep the sponsors interested, the administration have to keep as many people interested in the content as possible. While we're viewing the forum, we're viewing the adverts - nothing new, it happens in all walks of life. Its chicken and egg syndrome.

I can sympathise with your situation - we all probably found this forum while looking for information about Hua Hin. The longer we're members of the forum, the less we need to know, but its great to have that valuable source of information when its needed.

Its also a great social tool - talking on the Internet to many members led me to meeting some great people during my recent visit. We all had a little forum banter about many different subjects (not just Hua Hin) over quite a long period before meeting each other. The result being that I feel a lot more confident of retiring to Hua Hin in a couple of years. If we had only talked about Hua Hin, we'd have run of things to say long before we ever got to the stage of meeting up.

Yes, there are things on the forum that we all hate. Personally, I don't open any post that asks what you're reading, or what you're listening to. dtaai-maai's approach is exactly right ie:

If you want legal advice, you go to the legal section, general HH advice 'ask the expats', there are sections dedicated to Thai culture and relationships, property, travel around Thailand (oops sorry, that's probably irrelevant as it takes you out of HH), computer stuff - just about any question you could conceivably ask about living or holidaying in HH can be answered somewhere on HHAD.

As I learnt about a year ago when I was getting a little bothered about the way the latest 10 were displayed, it is a software package running this and many similar forums all over the world. The suppliers just aren't going to change their successful package just to suit you or I - no matter how much we complain. What seems to be a very simple change, is often totally out of the hands of the administrators.

[Hobiecat]

[/quote] Do you honestly not want to read any post that is not directly related to HH? [/quote]

Of course I enjoy reading posts not related to HH but when I dial up HHAD I'm at least hoping that the topic is going to at least be related to Thailand. Here.................here's an example. This thread was posted sometime ago. Can you tell me which thread is may be in?....."Tribulations and Joys". I wouldn't know to click on this or not if it was Thai related. I'm sorry I may not have the insite that you possess. What I'm saying is please put more than one web site in your favorites list. When I'm surfing for the rugby scores in South Africa. I'm not here!

[Hobiecat]

As I learnt about a year ago when I was getting a little bothered about the way the latest 10 were displayed, it is a software package running this and many similar forums all over the world. The suppliers just aren't going to change their successful package just to suit you or I - no matter how much we complain. What seems to be a very simple change, is often totally out of the hands of the administrators.

Point taken.

[Hobiecat]

[quote="redzonerocker"]surely if you 'actually' live in hua hin, it would pay to get out a bit more & find out whats going on in the town??
[quote]

You bet! I'm in HH where are you?

[STEVE G]

Hobie, you are not out of line to make this suggestion here but there is another consideration to be made. Many of the regular posters on HHAD use it as a source of entertainment as well as information; this is why you will see so many items of trivia, sport and general nonsense springing up alongside the raw data.
WL has oten used the analogy of the forum being like pub chat, and that's how I tend to see it; your conversation might be political, it might be a joke, it could be soccer or whatever, but if somebody wants to know where to find a taxi to the airport you will gladly tell all you know.
However, what you have to keep in mind is that if you thought you were going to go out and spend your whole evening being asked how to get to the airport, you would perhaps either choose to stay at home, or go and find a job in a tourist information office.
As BB was poining out above, this is also a good place to get to meet people and for those of us who make Hua Hin our home, but have to work away, we use it as a way of staying connected to the community. I hope that we give back enough to be indulged in that, even if a bit of irrelevence gets thrown in from time to time.
Having said all that, if things could be made easier for those wanting to sort the wheat from the chaff; an expanded last post list, topic titles or whatever, then why not if the software is capable.

[caller]

I agree with what others have posted about connections to Hua Hin. I won't be there again until April next year . I don't live there and I suspect I'm gonna get the hump about the amount of development that has happened since my last visit in May 2006.

But I have been a regular visitor since 2000. The current gap is the longest I have experienced but has a lot to do with the fact that I am now married to a wonderful Thai lady who is here with me in the UK and obviously my circumstances have changed.

In fact, its now unlikely I will live there (looking further north) but does that make my contribution any less valued?

I percieve HHAD as a club where the common factor is the love of the place/area/whatever.

Long may it remain inclusive rather than exclusive.

[DawnHRD]

I'm quite surprised you asked for my opinion on this, Hobiecat, as I don't have one.

Like WL, I use "View last topics" as I have to read everything (OK, I don't read the sports ones!), so I rarely glance at the top 10. I can see your point on that, as I saw Guesses yesterday, but I don't know enough about the software to know what (if anything) can be changed.

I wasn't interfering in the other thread because I had views on this, or thought any of you were wrong in your views. I was simply trying to get you to move your discussion here (thank you for doing that ) and off of KD's thread. My personal view (& if I'm wrong, I'm sorry) is that if someone has put some thought into a thread or asked a question that they want answered it is disrespectful of others to derail it & make it into another discussion. The other discussion should be put somewhere else, as you have now done with this.

[lomuamart]

As has been said, we mods have to look at every post on this board. If I go away for a few days, there can be "millions" of new ones when I log in again and to read them all can be a chore.
So, for me, having posts that are nothing to do with HH, or even Thailand, are a godsend.
I use the "view posts since last visit" function. If there are lots of them, I'll probably skip the Foo section and the jokes. But I always like to come back to them later. Makes me laugh - which isn't a bad thing.
IMO, every forum board needs sections that are nothing to do with the "idea" - HH. As another poster said, there really isn't all that much going on here, so variety is the spice of life. In the meantime, more important questions can be answered and we are lucky to have a good pool of knowledgable members.
Hope that makes sense?

[Hobiecat]

Fair enough. Point taken from all. I guess the best thing for me to do is skip the top ten list. I'll take a different approach to opening up this site.

Hope I haven't offended anyone.