I wanted to take a moment to address the incredible slowness of Fodor's forums, an issue that has been discussed in many threads and emails. <BR> <BR>We are very aware of the problem, and we are doing everything we can to address it, including ordering new hardware for our servers and performing an exhaustive review of the software application behind the forums. Our preliminary research indicates that the design of the software, combined with a recent surge in fodors.com's popularity, is contributing to the website's slowness. <BR> <BR>I cannot stress how much Fodor's appreciates the time you have taken to build these forums into such a valuable resource. We hope that those of you who continue to contribute will stick with us as we try to solve the problems behind the forums' abysmal performance. <BR> <BR>Ironically, many of the features that make the forums unique, such as the ability to search through posts by keyword, are prime causes of the inefficiencies within the software that lead to poor performance. I would be very interested to know which features are most important to you, and whether you would be willing to sacrifice snappy features for basic performance. If you have the time, please let me know your thoughts by dropping me an email at [email protected]. I would greatly appreciate your feedback, and promise to incorporate your suggestions into the solution we hope to quickly implement. Furthermore, if you have an interest, I would be happy to give you regular email updates as we work through these problems. <BR> <BR>Sincerely, <BR> <BR>Brent Peich <BR>Director, New Media <BR>Fodor's Travel Publications Inc. <BR>

Thanks, Brent! <BR> <BR>For the "inside" information on what is going on with the Forum and for the availablity of just about the best travel forum anywhere. <BR> <BR>You folks have attracted quite a crowd. <BR>

Hooray!! Fodors has acknowledged the various criticisms about performance. Just wanted to bring it up to the top so everybody would notice it. <BR>A great forum deserves at least a fair hardware platform!!

Brent: You cannot even begin to guess how very much we all appreciate this forum! I do not feel that my day is complete until I have come here and read the daily postings. I have been planning a BIG trip for almost a year, and I have reaped so much wonderful information from these forums. To hear you acknowledge a minor (?) problem makes me repect Fodors even more. I was happy before you had the new format, and I like the new format now. Whatever you have to do to fix the problem, do it. We will all be here to continue our readings and postings on line. How dull <BR>and hard our lives were before this wonderful world of technology. I feel that I have learned much and talked to so many wonderful, sharing people. Thanks so much for Fodors part. Kathy <BR>

Great, great point Kathy. <BR>Were it not for the technology, we would not be complaining and we would be much more ignorant. Even if the forums are slow, think of all the great information we have gotten. I have travelled a good deal in my life, even spent 10 consecutive weeks once tramping about Europe, but I learn something new and helpful every time I read this Forum. <BR>

Brent, Thank you for the post and for the Forum. We really appreciate it and the ability to talk to people who have visited the places we are going to is irreplaceable. It does alleviate frustation to know what the problem have been. <BR> <BR>I am going to Paris and have used text search to pull up the posts on Paris. I am mostly interested in older posts. If a date range function would decrease the search time it would also be an advantage from the user standpoint. Right now if I search on Paris Museums I get something like 3-500 topics. If I could search by one month increments I would get more manageable amounts of info. Overall, KUDOS, this is the best travel site that I use on the web.

Thanks for listening and for the great response!

<BR>The search facilitiy is very important. I was amazed to see how popular this site is compared to other similar facilities. We will be patient - just as long as we know you are working on the problem.

Brent, Many thanks for, not only letting us know that you are working on the technical difficulties, but on the offer to let us be part of the process. This forum is the absolute best travel forum in the Internet and, your note demonstrates how you guys got to be this good. <BR> <BR>As suggested, I will be e-mailing you some some opinions from the end user standpoint. Thanks again for a terrific site!

Thanks, Brent, for keeping us posted. I too find this forum an invaluable resource for planning trips and sharing information. It is definitely the best travel site on the net, IMHO. <BR> <BR>The search facility is particularly useful and it would be a shame to lose it. <BR> <BR>

Brent: <BR> <BR>Thanks for letting us know what's happening! It drives me NUTS when I can't access the latest updates and especially, when I want to post a reply or a new message. However this is a fantastic site and I've gotten some very helpful info! The ability to do a word search is invaluable. Sometimes, I wish your site had a table of contents or an index under each country, to facilitate & better organize the discussions under more specific topic headings. I very much appreciate your efforts and will continue to check in on a daily basis. <BR>

Love your forum and the seach capabilities; would be great if it were a little fasster, but you eventually get what you are looking for and that is great. I don't find the type of information anywhere else on the Internet. Really appreciate the service you provide. Jim

Brent, Let me add my thanks for your candor and offer--this is the best travel forum on the web and all of the <BR>regulars cannot thank you enough. One <BR>thought that may help is to create one <BR>more forum category---seperate the UK <BR>questions into a seperate forum. It seems to me that about 30% of the postings are UK related and to me the UK is actually a seperate destination <BR>from mainland Europe---I bet that one <BR>will get comments---but it is. I am about to leave on an 8 week sojourn to Europe and hope you have it all fixed <BR>by the time I get back in May. <BR> <BR>

<BR>Brent don't dare seperate the Uk into a seperate forum.The Very idea makes me mad!!!!Since when has uk not been part of Europe.I am British and an EC national. <BR>Generally I like the forum.I wish the search topics could be put under headings.Like Rick Steves headings.Sometimes I wish it was more fun like the Thorn tree.I have a good laugh at the thorn tree.Some of the people on this forum seem a bit stiff at times.I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction when something I have responded to finally posts!Keep up the good work.

Well, seems like it is a better approach to post suggestions,even though that may mean an endless back & forth....I was going to suggest sub-dividing the Europe forum (at the main forum menu)into Eastern Europe , Western, Mediterranean Region, United Kingdom or something along those lines...(Al, I know you meant in geographical terms....) <BR> <BR>The Search feature is very good; would hate to see it go...

Thank you Fodors for addressing this issue. I have used the forum for nearly 2 years. Please keep up the good work. Other traveller-friendly sites do not compete!!! <BR>

<BR>Halleluja, and thank you Brent! <BR>The above posters Kathie and Herma took the words right out of my mouth. And I look forward to being able to post problem-free info about my upcoming Spain/Portugal trip when I return. (actually, I typed a similar post last night, sent it off, looked like it was ok, but it's nowhere to be found!)

I was reading some great stuff in the archives on Paris hotels two weeks ago because my daughter booked a last minute trip. Over 600 listings. I had to leave for Mexico and told her to read the posts and select a hotel while i was gone. When I called home she had very little luck, as the posts only went back to Feb. 24. Has the archives vanished and started from scratch. I always use the archives so as not to repeat a question that so many have already asked.

Hello Brent, <BR> <BR>I am one who appreciates the search mode. I'm going to Germany for a week on business next month and did a search on Ramstein/Kaiserslautern. One message did come up (from November), but when I did the same search the next day, it did not appear. I wanted to get the email address of the 2 that corresponded so I could ask them questions about the area. Has Fodor's deleted older messages? I would really like to be able to pull up the message. Thanks for listening to us!

Hi... <BR> A few years ago, never mind how long exactly, I decided to become a programmer... I was wondering what we thought about the search... From this end, it seems as though that is the slowest part of this site... Assuming a database of some sort on the other end, maybe they might be able to speed up the process, if the searches operated off of a different db than the one used to post on... But, then, posts would not IMMEDIATELY be searchable, as they appear to be now... What do you guys think? <BR> <BR>Ishmael.