I'm amazed by some of the comments posted about www.bonjourparis.com It's surprising people would have such strong feelings.

The message board is free for one and all. Karen Fawcett goes out of her way to post and post. She answers many questions that take considerable research including her contacting lawyers, immigration specialists, etc.

She has helped me find rental apartments and more. Not everyone would devote so much time and attention to a site, in addition, to being a journalist.

Re price: John Talbot's weekly articles target lower priced Paris restaurants.

And, the premium discounts are worth something.

http://www.bonjourparis.com/static/o...bp_offer_b.htm

No one is forcing anyone to join. But, I'm glad I did.

vanne,
I have posted on the Bonjour Paris boards and found the people there to be nothing but kind and helpful. However, when it comes to spending my limited travel dollars, I'm careful, and in the past year I haven't felt the Bonjour Paris premium articles were as helpful to me. My suggestion would be to sign up for the free newsletter, and then you can see if the premium articles would be ones you'd like to read.

Sandy

I'm surprised you don't know who the "insiders" are Underhill, if you are some staff member on that website. It's a term that website uses itself, I didn't make it up, to refer to the special people that pay a fee. It's on the advertising banner at the top of the homepage, in trying to entice people to pay the fee. Go see for yourself.

As for jeanne1408 being surprised on the negative comments, I notice her first post on this board just happened to be this one, solely to defend that website and then she wrote another post to advertise Karen Fawcett's guide services for a fee. I suppose things like that kind of annoy me, as it appears obvious someone sent her to this board to defend or promote that website.

This bit about free champagne is absurd.There is no such quid pro quo.In fact when a Paris BP GTG met with a last minute restaurant problem Karen invited the whole group for dinner at her house. Aside from the Forum the BP Home page has so many helpful and interesting goodies to offer that one could never realize that anything has a monetary "restriction". As others have said, it is hard to believe that this strong anti-BP attitude doesn't have a hidden basis.

I think more than enough time has been spent on this subject.

BP is one of many forum sites. Forum sites cost money to operate. If some want to offer an "extra" newsletter for a fee..so what?

We could all spend time in saying what we don't like about each and every site..but why? I could post many negatives about the Slow Travel site, or the Trip Advisor site, but why?

These forums are supposed to be helpful to fellow travelers. Why not leave it that way........

One last time, Christine: I am NOT and never have been a BP staff member. Forums host, yes; volunteer editor, yes. But not staff, who are paid. Period.

As for the "insiders," no, I don't know who they are. There are some regular posters--people who travel to France several times a year and the expatriates who live there--but there's no insider clique, if that's what you mean.

Special people who pay a fee? That must be the folks who subscripe to the Premium newsletter. They aren't staff either.

Karen Fawcett doesn't give tours, just a lot of her time to help keep the BP site running.

You clearly have a major bias against the BP site, and I think there's no point in any further discussion.

I have to agree with all that has been said by Underhill!

Now, maybe we can get on with the TRAVEL forum............

Hi Underhill, you know Karen Fawcett better than most on this forum do so if, as you say, she does not do private tours, I assume Jeanne1408 will confirm that the person she spoke of on this thread was a different Karen? I think that is where this apparent confusion arose:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34815860

<<Author: jeanne1408
Date: 06/03/2006, 10:17 pm
Try contacting: [email protected]
She writes for www.bonjourparis.com and it's reported that her tours are super.>>

FAUX....The Karen Fawcett that we are talking about definitely does not conduct tours.

SHE DOES NOT DO TOURS!!! The only touring she does do is with her grandchildren :) There are too many false statements in this thread.
But Some tried to do the same thing to Travelerstogo.

I know Karen as well as anyone who posts on this forum.

Karen does NOT do tours. No way that she could even find the time. She is a VERY busy person keeping up with BP needs, an ailing, elderly mother in DC, a husband who is not in good health, (after surviving a horrible auto accident and months and months of rehab), finding time to enjoy her new grandchild (also in DC),getting together with some of us for an evening or lunch out when we are in Paris.

How about Slow Travel with a Premium fee part to their site? If fees are the problem, pick on that site for awhile.

Better yet, why not just stick to our travel questions and help for those with travel questions!!

It's funny....a few weeks ago I wrote a trip report here on my recent riverboat trip to Normandy and the beaches from Paris that I also posted on Bonjourparis In the course of the posting I had concern about the propriety of memntioning BP. :-) :-) In terms of new viewers I'm sure BP didn't suffer!!

