Thread: To answer questions or issues on TEFL Watch site

Originally Posted by bobman_y2k

Thanks for the answers, I really appreciate it and hope the guys over at tefl do also.

Bobman,
I've answered the questions as honestly as I can. I'm not really looking to make friends here or turn around people's opinions. Whether people consider ajarn.com to be 'a teacher's site' or 'satan's arse' doesn't really bother me. I know that Gez and I do a good job with that site and we've got major plans for it over the next few months with a brand new launch hopefully in December / January.

Ajarn.com is primarily a jobs board. That's what 95% of its visitors go there for. The site's got a selection of 500 TEFL positions on-line. That's what keeps people coming back. OK there are a few decent articles, interviews, etc. Big deal. But it's still the site I would want to read if I was thinking of coming to teach in Thailand.

Originally Posted by russellsimpson

Did you get the feeling at that point that you had been "set up" Phil, or just put it down to a misunderstanding.

Must have been rather "uncomfortable" to say the least.

It was absolutely a misunderstanding. I could see that Barry (the foreign A.D) was just as annoyed as I was. People thought that TSW was a part of ajarn.com so Phil was the man to get their names out of the hall of shame.

I didn't feel the slightest bit uncomfortable Russ. I was too annoyed to feel uncomfortable. I just fixed everyone with my 'mention TSW again and I'm gone' look and no one uttered another word on the topic.

I can tell you why I removed the link to Ajarn Forum, and it was entirely down to the fact that their admin had taken it upon himself to write a very nasty editorial about us, from what I believe to be a purely selfish point of view after our moderators had unwittingly banned him after a spat with one of them. I was on holiday and unable to deal with it on the spot, thanks to my mum's crappy dial-up access and it all escalated out of control. Simple fact of the matter is, that you don't continue to support and endorse a site that is slagging your site on it's front page.

Originally Posted by Whitey

You got 1500 members in 3 months because you required people to register before they could even read any comments. That was uncool in my opinion. I never visited it because I just didn't want to register to read what people had to say.

That was your choice, but many did read the site on that basis, and I felt it appropriate that people should show a certain amount of effort to read what were quite personal accounts. All admins have a certain style and a logic for having that style.

Originally Posted by Whitey

TEFLWatch has more basis on my Grey List than the Thai School Watch Forum. For example, they both used wordpress.

Personally, I've never been that convinced that there should be this central editorial voice on a site like this, all this Hall of Shame nonsense etc...my conception of it was simply to provide space for people to vent. My style was much more for staying neutral, and keeping it all within the rules.

Originally Posted by Whitey

Also, if I recall, TEFLWatch didn't rise from the ashes of the demise of Thai School Watch but rather it was started after TSW had closed. It was started with a new domain, a new mission, and a totally new format. Only a few posts were copy and pasted to the new forum if I recall correctly.

Within a few days of TSW's closure if I recall correctly, so in that sense I disagree entirely that the notion that TSW's closure did not prompt the creation of TEFL Watch, and in fact the admin of TEFL Watch conslted fairly closely with me on how he'd be proceding, and as you state I opened up the shut down TSW to the new moderation team so that they could copy and paste any threads they felt appropriate, in order to kick start the new forum.

I'm hardly surprised it had a new domain, TSW had gone through 2 changes of admin in the space of 8 months. The mission? Well, it expanded to other countries, an idea I had flirted with for a while, and it gave the admin a more central voice, but initially it was more or less the same.

Originally Posted by kiwiling

Whatever they might think they still visit it. Don't worry until the hits stop.

My 'worry' is that one day I will get up and I've just grown tired of it.

The simple fact is that Ajarn is almost iconic in it's niche, pulp fiction writers have included us in their trashy ex-pat books! Paint us all you want as the great white Satans of teaching in Thailand, or in the deep, dank pockets of evil and corrupt TEFL course people, but silly conspiracy theories don't detract much from the fantastic selection of jobs, the ever growing archive of articles, and the ever addictive community we have here on the forum. Competition? That would be nice.

The quote above was made by Louis not me Asper.

To answer the question, some mods have banning powers and some don't. I think the ones that don't, don't really want it. Louis can answer the question better than me.

Right you are, it was our deputy admin. He swears blind that unwitting didn't come into it he meant to ban him...oh I dunno...I was on holiday innit.
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Only senior mods have banning powers....that'll be me, Phil, Discus, Jon, and Reg.

Originally Posted by Well

an i be bustin' caps on those mutherfuckers that be thinkin' they can roll over my homies to make the papes...

word my niggaz.

Y'know that's nothing like Ali G, don't you?

Originally Posted by mrsquirrel

Other than that TEFLwatch is ran by a bunch of mentalists much like here and every other forum I have used.

Have you ever thought to yourself that it just might be you?

And by the way (at risk of sounding like an egomaniac as you put it) I'm not letting this thread go off topic. If it develops into a 'fight' between ajarn admin and ajarn members, posts are going to start getting deleted without a single apology.

Originally Posted by Bangkok Phil

Have you ever thought to yourself that it just might be you? And by the way (at risk of sounding like an egomaniac as you put it) I'm not letting this thread go off topic. If it develops into a 'fight' between ajarn admin and ajarn members, posts are going to start getting deleted without a single apology.

Not at all.

The fact is that as forums develop and become more popular the owners/admins develop a feeling of importance. Much like z-list celebrities. It's not your fault.

z-list celebrities always have little spats with each other normally on the front pages of the red tops.

The only forum I haven't seen that happen on is Davescafe. Not sure why but he doesn't appear much in it. There are inter forum wars but he doesn't appear to feature in them.

Compare LDMA two years ago to now. Two years ago he was proud of his efforts. He saw his short comings and worked at making this a better place.

Now with his mini-celebrity like status in the TEFL world for having this forum he brags about how succesful he is,get's involved in inter forum conflicts and takes things very personally. He has hit the virtual z-list celebrity status for the TEFL community.

Part of the evolution. At some point I am sure he will see that it is wise just to step back and let things run themselves. He will still get paid but he won't have to feel that everybody is hating him all the time.