I think there have been some pretty interesting threads here. On manners, on mid-life crisis. It's like reality TV but you provide your own visuals.

Dear alan,
I do not think you are being crotchety... if you are, then so am I.
I find there to be less good humor, cleverness, and wit and more discussions of politics ( which really are not discussions but mud wrestling) and a breaking down of any sort of good manners ...
More gross subjects, too personal subjects, and terribly insulting posts are filling up the boards... making it all a big bore most of the time.
One has to sift through the <I>How do you like your Pizza</I> or <I>"what size is your xxx" </I> threads to find something that might be more interesting.
It seems like in the Olden Days , people traveled more, so their Idle Chit Chat was still a little bit about Travel ( strangely enough, on what began as a Travel Forum/Website) but now it seems to be more about beer/politics/reality television/are you b*dman.....

That is what I think.
all the best,
Scarlett

Ira, Sheila, Scarlett, Bob et al...perhaps one of you can enlighten me, now that we are on the subject of longevity?

All our profiles suggest we started on January 2003...I recall being on before that. I am virtually certain I discovered Fodors back in '99 or 2000 when I changed careers

I remember many of you (Rex, too who hasn't chimed in, not unwell, I hope?). Fodors was my first forum and it was pretty wild.

So when did you really start? how old is Fodors Forum?

LJ, I joined Fodors in 2000 I think, I was reading the forums in 1999.. but got the nerve to join and post in 2000. Planning a trip for Italy ..
Rex was unwell at one time, I think/hope he is well now.
I remember Elvira and dear sweet Art and Wes Fowler and Ben Haines and some others who are gone now.. and others who just quit.. I quit once :- )
I am not sure how old the Forums are ..

This has been discussed before. I think I started in late 1996 or early 1997. There are still some still here from that era but most have moved on. I remember one of the best was Paulo from Brazil--a real expert on Italy. And, Wes Fowler was a legend. There was less of an attitude of " entitlement" back then. The internet age has spawned that.

The reason for the 2003 date is that is when registration started. Before that you entered your name when you posted a reply or topic. You could be a different person every time you posted baefore 2003. You could even be X or XX or XXX which made for fun times. There was no lounge and crazy topics were interspersed wiht real ones.

And there were some great trolls! there was a (uspposed to be) young lady who was planning on marrying a guy who was a jerk and their delayed and disrupted honeymoon plans kept us/me going all through one dark and clientless winter.

I, too, recall both Ben Haines and wonderful Wes Fowler (R.I.P)

"I have been posting for several years and find that the questions are the same or similar year after year." - yes, the same question on travel forums, people don't know, or don't take their time to search, or just prefer everything to be delivered to them on a golden plate.

"Do others feel the same or am I becoming a crotchety old man." - a little bit of both

I posted on Frommer's for a few years before coming here. There were a lot of boring, repetitious questions there, even more so than here.

I've been here about 3 years now, and I've noticed a lot of repetition, but the Lounge at least has a lot of funny people.

Scarlett: very, very,VERY insightful posts. Agree 100%.

Don't remember exactly when I started using Fodors, but it was a trip planning tool for me for some time like Frommers, Lonely Planet, etc.

Never joined until, early 2003, I saw that there was going to be a GTG in San Francisco and I thought it might be fun to talk to other travelers, some of whom already seemed familiar from their Fodors postings. Marilyn was the organizer and she was kind enough to help me with my baby steps as a poster on Fodors. Marilyn's no longer on Fodors, neither are Kir Royale, Kikahead and a number of others who were really interesting to talk to in person at the GTG.

There was a lot more substance to travel talk, a lot more sincerity and tolerance in the friendships, and whole gaggles more humor and liveliness. Elvira was utterly hilarious. Dear Art, everyone had a soft spot in their heart for him.

September, 2003, changed the world of travel forever. Before then, we were all innocents. A really negative cloud started to hang over travel. Remember the days after 9/11 when nobody could travel? That note of fear and caution has never left completely, but by 2005/6, things on Fodors seemed to be slowly getting back to normal.

