It is quite amazing...

justarrived--I think we agree. The whole thing is driven by market forces, and the willingness/ability of Westerners to turn down low offers.

For the record, my salary does not come from a Qatari company or government, which is true of many Western expats who are sent by their companies, firms and governments.

Darkknightrises--I agree with your philosophy. But I would find it quite reasonable for someone to ask whether or not $25,000 a month would be enough maintain a particular lifestyle in line with what they experience at home and still allow savings. For me, being here on that would be a significant downgrade in lifestyle due to the high cost of living and not worth the move (although in terms of actual salary it would be on a par with typical year's earnings in my home country). Yet a bunch of jealous haters would immediately get online and start heckling. If they don't have anything meaningful to say, then leave the thread for people who can answer it.

I don't troll around on threads making fun of the Asian guy who asks if $2,000 is enough to support himself and still send money home. Nor do I post unhelpful and abusive comments to the guy who can't leave the country because his employer kept his passport and won't pay him the $1,000 he is owed. It's not my world, and so I leave it to QLers who share a similar situation to respond with helpful advice.

If someone asks whether 25,000 USD a month is enough to survive then the person is an idiot and will be answered accordingly. This is my rule and you are free to think that I am jealous of western expatriate if I think the person is an idiot.

If someone asks I am getting a salary of 25,000 USD for a position in abc company and I am having an experience of x years, is it in line with the standard pay packages in Qatar then he will get a sensible reply.

This is my logic and how I respond.

That is where I disagree. Its not how good you and others are in negotiating. Every country in the world, would always give you an offer that is higher than your compensation in your previous employment.

Europeans, Americans and other nationalities from industrialized nations earn more than those in developing countries. Which is why you get a bigger salary.

If we offer you the salary that we pay for nationals in India, Pakistan or Philippines. Would you come? Of course, not.

It's not how good you are in negotiation, its how good you are in terms of your skills and knowledge. Which is why Companies are hiring you and not the others.

It never ceases to amaze me how jealous people here are of the Western expats--to the point of insulting even those who are new to QL. Again, it's not the Western expats' fault they had the good sense to negotiate a better salary package; nor is it there fault Qatar's businesses and universities prefer to hire them. It's a free market. If Asians were suddenly more highly valued, something tells me that the jealous posters on this thread would be the first to accept and justify the higher salary.

uniff with the whining? what's that?

Ok uniff with the whining.

We already established it happens across all nationalities and on both sides of the US vs. Them Fence.

A questions gets the answer it deserves

Whats going on pals........... :-)

???? nice copy paste from Sir. Fin.

What's your point of the copy paste?

Not amazing at all and it doesn't happen only to westerners..but you can't really do anything about it.

I see what you mean, and I see the results personally......this is the reason my wife stays away. She gets down and goes into read mode , or feels why even sign in to pass the time to comment she likes posting with.

well Hello there Badu, you are the one of the Monkey's I am referring to.

My wife does not spam, and I do not stalk you!!! I post relevant comments that you follow. You don't even know the meaning of the word spam. You are a troll who doesn't like my wife's moving pic under her comments she posts.

You have nothing relevant ever to post or comment on, just like to dis on her.

There are plenty of others who do have moving sign lines, such as my good buddy Smoke....

So can it, get a life!!

good atleast i dont "spam" forums

Thanks Sister Fathima,

I am glad you just post away, and always help others smile or feel better. My wife and I are happy to know in person some QL'rs and it really does past time away when bored at work or just pushing some fun around with our QL buddies but

yes, sometimes even thought it is fun to be here, and like NM says you have to have a tough shell, which is what I try to say to my over-sensitive but loving wife :)

Some monkey's here just love to troll cause they find enjoyment from hurting others since they are facing a computer screen, and have no life offline. If they did, I am sure they would not be so brave to dis on others.

Salam

I know how your wife feels. It can be really depressing sometimes seeing how some people get much pleasure by penalizing and bullying others.

There are of course plenty of awesome folks on QL too though, Thank God, who somehow make me glad to be a part of this site. They always cheer me up and make me feel the time I spend here is not in vain. And yeah that's why I am still very much in love with this place, despite it's downers!

Guess QL, like the rest of the world, is made up of all sorts.

Sir fin, on QL one needs a skin like a tortoise shell.

NM: I see what you mean, and I see the results in person......this is the very reason my beloved wife stays away. She gets down and goes into read mode only, or feels why even sign in to pass the time to comment with some ppl she likes posting with.

She is Western, does answer peoples questions in the q & a section when she knows the answers or gives a link to be more helpful, or lately she tries to comment on a post a OP friend makes, but then no matter what she writes, certain ppl make her feel bad for even being on QL.

