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Link to the resort’s response from twitter https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8waPd4H/view?usp=drivesdk https://drive.google.com/file/d/1

Link to the resort’s response from twitter https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VZCwyULmkLpZ7y5nT5wsaX0mn8waPd4H/view?usp=drivesdk 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.

CyberDildonics 6y ago
In what way would you ever rationalize putting someone in prison for a bad review?
- KaoruAoiShiho 6y ago
  I'm not convinced that defamation laws are absolutely abhorrent. It's possible to ruin someone's life with verbal harassment, especially when given amplified powers via social media.
  - CyberDildonics 6y ago
    That is a false dichotomy. No one said anything about defamation laws in general and this is a business not a person. They told the police that what he said was untrue and the police came to his work and put him in prison.
    - KaoruAoiShiho 6y ago
      Cause of defamation laws? If you're against this isn't the root of it defamation laws?
      - CyberDildonics 6y ago
        If someone accuses you of speeding and you don't think you should get put in jail for multiple days does that mean you are against speed limits?
- pier25 6y ago
  The guy said in one of the reviews the resort used slaves... that's a pretty defamatory claim.
  - CyberDildonics 6y ago
    The article says he said "modern day slavery", but the point here is not that there wasn't any defamation. It is that police came to his work and put him in jail based off of a complaint by the hotel. Does that seem reasonable to you?
    - aflag 6y ago
      Defamation is a very serious crime there. The hotel had hard evidence and, I presume, saying a hotel practices modern day slavery is very high up in the list. In light of that, it doesn't seem that preventive detention, which I assume was the case here, is that unreasonable.
      - throwawaygh 6y ago
        There's realpolitik on the other side of this coin as well. The ongoing coup d'etat means that this isn't simply a matter of "follow local laws", but also a matter of "risk that this becomes a litmus test for the western world's orientation toward Thailand's new system of government". Cracking down on US tourists for speech violations is exactly the sort of thing hawkish senators in the US might latch onto. If that happens, Thailand becomes a de facto Chinese satellite state. Which is all to say: domestic affairs are never exactly domestic when foreign nationals are involved. Normally the stakes are low, but in Thailand's case the particular moment is fraught with risk. The juice seems not worth the squeeze. > preventive detention AFAIK he's been charged with crimes.
        stephenr 6y ago
        > ongoing coup d'etat means You know there was an election right? Is the government still questionable? Sure. But the coup is no longer in effect, there is an elected government.
hu3 6y ago
"There are 3 main reasons that forced us to file a complaint – We are not suing him for just a single bad review: 1. He left fabricated stories on his reviews on TripAdvisor and Google that included xenophobic connotations, accusations of slavery and even comments that could mislead readers to associate our property with the Coronavirus. 2. He had been posting reviews roughly 1-2 weeks apart with obvious defamatory intentions. We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent, as we understood he may continue to write negative reviews week after week for the foreseeable future. 3. Despite our multiple efforts to contact him to resolve this in an amicable way for well over a month, he chose to ignore us completely. He only replied to our emails, messages on review sites, etc. once he had been notified of our complaint by the authorities." Ouch.
- visarga 6y ago
  Yet the worldwide spread of this news story has done a million times more damage than a few reviews could have. Smart, now people are talking about avoiding Thailand all together. If you want to be a tourist destination and at the same time threaten the freedom of your guests with such draconian laws, then you got a problem. I read years ago that an American woman in Pakistan was arrested for walking on the street wearing short pants (wasn't modest enough). Tourists should know these things to be able to adapt or avoid.
  - stephenr 6y ago
    > now people are talking about avoiding Thailand all together Or, they're talking about refusing uppity Americans.
- vsl 6y ago
  You can see what a load of BS is right from the one review screenshotted in the article. Point 1 boils down to: - “manager is Czech and full of himself” - xenophobic my ass (preemptively: I’m Czech and no way in hell would I see such statement as having “xenophobic connotations” - He wrote “avoid like the coronavirus” - that can’t mislead anyone with non-zero reading comprehension to “associate the property” They’re just bullies.

