I miss not being able to contact peoplw directly when doing a search of old posts
 

I just had a marvelous experience that none of us will be able to duplicate. This past week-end while doing a search for an upcoming trip I came across some older posts that really intrigued me to search out more information. Both people had listed their real e-mail addresses, so I e-mailed both of them with my questions. Both of them were kind enough to answer me thoroughly and promptly. But, we'll never be able to so that again. I don't think getting rid of all the garbage posters was worth the trade off. Personally, I'd prefer to scan through the junk to have the possibility of contacting knowledgeable people who probably are not currently on this board. Bring back e-mail addresses or come up with a way to contact people.

If you want people to be able to e-mail you end your post with a real e-mail address:<BR><BR>[email protected]<BR><BR>But use your address, not mine. :-)

It has been an interesting few days since registration began. I see (only the first names of) people, and I find myself uncertain, is that who I think it is?<BR><BR>I continue to sign off with my name (as I always did) but now, with my e-mail address also. I actually am NOT a proponent for a lot of private exchange off the board, but I still think it's good to have the opportunity to contact others who were inclined in the past to share an e-mail address (and I realize that they may or may not feel the same way now).<BR><BR>Best wishes,<BR><BR>Rex Bickers<BR>Westerville, Ohio<BR>[email protected]<BR>

I have always used my real name and email address and over the years have had hundreds of direct emails -- requests, thank yous, and even things like an offer to contact a hotel in Sardinia that I was having trouble reaching. I thought about always adding my email to this new system, but have decided against it-just too much bother. I would think if you wanted to contact anyone directly, why not add your email address to a person's post and ask if he or she will contact you?

My point was that I was doing a search of older posts (from people who probably are not currently actively participating). So, they would not be reading this and thus not follow up.

I understood your point exactly juiles - - I guess I just didn't address it specifically. Posts get read a day from now, a month from now, a year from now. I think it's regrettable that those old contacts are no longer available. I am choosing to leave a &quot;trail&quot;.<BR>

For Patrick,<BR><BR>I agree that I wish the Fodors designers had given us 40 letters for standard signature, so that I could have my proper name, Ben Haines, and my e-mail line going out on each message. As things are, I just end every note with [email protected]/. It is not much bother, and I encourage you to do so. The result is that nervous enquirers feel welcome (as they are) to put to me queries they do not want to raise in public. I must say that I think they are mistaken. Use of these pages means that we have a kind of informal peer review: if somebody has a train time wrong in Slovakia I can soon throw in a correction<BR><BR>[email protected]<BR>

This is my first time back on this board for about 5 months. I gave up checking because of all the negative posts that were appearing.<BR>I personally, think that registration is a good idea. :)

I miss that feature, too. I really enjoyed receiving messages from posters who had follow-up questions.<BR><BR>I'll probably just type in my e-mail every time when I add a post with advice, but it is annoying.<BR><BR>I appreciate the registration feature, I just don't understand why they can't allow people the choice of whether or not they display their e-mail, just like they do with hotel reviews.

A fairly easy solution would be an external VOLUNTARY database with name, Fodors name, email, etc.<BR><BR>I just set one up at<BR><BR>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FodorsMembers/database<BR><BR>You have to be a member of Yahoo to add, I think.<BR><BR>It would be better if Fodors implemented something like this on their own, but this is an alternative.<BR><BR>Though I am not sure I want to &quot;sign off&quot; all the time as<BR><BR>Rex<BR>http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FodorsMembers/database<BR>

One problem with an outside database (in addition to the fact that it would be SO simple for Fodors to do it, particularly given that they do it for the hotel review section . . . hint, hint!) is that some of the neatest direct e-mails I've received have been from people that were just passing through Fodors briefly, and therefore wouldn't have any way of knowing about the offline database. <BR><BR>I just got an e-mail this week from a university professor sending a group of students to Shanghai (where I live) for a few weeks and wants to see if they can do short term internships. What a fun thing to be able to help with!

Folks -- I'd think twice before taking Rex up on his offer. <BR><BR>Granted the list should be pretty secure, given that you have to join that group and log in. <BR><BR>On the other hand please pause and think about all those email addresses there for Rex's own use.

Gee, I've posted here for years and always used my own name and email address. Yet I only recall ever receiving one email from Rex in all that time. What do you suspect he would do with those email addresses? He certainly didn't abuse them before, why now?

