Tricia

I am struck by how many postings never get responses from people. I've noticed the same thing happening on the Frommers sight. It's a shame to not share information. It leaves all of us at the mercy of travel agents who may be biased by comissions or have no experience with the location we're traveling to. I hope more people who post a question will take the time to skim the postings of places they have been to and offer some feedback to others. Take a little...give a little...thanks.

Meg

Tricia - I agree with you. We travel everywhere, so I read and post on all the forum boards. The U.S. and European boards get the most responses, but this one along with the Latin America and Asian forums get slow, if any, responses. I just figured that they more obscure places to which you travel, the less people there are to respond - but surely the islands see a lot of heavy traffic!

lisa

Postings get more responses if: <BR> <BR>1. They are posted in the correct forum (e.g. someone posted a question here about Isla Mujeres, which, since it's in Mexico, should really be directed to the Latin America forum where it is more likely to get responses). <BR> <BR>2. The title of the post is specific (e.g. contains the name of the specific island/hotel/restaurant/city/beach/etc. referred to in the post). No one wants to click on a post entitled simply "Question" or "Help" or "Need advice for upcoming trip" but they are more likely to click on a post entitled "Recommended hotels on St. Thomas?" <BR> <BR>3. It is definitely true that posts regarding places that draw more travellers get more responses than those to obscure destinations, but I personally have been pleasantly surprised at some of the advice on Fodors Forums about lightly-travelled destinations. <BR> <BR>4. The converse of #3: Sometimes people post questions that have already been answered so many times that it seems no one wants to respond because there almost doesn't seem to be any point -- all the person needs to do is type in the words and do a search of previous posts, which brings up a ton of recent threads on the exact subject. <BR> <BR>All of which leads me to my last point, which is that if more people posted trip reports when they got back from all these wonderful places, there would be more information on this forum in the future for fellow travellers. Lots of people post questions, and lots of people go places using information they obtained here, but few people report back after their trips, which is a real shame because somewhere in those unposted trip reports are the answers to other peoples' unanswered questions!

Noah

Excellent points Lisa!

Cheri

Hi Noah! Long time no read! <BR> <BR>I think another thing that keeps people from posting too much anymore is if your opinion differs from the norm you get jumped on with both feet. When you take the time to reply and are called a liar you get a little shy about responding to posts. <BR> <BR>There appears to be a lot of nit picking on the travel boards anymore. Not just this one, but all of the ones I read. Rather than exchange ideas it seems a lot of the posters would rather stir up trouble than learn or share their information. <BR> <BR>This is just an opinion. Please don't jump all over me for it. My back hurts.

karen

More people probably don't post because they do as I do--just skim these sights but book with my travel agent. Anyone who thinks they're not getting the best deal from their agent is definately using the wrong agent! My agent is knowledgeable, helpful and can tell me about all the last minute great deals without my surfing for hours! I'm usually too busy for that! I've had funfilled vacations at fantastic prices! <BR>

Cheri

I'd like to add one more thing...I for one have cut down on posting because I will sit here, type out a nice response answering all the questions, then find that the message can't be posted or it has been lost due to some board glitch! I have spare time, but not that much!

Robin

I'm also wondering why people post "Just got back from.... Any Questions" and never post a reply?

Pam

I agree. If you have information regarding the posts you should be willing to help others on the boards. I currently am holding on to collection of reviews on the Riu Palace Macao in Punta Cana. I am staying there in April 2000. If anyone needs them, just drop me a line. I will forward.

Karen

Just found this forum and enjoy it more than some others I have been on. Would really appreciate seeing your collection of reviews on Rui Palace Macao.

Karen

Have to agree with most of Lisa's posting about the lack of response to questions. I think that many are focused on planning but when we return we get caught up with daily life and never finish and post that all-important trip report or give feedback in a public forum to the people that supplied the information choosing to use email instead! Or if their experience was different than another posters, don't really want to debate "why" they found a very different situation! <BR>I was surprised recently when planning a trip to the "Mayan Riviera" to learn that the Mexican Caribbean is posted with the "Latin America" boards when it is a Caribbean destination ... but then again this board is Caribbean "Islands." <BR>it is also very frustrating to attempt to post an answer only to have the board or 'puter do a "time out" or the "page is not available" and return to post again later. <BR>Lastly those "flamers" who choose to incite rather than give feedback do detract from many boards including this one and some choose to stay away because of that!!! I do like the way the most recent posts are brought to the "top" of the board so that the active posts are more easily accessed.

