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Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

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Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#21

Post by throwawaygh »

JusticeJuice wrote: post #15
smnrchrds wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like if leaving a one-star review of Google Maps can put you in jail in Thailand, it is highly irresponsible and unethical of Google to allow leaving reviews in Thailand. They should remove review feature entirely for Thailand, or disable lower ratings, or show a giant flashing warning explaining what you are risking by leaving the review.

>I feel like if leaving a one-star review of Google Maps can put you in jail in Thailand, it is highly irresponsible and unethical of Google to allow leaving reviews in Thailand. What? No. You can defame yourself in literally any public media forum where what you say could affect the other party. That means literally any public website with a comment feature. Singling out just google maps with a solution like that ma…

Jail for one star reviews is atypical even outside the west.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#22

Post by [deleted] »

adventured wrote: post #12
mamon wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which by the way might a perfect way of punishing dicks - nothing like pain and public humiliation to cure inflated egos.

> Which by the way might a perfect way of punishing dicks - nothing like pain and public humiliation to cure inflated egos. That's a sub-human system of torture and brutality that you're cheering for, which would be rife with false accusations and witch-hunting style assaults by the mob as large groups of people would increasingly lust to harm outcasts and persecute smaller collections of minorities. Are we burning p…

[deleted]

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#23

Post by dhruvrrp »

Link to the resort’s response from twitter https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8w...

Seems like a messed up situation and i would like to side with the guest, but given I don’t have a culture frame of reference I wouldn’t be too fast to judge the resort.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#24

Post by pengaru »

etaioinshrdlu wrote: post #13
pengaru wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not be surprised one bit if Singapore punished being a dick with N lashes in a public square.

I've lived in Singapore and they have a strong legal system, they don't just punish you for "being a dick". They do have a lot of strict laws, however.

Sure, my comment was meant to further demonstrate how different nations have different laws foreigners must respect when within their borders.

I've read multiple articles over the years about foreigners being caned in Singapore over relatively minor actions, hence my not being surprised if they did such a thing.

Here's one such example:

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/26/us/us-student-tells-of-pa...

Singapore strikes me as an interesting mix of an archaic kingdom with a modern culture and economy. I'm not necessarily against their use of corporal punishment and strict laws, it seems to be a generally nice place.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#25

Post by altacc »

INTPenis wrote: post #8

I'm not surprised. I had some crazy experiences in Thailand. Once the floor dropped out in our bungalow, as I was stepping on it. Sheer luck that I didn't fall through and cut myself open on the exposed building material. Trying to explain this to the owner and they accused us of breaking the floor and wanted to charge for it. Another time we wanted them to order a cab for us but they insisted we use their limo servi…

> It can get pretty frustrating communicating with someone who doesn't understand.

They understand, they’re just aiming to maximise monetary gain. There’s so many scams to avoid that it’s actually hard work to travel there.

The culture of keeping a calm exterior can lull people into a false sense of security. A businessman I knew who lives there told me “you’ll never know a Thai is angry with you until they’re trying to kill you”. Definitely a gross generalisation, but hints of truth to it.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#26

Post by CyberDildonics »

dhruvrrp wrote: post #23

Link to the resort’s response from twitter https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8w... Seems like a messed up situation and i would like to side with the guest, but given I don’t have a culture frame of reference I wouldn’t be too fast to judge the resort.

In what way would you ever rationalize putting someone in prison for a bad review?

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#28

Post by tssva »

gabereiser wrote: post #2

Pro Tip: leave your reviews after the stay. Another pro tip: know the local laws. American’s are THE WORST overseas because we think ‘Merica way of life is world wide. No, it isn’t, and you’d to well to humble yourself, learn the local laws, conduct yourself as if you were at Nana’s house. Wheaton’s law: “Don’t be a dick”. But Thailand’s defamation laws, online laws, and more kinda turn me off from visiting. Granted…

Foreign travellers in the US can be as bad or worse than US travelers in other countries. Many Europeans, Asians, Africans, South Americans etc do no better job informing themselves of and following local customs in the US than Americans do in their countries.

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#29

Post by gruez »

The part near the end of the article is confusing.

>While this reaction by the hotel does sound excessive I’d give them the benefit of the doubt that this guest behaved like a total idiot while at the property and then turned around with very unflattering descriptions and manufactured truths aka lies about this resort. He then refused to discuss the matter with the hotel and instead of stopping even accelerated his online badmouthing on channels other than TripAdvisor after the first bad review was “managed” away (deleted).

>These little islands in Thailand are well known to be essentially run by the local mafia and a lot of people have met their fate at these islands after run in with the locals. In 2014 a British couple was killed on Koh Tao and the crime was later pinned on some illiterate Burmese migrant workers. The two Burmese were initially sentenced to death and just received a Royal pardon, reducing the sentence to life imprisonment.

>I’m just noting this in the context of the situation at hand to show that one should consider his behavior and own security while on these islands.

He's giving the hotel the benefit of the doubt that it's the guest's fault, but also brings up that the islands are run by the mafia and has a corrupt justice system. What's he trying to say? That even if you're right, you shouldn't write a bad review because the justice system is corrupt and you're going to end up in jail anyways?

Re: Hotel guest in Thailand jailed for defamation after posting bad online reviews

#30

Post by altacc »

MiroF wrote: post #19
INTPenis wrote: post #8

I'm not surprised. I had some crazy experiences in Thailand. Once the floor dropped out in our bungalow, as I was stepping on it. Sheer luck that I didn't fall through and cut myself open on the exposed building material. Trying to explain this to the owner and they accused us of breaking the floor and wanted to charge for it. Another time we wanted them to order a cab for us but they insisted we use their limo servi…

This seems like just classic poorer country trying to milk money out of rich westerner (well minus the floor dropping out that sounds awful)

The people you’re dealing with and owning these places are not necessarily poor. There are many poor people in Thailand but many very, very wealthy people and you might not be able to recognise which is which. The wealth divide is very big.
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