I have always appreciated the responses I have recieved from people that I have written to directly.<BR>And in turn, I have really enjoyed the direct emails from people asking for help. I will miss this too.<BR>It has never bothered me when people have written. <BR>As Patrick says, I must say that Rex has always had something that I have wanted to read when he has contacted me directly. And these contacts have been few and far between.

Sally,<BR><BR>Don't you think it is time to let your silly feud with Rex die? I personally am tired of it and had hoped it had ended, your posts on things like this. Seems very childlish on your part.

I agree, Last week I was contacted twice for some info on things to do and help with planning on trip to Italy with children. I was very happy to help them directly as so many people here helped me in the past. I think Rex has a good idea with signing off each time with name and e-mail. I just wonder how many people won't be able to get all the help they need or want because of this, I also wonder if alot of people with some good info will not share it at all because the won't go thru the registration.<BR><BR>I hope the board will not suffer from this. It is definately the best source of European travel info there is.<BR><BR>April<BR>[email protected]

Many times Rex has said that he prefers to publicly answer questions on this board instead of via email, because the information is shared by the masses, and not just privately. In fact, he has openly discouraged people from emailing him and instead asked that the question be posted on the forum. <BR><BR>I, for one, am pleased that the email block is gone. Many people felt it was an invasion of their privacy and posted phony email addresses. Some people welcome unsolicited email, and others do not, and Fodors cannot make everyone happy. I would guess that Internet etiquette would be to respond to an unwanted email message, saying that you don't care to provide information, but others may feel that no response is necessary when the message is unsolicited. That leaves the initial querier to be disappointed. I've even seen messages on this board where people have said they have written and received no response to their questions, and consider not receiving an acknowledgment to be rude. I've heard from others that the querier has even resorted to being vindictive, and registered the email address of the person that has not responded on porn sites. And let us not forget about the vindictive people that wrote to Leone's employer and also posted Rex's home address and telephone number.<BR><BR>It may be an imposition to ask someone to respond to email messages. People do have other obligations. Participating and providing information on this forum is supposed to be fun, not a chore.<BR><BR>What Rex does not recognize is that by setting up a group on Yahoo to register and publicize email addresses, that anyone can join the group unless Rex elects to set up the group by invitation only. Also, Yahoo prevents the whole email address from appearing in the &quot;member&quot; area unless you are the owner or an appointed moderator of the group. You might want some people to have your email address, but you might not want it available to the masses.<BR><BR>Whether they are free or not, not everyone wants to set up and maintain multiple email addresses. If someone has questions and wants further information by email, let that person post his/her email address in his/her message. The one that is providing the information by email can then attempt to keep his/her email address private. <BR><BR>Let's try to respect each other's privacy.

Thank you leslie. Right on target.

Leslie -- well expressed. Thanks.<BR><BR>Pepe_L -- You must be right to be raising such a &quot;stink&quot; about it -- I'm off to find a 12 step program -- happy now?

I think it shouldn't be too much of an inconvience to put your email in the body of your post or at the end, afterall you used to type it in the email box before this registration.<BR>This way you are letting it be known that you are welcoming emails.

Leslie - You make some very good points. However, IMHO, there is something that Fodor's can do, very easily, which I raised in a previous thread that has since &quot;sunk&quot;...<BR>The simplest way to fix this issue is to provide in each registered user's profile a &quot;box&quot; to check as to whether or not they choose to have their &quot;registered&quot; email address shown on their posts/replies.<BR><BR>This method is used very successfully by other boards (i.e. - Flyertalk.com), and provides the benefit of deciding whether one wishes to share one's address (be it &quot;alternative&quot; or not) without restricting those, myself included ....who would be pleased to share their addresses.<BR><BR>It would be a very simple Fodor's driven database fix, and if Danny were simply to post a notice that we should review our profile everyone could be happy. It goes without saying that the &quot;default&quot; mode would be NO email address viewable...<BR>Whattya Think???? Best wishes, Dave

Well I see that the wonderful world of registeration has not stopped the Rex bashing. Odd how some people just seem to have it in for Rex, but danged if I can figure out why. I will say that Rex certainly has taken his share of crap from lots of people but he keeps on posting and usually has things of value to add. Keep it up Rex. Most of us appreciate what you have to say (and those that don't should just ignore it and shut up).

