2bangkok.com Is Gone
Posted by Stuart at 09:58 AM on April 01, 2005As I have mentioned on this site a few times, one thing that I don't like about living in Thailand is that it is impossible to be an informed citizen. It is very difficult for me to actually figure out what is really going on around me.
Of course, this is mostly because of the language barrier. Culture sometimes plays a role as well. For example, if I want to make a big purchase at a store, I have to take a Thai friend along because there is no way I can figure out what to buy. Why is this TV selling for 10,000 more baht than this one? I have to take someone who is willing to ask a lot of questions so that we can together figure out which is the best product for the money.
Getting news is another problem. The English language newspapers are mostly worthless. The Bangkok Post has no teeth and The Nation has too many. These two newspapers will report on the same story and the Post will praise the efforts of the government while the Nation will slam them.
I was, therefore, very happy to find 2bangkok.com. Reading it has become part of my daily routine, and I have linked to it many times from here (for example, last week's photos from the Russian Embassy).
I loved their coverage of the SkyTrain and Subway, and of big construction projects like the Mega-Bridge, and information warning about gem scams, and even translations of the headlines of the many Thai language newspapers.
But now, the site is gone. And it's not just that the owners of the site decided to remove it. That scenario I could accept. After all, I wasn't paying them anything to feed me news stories.
Instead, the Thai government has decided that the people of Thailand should not view this site. If you are in Thailand now and you go to the 2bangkok website, you will see something similar to the screen shot I posted to the right. (Click on it to see a bigger version.)
It's no secret that the Thai Government censors websites. They have a black list of about (last I heard) 20,000 sites that are blocked inside Thailand. But almost 100% of them are pornography or gambling sites. So, you can argue that pornography sites should be blocked because the children of Thailand shouldn't see them, but once you start blocking one site, where do you stop? Who decides what is good and what is bad?
For me, the 2bangkok site was an important part of my life here because it informed me about living in a foreign country. But someone, somewhere, thinks otherwise.
Hi Stuart,
Most likely, 2bangkok.com admin, Ron Morris, is pulling a prank on his readers. It's April Fool's Day after all.
We'll see what Ron has to say tomorrow.
By the way, I'd lived in the Bay Area for 4 years and loved every minute of it, especially weekends, of course. I just moved back half a year ago. Still missing it dearly.
Rapee, I think you're right. Especially since Torben saw the same page in Denmark. They wouldn't block a site going OUT of Thailand. In fact, the site is probably not even hosted inside of Thailand. (Mine isn't, for example.) I certainly hope you're right at least.
I have been thinking over and over about what has gone on the site lately that would have been "over the line". Ron and his staff usually do a great job at being unbiased yet informative.
Two other clues that make me believe that I have been hoaxed is that there was no mention of blockage on the 2Bangkok Yahoo Group. Also, I believe that the text that goes on a blocked page is very different than this. I think it just says something along the lines of "Not Accessable", as opposed to "So Sorry. If you have questions contact the ..."
So, let's hope I was duped! :)
- Stuart
P.S. My comments about being anti-censorship still stand... :)
Hi Stuart,
I enjoyed 2bangkok as much as you are even though I'm not a thai. Too bad that thai gov decided to ban it.
In my personal point of view, 2bangkok is very informative and it never published any bad news about thai and thailand. On the other hand it publishes a lot of good news.
why should it be banned?
tata
April fooling, here in europe you can find it in every newspaper, radio- or tv-station. It's funny as many
people fall into this joke.
Hi Stuart,
What a shame indeed. I looked up the site this morning from Copenhagen (Denmark) after reading your article and got the same response here.
So obviously this is not just a case of local censorship - the team at 2Bangkok must have published a really controversial article recently. Maybe it was even the pictures from the former Russian Embassy that did it, who knows?