Forums Newsletter: Would you be interested?
 

Hello everybody---happy Wednesday.

We've been thinking here about adding another newsletter to our offerings; we currently send out a weekly Fodor's Newsletter every Thursday.

My question: if we were to offer a Community newsletter---a newsletter that pointed to great trip reports, lively travel discussions, and new user reviews---would you be likely to sign up for it? I envision a newsletter that will quickly "catch-up" users who maybe don't check in everyday. I'd also like a chance to highlight community happenings---for instance a GTG alert/mini report.

What's the barometer of interest from folks here?

If interested, would you be most likely to sign up for a newsletter that you received monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly?

I'm thinking that bi-weekly might be the best. Any thoughts? Suggestions?

If you ask me...it's not useful for me, I check the forum at least once a day, so having news bi-weekly are very old news.
For other people who can be interested, I think weekly will be the best. Sometimes the threads go very quickly here so it won't be easy for people to join a conversation that sunked a week ago if they receive the newsletter bi-weekly or monthly. If the
newsletter is thought for people to know about good trip reports and the like, then bi-monthly looks ok to me.

I'm pretty much with kenderina, here.

I log on a couple of times day if i have time. If I don't a newsletter's not going to change that:(

Hi - I agree with Kenderina and Sheila. But if the newsletter were to highlight new features of the forum, that might be useful. Speaking of new features, I've always wondered why there isn't a place in the talk forum devoted to hotel reviews. Whenever I search this forum for a specific hotel, I end up sifting through tons of posts and trip reports, etc, to find any mention of the hotel I'm looking for. Just a thought - one that I'm sure has been brought up tons of times and hasn't been implemented for a reason. :)

I can't imagine being able to summarize all the interesting content in the Europe forum. At first blush, I was going to say it's a good idea, but, like others, I try to look at the forum on a daily basis, so a newsletter would probably be "old news" by the time it came out. I like the dynamic nature of the forum, so doubt a static newsletter could capture that.

That's a good point in regards to the "static" bit. I have feeling perhaps it would maybe better benefit members that don't frequent the site often---sort of an easy way to "catch up" with what's been going on. Obviously it would only be able to touch the tip of the iceberg but it would still serve as a reminder to lurkers and less frequent posters that there's a ton of activity here.

It would also help us make some announcements in regards to new guides, Word of Mouth, and upcoming GTGs.

Are you a subscriber to Frommers newsletter? I think they do a good job, so you might want to check out the competition for ideas.

I don't subscribe to Fodors regular newsletter, so I'm not sure what's in that. But Frommers' newsletter has links to some new articles or things of interest on the site, and then has a section with links to about five posts that they consider "hot topics" or whatever. Some editor chooses them, not sure how -- they browse the forums and I think they choose ones they think are of interest or wellwritten, or good trip reports. They don't always pick posts that have a lot of responses (which might be hot topics), but sometimes posts they think need responses or are worthy of them, I think. They pick a good selection of topics.

Now I do read those, and sometimes the headers of those posts catch my eye or intrigue me, even if it's not a forum I frequent often, so I click on the link to go read them. Basically, they show you the first line or two of the post. I think that works real well to bring traffic to the website and give people an idea of the forums' topics.

I'll admit if I read their forums very thoroughly every day, it probably wouldn't be of that much interest to me, though.

Thanks for the feedback, Christina.

We do a similar thing in our current site-wide newsletter. There is a community section and we include there three active/interesting posts and include a quote from the thread along with the poster's name.

For instance, this past week we included the following:

<b>Do you consider these Venice tourist traps worth experiencing?</b>
&quot;If you have to do the gondola ride, try to stick to the smaller canals, we loved that. Will be in Venice next month, we plan to visit Cafe Florian or one of the other places to hear music. Ridiculously expensive, but we think it will be a nice memory. And after walking all day, it will be nice to sit and listen to music for a few hours.&quot; - dperry

<b>Where would you go to write a book?</b>
&quot;I would rent an apartment in the Montmartre area of Paris, in one of the shoulder or winter months. Live among like minds and use the ghosts of the area as your muse.&quot; - robjame

<b>How much did you pay for that bottle of water from the minibar?</b>

&quot;I hate being nickel-and-dimed to death. I'd rather they add $10 to the cost of my room than charge me $7.50 for a bottle of water. It's not that I can't afford it, it just looks so cheap on their part.&quot; - Debi

Hi K,

Since I spend about 18 hr/day on the Europe Forum, I wouldn't find the newsletter useful except for &quot;announcements in regards to new guides, Word of Mouth, and upcoming GTGs&quot;.