See, here is the thing. I am not upset about this.

Maybe because most QL posters are of certain nationalities, they may not realize that their behaviour makes other nationalities stay away.

That i think is a shame, and therefore I mentioned it.

A little awareness can't hurt.

Unless, of course, this is done on purpose. And that possibility certainly exists.

Qatarisun:

When was the last time when you had real fun? Judging from your posts, hmmmmm... 10 years, maybe?

:)

Do they care?

NM: In case you didn't notice. The guy who started the trouble on Kiwi's thread has been removed from QL.

However, don't see any problems with the second threat.

How may I help you?

very very much, to see anyone, regardless of their gender/ nationality/ religion etc, being treated with sarcasm, rudeness and/or being made a butt of people's unsavory jokes, simply for asking a question that seemed to them reasonable.

Sure you get trolls every now and then, and troublemakers too asking inflammatory questions, but that dosen't mean we treat everyone as guilty until proven innocent.

That said, I have come to realize that in life to some folks, when it comes to their so called sense of humor and cracking jokes at another's expense,nothing is sacred.

We learn in our religion also that excessive laughter kills the heart, meaning people who are in a habit of constantly laughing and joking at anyone and anything, eventually end up quite heartless, laughing even at another's pain and misfortune. Hope and pray our QLers don't end up being of such individuals!

wld ql run without enjoying, nitpicking, criticizing and harassing

Its easier (and enjoyable) to nitpick, criticize (and harass) people than truly help them.

My only advice is to disregard the comments of those people. Life is too short to focus on irritating things.

we had a automated answering robot on ql named soniya

vivme, I doubt that.

And yes, there is a certain number of Ql posters who do give relevant info . About 2 or 3.

Nom, your point is taken.. But could this be an exception rather than the norm?

There are still a number of QLers around who provide relevant answers and guidance like yourself or just keep quiet..

coz they r waiting for u highness

Babu, if and when I am on line and see these posts, I do.

And if I do not know the answer, I guide them to a place where they are likely to find people who can and will.

My question is, why won't the other posters on QL do that?

my question is why cant no merci answer to all of them as being an western expat

Yeah Got u...as tb said its normal... Very few

QLrs make genuine and relevant comments. Many others

even oldies as a team hijack the thread with their irrelevant

comments. If something is posted in funnies

then all types of tea shop gossip is welcome but if something is seriously asked it should not be diverted.

But contrary to this freindsheep threads by asians get attacked like there is no tomorrow.

Here is one :http://www.qatarliving.com/node/6132716

and here is another one :http://www.qatarliving.com/node/6249361

Nomerci...Can u give the reference links please?

I am not sure if you refer to some particular thread, but I personally hate posts where OP asks the bunch of QL anonymous to evaluate his chances and to confirm whether or not he can find a job in Qatar, and how much he will be paid .. .. such posts deserve to be mocked, and especially when it's posted by "highly educated westerner" with somewhat PhD degree..

as the question, so the answer...

Another reason for "mocking" is that sometimes people just bored and want to have some fun.. QL became much more decent (and therefore boring) over years.. I am sure, Smoke and some others remember crazy days when every other thread could have turned into endless fun and laughter in a second.. I remember making huge efforts not to LOL like crazy at the silent office in the middle of busy working day, when the entire "QL Fun Team" would step into the thread...so sometimes people are just bored, and make fun without any evil intent.. just ignore them...

.. and I agree with Spock on "exceptionally dumb" part ..that was good one, Spock..

I agree that women on QL are treated worse than men, more often than not.

But I also stand by saying that if and when a Western person posts, they are treated with much less than kindness. More so than when an Asian person posts.

It is also true that QL as a site is regarded according to what is happening on this site.

I agree, most times rubbish begets more rubbish. What I was referring to was that forums are not just forums anymore.

There are a lot more answers and guidance on forums than they are on the Q&A, perhaps because the seasoned QLers are more on forums than on Q&A.

All it takes is for newbies to search and they would be embarrassed by the amount of info available!

Thats true vivme, but i was just referring to Master's example. If you take a look at 80% of the forum posts, they are all rubbish and mostly copy paste articles. Ten times a day you will see the same topics on visa issues.

I think the Q&A section has some problem for a while and its not yet been fixed.

UKEng and Smoke, with all due respects to both of you amazing QLers, I have been here awhile although I am the kind that mostly reads the posts and posts very little.

Q&A section is nowhere as popular as the forums and it is indeed quite rare to find honest answers on the Q&A in recent times.

As regards the OP, I am not aware that any particular race / nationality is unfairly targeted.

