At the beginning, the site gained its popularity from people's misunderstanding of its name which is similar (and identical in English) to Bangkok's former IT shopping center, Pantip Plaza, but it is in no way affiliated with the mall.
As opposed to Sanook.com's lucrative buyout from MWeb, a now-defunct dot com company, Wanchat has no plans to sell the site.
The tables are named after famous places in Thailand, such as Siam Square, MBK Center, Silom and Chatuchak Weekend Market.
Topics for discussion include politics, religion, celebrities and education as well as films, sports and outdoor recreation.
Recently, in Ratchadumnern table, where heated and uncivil political debates often occur, Pantip.com has started requiring that every post there must be accompanied by member login only.
They include: Some people have found fame after they became involved on Pantip.com's boards and have nurtured their reputations authorities on writing, art, photography, pet ownership and various other topics.
Examples include writers who plagiarize the works of others, famous quiz shows such as Fan Pan Tae and Tod Sa Gun Game which give wrong answers repeatedly, and unscrupulous companies that cheat customers or individuals who use Pantip.com strictly for self-promotion.