Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
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Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
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Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
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Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
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Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
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Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
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Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
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If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
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Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evoloving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
Transactions with the Octopus card complete on average in 0.3 seconds. Do know that this card was designed to be used on fare gates, so it has to do the work fast. Imagine everyone picking up their phones, launch the app, and tap the button to show the QR code, then place the code towards the scanner. It would take forever. Plus, purchasing a card only cost $6.4, which is refundable when you return your card. That is why I am against tying the system to smartphones, even if it is decentralized.
There was a comprehensive guide to using the Octopus card - in a 30-second commercial. You would understand how it works even if you don't understand Cantonese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIK-aGBgr7M
In addition, because of its anonymous nature, each person can hold more than one card. It was estimated in 2017 that every Hongkonger in average holds 5 of these cards.