Did some forum members pass?

[jimmie50]

16 minutes ago, Olddaddy said:

Never heard of this forum Company of men 🤼‍♂️👬,been around long?

COM is not a Thailand forum.  It is more of a general gay forum.  It hasn't always been called COM...that was the name created when new ownership took over.  It has been around in various forms for a very long time.  I first joined that forum in the late 90's or early 2000's.  Originally there were two sites...one was general gay community stuff and the other was a masseur/escort review site.  It has been so long ago that I don't remember the original name of the forum.  The previous owner from Las Vegas who passed away during COVID was called 'Daddy' and I believe the review site was actually called DaddiesReviews or something similar.  The review portion of the site no longer exists as a separate site.  They seemed to have been merged into one site.   It was Hooboy who originally created the forum many, many years ago, not Daddy.  Daddy took up the cause/forum when Hooboy passed away.  His passing was unexpected and sudden, so no planning or thought had been given to continuation of the forum...who might take it over, what that might look like, etc.   

That would relate directly to @PeterRS question about the continuation of gayguides in the future.  Do forums and chatrooms have a future?  If so, what might that look like in 10 or 20 years.  

[floridarob]

7 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

There was "Dreaded Ned"

That was the Original Gay Thailand source of info.... I met him once at a party in Balcony, I went especially to see him and thank him for all the work he put into the site and keeping maps up to date.

He seemed shocked that he was having that much influence over people traveling to Thailand..... the internet was still in its infancy.

[thaiophilus]

10 hours ago, Keithambrose said:

There was "Dreaded Ned"

That was more of a (regularly updated,  accurate) listings site than a chat forum. As was Nicky's Gay Pattaya.

[unicorn]

4 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

...I thought there was only 3 gay Thailand forums been GB ,Sawatdee and this one 😲

This is not a "Thailand forum," although a significant number do come from there. I seem to remember seeing the data at one time, although I don't remember where. If my recollection is right, I vaguely remember about 1/4 being from Thailand. Many, such as myself, are simply fleeing the toxic environment of COM. Anyone is free to correct me if my recall is poor. 

[jimmie50]

4 hours ago, unicorn said:

This is not a "Thailand forum,"

Initially I started visiting this forum after it was recommended to me by someone at COM when I posted questions there about Thailand travel.  While I still come here for Thailand travel info, I really enjoy many of the various topics discussed.  Everyone here is friendly and welcoming...and, of course, as @vinapu pointed out...handsome!  I feel a real sense of belonging and camaraderie here that I have never felt at COM.  It is an extremely toxic environment at COM.  

[TMax]

The first gay "forum" I found and joined was cruisingforsex which had some good bits about Bangkok (mostly cruising spots), the owner of that one (Keith) passed away and his friend Bob took over but unfortunately it became too much as other sites became popular (like Squirt). I'm not sure where I got pointed in the direction of this forum / website but I am very happy I did get here, I have picked up so much good advice and tips from the members here and have enjoyed reading other members trip reports and adventures. I also enjoyed Dreaded Ned's and Dragoncastle as they had plenty of good things on their sites. 

[PeterRS]

7 hours ago, unicorn said:

This is not a "Thailand forum," although a significant number do come from there. I seem to remember seeing the data at one time, although I don't remember where. If my recollection is right, I vaguely remember about 1/4 being from Thailand. Many, such as myself, are simply fleeing the toxic environment of COM. Anyone is free to correct me if my recall is poor. 

Very true. Originally it was Gay Thailand which then got merged into the larger more western-based Gay Guides (I assume that was its name - and it surely really doesn't matter which merged into which. It is as it is, although perhaps longer-term posters like me tend to regard it still as more of a Thai site). 

