Pantip.com

Thai web forum

Pantip. com is a popular Thai language website and discussion forum. As of July 2016, Pantip. com one of the top 10 websites in Thailand and 712 worldwide. Discussions about Thai politics and current events on Pantip. com's topic boards are often cited in the Thai press, particularly in such English language newspapers as the Bangkok Post and The Nation, as a gauge of the public's mood about various issues. At the beginning, the site gained its popularity from people's misunderstanding of its name which is similar (and identical in English) to Bangkok's format IT shopping center, Pantip Plaza, but it is in no way affiliated with the mall. (The name is actually styled in Thai as พันทิป, meaning a thousand tips.) Nevertheless, there is a significant IT related community there.

Pantip. com was founded on October 7,1996 by Wanchat Padungrat, an electronics engineer graduating from KMITL. He holds directorship and ownership of the site. Along with the popular Thai language portal Sanook. com, Pantip. com was one of the first websites established in Thailand when the Internet was being introduced in the country. As opposed to Sanook. com's lucrative buyout from MWeb, a now defunct dot com company, Wanchat has no plans to sell the site.

One of the features of the site is the "Café", which consists of 20 "tables" for discussions on a variety of topics. The tables are named after famous places in Thailand, such as Siam Square, MBK Center, Silom and Chatuchak Weekend Market. Topics for discussion include politics, religion, celebrities and education as well as films, sports and outdoor recreation. Other features include LiveChat, Pantip Market, PanTown, Game Room, E Card, BlogGang and Pantip Musicstation.

Pantip. com believes that its members should be held accountable for what they write on its webboard in order to avoid unpleasant exchanges that often bring about defamation, rudeness, or simply unhealthy cyber environment for its members. Thus, since 2004 it has started requiring that new members must provide their IDs (Thai National ID or passport number) in order to subscribe for a membership. At first, this measure had received a lot of criticism, with concerns about privacy and security of personal information. However, such criticisms have subsided as there has been no indication of any harm yet. Apparently, Pantip. com is one of the few, if any, online webboards that have such stiff requirements involving personal identity of the member. According to Wanchat, the outcome of such measure is quite satisfying, the members are contented with the improved quality of the discussion and the membership has grown. The whole Chalermthai movie and entertainment board, where the picture was posted, banded together to defend the poster whom they think was just a scapegoat in a plot to raise publicity for the actress' next movie. The actress and her company was heavily criticized and there were a collective threat not to see any of her future movies. Finally after the poster made a public apology, she dropped the case and he was set free.