Cheri

One more thing...it would be extremely helpful if a person asking a question specified which island they are asking about. There are several islands with beaches and bays that have the same names.

Lori

Wow! 11, make that 12, responses in 1/2 hour since the question was first posed. That must be some kind of record.I too, have noticed that some questions go unanswered and agree that many inquiries are not specific enough. I started using this forum 2 months ago and have found it to be extremely helpful in helping me narrow down where to spend my vacation. But when I first started using it, I didn't know about the search feature to narrow down your search. I just kept scrolling down until I found inquiries that looked like what I was looking for. Again, I passed by vague postings and responded to more direct ones with specific island or resort names in the title. I'm also dismayed at the huge number of responses to political opinions that in no way help travelers except to frustrate them, while legitimate questions go unanswered. There had to be a hundred responses to the Sandals resort excluding gay couples. While the original message was of importance, many people felt compelled to air their political (and bigoted) opinions on the matter and it got really out of hand. Let's save the energy for more important matters. Overall, I really encourage everyone to keep contributing, because the benefits of this site are tremendous. Keep the helpful insights coming and it's nice to see alot of the same people offering great advice!

Debbie

Hi! Lisa, Karen - very good points you have brought up. I've been posting and providing information for about 2 years here (mostly in the Latin America one 'cause the Caribbean side of Mexico has become our fav spot) and have to agree on all the points raised as to why people don't respond to questions. Now that the Mayan Riveria and the resorts RIU, Royal Hideaway, Iberostar, etc are getting so popular I get tired of responding and saying the same thing over again when there is now so many questions answered on the resorts and things to do in that area. <BR>Secondly, sometimes you won't see a continued 'discussion' between posters because they are personally emailing each other and getting really specific questions answered via personal emails rather than the post. I often now just say in a 'reply' to email me directly if they want more info and then I simply copy and paste information from previously sent emails. <BR>And sometimes, it's just not worth the bother to respond or get involved at all, ie. <BR>- the discussion on Sandals/gays - without a doubt a long time poster is going to stay away because you know the discussion is going to quickly degenerate into replies that have absolutely no bearing on the person's original question <BR>- any questions that ask whether to go all-inclusive or not - I stay away from those simply because as a Canadian who travels only on all-inclusive due to a) the sheer convenience and b) the horrific exchange on the U.S. dollar, it's not worth the time debating on the pros and cons of ai vs non ai. To travel all-inclusive or not is a very personal travel style and you either like or you don't - and each side has their points so why waste time debating it as people are going to have to decide on their own if this is their travel style. I'll be happy to respond effusively on the good points of a resort of been to and to share information, I just can't be bothered getting into a debate about things. <BR>- questions on "is the water safe to drink/brush teeth/etc in Mexico". This is now so old it's getting annoying. I've heard of more people who get sick and the runs for weeks from the food in the D.R. than from the water at the resorts in Mexico! Here in Toronto, there has just been a massive blitz on cleaning up the poor sanitation in Toronto restaurants with some of them being closed so it makes me laugh when people are scared to travel to Mexico because they think they will get sick from brushing their teeth in their 5 star resort bathroom! <BR>- Cuba - this site is probably visited by more Americans than Canadians, so because they don't travel to Cuba, you won't get many responses on questions about Cuba (but if you're real lucky you won't get the idiots jumping on you with their political viewpoints). But sometimes it works - I posted a question about the Melia Rio de Oro in Cuba and actually got some responses to my personal email and learned a tonne of stuff. It was well appreciated. <BR>So that's my 2 cents worth (that's worth about $100. in U.S. money..only kidding) and I want to say that I like yourselves just want to talk about travel and learn about places I've chosen for our annual trip and help others out with information about the places they've chosen or are trying to decide!