Then, early 2008 the election season started. That's when the really nasty and snarky political snipping started and the poison seeped into everything. There were a few new posters who date back to early 2008 whose sole purpose seemed to be a forwarding of their political agenda on Fodors, a travel website.

bob is right, the internet did "spawn" some very negative things. And it's only gotten worse, because with email (which was still a bit of a novelty in 2003), Facebook, Twitter, and blogs - along with the old-fashioned phone, if one person doesn't like what another person has posted, that person will get in touch with others via email, Facebook, etc. and pretty soon it's like being attacked by a mob. Other Fodorites get pulled in and start bashing away too. On some threads, it's like the mob rules. Some threads drip with venom. This must be what the days after the French Revolution must have felt like - when everything was politicized and everyone had to agree with the mob.

I agree with the OP that some/many of the "interesting" posters, in this kind of a negative atmosphere, have either gone away for good or no longer post much for fear of being attacked.

Things have taken a turn not for the good in some respects.

This is my take on the what and the why and, yes, I'm old and crotchety along with some of the other Fodorites and sometimes do wish for the great good humor and 'net fellowship of the old Fodors.

As for the same questions being asked over and over again, maybe for the US and Western Europe, but not so for the rest of the world.

I started posting in 2000. After watching the Y2K celebration in Paris I knew I just had to go and that's how I found Fodors. Yes, it used to get pretty wild in the old days before registration but I also couldn't wait to see the posts then and used to log-on about 20 times a day. Now it doesn't seem as exciting but maybe I've just gotten older and am not so attached anymore.

Sharon, how is Le Clip doing these days?

I'm not sure but think I started posting in 1996, when we went to Greece. I remember the forum being better and more interesting then, but perhaps we always remember things better than they actually were. I do, however, definitely miss some of those who no longer post here: Elvira, Grasshopper, Capo, etc., etc. for their humor, good advice and wonderful stories about their travels. Crotchety, probably, I do get more short tempered than I used to, but I think some complaints, observations and longing for the "old Fodor's" are justified based on my own experience here.

Capo and Elvira don't post here.
I wish they did.

And Croque Madam... anyone remember her? and what she did for that poster in Paris? Amazing.

If I had not made friends with a lady on these forums, years ago, I would never have thought of moving to Portland Oregon .. if it were not for these forums, I would not know quite a few posters.. both in emails and phone calls and in person ... counting me Lucky

I just wish Fodors still had that little bit of control in the Lounge, over how far a person can go before someone tells them to stop it.
I liked the idea that we were supposed to Keep it about Travel... it made us more imaginative and so many clever people still managed to slip something travel related into a totally travel un-related post lol

I also wish that Politics, Religion and Calling people Names were not allowed.
(except for C_W.. I like the way he calls people names and talks religion and politics lol)

And who was that poster who started the whole thing about "banding"? m_kingdom was it?

The "wild" part was because humor in those days was more for everyone. A poster could start a thread on anything: tipping the pilot, losing a shoe on the airplane and pretty soon the humor would flow and we'd all be in stitches.

It's different today.

LG: are you thinking of those "Faith" threads?

I miss Grasshopper a lot.

And the old b*dman and degas. They were part of the fun. then. Who cared what their political leanings were then? I was thinking of b*dman when writing about the mob mentality.

I think part of the difference is the invention of the Lounge. Before slightly off-topic (and funny) posts were integrated into the destination forums ("do I need a lifejacket for a gondola ride" on the Europe board). "Faithonholiday" was the posters name, which I always found brilliant.

Even off-topic threads started on the destination board are now quickly moved to the Lounge, if they are within rules but not strictly about travel.

So yes, I do think it was better, funnier, and more interesting before.

et-
I thought the "banding" was started by ThinGorjus ??
Scarlett will know.

R5

Thin is still here. As smart as ever. Sometimes

R5: Could have been ThinGorjus, sounds like him.

Le Clip is alive and well but hasn't been out much since I cut my hair shorter. But I plan to take it with me next year to Paris and be buried with it.