There have been a spate of requests by posters have done little or no initial research. It is impossible for strangers to offer helpful advice without:

1. The Original Poster (OP) understanding at least a little about the countries they wish to visit.
2. Their Budget
3. Time constraints
4. Interests, the more specific the better. Also think about this and write them clearly, for first time travelers often state contradictory objectives and interests.
5. Physical limitations or size or make-up of the group traveling
6. Travel experience

Thus it is incumbent upon the OP to state why these countries may be of interest.
Look at a guide book or two to confirm that is a country in which you are interested.
Understand that you will get contradictory advice from strangers. Everyone has their own experiences and their own prejudices. For there some here who live in that country and highly experienced travelers who are extremely generous with their time and knowledge. Then there are others who visited a place once and are trying to make a career of that two week visit.

And once you ask a question, please return to the posting within a few days, if for no other reason to acknowledge the assistance.

you are kidding aren't you? You need to be a mind read to participate on this forum!

Joking aside. Good points this should be make a Sticky.

You are absolutely right. Many of these posts have headlines like "First time Europe" and without specifying which time of year they will be travelling and what their interests are I do not know what kind of advice I should give.

Some of these recent posters seem to have no clue about Europe at all, especially not about climate and daylight hours.

There was one who wanted to spend 7 days in Switzerland in late November. I assumed he/she wanted to see mountains, and I had to write that chances are great to see no mountains at all due to clouds and rain in November but that Switzerland has excellent art museums. However, the poster did not say that he/she would be interested in art.

Another one had a dozen questions and a fellow Fodorite answered each of these questions with the sentence: "Read a guidebook."

So true. Since we live here and we travel through Europe regularly for business and for pleasure we can answer very specific questions (like "where can I see megalithic graves in the Lüneburg Heath" or "why has the train service between Garmisch and München stopped and when will it be resumed") and we can also give our subjective opinions on destinations (like "What daytrip from Frankfurt?" or "Am I the only one who wasn't blown away by Barcelona?").

But we can give better advice if the OP has done a minimum of research on his/her own before posting.

I don't really disagree with any of this, but

a) I recently posted on one of the other continent fora, starting like this:-

"If I saw this message being posted in the Europe Forum, where I have lurked since 1999, I would deplore the lack of ground work done by the poster, so please be gentle with me."

I was greeted with courtesy and a flurry of really useful information.

b) Sometimes I think people here are pretty bloody snippy. Not everyone thinks the way we do. A gentle nudge might be kinder than the equivalent of "FFS, do some research!" Just saying'

Posters from those who have no idea where to go or what to do and have done no legwork before posting are irritating. I have tried over the years to follow the old advice - "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all".

It would be nice if posters followed the guidelines above but I fear it isn't going to happen.

Somebody (Mme Perdu I think) answered with wisdom that if we don't like the question t(for good reasons even), we are not obliged to answer like 'read a book'.

Actually it would result in some thread left unanswered for ages, which would not be a bad thing.

Maybe one poster would answer as above and that would be it.

But it would mean that people like me should be able to refrain from answering something ironic/nasty/snippy/funny whatever. Quite a bet to take.

It would also mean that the poster who spent 2 weeks in Europe and wants to make a carreer out of it should also refrain to answer in order to show off. Quite another bet.

So all in all, why bother ?

i've posted nearly exactly the same thread on another forum in another life (and was deleted of course, specialty of that forum) but honestly, unless we make it a sticky and even so ... how many such one time wonderposters would care about reading stickies ? Nah, better register, shoot the question and maybe come back...

Mvg.

Nobody who is posting for the first time will see or read this list. Periodically these complaints arise and people vent their frustration in answering vague questions in a thread like this, but you are preaching to the choir.

I will sing off tune as I do in real life and say that I have sympathy for the posters who do not follow the rules outlined above. Personally I do not ever include information about budget when asking for recommendations. I will look at the suggestions that are given to me and decide which ones meet my needs. I do not have a set budget ahead of time and plan by choosing among the options I find attractive and that have good value for me. It helps to know what other people have liked in all price ranges so I can decide whether this is a good time to economize or to splurge.

I have spent a lifetime reading guidebooks. But they are not as popular today as they used to be before the internet took over. And for many people, they are just not part of their research. Their primary research is the internet and their entree might be this message board. And there is lots of useful information that people can impart here. If you do not feel you have any, then there is absolutely no requirement to respond.

I have asked questions occasionally to which the answer is, "tell us more about what you want". I would rather hear what individual posters here enjoyed. That helps frame what I want.

There is at least one poster who appears to respond to most inquiries by saying "we can't help you unless you tell us more", but who almost never actually responds with recommendations when somebody gives that information. I think if you can't help, and it frustrates you to answer, it is best to step away from the computer.

