PoorButHappy/Mexico or Latin America

Peter (Moderator) says on Jan 15, 2005, 11:44:

Hi Angel,
the problem with starting new locations isn't so much about hosting costs, but more about getting the people to go and post there. A site with nobody posting is pretty boring. The India site just started, and still doesn't have many people there. It's the people that make this Colombia site so good, and it took me like 5 years to get it to this level :)

Having said that, a poorbuthappy Latin America might be a good idea. Again, I don't need hosting, I need people willing to be moderators and writers of content.... If we get that, we might be able to get it started :)

Poor but snappy

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caslug says on Jan 15, 2005, 13:01:

Excellent idea! I'm heading to Peru for two weeks, i can write my observation. This site is great for info on COL, probably better than other travel sites like Lonelyplanet. If you open up to latin america then maybe some non-col travellers will stumble on and start posting. Open up another forum for south america(outside of Colombia).

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Angel_Gabriel says on Jan 15, 2005, 13:54:

On the premise that if you built it they will come, it is worth a shot or two. Latin America broken down from Mexico, Central & South America, doesn't have to be organized into specific countries. Just an idea.

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Gomezman5 says on Jan 15, 2005, 15:24:

I don't know about Latin America Latin American is too big a world. Mexico, Central America,South America, the Carribean....is simply too much to derive real any knowledge. The beauty of concentrating on a particular country is that it allows people that are unfamiliar with the country to leatn about the country....and to get a feel for its culture and people. Latin America is not one world...but many worlds onto themselves. About the only thing that links them together is the Spanish language

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Peter (Moderator) says on Jan 15, 2005, 17:31:

If you build it, they don't necesarily come. There are LOTS of empty forums out there on the web (also lots of active ones), and I worked hard to get this one running to the level it is now :)

Poor but snappy

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Angel_Gabriel says on Jan 15, 2005, 19:06:

You are right Gomezman, you don't know about Latin America.

Most of us do not know a lot about other Latin American countries; enough with poor but happy Colombia. Certainly the audience is there but maybe it should be a completely separate site. This forum took a while to become known & with the popularity it already sports, other individuals would surely find it useful for other countries, be that Mexico, Brazil, Peru, India or Latvia (Riga?). The knowledge is augmented in the long run. My other two cents in the middle of Colombia land ;)

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Lionheart says on Jan 15, 2005, 19:20:

Colombia is special I started researching my options in Latin America about 4 years ago. Not one other country has anything even close to the PBH forum. Most are commercial/marketing oriented sites. Escapeartist has many good articles, but no live debates like you find here. This is a once in a lifetime site. It helped me choose Colombia for my future.

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Sam Salmon says on Jan 15, 2005, 20:05:

Lots of Mexico Forums As Peter says there are dozens of Forums on Latina America around in English, Spanish and Brasilian.
Lonely Planet has a decent one on Mexico-also MexConnect.






' a la orden!'

' a la orden!'

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YEP says on Jan 15, 2005, 20:30:

at Lionheart .... well there's quite a few on Brazil
in both English / German / Portuguese ;-)


-------------------------------------------------------------------
Just another scandinavian getting ready to explore South America

------------------------------------------------------------------- Just another scandinavian getting ready to explore South America

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Lionheart says on Jan 15, 2005, 21:06:

different objectives Mexico was never an option for me as destination, too many factors are there working against me on working there. So it was dropped early on in my research.

I gave Brazil a long hard look. I have friends living there and we discussed a lot. I also have some former business connections there. I never really looked into starting to chat about Brazil back then. There are several reasons why I decided Brazil isn't the country to move to.

For business reasons I started focussing on Panama and Dominican Republic then. The options for opening a business there were quite interesting and promising. But it was hard to find any personal contacts concerning my interests without encountering financial interests at the same time.

Then I started looking at Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, and Chile. I scratched Venezuela fast due to politics, Peru is struggling way too much to be of great interest. Chile is a very interesting prospect, but very Europe oriented and extremely hardworking. I had very many problems getting any responses from Chile. But it is second on my list.

Colombia was fascinating from day one. I don't need to explain too much, since I am not alone with this opinion. Once I found PBH I felt a close personal connection growing. There are many business aspects that are challenging and interesting, and I like the way people are talking to me about this. They are more open and interested than in the other countries I have talked to. This is not within PBH, but in direct contacts. PBH here gives me more an idea how it is to actually live there.

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adela says on Jan 15, 2005, 23:06:

Lionheart

You say Chile is second on your list.¿Are considering still Chile?

Màs fe, màs abrazos, màs besos, màs disculpas, màs visitas a nuestros amigos antiguos nos haràn màs plenos cada vez.

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umm says on Jan 15, 2005, 23:07:

If noone wants to put one in, I can put one in in my new forum which is until now only for graphics programs, Chemistry and general chit chat.

my page is: umm-pur.com/forum

If you are looking for ads and sales on my page, then I must disappoint you, there are no sales or ads.

UMM

My Forum

umm says on Apr 6, 2005, 23:34:

just checking.
Guess noone was really interested in going to mexico.
You are right, why going to mexico if you can go to colombia.

UMM

My Forum

toneloc24 says on Apr 7, 2005, 07:48:

Some ideas for PBH, others If the Dominican Republic is considered part of Latin America (not sure why it wouldn't be), check the www.DR1.com website. It's a powerhouse.

The message boards there easily beat PBH. All user-driven. They have a good mix of native Dominicans, Dominicans who've moved on, gringos who moved to the island, and just general visitors/tourists. They have their own set of problems as well, but who's perfect. It's a great source of info on the DR, probably the best on the web.

They also have a good moderator team for each forum. They limit the redundant questions, pointing the user to the appropriate threads before closing the new thread. Dating and sex is openly discussed, but generally in the appropriate forums. 95% of the all non-Dominican-related discussions are eliminated, as it's irrelevant to the site.

Here's a quick list of their active forums:

Forums
Business
Dominicans Abroad
Environment
Government
Legal
Living
The Best of the DR (ex. best disco in..., best restaurant..., best hotel...)

Travel
Weather & Beyond
General
Trip Reports
Airline Info

Open
General Stuff
DR Debates
Men from Mars, Women from Venus (dating forum)
The Clown Bin (jokes)

Archive
2001
2000
1999
etc.

I hope you get the picture. Some good ideas. Perhaps you can contact the board for more info.

"Don't tase me, bro!!!!"

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poco says on Apr 7, 2005, 09:02:

India Plug India PBH might grow quite large. A co-worker (Indian / US passport) returned from India where he went to get medical treatment. Cost: 10% or less than that of the US. Latest equipment courtesy of the world bank with long term financing. Need a cheap MRI, they have the latest equipment.

Larry King interviewed a US citizen returning from India. US insurance paid 100% for her medical treatment. Gee, another bunch of money going into India. How could this be? Does medical malpractice, enormous judgments and high taxes have anything to do with this?

He thinks the airfares will be lowered into the 6-7 hundred dollar range in the near future. Get ready to someday start a thread devoted to medical treatment.

"When you men get home and face an anti-war protester, look him in the eyes and shake his hand. Then, wink at his girlfriend, because she knows she's dating a pussy." Quote - General Tommy Franks

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utopiacowboy says on Apr 7, 2005, 11:59:

Is there a Mexico site out there already like PBH? Or like the DR site that was mentioned? I am quite interested in Mexico because it is so close and we have so much contact with Mexico here. Monterrey is a great city.

Disclaimer: any comment I make is inane and is not to be taken seriously, and is so patently ridiculous that no one should take it seriously, even as an insult.

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