TCOM.. Yes, but obviously i'm not too familiar with this word .. :P

I think you mean SENSIBLE.

Nomerci.. I've seen the same behavior on non-westerners' posts as well

"Oh Lord, please help me to post something very serious on this thread as the OP is a westerner !!" Amen

Wow what a welcome

Master when you have been on QL long enough as some of us have, you will know to spot the trolls from the real posters.

That being said, seems like the newer members just want to be spoon fed every damn information without using the search first. Most of us get tired of answering the same questions EVERYDAY! If you are looking for something use the classifieds. If you have a question post in the question section. Based on your example tell me what "discussion" can be done on a lady who wants to find a suitable house mate? Wouldn't it be better to just post her requirement in the classified?

agreed with Blosted but dude, i have seen a post by a Ukrainian lady she is coming to qatar, she was asking for accommodation in sharing with ladies and people start posting that drags her post far away, and its pathetic and discouraging for those for example her to post something again as she is being mocked once,

i mean come on where is mod at these moments? cant he see how serious her post was for her? and yet no action. but any ways..........

have a nice day every one

Again, I don't see what's with the westerner and not,issue I haven't noticed anything about a westerner being treated differently.

UkEngQatar,

too much wondering early in the morning is not good for health. take care buddy,

Have a Nice day :-)

n after arrival the same poster will abuse this county and culture

get fair part of bashing and sarcarsm on questions posted.

I feel its more for the sub-continenatal posters when they asked about living costs and job related questions.

Osama, if they took that disclaimer seriously then moderation would be obsolete!

Shouldn't the Questions be posted in the Question and Answers section? Just wondering?

Agreed Nomerci but am not even Western :-(

but yeah i agree and i think here are few who does this, and honestly speaking they are part of moderator team, because i have noticed, no matter how far they go they have never been blocked, and we all know, law makers are law breakers :-)

But Nomerci, i have question for you? i have seen many people here changes there identity, for a month their profile shows they are from some nationality and the other month its change to some other its all fake so how can on identify that one who is posting is western, just a question :-)

in the bottom of each page of QL the below sentence is mentioned:

"Comments are owned by the Poster. The views reflected by members on this site are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Qatar Living. Qatar Living is not responsible for any material submitted to the site. Any material posted is not endorsed, reviewed or approved by the Website Owner."

some members tend to answer without completely analyzing thus understanding the post. plus, the skeptically "knows-everything-one". jeez!

Nomerci, i think not only for the westerners but even to others whose vaguely asking for "real" information.

the newbies read recent posts and all they can see is trash (well not all, but most of it - and i may have added as well on to that!) and followed the same. (not throwing stones here.)

As they say, "What to do yaani?"

N.M: It happens on both sides of the fence.

It just so happened that in this particular situation the poster was a westerner.

If you look a little closer. You will see many examples of locals/non-westerns on QL, were picked on, harassed and sometimes unfairly discriminated against by western/nonwestern Ql’ers.

It really depends on the topics, some topics are made to be torn down by satirical demons.

But generally it depends on the topic.

well at least for me.

Why blame the site? Blame the users, STUPID!

Bitter?

Tinkerbell, I wouldn't need that money. It's worth nothing on my planet.

"... he/she gets an exceptionally dumb answer."

That's simply because the majority of people on QL are "exceptionally dumb."

I totally agree with u :)

LOL

Seriously, I don't agree with the OP here. I see some people responding in a dumb manner to all post, regardless of race.

The point here might be more specifically related to Gender rather than race. But this is just my opinion.

I've never noticed such thing...i make fun of everyone equally coz i'm not racist :)

oh dear ! this happens only in ql

I agree with the OP.

MOST OF THEM FLED FROM THE QUESTION..and make fun of it.. no wonder why the world is in chaos...

I notice too, but the problem applies to everyone not western expats alone. While a lot of QL members are very helpful, I believe some members think the anonymity of the internet allows them to flame anyone who posts even the most innocent of questions. You only need to say "Why is......" before you get responses of "If you don't like it then go back home!"

Sometimes I dismiss it as a side effect of the heat or the absence of female companionship in some people's life, hiding under the veil on the internet, they can't resist the opportunity to take out their rage on an innocent person.

I think Mr. MOD should warn or block people who

making fun of people for their serious question.

I too have noticed many comments are gender biased.

If a lady ask some question people just say something irrelevant. It is just like they want to show their presence here.

Mods are already doing an excellent job maintaining

QL very well as it is really difficult to keep an

eye all threads and all comments.

so the best option is to use the report/flag/abusive buttons.

are you pointing me also ?? :D