I checked out www.nuitblanchetours.com, and it's obvious that Karen is Karen Henrich, a woman who splits her time between Canada and Paris.

That should put any suggestions of impropriety to rest.

Toupary,

You are obviously wrong. Karen Fawcett spends no time in Canada. She is stretched thin enough between Paris, DC and Provence.....

Where do all these nutty things come from...and why????

Perhaps Toupary meant that the Karen who does tours is NOT Karen Fawcett?

gracejoan, you are telling me slowtravel has a premium site with a fee???? ;;)

I think most of us agree that BonjourParis is a site that brings helpful information to those interested in things relating to Paris and France.

I was a Charter Premium Member way back when BP went to subscription. BP was a wonderful find for me after I discovered my French Passion. I also have not renewed my membership but get the newsletter.

I hold Karen Fawcett in high regard for all she has accomplished and wish her continued success. Deborah

Yes, Slow trav has one if you want to be able to chat and email a member.
There too, I do NOT have premium.

Yes, underhill, toupary is acknowledging that, that tour person is not BP Karen.

gracejoan3,

Please take the time to read my post before jumping on me for being "obviously wrong."

"I checked out www.nuitblanchetours.com, and it's obvious that Karen is Karen Henrich, a woman who splits her time between Canada and Paris.

That should put any suggestions of impropriety to rest."

Clearly, if I were speaking of Karen Fawcett, I wouldn't have called her "Karen Henrich." I posted, as I said, to put a stop to any conflict of interest allegations. I should have known that some people don't bother to take the time to read something before they react.

Okay; we all seem to be on the same page now as to which Karen is which.

Karen Fawcett, by the way, is a proud grandmother for the second time today.

Well, not for the second time today! Today, for the second time.

Underhill, the very nicest of people were born on June 5th. It's my daughter's birthday also ;;) Deborah

I would like to apologize to Karen Fawcett for the mean-spirited comments here. She is a gracious woman who has put her heart, soul, and a lot of personal resources into establishing and maintaining the bonjourparis.com site and does not deserve all the slaps.

Toupary,

Sorry about that...too many things in the works today..but that should be no excuse........

Joan

And I would like to apologize for my fellow posters who mean no harm :)

THE END!

Thanks, Joan. I was feeling a little sensitive earlier today.

I personally have found everyone on BP to be very kind and helpful, so I didn't want my effort to be misconstrued.

A bientôt.

I am somewhat shocked and diappointed in the
turn this subject has taken. From an initial inquiry as to the worthiness of subscribing to Bonjour Paris, it became a rather distasteful
and certainly unwarranted personal attack on Karen Fawcett and Bonjour Paris. It is really quite bizarre.
Anyone who has ever read BP knows this is certainly not an elitist publication. I am not going to start listing all my friends and fellow subscribers who have benefited from being readers simply because I would be taking up too much space. And I might add that we all are NOT in the same socio-econmic group ! As for Karen Fawcett- generous of spirit and a boundless resource of information and personal experience, she is a treasure. Every year my trips to Paris have been enriched by her and Bonjour Paris.
I don't understand the motivation behind some of these comments (especially one particularly venomous remark). But I suppose the nature of the remarks speak for themselves and their authors.

I'll just throw my 2 cents in for what it's worth.

I too have been a friend of Karen's for many years. I've visited with her in her Paris home and in her Provence home. I know for a fact that she puts in more hours on her job than a Fortune 500 CEO. I could write volumns about the things she does for individual travellers, not just bonjourparis.

I've stayed out of the fray so to speak because of our friendship, not wanting to appear biased, but I just now caught the "toy job" comment and it fried me.

Hopefully, the issue of the two Karens has been resolved and everyone now knows that it's not the BP Karen operating the tours.

This is one of those rare people who if there were an actual scale with favors done for others on one side and favors received on the other, she would be miles behind on the receiving end.

Nice to see more who know Karen and the time and effort that she puts into the BP site, "come to her defense"!

BP is a good site and has much to offer. Karen seems to be a tireless person. She is a good friend to have. I'm pleased to be one of her friends.

Has anyone noticed that the bits of negativism concerning Karen and BP come from the posters who don't know her? Those of us fortunate enough to have spent many hours with her through the years feel impelled to defend her as a generous, unpretentious,but entrepreneurial woman who has survived and indeed succeeded in a chauvinistic environment, when legions of the less determined would have thrown in the towel. I hope that more of you get the opportunity to get to know her in person.