Unfortunately some new posters seem to believe that we are mind readers and know that:

They are a party of 8 or are traveling with two toddlers or want to put 5 people in one room

They have never looked at a map of europe

Their budget is based on costs in a very small town

They have never used public transit and don't really want to

They don;t understand Europe is a temperate climate and has 4 seasons

They expect us to be free travel agents/plan their whole trip rather than private people providing advice as we see have time to

I have now taken to just ignoring some posts - that you can see are going to be just too much trouble

The Fodors Forums has a FAQs section that features "Tips for New Visitors to the Forums." It includes most of these suggestions, but is buried in the FAQs section rather than being number 1 on the FAQS list on the Forums home page.

http://www.fodors.com/faq/tips.cfm

Fortunately, no one gets snippy on threads that have the topic of tipping.

I agree with Nikki's post re how I frame many of my questions. If I have specific wants or needs I will post them, otherwise I am interested in what others suggest without budget or other constraints since there are none.

Since most people use the internet as their source of info they type in wherever and up pops Fodor's. Often they have no idea what this board is and may or may not have heard of Fodor's. They have no way of knowing the posters on here are not TA's somehow connected with Fodors in a more professional manner. In any case they assume the board, whomever the "board" may be, is here to answer their questions, vague as they may be. I think many long time posters on this board could be nicer in their responses in asking about their interests and not be so offputting, by just saying get a map and guidebook. I've never understood why posters who say they are tired of the same questions or lack of research done before asking a question bother to respond.

Information on the internet is far more current and accurate that any guidebook. If you're looking for history, art, lodging, and food suggestions, that information can be found on the internet, too, often with great pictures.

Some people want their research to be quick and easy. Those posters will always be part of travel forum life.

If you find a post lacking in clarity or enough supporting information on preferences to interest you in replying, don't reply.

To suggest that OP's must somehow provide a certain amount of subjective information (and let's be clear that it is subjective) before they are worthy of an answer implies that the information being provided is of such value that it should not be doled out to those who can merely manage to drag their fingertips across a keyboard in their quest for information.

It's seems akin to getting red in the face and demanding that whomever expects one to dole out their precious advice must follow the advice givers personal rules or pay the price in either silence, or scorn.

Step away from the keyboard if frustrated; others will respond to fill the informational void, or not, and the OP will get whatever they get in return. They may learn what type of approach elicits a specific response, but they may not.

That's life.

Now, index fingers to thumbs, close your eyes, breathe in and; "Ommmmmmmm......." (Repeat)

Aramis

Is that a mantra or did your finger slip on the keyboard?

Could be either, I guesssssssssssssssssssssssss

Interesting discussion, even if never seen by those who would most benefit from it!

Honestly, for a novice or inexperienced traveler, the single best bit of advice I can offer is, IMO, to consult a good guidebook or two, because THAT is where the traveler will find out about things s/he never thought to ask – things like how to get local currency, how much to tip, how to use local transportation, ways in which the local norms may differ from those to which the traveler is accustomed, etc. It always makes me sad to read a report from someone with lots of “if I’d only known” comments, because almost invariably, it is information that is covered in guidebooks. And I still find guidebooks to be the single best starting point for planning a trip – I learn about the range of things to see and do in a place, get a sense (to be confirmed, as possible, by internet searches) of timing and transportation options, learn a bit about local cuisines and traditions, etc. JMO!

<i>Information on the internet is far more current and accurate that any guidebook. </i>

I don't think this is true of travel forums. Both here and on Tripadvisor forums, I see lots of outdated and wrong advice.

I know a lot abot Le Marche, where I live, at least about the things that interest me. I also know a lot about Rome, a city I love and have visited often over the course of 20 plus years.

If someone asks me, "What should I not miss in Le Marche?", I don't know where to begin. I could write a lengthy reply about all the charming little hill towns, only to learn that the person was thinking of a beach holiday.

If someone asks me my favorite things in Rome, I would go on at length about museums and archaelogical sites. I tend not to answer questions that are so broad, because it takes a lot of my time and is maybe of no use to the person who asked the question.

I do sometimes ask a person to narrow it down and maybe I don't weigh in again. This may be because their interests are out of my realm of knowledge, or because I see that the person got some great answers already to which I have nothing to add, or just because the topic ended up on page 5 and I never saw it again. Hint to Fodors: most forums alert you of new activity.

It just occurred to me: if a stranger stopped you on the street in your own town, and asked, "Could you please tell me what there is to do around here?", wouldn't you need a little more information to answer the question? At least whether they might be more interested in the tennis courts or the peep shows?

If somebody asked what to do in my home town, and I knew there were tennis courts and peep shows, I would tell them there were tennis courts and peep shows, and if they asked for more information about either of those things, I would tell them what I could. I would not wait for a list of things they liked just in case there were tennis courts and peep shows on the list. I would tell them the things I like to do; maybe they hadn't thought of those things and didn't realize one could do them there.

If I were going to Rome, and I hadn't thought of going to archeological sites and museums, perhaps the enthusiasm of the person I asked would spark the curiosity in me to go to those sites.

>>I don't think this is true of travel forums. Both here and on Tripadvisor forums, I see lots of outdated and wrong advice.<<

To spare the reader, I try not to write what is obvious. There is plenty of outdated and wrong advice on the internet, of course, but you can challenge every piece of information you find by posting a question. Discovering a helpful piece of information in real time - like if scaffolding is covering your favorite monument or a place is closed or a route is detoured due to construction, etc - is not something a book can offer. That was my point.