Belem

I met him when he first moved out there in 1998 with BM WhosYourDaddy when he first started his Geocitiies Thai nightlife site. He first visited Thailand in 1997 and spent most of his time in Phuket then. He was in his late 20s.

And people like you are a dying breed I'm afraid to say. Look at how dead this board is as well as the other Thailand nightlife boards compared to several years ago. Look at Sticks declining readership. Look at how a lot of the bars are struggling for business. There are less mongers and more mainstream tourists in Thailand. I know many people who have moved on from being obsessed with Thailand and now go to other areas as a result of go go girls charging 3000 baht ST, lack of GFE, a different vibe, higher drink prices, worsening attitudes, the Thai economy resulting in better opportunities for the girls with bars struggling to get staff, more young guys around, etc. The life blood of a board or site like Stickmans is newbies. When I first visited Thailand back in the 90s, I had the fever, was addicted, and often planned my next trip while flying home. That was when Thailand was cheaper and a lot more fun. I know several people who recently visited Thailand and participated in the nightlife, and they didn't have he same feeling like me on my first visits and won't be back for reasons like a ST can be had for the same price or cheaper back home without spending two days on a plane from North America, I can have a beach party atmosphere in Mexico or an island closer to home, etc. Thailand doesn't need the mongers anymore and will move on with more couples, families, and Asian tourists, but I suspect the majority of Sticks readership are people who have an interest in the nightlife or those who use to participate in it and still want to stay informed with what's going on. About this board, how in the hell is anyone going to find it? It doesn't come up in the search engines like Secrets and Pattaya Addicts and there's no link exchange with affiliate sites like Stickman had with Secrets. Is someone going to know to get on Google and type Thai360? LOL! The demise of this board is sad because at one time it was on top.

Even if an investor came in to try to save the column, albeit with less of a highlife slan., Stick himself said that his readership has steadily declined and is down 15% from last year and that there were not enough newbies. Fact is Thailand is no longer a driving force in my life. I used to have Thai fever like many guys did. Stickman, nor any investor, can't change that.

Pattaya Secrets and Pattaya Addicts are still very active, albeit not at the level they were in say 2009. There are some private Facebook groups that focus on nightlife and have racy pics, though. Fact is this board was the first Thailand nightlife board and had an advantage over other startups being already established and died a slow death due to the name change as well as it adopting a more general approach as opposed to focussing mainly on the nightlife. I think the last nightlife post on this board was a few months ago...LOL! Regarding Twitter, can't see someone starting a discussion with #Nanaplaza.

He was supposed to leave three years ago only for him to change his mind and say two more years. Then last year he said one more year. Wouldn't surpirse me if he changed his mind again.

Western Union will also allow you to transfer money into the recipient's bank account. They have an app for smart phone which is really easy. And the recipient can check it on their Bangkok bank app or whatever bank they have.

Auckland, where Stickman is from and where his family lives, has a sizable Thai population, not as big as Thai town in Los Angeles, but big enough to have Thai festivals. I think Thai Airways still has the direct flight from BKK to Auckland.

Interestingly, the title of this week's Stickman weekly is Infidelity.

His ex wife went to New Zealand with him to visit his family, and Stick even said in his weekly that she was open to leaving Thailand for Farangland, probably more so than him. She was very interested in all things Farang.

[Removed - KS], which is why they are divorced. They have been divorced for several years, and I don't think it's a factor in him leaving.

He may be settling down in Melbourne.

Or remind people how much the bar scene has gotten worse.

I skipped over the questions your ex wife answered and have continued to skip over the Sunbelt answer of legal questions when I read your weekly.

Was there an issue with Google classifying the site as an adult site and thus could not get Google AdSense revenue.

Australia

Before this thread goes in a different direction, I want to reiterate that I want it to be kind of a tribute to a guy who has a place in Thai nightlife history.

You had a banner ad exchange with Secrets for a time and isn't Sunrise Tacos owned by Sunbelt Asia who writes a column in the place in the weekly where Mrs Stick wrote before you two divorced?

I was around that time and you also took down your nightlife section for a time in response to the Purachai-Thacksin crackdown like some other sites.

This board went from being the number one Thailand board, especially for nightlife coverage, to one that is barely on the radar to those people who were members from the beginning. The name change killed this board.

If you don't then don't read the thread. Go troll somewhere else.

KS got scared back in 2001 during the Thacksin draconian crackdown and changed the name.

The name change from Nana Plaza to Thai360 was almost the death knell for this board, though.

Funny before you said it was the same rehashed shite every week and you couldn't be bothered reading it. It's really a plug for his advertisers like fill in the blank Irish or English bar with an all you can eat Sunday carvery, Sunrise Tacos, any bar affiliated with Dave the Rave, or Secrets in Pattaya having an event. He's been going through the motions for awhile with very mundane opening topics. Like I said, he caught lightning in a bottle and started a nightlife website when no one else stepped up....and I give him credit for that.

Stick has had his rocky moments. [Removed - KS]

In March of last year in his weekly column, Stickman announced he was leaving Thailand in a year. With the date approaching, I thought it would be appropriate to start a thread about it on this board, as he was by far most active on this board from its Delphi beginnings due to the Bangkok expat clique. I remember first meeting him around 1998 when he was teaching English and started a Geocities nightlife information site as well as meeting WhosYourDaddy. I subsequently saw him at a few Nana Plaza Friday night board meetings at the Woodstock Bar in Nana Plaza. His website first started out as an encyclopedia of Thai nightlife information breaking it down to cities like Bangkok and Pattaya and bar areas like Nana Plaza. It was a plethora of info that convinced many people to take the plunge and go to Thailand. Around 2001, he made a genius move starting a weekly column that enabled him to get more hits and attract more advertisers giving him more of an income stream to supplement his English teacher salary as well as other ancillary income from his bargirl investigation service. Over time he dismantled the nightlife sections, and his website evolved into other sections like book reviews, photography, etc. He has stated some of his reasons for leaving are wanting to live a more active lifestyle and wanting to have animals. I also suspect that another reason is Thailand has changed and not for he better with changing attitudes, declining Thai nightlife web traffic, and an ever changing tourist mix among other things. He also said that he may not go back to his home country, New Zealand. It wouldn't surprise me to see him settle in Australia, where many Kiwis have relocated. Stickman first arrived in Thailand to settle around 1998, and it's now 2015. He is now in his 40s, and I'm sure his experiences would make for an interesting book, although he has said he has no plans of writing a book. From his beginnings of being a participant in the nightlife and venturing to the dark side for a time to getting married to a Thai national and his subsequent divorce to embracing health and fitness, he has evolved like many expats do. His departure from Thailand is the end of an era, a big part of Thailand nightlife history becoming the Internet's version of Bernard Trink. I know I will be reading his final column with great interest.