Hi thursdaysd,

Thank you for the comments. This new feature was created to assist Community new and longtime Community members with finding other Fodor's content that is relevant to the topic being discussed. Clicking on the links will take you to relevant content on our online destination guides. I am making notes of your comments about the design and will be passing them along to the team.

I am a long time member, and I know perfectly well where to find additional information when I need it. I feel the same is true of other long time members. You are simply annoying us by slapping this large and intrusive ad in the middle of threads.

Plus, you're doing a bad job with the relevance.

This is the worst idea ever. Please don't insult us by thinking we need ads to guide us to content.

I agree - very annoying - and the guides offered usually have little to do with the post. I get sent to a travel guide on Prague when I reading something on the Asia board, and for a post about Bangkok I was offered the Thailand guide or, see Giverny. And clicking that it isn't helpful doesn't seem to register... after I click "no" at least the ad should go away!

It's probably better not to click. Clicking indicates that you read the ad, which will just encourage them to keep this horrid innovation going.

An ad for a guidebook to Milwaukee is in the middle of the post about the shooting at the Empire State Building. How is that relevant?

Oh, a guide book for Wales is somehow helpful in a post about hotels in Rome????????

If you must do this obnoxious advertising, which I thought was banned on the forums, could you at least do it relevantly, PLEASE.

"which I thought was banned on the forums, "

I don't consider them ads - they are links to Fodors own content/guides and a totally appropriate use of their website.

However -yes, the algorithm obviously needs work. If you don't click that it isn't helpful how will they ever learn that the wrong guides are being linked.Once the algorithms are improved and maybe the box is redesigned a bit, i personally think they'll be useful - especially for newbies.

Between the annoyance factor and the lack of relevancy of many of the recommendations, I'd say it's time to do something different.

Are we really going to be stuck with this??? It looks particularly stupid when an overlarge box headed "Fodor's Travel Intellgence" has a link for a guide to Delhi in a post on car hite in Malaga.... But these would still infuriate me even if they displayed some intelligence. I have multiple ad blockers loaded just to avoid this kind of intrusion, and I DO NOT NEED THESE LINKS!!!

janis, I have clicked each time I see one. They don't care.

My current informal count is that half of the suggestions are wildly off.

Kathie - perhaps this is Fodor's attempt at humor?

This website belongs to Fodors. They can do what they want.

@orangetravelcat - of course they "can". The issue here is whether they "should". I.e. bad idea or good idea.

thursdays, perhaps - are they telling crosscheck that she should go to Capri rather than India?!!

Maybe they're hinting that I should wear capris in India.

Ah, I like that better, crosscheck. I'm looking forward to your report.

I haven't seen a single relevants guide recommendation today. Memphis is recommended for a woman going to Indonesia, and Vancouver is recommended for teh Sri lankan traveler. ANd when I click "no" it is not helpful it says, "there has been an error, try again later..."

Annoying and usually not relevant. I click No on them.

I sent an email to the editors about the Destinations ad. I think that is a better way to express discontent than to voice an opinion on a thread.

BTW - it's not only on trip reports but on almost all threads. And I don't see the point of advertising a Washington DC destination guide on a thread for Lisbon.

I also object to the dynamic ad at the top of the screen. I'm becoming sea sick with the posts scrolling down then up.

"This new feature was created to assist Community new and longtime Community members with finding other Fodor's content that is relevant to the topic being discussed."

Like in my Gelato in Italy post your advise to go to London????

i find it annoying too..

time, imo, would be better spent on improving the search function which rarely works well these days

HappyTrvlr on Sep 6, 12 at 8:54pm
Annoying and usually not relevant. I click No on them.

I think they've turned the "no"s off

I was wondering why we are getting requests to flag trip reports as such. It would be a bad day if we decided to stop.

I also find it not only annoying but useless info to me....maybe if you could make the ads less intrusive and more relevant to the subject at hand.....

agree that more time should be spent of fixing the useless search engine here online

Aloha!

I loved the suggestion of the Iceland guide on Nicky's report on Singapore and Java - so helpful!

Geez, so much agita. We will NOT be intruded upon while bitching at each other and talking about cats!

@Kathie - did you notice the post on China with a link to the Provence guide?

@kit - I have yet to post about cats, or read anyone else's post about cats. Perhaps you frequent the Lounge. Please return there.

I did, thursdays. I wonder what their program is picking up on that gives such off-topic recommendations. It's so bad that I am surprised when they actually recommend a China guide on a post about China!