Another Sticky Please?

No, not that kind of 'sticky'  

I mean a permanent posting at the top of the listings like the one about the frequently updated 'URL for Thailand'.

This one is just as important, maybe more so...

We constantly read in these pages the advice "check his ID".  Ive read that advice in the forum yet again today.
For newbies and many infrequent visitors to LOS that statement is a mystery, but a very important one. How do you do that?

We read fairly frequently about guys being arrested for taking off an under-age boy. Sure, some of these guys will ignore the law no matter how much advice they get, but some will have been unaware of 'the rules of engagement' or how to check.

Having been advised in the past by the hotel receptonist that I got it wrong,  I'm sure many of us would benefit from a reminder of just what the rules are and how to interpret a Thai ID card.
 
I know it has been described many times before in various postings , but IMHO it's so important and fundamental to a safe and enjoyable visit to LOS that I think it should be a permenent and prominent reminder to all.

Elephantspike... how about it?

homintern is on your IGNORE list.

You raise a good question about the legal age limit. Some the of guys have the numbers at their fingertips.  Must notice that 18 for Thai guys may mean 17 in USA or Europe and Aussi land too. Hope one of the guys will post the Buddhist year to make sure you have a friend who is 18 or 19 at least.

It's been a few years since I've looked at a Thai ID card due to the benefits (burdens?) of having the same Thai bf for almost 5 years now so I don't remember if the birth year is listed in Thai or Roman numerals (if I recall right, Roman  numerals are also listed - and I'm sure somebody will correct me if I'm wrong there).

So.....as you know, the western year count is based on the number of years since the alleged birth of JC (li.e., we're in the 2006th year since then under the Gregorian calendar).  The Thai year count is based on the number of years since the death of Buddha in 543 BC.  Thus, our 2006 is 2549 in the Buddhist Era system.  
So, given your lucky pal must be 18 or more, you're fully safe if he was born in 1987 (2530).  If he's already had his birthday this year, then 1988 (2531) is safe.

I posted the following years ago on a prior site (and just added the last 3 years):



And, while you're at it, learn the thai numbers:
 

And, if you want to figure out the months (I recall that abbreviations are listed on the ID cards), they are:
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IwanUK:

There is this thread in the Resource Forum:

http://www.sawatdee-gay-thailand.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2177

It was posted on the old board by Smiles and then converted to this board when I started it. The image links on that post are now apparently defunct, so I'm just going to move this thread with Bob's new and improved chart ( Thanks Bob! ) to the Resource forum. That  is better, as Homintern seems to be implying, than having a whole page full of stuck topics on the main discussion forum.