@Richard ********
Yeah but that method is painful. Your wife has to take a day off work, immigration wants to see pictures of every room in your house invading your privacy then they even come for a visit. I hear they even interview neighbors, which can be embarrassing if you don't know them (except in the villages, Thais normally keep to themselves). Then you have the 90 day reporting.
With the 12 month non O you have none of that drama.
Ok you do have to either leave every 90 days or get a 60 day visit wife extension. It works out for most who aren't too old and don't like traveling and if you live reasonably close to a land border its far less painful to cross a border than dealing with immigration in country.