No, I haven't seen those other threads - please provide a link. I'll read them tonight.
THAT'S NOT AT ALL WHAT I'M SAYING, any more than tuk-tuk drivers are "nice guys". All I'm saying, is that IF (and the word IF is important) they've got an arrangement with the bars to collect so much money for bringing a guest to the bar, more and more of them are going to be out there doing it - "easy money". If the bars refuse to pay them, they'll go off and do something else. Fewer payoffs ==> fewer touts.
IF (again, there's that word IF) they're now officially allowed to do this, and the bars have to pay them, then we're stuck with them forever, unless we can somehow inform ALL newcomers coming to Patong to refuse to pay the higher prices. I suppose visitors could be told to ask for the menu before ordering drinks (and refuse to pay inflated prices) but that seems very difficult to accomplish.
If you're right about this, and I'm wrong, then I apologize, as the bars are being forced into it. If that's true, we're stuck with them, unless enough people spread the word, and refuse to pay extra for a drink. Asking for a menu first, or for the price of a beer, would at least give people the option of going to another place.
(There was a fascinating story here ages ago, about how if a taxi driver brought someone to a hotel, the hotel had to pay extra money to the taxi driver, even if the guest already had a reservation. Is that article still around? I tried to find it once, but couldn't locate it again.)