April 13 2007
Blog wars: Bangkok diplomat's own goal

"I saw him walking arm-in-arm with a girl that could only be described as a 2 dollar whore," writes Simon Peltier beneath an innocuous blog entry by Ian Proud, head of the British embassy's political section.
When the thirty-eight year-old diplomat agreed to be a guest blogger on The Nation's website, he also let them publish this photo.
Big mistake.
Edwardio Shanks also spotted him in action.
I recall going to the embassy once and that same night was down on Cowboy and who did I bump into? Yes, it was Ian.
And Sport fills in the background.
I know a couple of guys at the Aussie embassy and they are no different from the US embassy or the British embassy. Come Friday 3pm and it's down to Soi Cowboy, getting pissed and doing as many disgusting things as possible with the pole dancers.
Proud's postings were entirely inoffensive but he realised too late that he'd stumbled into the elephant trap that The Guardian newspaper calls the "seamy underbelly of blogging in Bangkok."
His diplomatic career may never recover.
The novice blogger's undoing will surprise no one on this forum. With the fall and rise of Stickman, Keith Summers' impending nervous breakdown, Netchanok Klinkesorn's online exile and the jailing of Friskodude, it's been a tough year for Bangkok commentators.
Discussion forum lynch mobs are par for the course around here but the British embassy's well-deserved reputation for inflicting misery on visa applicants wins it few friends and Proud's online stoning was all but guaranteed.
The deeply embarrassed diplomat struggled to explain his behaviour to The Guardian.
I don't think there are many people here that haven't been in places like Soi Cowboy at some point but I'm not down there every Friday at 3pm. My last visit was about a year ago. I'm happily settled with a girl so I've no need or desire to go there.
When my posting to the embassy ends next month, I don't think I can bear to leave. This country is my home now so maybe I should stay on in Thailand and be a professional web-blogger.
Proud might have come before the fall - but only inside his girlfriend, Lek, apparently.
Don't give up the daytime job, Ian.
Full story [The Guardian]
Ian Proud's blog (what's left of it) [The Nation]
Footnote
More British embassy-related hi-jinks [The Guardian]
See also
Bangkok embassy tells bird-flu Brits to bugger off
(Story spotted by Dicer)
[Posted to Internet by David]
*** THE COMMENT FORUM IS NOW CLOSED ***
Internet
Blog wars: Bangkok diplomat's own goal
Hackers attack Bangkok discussion boards
Big Jimmy laments Thai love lost
Tanai Kwai shares Bangkok Girlfriend
Sam Sloan: Adventurer, babyfather & taxi driver
Japanese school girl up-skirt doggy-cam
Expat girl living in a sexpat world
True wireless broadband without the rip-offs
Free wireless broadband in Thailand (It's True)
Thailand Stories: The new kid on the block
Naughty Mr Heffalump buys Thai bride
Masie's dramatic soft toy confession
Ajarn.com: English teaching jobs in Thailand
Amuzing Thai Cartoons by M.J.B.
Thaipro English language Thailand search engine
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