My History Of Amsterdam so far...

Mr Oranje · Post by **Mr Oranje** » Fri 22nd May 2009 02:46 am

Amsterdam Travels

From the age of sixteen [‘Oranje Web Team’] have been visiting a little known city called Amsterdam. Over the years we have regarded this as somewhat of a second home. On our first ever trip in 1999 consisted of the three boys are our old house mate Mr ‘Disco’ Stu Dunlevy. As inexperienced young fellows we dared not venture into the advanced world of drugs that Amsterdam is famous for. Instead we would spend the evenings hanging around the campsite drinking small cans of Heineken and Bacardi Breezers. The majority of the time we would use various types of practical jokes to amuse ourselves. One time we padlocked ‘Disco Stu’ into the tent with the keys just out of his grasp. Another time we hunted around the campsite and somehow ended up acquiring a cat. At this young age we were quite delighted to find that they served alcohol to us in many bars around the city centre. We learned a trick within the first few days of staying there, which was the tram travel was free if you got off before Central Station due to the lack of security of ticket checks. This enabled us to save money and spend more on booze.

A few years later on, after loosing our old house mate, the three ‘Munch Bunch Boys’ continued to explore on a regular basis. At the age of eighteen we had now realised the ease of obtaining some of the finer delights in Amsterdam’s coffee shops. We had also got so used to the staff working at the campsite that they were given nicknames, one of which we named after John Cleese’s character Basil Faulty. Not only did he look like him but was also very abrupt when dealing with us and did not seem to want our custom. On one occasion Andy (‘Pacman’) and myself had gone to buy pizza from him. When we ordered he just nodded and walked away. We then went back and convinced Ben that they were going for free which he then found out was untrue when confronted by unhappy Basil.

During the years we have been going to Amsterdam we have spent most of the time experimenting with all the different types of marijuana hanging mainly in coffee shop Smokey just outside Rembrandt Square next to Waterloo Plien. Here we found enough entertainment and a selection of drugs to keep us occupied. With three pool tables, fresh smoothies and random we were happy enough to remain loyal to this coffee shop.

In 2007 we started dabbling in certain mushrooms to which we spent most of the time laughing at random music whilst sitting around in the sun. On the first occasion ‘Pacman’ took a few too many a felt the need to hide in the toilet for a good hour. When we went to see how he was he stated that the floor was moving a he did not want to leave. He came back and lay on his back in a starfish position clutching a bottle of Fanta for the remainder of the afternoon. In addition we started to explore some of the other coffee shops in the area which all had various different looks and atmospheres.

It wasn’t until 2008 until we decided it would be a good idea to start rating all the coffee shops we went to of which the findings were then put onto a website. [Amsterdam Coffeeshops Rated] now consists of all the summaries, rating and stories of the 17 coffeeshops that we have explored. In 2009/10 we shall be increasing the quantity of coffeeshops we shall rate, as we shall be visiting for a little longer and hopefully exploring some of the lesser-known areas.

StonedSince67 · Post by **StonedSince67** » Fri 22nd May 2009 10:55 am

Mr Oranje wrote:MySite:(OranjePromotions.co.uk)What you think

I think you need to be clear about the relationship of your website to the ACD website, namely ...

Are you here like most of us to share your experiences of the coffeeshops of amsterdam freely and with no expectation of personal gain?

Or are you here to promote your website?

Early this morning Fri May 22, 2009 only 15 minutes after the above message and between 2:00 am and 2:58 am you posted 18 reviews to the Coffeeshop Reviews section of the ACD forum.

In each one there was an invitation to read More at your website.

Each invitation contained a link to your website, not to somewhere within the ACD Forum website.

So a reader of the ACD Forum is invited to click on your website without really knowing it. Nothing for the Forum, another click for you.

And I note that the above message ends with another link to your website.

stew1974 · Post by **stew1974** » Fri 22nd May 2009 11:43 am

I agree with SS67, while any information positive or negative is greatly appreciated on this site through you or the banana bunch, self promotion is not. Milehigh, for example, is a great contributer to this site and a great campaigner for cannabis in the Netherlands however receives a few kicks in the shins for self promotion or whoring himself.

redeyed · Post by **redeyed** » Fri 22nd May 2009 12:59 pm

Have just posted about an incorrect review he made for the grasshopper (was amsterdam one).Also his "reviews" have no visit date so for me are invalid as they are opinions that COULD be based on many years earlier visits.
I totally agree with the point that ss67 makes it seems your more bout promotion of your webpages than the sharing of opinions or views.I cant find it in me to consider your reviews reliable in view of you tarnishing the eindhoven grasshopper in your post and promote race last night.This coffee shop did not have a negative comment before yours.
I hope you will remove your weblinks before posting any more?Then maybe people will be a lot less guarded with their remarks towards you.

Peace

Mr Oranje · Post by **Mr Oranje** » Sat 23rd May 2009 06:06 am

In each one there was an invitation to read More at your website.

Each invitation contained a link to your website, not to somewhere within the ACD Forum website.

My apologies if I have offended any one with my link to my website, I only put them on there so that if you were interested to see what we rated them on you could.

You can tell what the link is when you hover over it as it tells you at the bottom of your explorer.

I have not posted any links regarding the coffee shops I put reviews on to ACD pages as they are already at the beginning of the threads. I thought I would put all the reviews up as well as I had some free time and thought people may enjoy reading our viewpoint.

