I entered this in the general/region-wide
section, because it applies to more than
just the reply Kathryn received from Dorgal on 4/30/2003 regarding her legitimate question as to whether there is enough to do on Aruba, and the response she received from Dorgal was that if she
didn't have enough to do she should go to Disney World. This kind of thing must stop. After registration was required for
posting comments, a lot of the truly non-responsive and sarcastic comments
have declined, but this is exactly what is
nonproductive for this site. Kathryn had
a legitimate question - she was doing advance research in order to make an informed decision, probably factoring in
cost, limited vacation time, difficult economy, and the fear of making a mistake with hard-earned vacation days.
I , for one, have obtained very valuable information from this site. Furthermore,
my impression is that various posters
(who of course are anonymous!) love
to "flex their muscles" in being demeaning and/or sarcastic. This does
not help the site. It is easy for people to "preen" and say how sophisticated and/or educated they are, e.g. advanced degrees, lovely family, professional job, etc. etc., but what does this matter when
a poster has a legitimate question. I guess I am secure enough in my background/travel experiences that I would never stoop to such degrading commentary, but rather try to provide and also seek bona fide information. Readers, what say you?

I agree - but being a travel web surfer I realize there are always going to be those few who can't help themselves with their less-than-helpful comments. I usually just pass those kinds of comments over and move on.

Boonie, almost as annoying as sarcastic comments are condescending ones.

Unfortunately, you can post until your fingers bleed, and never completely stop the immature responses. Don't waste your time & energy trying, just keep scrolling past the garbage. No matter what type of message board you visit online, you'll find this behavior. So letting them get to you is simply not worth it...plus that's what most of them want...a reaction. Let it go.

Sorry, Quixote, you won't solve this problem by throwing up little rants like the one above.
There are 95% fewer nasty comments on this board versus 6 months ago.
If you want to ban ALL harsh commentary this sit will be as useless and lifeless as the ads in travel magazines.

Agree with the last poster, this board has gotten much more civilized! (For instance, I am very glad that "Tim" is gone, he was always making nasty and immature comments about ALL the Caribbean islands and telling everybody how wonderful Hawaii is... And there were other nasty, crude and sarcastic posts as well. Most of them are gone now, thank God!)