Agree with most of Leslie's thoughts, but must point out that Rex was the one who posted his own address and phone here, not once, but numerous times. Once posted it then became available through the search engine for anyone to see. <BR><BR>If you don't want your private, personal information out there for anyone and everyone to see, then simply don't post it, because you have no control over how it will be used and viewed on the WORLD WIDE WEB. <BR><BR>Same goes for Leone. He posted his true name and workplace on the internet. Not too smart, especially if you work for the government, and especially if that co-worker in the cubicle next to you sees how you spend your time and decides to &quot;out&quot; you. BTW, never heard of anyone actually filing any complaints, but Leone's boss's e-mail WAS posted. But then again, how would anyone have known anything about him if he had not provided the information himself?<BR><BR>Like it or not, that's just the way of the world, you can't change it. A little common sense and a few privacy/security precautions go a long way.<BR><BR>

I posted my real email address one time for a travel question and received some great advice in my email box. I was also able to contact them directly and discuss it further.

Dave, while I do agree with you that Fodors could make many enhancements to this site, besides, setting up some type of email function, and spell check, Fodors owns this forum and Fodors makes the rules. I'm not a programmer, but I do know that to make changes to a database requires manpower and money. The only revenue that Fodors receives is from the advertisements and items that it sells. This site is free to us, Fodors now only requires registration to post a message, not to read one. <BR><BR>Using your example of being able to either provide or not provide an email address for communication, have you thought about the person that changes their mind from providing an email address to not wanting to provide one? That person would either have to deal with the fact that his/her email address is already available, or ask Fodors to cleanse where the email address already appears, which would require manpower from Fodors. The same goes for people that are readily providing their email addresses now. What if they change their minds?<BR><BR>Someone also mentioned in another thread that possibly Fodors could transfer the messages where the sender would not know the target email address, but the receiver would have the sender's email address. That's asking a lot of Fodors, it would be taking space up on its server, and again it requires manpower and money.<BR><BR>If people want to provide their email addresses in the text of their messages, they do so at their own risk, but the rest of us should just be pleased the wealth of information that is on this site already.

nomopromos, although Rex's home address and telephone number have been posted on this site, we don't know if Rex posted them himself or if someone impersonated Rex and posted the information to be vindictive. But all of that is water under the bridge, as it was prior to registration.<BR><BR>Currently with registration, I see that Rex is posting his email address, the forums that he has created, and the town in which he lives, but those are his choices and he is free to provide as much personal information about himself as he is comfortable with. If others feel comfortable with having similar information out in cyberspace, they are welcome to do the same.

Leslie - Again you make some fine points, particularly with respect to the issue of &quot;$$&quot;......<BR>In order to spend the money to make the relatively minor change I've suggested may in fact impose more harm on the community than good if it resulted in additional advertising and pop up ads and so on ....<BR>OTOH: I have to disagree with your expressed concern over the &quot;sanitizing&quot; of previously posted messages when an individual has decided not to expose their email address....<BR>The reasoning I use is simple: once in the public &quot;domain&quot;, even if you were to decide you didn't want me, or someone else, or many someone elses to know &quot;your&quot; email address - you would be unable to retract/edit a message in much the same way.<BR><BR>You'd either have to decide in advance that posting of your email was acceptable, and would therefore be around (theoretically) forever, or decide you didn't want to do such a thing. The risks associated with &quot;old&quot; emails showing up is one that we take every single time we post an address on ANY website.<BR><BR>Best wishes, I hope something can be done without inconvenience to others...Dave

Dave, I wholeheartedly agree with what you have written, that if someone puts his/her email address out there, that he/she should have to live with the decision and the inherent risks. However, I go back to my previous comment that people can become vindictive and do malicious things such as registering someone else's email address on salacious websites. I'm happy to see that most people have chosen to avoid chiming in on the negativity that has already appeared on this thread, and are staying with the subject at hand.<BR><BR>However, as others have mentioned it may very well be a good idea to create an alternate email address just for Fodors.<BR><BR>I had always used my real address on Fodors, but, my opinion has changed since registration, and I am happy that my email address has been expunged from previous posts and will not appear on the forum.

