How much do you trust Fodorites?
 

Further to an earlier thread here, I was wondering how many of you have received help, met or had personal interaction with other fodorites and felt threatened by them.

I have met several 'friends of fodors' on my travels in Australia and never once felt intimidated,in fact they have always been really helpful and are great people, I consider them as friends.

Some people consider it unwise to have personal interaction with other fodorites through fear of danger etc..
Is our faith in human nature such that we are afraid to trust others so much these days, thus stopping us from making the most of the information, help that may be provided.

I am interested to hear if anyone has met up or correspnded with other Fodorites,wished they hadn't, likewise others who may be happy; like myself because they did.

I know the internet can be a dangerous place, but are we over cautious?
It would be interesting to hear your thoughts and experiences.
Muck

In a decade, I have never felt threatened nor been threatened by Fodors correspondents.

Just looking at your headline, I answer that I feel not so much threatened as misled by people of goodwill who are asked whether A is better than B, and reply that A is excellent, but they have not been to B. This does not give the enquirer or me the advice needed. We can have a better reply if there is a website, not owned by hotels or agents, that gives notes on the nature and quality of several hotels in a city. An example is the good pages on hotels in Krakow that http://www.inyourpocket.com provides, but there are plenty of others. The editors of such pages have gone from hotel to hotel making the comparisons we need.

Enquirers sometimes write that they have found such a list in a guide book, but still want individual comment by travellers. I am not clear why. A guide book or web site must keep up a reputation, and pays a system of staff to tour and update. Helpful individuals do not.

This comment of mine relates chiefly to hotel enquiries. When several individuals reply to the query are there good art galleries in xxx they give a picture, taken together, of what galleries that that city offers. Even then, the city tourist office website may be as good. Can it be that google or lycos baffle enquirers ?

Sorry I sound a bit dyspeptic this bright morning.

[email protected]

Having been to a Fodorites GTG, I was simply amazed how wonderful everyone was. We couldn't believe that we had just spent an extraordinarily pleasant rainy afternoon with a group of people we had never met before.

If I felt threatened by anyone here, I wouldn't come back. My visits here are voluntary, after all.

I trust Fodorites to the extent that they add another layer of information to what I pick up myself from websites, guidebooks, etc. And most Fodorites appear to be well-read, well-traveled, helpful and truly interested in travel.

Your headline and your question imply, to me anyway, different things. I haven't met (in person) any other fodorites, but I have had email (off this website) interactions with a number of them, always extremely posititve.

Your header seems to say to me, how much do you trust the information, you get from Fodorites. If you have been coming to this site long enough (or I guess often enough - or both) you learn which posters seem to have a lot of information on certain places or subjects. Ben Haines and London is an example. Everything he has ever told me has been completely acurate and extremely useful. There is another poster, xyz who has great information on cell phone use in Europe - right on target. GAC has provided the most incredibly useful informtation on Italy. And way too many more to mention.

But sometimes you can definitly get misleading, or downright wrong information. That's why I always look at a variety of answers. Safety in numbers I guess. If you post a question that asks "is the sky blue" and 18 people reply that it is, but two others say it's not, who are you going to believe? That's the beauty of this site, it's active enough that you can usually count on a good number of replys.

Having said that Ben Haines is always correct, I will "respectfully" disagaree that guidebooks are always a good source of information. Of course, in general they are, but I am finding more and more misleading and wrong info in guide books, and on various web sites. I guess the solution is to check multiple sources. But I definitly feel that there are often pieces of information I want to have about a place, that I can't find in a guide book - and then I come on here and ask the question - and get the answer!

Hi Mucky,

Well, yes, I've found Fodorites generally to be trustworthy. In fact, I spent a week in the Engadin with Fodorites and met some in Basel and in Zurich.

Having said that, I think some common sense is necessary. Before meeting these strangers, I could evaluate their public faces from their posts here, and when meeting them for the first time, I didn't give access to my private room, wallet, or personal information.

s

I'm not sure whether I understand how personal this question is. Do you mean trust as people, or just trust as sources of travel information? If the former, do you mean in situations in which you have a regular long-term personal correspondence and develop what seems to be a genuine friendship, or do you mean just for purposes of meeting a fellow "Fodorite" briefly at some agreed-upon spot during your travels or attending a Fodors group get-together? If the latter, I just don't think about it or worry about it that much and treat it like all the other situations in which I interact with strangers who have some connection. But if the former, I've given it a great deal or thought, but my "answer" would be complicated and probably constantly changing. If there's some real concern that prompted you to ask this question, and it's not just some casual topic that you'd enjoy discussing with strangers on Fodors, do you want people to reply by e-mail?

