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- - Crime Messages (https://www.fodors.com/community/caribbean-islands/crime-messages-83163/)

Something strange is going on. Right now there are three crime messages in a row - St. Martin, St. Thomas, and Aruba. If nobody responds then the posters will have to keep responding themselves to keep them up on top. I suggest that you don't bother with anything with crime in the heading. We all know there is crime thoughout the world and this is unfortunate. However there does seem to be a possible agenda here which has no place on this forum.

Sorry, I should have said St. Maarten. However there have been earlier posting on St. Martin. It is strange that they have not started on Jamaica again.

Louis: You noticed that as well? It used to be that I just responded to posts about St Maarten/St Martin and started wondering what certain individuals had against the island. I then started reading posts for other islands. I started to notice a similarity in postings. Either it's "This place is a dump." or "Crime is very bad, it's not safe." The wording is always very vangue and general in information and since it's usually worded the same, I think it's a safe bet that it is only an individual or small group of individuals that are flaming the board trying to get a rise out of people. It is too bad that Fodor's will not do anything about these posts because they are only leading to the eroding of their own credibility. This attack now includeds St Martin, Aruba, St Thomas and Jamaica. Of course, these are the most popular spots so they would be the logical targets.

You better watch out, those black helicopters may come to get you! What kind of conspiracy theory is this?! The fact is that certain places are safer than others and there periods when crime worsens. Why does it threaten you so much if people are free to state the facts?

I agree with Noach! Let people post their feelings about their vacation. They have a right to warn other tourists of dangerous areas. Crime is something that you want to avoid when you are on vacation, so let the posting continue. St Martin is becoming know for Crime. That is what a forum is all about.

Hypocrites !!!! You state people should be allowed to honestly post their experiences, even if crime is an element - but you won't give a real e-mail address. You can't have it both ways fools. This is obviously not the same Jane as I read on other posts - she uses a real address. I'm sure more than myself see right thru you crap.

Hoach: Don't worry, it's not conspiracies that I worry about; rather it's simple minds. It's not that I worry about them as much as I think it's rather a more interesting study. I guess it all goes with the territories. You knock on a front door and run, you dial a number and then hang up, you post a message on the board and then just keep responding to yourself. It's not so much that it has gotten less juvenile; rather it's gotten more complex and more public. Of course the anonymous posters would never dare post these messages on a board where they can be indentified, would they? That defeats the whole fun of the game. I can say whetever I like and everyone believes me. It will be interesting to see how much of this activity continues into the middle of September.

Chas, you raise an interesting point about September. From the US to catch up with other parts of the new technology age, I feel that the school system should function 12 months of the year a few reasonable breaks. It would be lest costly, more efficient, more productive, and the instructors would earn more. I hate to see us continuing to import our top talent from other parts of the world where many have 12 month educational systems.

To my friend Noach. Nothing on this forum bothers me and I would not want anything to change much from what it is. I also don't worry about UFO's, black helicopters or computer viruses. I observe things and some I find interesting and sometimes funny as with the cases of the recent crime postings. I am with you, people should post what they want but I found it amusing for three crime ones to be listed in a row and wondered why Jamaica was left out. There are other places also where things are rougher than normal and I have recommended that people look to the Canadian and the UK travel advisories for the best information. The one at the US tend to be behind current conditions often as was the case recenntly with Fiji. I have also noted that people also seem to get St. Maarten and St. Martin mixed up as I did. They are indeed separate from each other. It is really very easy to serparate the wheat from the chaffe. While the anon. e-mail helps some times and often I am amused by the message in their address. However, there are many that fear using their real address and I have no objection either. It is always the substance of the posting that makes the difference. Also, most statements are easily checked for validity. Sometimes threads build a life of their own based completely on bad information.