Didn't we enter our eMail address as part of the registration process?<BR><BR>Why doesn't Fodors add a check box:<BR> Display eMail address with post?<BR><BR>We could go back and update our profile and they could institute logic that displays it if the box is checked.<BR>

Myer - Exactly my thoughts! <BR>and Leslie-Again your point is well taken. I was not thinking about the &quot;vindictive&quot; nature of someone actually &quot;registering&quot; another's email address on a &quot;bad&quot; website....<BR>But all the same, if something like that were to happen, wouldn't you simply destroy the email address?<BR><BR>I, too, have always used my &quot;real&quot; email address, and would gladly post it here for all to see, since its not a physical place (like my home address).<BR>While I think you have a good point, can you just give me an example of how &quot;someone&quot; could actually harm another by being in (temporary) posssesion of an email address.<BR><BR>Maybe I'm missing something here, and if so, I'll be glad to stand up and say so!! OTOH: You're exactly right about not having lots of &quot;negative&quot; posts in this thread,,,,,<BR>Just another reason why registration has prompted me to &quot;return&quot; to Fodors.<BR>Best wishes, Dave

I hope that direct email contacts will be held to a minimum. I have learned quite a bit by reading &quot;conversations&quot; in these forums, and when direct email is used the information presented is not available to others. Certainly, if the conversation progresses to the point where you are sharing personal information, it would be prudent to keep if off the forum, but I would hope that all other communications be public.<BR><BR>Of course, I come from the world of usenet, where posting messages of thanks, and you're welcomes, is discouraged as a waste of bandwidth and time. It still seems uncivil not to thank someone, but at the same time it seems inconsiderate to post such a message where it must be read by thousands.

Well I see that the wonderful world of registration has not stopped Rex from assuming multiple anonymous identities. Odd how he just can't seem to let go of his attempts to manipulate and control this board, but danged if I can figure out why. I will say that Rex certainly has dished out his share of crap to lots of people but he never accepts responsibility for it, never stops obsessively posting and usually has absolutely nothing of value to add. Go away Rex. Most of us don't want to hear what you have to say (and those that do should go on one of his tours and listen to him there).<BR>

Dave, destroy the offensive email or create a new email address? Certainly its easy to destroy the email, but some families share the same email address, and then an innocent person is subject to being questioned, and then defending him/herself because someone else wanted to wreak havoc on a life. There are email filters, but not all of them are sophisticated enough to block unwanted salacious email.<BR><BR>Don't get me wrong, I have some very pleasant email exchanges with people on this forum, but I have also had some unpleasant ones too. And, I have wondered about some of the spam I have received. I never attributed it to coming from Fodors, but I have wondered if my email address was posted on certain websites because someone didn't care for my opinions.<BR><BR>Any travel information that is shared by email is worth posting here for all to view.

Re the original post<BR>Why not look forward?<BR>Now Fodors have made changes, what else could they do? Personally, I would like an edit function. Other sites have this. I frequently post something and then find I have made a typo. Wouldn't it be great to correct your post?

Now I just don't understand why you can't type in your email if you want it known.<BR><BR>and<BR><BR>I don't know why you can't scroll up after you have written something and correct it before you post it.<BR><BR>Why should Fodor's do this for you? <BR>It just seems strange to me that you don't want to do this yourselves, it is not that much trouble.

I don't want Fodors to correct my post! I want to do it! <BR>Cruel Bee<BR>Many people make typing errors and, when checking, only &quot;see&quot; what they think they've typed eg the title for this whole thread. <BR>You obviously have no need for this function but a lot of us lesser mortals would welcome it!!!!

Fiona, I think what cruelbee was saying is that you should proof your message before you post it. I don't think cruelbee thinks that Fodor should be correcting typos, grammatical errors, and bad URLs.<BR><BR>But what I think many have been saying is that they would like to provide their email addresses. And it is possible to do it, but just within the text of the message. It might be slightly inconvenient, but by typing in the email address within the text of the message, it allows the writer to offer his/her email address on a selective basis, and also allows everyone else that doesn't want to provide and email address, the privacy they deserve.<BR><BR>My best Fodors friend, recently recited a quote by Abraham Lincoln, that was appropriate to another situation that I was struggling with. It seems appropriate here &quot;You can't please all of the people all of the time.&quot;

Leslie<BR>Great quote! <BR>As for giving email addresses- as you've said, the answer is easy!

This is only partially relevant - - and transiently so at best (hopefully - - but if anyone has tried to e-mail me in the past 24 hours, I have just fixed a problem with my [email protected] e-mail account being over-filled. Please re-send if you want to reach me.<BR><BR>Thanks,<BR><BR>Rex<BR>

Thanks, Leslie! ; )