CyberDildonics 6y ago

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

KaoruAoiShiho 6y ago
I'm not convinced that defamation laws are absolutely abhorrent. It's possible to ruin someone's life with verbal harassment, especially when given amplified powers via social media.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  That is a false dichotomy. No one said anything about defamation laws in general and this is a business not a person. They told the police that what he said was untrue and the police came to his work and put him in prison.
  - KaoruAoiShiho 6y ago
    Cause of defamation laws? If you're against this isn't the root of it defamation laws?
    - CyberDildonics 6y ago
      If someone accuses you of speeding and you don't think you should get put in jail for multiple days does that mean you are against speed limits?
pier25 6y ago
The guy said in one of the reviews the resort used slaves... that's a pretty defamatory claim.
- CyberDildonics 6y ago
  The article says he said "modern day slavery", but the point here is not that there wasn't any defamation. It is that police came to his work and put him in jail based off of a complaint by the hotel. Does that seem reasonable to you?
  - aflag 6y ago
    Defamation is a very serious crime there. The hotel had hard evidence and, I presume, saying a hotel practices modern day slavery is very high up in the list. In light of that, it doesn't seem that preventive detention, which I assume was the case here, is that unreasonable.
    - throwawaygh 6y ago
      There's realpolitik on the other side of this coin as well. The ongoing coup d'etat means that this isn't simply a matter of "follow local laws", but also a matter of "risk that this becomes a litmus test for the western world's orientation toward Thailand's new system of government". Cracking down on US tourists for speech violations is exactly the sort of thing hawkish senators in the US might latch onto. If that happens, Thailand becomes a de facto Chinese satellite state. Which is all to say: domestic affairs are never exactly domestic when foreign nationals are involved. Normally the stakes are low, but in Thailand's case the particular moment is fraught with risk. The juice seems not worth the squeeze. > preventive detention AFAIK he's been charged with crimes.
      - stephenr 6y ago
        > ongoing coup d'etat means You know there was an election right? Is the government still questionable? Sure. But the coup is no longer in effect, there is an elected government.

hu3 6y ago

"There are 3 main reasons that forced us to file a complaint – We are not suing him for just a single bad review: 1. He left fabricated stories on his reviews on TripAdvisor and Google that included xenophobic connotations, accusations of slavery and even comments that could mislead readers to associate our property with the Coronavirus. 2. He had been posting reviews roughly 1-2 weeks apart with obvious defamatory intentions. We chose to file a complaint to serve as a deterrent, as we understood he may continue to write negative reviews week after week for the foreseeable future. 3. Despite our multiple efforts to contact him to resolve this in an amicable way for well over a month, he chose to ignore us completely. He only replied to our emails, messages on review sites, etc. once he had been notified of our complaint by the authorities." Ouch.

visarga 6y ago
Yet the worldwide spread of this news story has done a million times more damage than a few reviews could have. Smart, now people are talking about avoiding Thailand all together. If you want to be a tourist destination and at the same time threaten the freedom of your guests with such draconian laws, then you got a problem. I read years ago that an American woman in Pakistan was arrested for walking on the street wearing short pants (wasn't modest enough). Tourists should know these things to be able to adapt or avoid.
- stephenr 6y ago
  > now people are talking about avoiding Thailand all together Or, they're talking about refusing uppity Americans.
vsl 6y ago
You can see what a load of BS is right from the one review screenshotted in the article. Point 1 boils down to: - “manager is Czech and full of himself” - xenophobic my ass (preemptively: I’m Czech and no way in hell would I see such statement as having “xenophobic connotations” - He wrote “avoid like the coronavirus” - that can’t mislead anyone with non-zero reading comprehension to “associate the property” They’re just bullies.