hwinokur

I've read a couple threads that seemed suspicious to me. A tell-tale for me is when the grammar and word choices seem to indicate that the writer's first language is not English. In my emails from Italian hotels, I often hear certain phrases like "suggestive rooms" and "typical canal", etc. So when I see adjectives like those in the posts, it makes me wonder. Do people ever jump in and call BS? I've thought about doing that to try to warn people.

jenifer

Certainly there are people here who are representatives of companies or business sectors that are trying to come off as just regular travelers. There's no way around that.

On the other hand, I'm not sure that you can spot them just because Enlish appears to not be their first language! There are many, many legitimate users here who do not speak English as their first language, so jumping on someone for that would be downright rude.

And besides, I think most people here are smart enough to not take any one person's word for anything. Using any part of the internet to research a trip is great, but it's still just a research tool. You have to weed out good information from bad, and not rely totally on words posted by complete strangers to make all the decisions on your trip. If someone comes here and isn't smart enough to realize that, then I suppose they'll learn from their mistakes and hopefully not make them again in the future.

hwinokur

I'm sorry if I came off as rude with my "profiling". It's not the English as a 2nd language that made me wonder as much as the phrasing that resembles English spoken by an Italian who happens to be recommending Italian businesses. I certainly agree that this should not be the only source for travel planning. But I know that some people, who you describe as "not smart", may be too trusting. I've seen multiple recommendations made under a few different names that all resembled each other in content.

obxgirl

I'd be a little hesistant to use grammar that appears "not English" as a discriminator between advice giver and advertiser. There are plenty of non english speakers here who are generous with their suggestions and are clearly not representing a business.

obxgirl

Sorry if my post is redundant. Looks like you have a particular poster in mind.

rex

<<plenty of non english speakers here who are generous with their suggestions and are clearly not representing a business.>>

and conversely...

As to the original premise...

<<I've read a couple threads that seemed suspicious to me>>

If it was only a couple of threads, so what? There are most likely many more that may have bamboozled you, and not raised any suspicion whatsoever.

Best wishes,

Rex

Kascha912

Yeah, I'm curious what the general opinion on this will be...

`Cause I'm one of those writers whose first language is not English. And yes, while not being affiliated with ANY business at all, I do give recommendations when I feel like I've come across a special place/ hotel/ restaurant while travelling in Germany and other European countries.

And who knows what you might think of any adjectives I've used to describe those finds...?
Yep, at one point I even did quote the hotel's own information leaflet because trying to come up with the right vocab words was so tiring. Does that make the hotel less nice? No, I don't think so!

I'm pretty sure there are more of us out there: Europeans sharing their travel experiences and local insider knowledge. And it would be YOUR loss, too, if we stopped doing so.

jenifer

If there is a particular user or users that you feel are abusing the system, you can always send an email to fodors with links to the threads. They can investigate, and if they feel the person really is just trying to do sales, they'll take appropriate action.

You can go to the main fodors travel talk page and find information on how to contact fodors. They are generally very good about responding to possible commercial posts.

hwinokur

Thanks Jenifer. That's good to know! And in answer to my own question, I would guess that some of those who have been bamboozled would follow up with the forum to warn others.

One of the travel challenges is trying to find the new "undiscovered" hot spots. Availability, price and service often suffer after a place has been included in travel guides. It can be fun, but a gamble, to try to find those that are not widely known about.

Digital_Traveler

It is generally very easy to identify individuals who are hawking goods or services. First, If you have suspicions, check all of their posts. If they are advertising a specific product, you will see that over and over again. Second, grammar, spelling and syntax can be an indication if you see multiple users on a specific thread whose posts read similarly while tauting the same hotel, restuarant, or tour. Often they will create a secondary User name, and use it to validate their original post.

LaurenSKahn

You know, I got accused recently of advertising because I put up the same post in response to threads where people ask for recommendations on apartments in Paris.

Seeing the same post time after time on similar threads is not a sign of advertising. I could be a sign that someone wants to be helpful and just got tired of writing the same thing over and over again and just cuts and pastes the same post in response to similar questions. At least, in my case, that is the truth.

I am quite definitely not in the travel business!

HappyCheesehead

A couple of weeks ago, I jumped in and called BS on the owner of an Irish B&B who was recommending her business under several different names. She was busted when she forgot which of her false indenties she was posting under, and signed her real name to one of her fake identities, LOL. She had at least 4 that I found (interesting that every single one of these people just adored her B&B and they all planned a trip to GOA at the same time too)and there could be more, who knows? Fodors removed quite a few of her posts, but not all, so she still has some of her fake recommendations out there. Unfortunately, Fodors also completely removed the thread where it was discovered that she was involved in this activity. If anyone searches right now for the name of her B&B, they will find some of her fake recommendations, but nothing saying they are fake! Interestingly, a couple of posters called me rude for pointing out what she was doing, but one did agree with me that it was wrong to use this forum to advertise their own business.

Patrick

For a week or so, there was a guy who called himself "Italian tourguide" or something like that who kept dragging up all the old posts about Turkey and adding that his tour groups really liked a certain hot air balloon company for which he then provided the web address. What was funny was he wrote with a Turkish accent. Yes, it is possible to tell the accent sometimes from writing as well as speaking. I called him on it as did Sinan, our Turkish poster, and he disappeared.

suze

When you spend time on a particular travel BB you can spot legit suggestions compared to advertising. You'll get to know posters and their areas of expertise.

Often I'll give my own hotmail account if someone has further specific questions and wants to correspond.

If I had a negative experience at a specific place, I'd post it. But that hasn't come up yet for me.

SiobhanP

Go on tell me what B&B.....

lobo_mau

I am quite definitely not in the travel business, but receptive to decent proposals

wealthy_backpacker

You should watch out for Aircars 2000 in London. One of their drivers, M_Kingdom, regularly posts about the firm he works for in an attempt to drum up business.

rodrigoeju

Well, English is not my native language, and I use to both read and write to this forum. I really don't think we need perfect English to be good tourist's advisors. This forum is not exclusive for USA citizens!

Patrick

Huh, rodrigoej? I hope that comment didn't have anything to do with what I said. I was not bothered by the fact that someone posted with "a Turkish accent", but rather that it was clearly someone from Turkey trying to hide the fact and pretend he was actually Italian. An Italian would have written the post entirely differently. I can recognize differences in how various foreign language speakers write English, and this one was clearly not telling the truth about where he was from.

I am never bothered by the difficulty some of our posters have with English. I admire them greatly as I know I couldn't begin to post on an Italian or French speaking board for example.

hwinokur

I feel bad that some people have been offended by my original message. I think that it's been interpreted (due to my poor choice of words) in a way I did not at all intend. I agree with Patrick's sentiments completely.