Metro Man:
Okay I'll bite. You write in your first post that you are "quite happy to pay the GOING RATE (sic) for something" then in the very next paragraph describe how you've "refused to get into five taxis, one after the other because the driver wouldn't use the meter". Clearly then you were not offering the going rate!
The minimum wage in Bangkok is 300Baht/day (£6). Think about that next time you take a 45 minute taxi ride in rush hour traffic for a meter rate of 100Baht. Think about how much of that fare goes towards paying for the car and fuel and how much ends up in the drivers pocket. Not very much.
Metered taxi journeys in Bangkok are so cheap that even in the best conditions they barely offer a level of income which cover drivers overheads. Throw some chronic gridlock and monsoon rain into the equation and some fares to certain parts of the city at certain times of the day are literally not worth drivers taking. So they don't. They either refuse your custom outright or they try to negotiate a fare which is worth their while (in much the same way that a London cabbie might if you ask him to go south of the river). Typically I'll negotiate a fare which is comparable to what I'd have paid with meter plus tip anyway. I know that if the drivers happy with the fare he's going to get me to my destination quickly with no detours. You may agree with this, you may disagree; that's entirely up to you. However I don't think it's accurate to label it as a scam or extortion. What
Load Toad describes at #26 is extortion. I've never heard of anything like that happening in Bangkok.
Supply, demand, and making more money than you spend. Simple tenets of free market capitalism my friend. I can assure you that it has nothing to do with your "white face"- I have ethnic Thai friends who can testify to that.
The perception of bar/taxi scams etc in Bangkok is much worse than the reality. I think this is unfortunate because it gives many first time visitors warped preconceptions about Thai people (who I've generally found to be some of the most sincere, friendly and honest people that I have ever met). This can really impact on peoples experiences in the country which is why I feel it so necessary to vehmently advocate my opinion. Yes, it's true to say that you do have to keep your wits about you in Bangkok. Perhaps more so there than in other cities. But many stories people hear are urban myths. As I wrote above, when people talk about 'scams' or 'extortion' in Bangkok they are often referring to situations which lack malice or coersion and involve amounts of money which are tiny.
You wouldn't allow an airline to charge you an extra £50 for no reason so why pay an extra quid etc for a taxi ?
Not a fair comparision really. But in any case we do allow airlines to charge us extra for no reason. The price of flights is set by the market. A sector which costs £750 a week before Christmas will often cost less than half that a month later. The only reason for this is the airlines ability to get awsay with it- the cost of operating the plane hasn't changed.