What's the earlier thread you're referring to? I guess I missed it.

I have met Fodorites and have had overseas Fodorites staying in my house while passing through town! Obviously, never, ever have had one bad experience resulting from interacting with other world travelers in this forum. I only wished I had met more Fodorites such as Ed, Wes, Elvira, Al from Arizona....fodorites from where I started posting in this forum back in Feb 1993.

I have been to 2 Fodors GTG's and plan to go to another on April 30. I also met a Fodorite in Paris last January. So far I've never met a Fodorite I didn't like.

On this board we all know who's a regular and who isn't. I trust and respect the opinions of the regulars on this board. That doesn't mean I feel an obligation to follow all of their advice, I still make my own decisions. But the input of other knowledgeable travelers is always helpful in trip planning.

Mclaurie, this is the one.

http://www.fodors.com/forums_reg/pgM...=6&start=0

The Fodors board is an excellent source for travel planning (i.e. hotels, travel logistics, areas of interests, etc.).

As we, more often than not, like to base our travels on food and wine, I rely on other message boards and my own research for related particulars

I have added comments to the thread cited above by kappa... the entire basis of this thread (comments by mucky in response to some lunatic assertions there) is generally unfounded.

There are several competing notions raised in this thread, especially the wise (and not at all <i>dyspeptic</i>, in my opinion) comments by Ben Haines... but it might be better to start all over, since the OP's initial questions were instigated by implications raised by a troublemaker.

Best wishes,

Rex

I think the strength of this forum is that there are many people of like interests, and if misleading or erroneous information is posted, it is very likely to be challenged. As to trusting various individuals, I think you have to make the same type of judgment you would make anywhere. Some posters seem to misunderstand far more than they should; others seem to be unfailingly accurate. Some seem to have an emotional investment on a certain subject that may or may not carry over to other subjects.

Because of the potential for conflicing information and discussion, I would be more inclined to rely on information presented in this forum than in a commercial forum (where advertisers often influence content) or official tourist office sites (can you imagine one of them saying don't come here in summer, the flies will eat you alive).

I read somewhere advise to trust no-one, and be pleasantly surprised on occasion. I'm not that jaundiced, but I do note that the most trustworthy appearing people in the world are either selling used cars or running for office.

I think &quot;trust&quot; is an interesting and perhaps not the most accurate word to describe what we are talking about. Is this questioning validity of information posted or integrity of a particular poster?

I have gained useful information (hotel recommendations) and endless hours of entertainment from this BB.

I consider myself a good judge of character and feel I can usual spot the troll and maniac poster. While sometimes I'll participate in a silly thread (&quot;where are the mugging and shootings in LA&quot; or &quot;the waitress ripped me off for a $12 dollar hot dog&quot; both on the US board) that is certainly not a poster i would ever want to meet in person.

On the other hand, there are several Swiss enthusiasts like myself, who i would absolutely enjoy meeting over a glass of wine in Montreux... you folks know who you are!

I agree with P_M: I never met a fodorite I didn't like. I've met quite a few, at GTG's and in person. And there are certainly some fodorites that I would NOT want to meet, ever, under any circumstances.

Normally, you can tell a lot about a person from the demeanor of their posts. I'd say the majority of people here are here to share information and friendships, whether on line or in person, develop over time.

I welcome meeting most fodorites. In fact, I recently tried to, and some poster began posting on the gtg thread we were making our plans on, who made me uncomfortable. So, I trusted my gut (what else do I have to go on) and cancelled.

I hope I get another chance.

Almost totally. Like Viajero2, I've had a number of us/you stay whilst you've been in this neck of the woods and consider a number of you to be my good friends.

I'd not have anyone to stay, or even visit, when my husband was away, unless I'd met them before.

Such people (not previously met Fodorites), are known jokingly, in my circles as &quot;axe-mrderers&quot; since the occasion on which one was coming to saty; her plane was late and I had to leave her to the tender mercies of a friend about whom SHE knew nothing- either might have been the axe murderer!

Alas, your love is unrequited.

Let's see if this elicits a reaction...

I strongly suspect that recent poster adoreroma is also yet another reincarnation of the troll who made her first appearance here, months ago, as nellyanne...

Like La Visiteure, for example?