And thanks to all the BP posters who gave their REAL posting names. A few here seem to be timid(?) about that.

I hope the posts about "negative" comments about Karen Fawcett do not refer to my post. I was merely pointing out what appears to have caused the misunderstanding about whether Karen Fawcett gave tours. I must add that, although I do not know her or her website, I would not think less of her if she DID give tours of Paris because I think that is a great thing and many admirable people give tours of Paris.

Hey, Mimi. Am I one of the timid ones???

Just one more poster on the side of Bonjour Paris -- I was addicted to BP for several years. That was my "fix" each day (or week). A couple of years ago, there were alot of names posting there that I now find here. I joined as a premium member when they first started that service. I kept my premium membership until this year because, as is always the case, it seemed to be getting tired and I didn't seem to find the exciting content that I did in the beginning. It had become just a few of the same people who responded to the various posts. The trip reports were down, the fun articles, etc., etc. However, in the thick of it, I really loved Bonjour Paris and I have files full of stuff I copied and printed out. I could not have been happier with the replies that I received to questions I posted. However, even though I still check out BP a time or two a week, Fodor's seems to be my French "fix" of choice these days. Unfortunately, websites do come and go but, hopefully, Bonjour Paris will be one of those that will stay and grow and thrive! I was not going to respond to this topic as sometimes feeding the "negatives" just feeds their negative egos for attention, they get on a roll, and don't stop. However, I didn't want this great website to be trashed! I do not know Karen Fawcett personally -- only through the website, but questions that I posted directly to her were always promptly answered and with great information.

Let's put this trash session to rest.

luvparee

I've been acquainted with Karen Fawcett for about ten years, since back when Bonjour Paris was exclusively on AOL. And, I met her at a get-to-gether in Boston a couple of years ago.

I've never known anyone who works longer or harder...on constantly improving the content of her website and keeping it interesting, comprehensive, and up to date.

For me, the cost of the premium membership pays for itself many times over with the invaluable tips and recommendations.

Understandably, Karen has been quite distracted lately with her mother in poor health.

I'm glad to see others are speaking out on Karen's and BP's behalf. As others have said, Karen is a great, hard-working person, and I love her website. In fact, I often feel more comfortable posting there because there seem to be fewer negative, mean-spirited people on her boards.

Yes, the message boards are free, but her interactions with her readers and Paris expertise are priceless!

After reading so many of the initial posts, I felt it was time I personally replied. Some of them were hurtful enough that I toyed with the idea of closing the Site -- for about 2-1/2 minutes.

The fact is that www.bonjourparis.com has something for everyone. Our readers come from throughout the world. Our team works extraordinarily hard to bring people the best of France - and that includes non-premium as well as premium members.

I would be lying if I were to say we don't appreciate each and every subscription. Advertising revenues are minimal and our expenses are higher than that of a message board.

Our discussion board ( http://bonjourparis.ipbhost.com/ ) is free. Register and you'll see that if we don't know the answer, we'll try to find it. Plus, we do have an enormous amount of free content.

To those of you who came to my defense, thank you. I can't begin to tell you how deeply touched I was and am. It meant more than I can begin to tell you.

If anyone has a personal question for me, don't hesitate to send me an email at [email protected] I have a lot on my plate but am never too busy to respond.

And by the way, EVERYONE is welcome for a glass of (faux) champagne wherever I might be. There are few Francophiles whom I've met whom I haven't liked. For that matter, so many of my most treasured friends are ones I've met via www.bonjourparis.com


Cheers to La Belle France and harmony.

topping for this gracious lady

I usually avoid responding to the posts where people get all up in arms over such trivial things. Never quite sure what people are trying to accomplish as for a lot of these, there really isn't a write or wrong answer. The forum is supposed to be fun and informative right?

But, I have to say I was shocked by this post - especially that people would feel so comfortable maligning a person and using their full name over and over again to do so. A new low on the Fodors site. So much for the do unto others rule...

On the flip side, I am happy to learn about bonjourparis as a new resource and my hat is tipped to the web host who so graciously responded to this post. I plan to join.

FYI, the bonjourparis.com web site is not limited to Paris--posts range widely across France.

I too thought this thread got WAY out of whack...all over a simple question. It was very gracious of Karen to post here but at the same time I couldn't believe some of the postings here that prompted her to do so. Sheesh!!