Couldn't you just post these to the forums, or are you planning on a subscriotion for a fee?

((I))

Hi katie - i probably wouldnt use it either since i am happy with just scrounging around now.

One suggestion might be to have a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) type of newsletter instead. &quot;what to wear in paris, how do I get from CDG to Gare Nord, do I need reservations or should I just wing it...&quot;

It might point to the answers or the superthreads. It does get annoying sometimes when people ask the same questions over and over again without researching...

In turn, it might cut down on the newbies getting bashed when the ask the same question that 1000 other people have asked before them...

katie - speaking of frommers, i hope this isnt complete blasphemy... but i really like the way they display hotels on their site. They link the the website, you can sort by location, price is displayed etc. Its so organized and therefore, so great for those of us who have compulsive travel planning behaviors.

If you guys could do that and then also add the user reviews that you already display, it would be awesome IMO.

I'm with the main drift here -- not very interested in a newsletter. I wouldn't subscribe.

I would very much like a FAQ to which we could refer those recurrent questions. There would be some problems agreeing the answers: look what happens when people discuss which debit card to use, and the scale of fees that applies to each. But when somebody asks if they should have their TCs denominated in euros or dollars, I want what amounts to a one-button response to send to them.

I just want the search function fixed!

No newsletter needed here, thanks. I look into the board quite regularly when I'm at home - for a &quot;mini vacation&quot;, a bit of daydreaming about travel, a bit of fun and to practise my English, and I like telling people a little more about our country and our continent. If I miss a discussion - so what.

Well, I would like a newsletter. I used to spend hours and hours here but now have a 2nd job. Have to fund travel someway after the divorce. I now only spend hours not hours and hours here.

gg

I seem to end up asking to be dropped from email newsletters soon after I begin getting them.

What might be better for regular visitors would be something a la &quot;hot topics&quot; that you'd create for the banner on the forums page (as opposed to the home page.) Maybe your banner advertiser would sponsor it. Could be a link to a &quot;best of&quot; forums page that, as suggested elsewhere, would not be the &quot;hot&quot; threads but threads really interesting and perhaps NOT HOT because they're so self-contained they don't elicit lots of responses, so end up falling low before they're seen.

Or just &quot;overlooked&quot; threads. Making a list of such might be worth doing, with a button to select it.

I think the people it would benefit most are not the regulars who read every day on several forums (and we are who are answering your questions). Point being, I don't think you are asking the question to the audience who would most benefit from a newsletter format, because we're already neck deep in the forums!

I wouldn't be interested but I check in frequently. I'd much prefer, as fbc said, that the search function be improved &amp; also PLEASE ask the computer people to enable links to be shortened so the board isn't stretched. Having to go to tinyurl is a pain.

It's nice that you asked for input though! :)

I would be interested in an improved search function as a major priority, and not as much in a newsletter unless it was restricted heavily to regional guidelines.
It sounds like the Fodors editors and forum managers would sort out subjects at their own discretion, which might seem helpful but might actually limit our choices when searching for information.

would not be interested in a newsletter; just one more thing.

But one of the things I like about Trip Advisor is their &quot;sticky&quot; threads. Perhaps as others have mentioned here is that you can take threads that have been done to death and select some of them ( the really good ones) to remain. So when for the upteenth time someone asks &quot;Will I look silly in sneakers in Paris&quot;, they can look there first, without jamming up the board with yet another post about this subject!!

I think if we can direct newbies to a few threads first where they can do preliminary research and THEN come to ask more specific ones that might make the board more useful. As of late, I am growing weary of the same questions over and over again( I don't usually answer them anyway as I know more regular posters than myself will, but i know they tire of it too)