Anansis
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!
Metro Man is 100% correct in refusing. No Thai (or resident) would ever accept a local journey without it being metered or with the meter correctly reading 35 Baht upon commencing the journey. The idea that the fares for local taxi trips have to be 'negotiated' is completely wrong, in fact if I even believe it is against the regulations.
It is recognised that the taxi drivers are having a difficult time and fares are rising quite soon, not the 35 Baht initial fare, but the per KM and per minute rate whilst in traffic, somewhere between 8% - 12% dependent upon conditions.
Even so, taxis here are still very affordable and I still maintain that the vast majority of the drivers here are honest and I still have yet to hear of violence being an issue which was where this thread started out from.