And I note that the above message ends with another link to your website.

I have taking this off to show that I mean no harm, and really just wanted to see what people thought of the site and what we rated.

The above is just a history of me and my friends in Amsterdam, and is obviously down to a persons opinion on whether to read it or not. If you feel that the links in to our history in more detail are not needed, then in fairness you don't have to click on them and show any more interest.

StonedSince67 · Post by **StonedSince67** » Sat 23rd May 2009 06:37 am

Mr Oranje wrote:My apologies if I have offended any one with my link to my website, I only put them on there so that if you were interested to see what we rated them on you could.

the info is not the problem, it is the presence of the link in the body of your message that is the problem

there is a place at the bottom of each message for the link to your website, it is the little www button

and you have provided the necessary information for ACD to display this www button correctly so that is good

Mr Oranje wrote:You can tell what the link is when you hover over it as it tells you at the bottom of your explorer.

yes you can if you are a computer-savvy person as you will know to look at the bottom of the browser

no you can't if you are not a computer-savvy person as you won't know to look at the bottom of your browser

and you certainly won't see it if you do not have the Status Bar of your browser enabled

embedding your link in your review makes it appear to be within this ACD Forum, so this is deceptive practice

Mr Oranje wrote:I have taking this off to show that I mean no harm, and really just wanted to see what people thought of the site and what we rated.

thanks for doing that and i notice your signature has changed as well

i understand your desire for your website to succeed, there could be great benefits to you personally if it goes really well

my concern with all the links is that you are trying to get a piggy-back ride on the back of a very successful ACD website and Forum

Mr Oranje wrote:The above is just a history of me and my friends in Amsterdam, and is obviously down to a persons opinion on whether to read it or not. If you feel that the links in to our history in more detail are not needed, then in fairness you don't have to click on them and show any more interest.

this site is devoted to information about amsterdam coffeeshops and related topics and your information is as welcome as anyone else's contribution

it is the provision of live links within the body of the message that is the problem

telling people that there is more information at your website is ok, providing a link which looks like an ACD link is not

Mr Oranje wrote:My Site Click Below

i am comfortable with this as the reader is using the www button provided by the ACD website to go outside of the ACD website knowingly and willingly

i hope you understand that my motivation is not to punish your website, but to protect the ACD website from exploitation by others

Puffin13 · Post by **Puffin13** » Sat 23rd May 2009 06:37 am

redeyed wrote:Also his "reviews" have no visit date so for me are invalid as they are opinions that COULD be based on many years earlier visits.

With all due respect, I agree with redeyed about this. A date of when your cs experience actually took place is important, to most folks. Things can change quickly with coffeeshops. Current or recent reviews are much more reliable than one that is a bit older. People want to know what is happening now, not 6 months or so ago.

I can kinda understand why you promote your website on other sites. How else are you gonna get a bunch of stoners to visit your site?

But in all fairness, you could share and/or contribute to this site as well. I think more people would be open to visiting your site if they know you (and your mates) as reliable contributor(s) to ACD. Just my less than 2 cents worth. Good luck with your site, Mr Oranje!

Peace n Pot.

TwoCanucks · Post by **TwoCanucks** » Sat 23rd May 2009 06:37 am

Mr Oranje wrote: I have taking this off to show that I mean no harm, and really just wanted to see what people thought of the site and what we rated.

I'd say the link on your WWW is advertising enough for your website.

I love this forum, please don't use it to steal or purge its' users.

You've basically posted your entire website on this forum in just a couple days.

puffpuffgive · Post by **puffpuffgive** » Sat 23rd May 2009 01:32 pm

'taint no-one stealin sh1t. That was a nice read Oranje, thanks for the perspective & stories

Mr Oranje · Post by **Mr Oranje** » Sun 24th May 2009 04:43 am

redeyed wrote:Have just posted about an incorrect review he made for the grasshopper (was amsterdam one).Also his "reviews" have no visit date so for me are invalid as they are opinions that COULD be based on many years earlier visits.
I totally agree with the point that ss67 makes it seems your more bout promotion of your webpages than the sharing of opinions or views.I cant find it in me to consider your reviews reliable in view of you tarnishing the eindhoven grasshopper in your post and promote race last night.This coffee shop did not have a negative comment before yours.
I hope you will remove your weblinks before posting any more?Then maybe people will be a lot less guarded with their remarks towards you.

Peace

I'm not sure if you have seen that I have corrected my review as it was in fact the small Grasshopper named coffee shop in Eindhoven, the date was quite recent as in about 7 months ago. I shall in future make sure that the dates of reviews I do are up as this is very important, and I thank you for pointing this out.

We are quite new to rating the coffeeshops in this way and after a few more visits i'm sure we will be alot more helpful to those who read

As for future I wont post the website anymore. Regards.

redeyed · Post by **redeyed** » Sun 24th May 2009 07:16 pm

Yeah cool man all rectified, but Im sure you figured my issue.Easily overlooked Im sure I only noticed it due to my upcoming trip in an Eindhoven like direction.I wasnt meaning to throw off negative vibes its just I find reviews here fairly trustworthy and was only hoping to (albeit maybe a bit bluntly with hindsight) highlight the differences between your reviews and the better ones posted on here.Would love to see ya stick around here