I think some will not know or remember that there was a three-week period some 12-15 years or so ago when it was announced that Gay Thailand would close. @Gaybutton had been a moderator since the early days and he decided he would then start up his own Board. All we knew was that Gay Thailand was to be purchased by an American couple who would be moving to retire to Chiang Mai. In the fullness of time we realised this was a posting member @firecat69. However, he and his partner finally decided not to retire to Chiang Mai. I believe it was then that @TotallyOz reversed his decision and decided to keep Gay Thailand running. 

Some will recall another site based in Thailand which tended to cover more general international political subjects - BahtStop which eventually merged into BahtStop 2. No idea why it folded.

We should remember, too, that before the chat rooms in Asia came internet dating sites - or at least sites where you provided your personal details and hoped to find someone who would respond. I read one site a lot for my visits to Thailand and did meet quite a few very willing partners. If I again recall correctly, that site was purely for individuals who were looking for sex and not cash. Eventually I discovered gaydar. While not good at providing information for companions in Thailand, it was really great for hook ups in Taipei and Tokyo.

[Keithambrose]

On 12/30/2025 at 2:17 PM, Olddaddy said:

I know many of you do message each other privately 

It just dawned on me today I haven't seen "Reader" for sometime and "kokapelli 2" 

Is there others who have passed?

I was thinking that it is quite difficult  for forum members to post the news of their passing?

[Olddaddy]

5 hours ago, jimmie50 said:

Initially I started visiting this forum after it was recommended to me by someone at COM when I posted questions there about Thailand travel.  While I still come here for Thailand travel info, I really enjoy many of the various topics discussed.  Everyone here is friendly and welcoming...and, of course, as @vinapu pointed out...handsome!  I feel a real sense of belonging and camaraderie here that I have never felt at COM.  It is an extremely toxic environment at COM.  

Oh there is a few toxic ones here too although they are not regular posters 

I have about 3 private messages of abuse by them ,

one telling me not to post anymore ,I think he died so he won't be sending anymore 😲😉Karma got him 

[TotallyOz]

6 hours ago, PeterRS said:

All we knew was that Gay Thailand was to be purchased by an American couple who would be moving to retire to Chiang Mai. In the fullness of time we realised this was a posting member @firecat69. However, he and his partner finally decided not to retire to Chiang Mai. I believe it was then that @TotallyOz reversed his decision and decided to keep Gay Thailand running. 

Close, but no cigar. The site was ran by Firecat until his death. He died a few years back. He owned the domain and his partner was going to run it but it did not happen and in the end Firecat did all the running of the site. After his death, I was the one that found out he died and contacted his estate to let them know. They had an offer from someone else who collects names and contacted me and I offered the same amount and they sold the name and I purchased it back again (for the 4th time) as I did not want the content to disappear. Hopefully, it will continue for ages! 

[TotallyOz]

I may have missed something but:

Start: MaleEscortReview.com and GayThailand separate sites

Merger

Boytoy.com

GayThailand.com sold a few times and after Firecat's death, now under a new owner who uses it with his other names

GayGuides.com (original content from MER, GT, and BT)

I might have missed a few changes over the years as it has been over 20

 

[hank75]

which board did Surfcrest own? I remember the handle but not the details

Wasn’t there an owner or mod of this board named Michael?  

[hank75]

I also appreciate that this board is optimised for phone use, unlike Gaybutton which I now struggle with due to failing eyesight 

whatever happened to Sawatdee gay?

[daydreamer]

21 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I think some will not know or remember that there was a three-week period some 12-15 years or so ago when it was announced that Gay Thailand would close. @Gaybutton had been a moderator since the early days and he decided he would then start up his own Board. 

Gaybutton's board has been active for around 25 years.  In the early days, he offered a matchmaking service on his website.

[PeterRS]

2 hours ago, hank75 said:

which board did Surfcrest own? I remember the handle but not the details

Wasn’t there an owner or mod of this board named Michael?  

Surfcrest owned Sawatdee. There is/was an owner of Gay Thailand named Michael for many years, but I think it is for him to say whether or not he remains iinvolved in Gay Guides.

1 hour ago, daydreamer said:

Gaybutton's board has been active for around 25 years.  In the early days, he offered a matchmaking service on his website.

I think you must mean about 15 years. Beforehand he had been very actively engaged as a moderator in Gay Thailand. His site is clearly useful as it has quite a number of readers, but most seem to be lurkers. The posting membership is very small and very Pattaya-centric.

[vinapu]

20 hours ago, Olddaddy said:

 

one telling me not to post anymore ,I think he died so he won't be sending anymore 😲😉Karma got him 

is he still dead ?

[TotallyOz]

59 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

Surfcrest owned Sawatdee. There is/was an owner of Gay Thailand named Michael for many years, but I think it is for him to say whether or not he remains iinvolved in Gay Guides.

I think you must mean about 15 years. Beforehand he had been very actively engaged as a moderator in Gay Thailand. His site is clearly useful as it has quite a number of readers, but most seem to be lurkers. The posting membership is very small and very Pattaya-centric.

Gaybutton owned a site about gay Thailand way before this one or gaythailand.com. He ran it as I visited it before my first trip to Thailand nearly 25 years back and got great info there. He was going to close and became a moderator at gaythailand and then went back to open his own site. I think his first site was gaybuttonthai?  I may be way wrong on that. 

 

[Olddaddy]

And then there was elephantspike ,wonder what happened to him?😲

Then big Neil from new York RIP

I used to like I think it was called Baht Stop forum?

 

[10tazione]

Might be my poor English skills, but took me a while to understand that gaybuttonthai should be read as gay-button-thai and not gay-butt-on-thai!

[Olddaddy]

2 hours ago, 10tazione said:

Might be my poor English skills, but took me a while to understand that gaybuttonthai should be read as gay-button-thai and not gay-butt-on-thai!

Is that the forum where the owner has to interview you before joining?

Uses WhatsApp or FaceTime?

I guess it's a good idea ☺️

[Gaybutton]

Hasn't it occurred to anyone who wants to know my board history to simply ask me?  

Some of you have excellent memory - and some have things a bit mixed up.  Also, when mentioning long gone boards and board owners, apparently nobody remembers Allen Briggs, owner of the Pattaya Gay board and his screen name was Gaypattayan.  It was a quite popular board in its day.  His, as I recall, was the first gay Thailand board.  

Allen, Dreaded Ned, and I would regularly meet at my home to discuss our board operations and ideas about how the boards ought to be run.  We did not always agree.

There were also other boards that appeared and now have vanished.

I have been operating gay boards since the days when owning an Atari 800 computer was considered top-of-the-line, connecting to a board required a direct connection via telephone, newsgroups were popular, 300 baud was maximum speed, CDs did not yet exist, and board owners were known as Sysops (System Operators).

I have even posted a few times about how I came up with the name Gaybutton.

And no, I do not require some sort of interview to register on my board.  What I require is receiving an Email from the applicant, only to confirm you are actually human, not a bot registration attempt.  I know of no gay board that requires an interview.  If one exists, I don't know about it.

[vinapu]

4 hours ago, 10tazione said:

Might be my poor English skills, but took me a while to understand that gaybuttonthai should be read as gay-button-thai and not gay-butt-on-thai!

second version is correct I guess

[floridarob]

1 hour ago, Gaybutton said:

when owning an Atari 800 computer was considered top-of-the-line

Was my first computer...

[TotallyOz]

6 hours ago, floridarob said:

Was my first computer...

Young folks. I had a Commodore Vic 20. 

[floridarob]

3 hours ago, TotallyOz said:

Young folks. I had a Commodore Vic 20. 

Keep in mind , I am older than you.....

The Atari 800 came first, launching in late 1979, with the Atari 800 Wikipedia page noting its release in November 1979. The Commodore VIC-20 followed, arriving in 1981, making the Atari 800 a technical predecessor that was available a year earlier.