Curious

I'm thinking of going to Europe in the next year or two. Where should I go, where should I stay that is reasonable, what should I eat if I don't like salt, should I travel by train, car, rented limo, and what should I see? Where should I exchange money or are traveler's checks best? How do I pack eveything into 3 36" suitcases? How long should I stay. What cell phone should I use? How do I not get robbed?

I'm sure I'll have more questions, but I'm worn out and don't feel like doing any research.

Thanks for all your help!!

Curious

nytraveler

My favorite thing is a new poster who comes with an incredibley broad series of questions - which make it apparent that they have never even looked at a guidebook.

Then other posters ask pertinent questions and suggest that the OP do some reading first.

Then the OP (who apparently feels that the board is a free travel agency for their personal use) becomes highly indignant (either because the info asked for it no one's business, or they don;t like a suggestion to do a little pre-work - or even think about what they want) accuses everyone of being rude to them. And announces they will never use the site again.

Second favorite is the poster who keeps asking the same questions, getting the same answers, not liking them - and accusing the responders of being rude and unhelpful.

What I actually like is all the real questions - and OPs who come back with follow-ups - and even say thank you.

willit

I like Fodors for the diverse opinions on places I know, the recommendations to places I have not yet been, the useful advice on transport links etc, and for the odd belly laugh at some of the humorous responses.

I particularly dislike people who ask questions, then fail to return and comment on, or thank people for, advice given (I understand some don't know how to look up previous posts).

I dislike people who make unsubstantiated allegations, and then "flee" a thread when asked for evidence.

I dislike generalisations "All gypsies are thieves" "Everybody wants to live in America"

ShelliDawn

I'm fairly new to Fodor's and one of the first questions I asked was a "common" one. How to get to Waterloo from Heathrow. I don't recall receiving any negative responses and have since learned how to better searches on the site. I think most people's instinct it to ask first. Let's face it, it's easier.

Would I still be here asking (and answering) questions if the replies to my first question had been derogatory? Probably not, so thanks to all the positive responders.

I have been around long enough to notice the recurring questions, and yes they can be annoying. However, I agree that the best policy is just not to ignore any question that offends or frustrates or annoys etc. Why waste the energy/time being negative.

CAPH52

"All I am saying is if you see a question that has been asked a million times, why even answer it?"

Because I genuinely would like to see them get some help. And if I can gently suggest that they do a little "homework", they're more likely to get it.

I have, however, gotten so that I ignore the ones that say "I'm going to Ireland in two weeks. What is there to see and where should we stay"!

Momof3sons

I suspect that there are a fair number of posters who are relatively new to the online forum world.

It might be helpful to have an easy to find Forum Directions page that gives basic instructions about how to search, how to make your post specific, etc. This might eliminate some of the constantly repeated questions.

I have found a wealth of information in this forum, but I also am a fairly experienced online researcher.

Idaho_jaane

Calling a spade a spade is rude??? whoa!

richardsonsnm

NYTRAVELER; My sentiments exactly.

Momof3sons

I should have added to my earlier post, that I know there is a FAQ page on the forum "home" page, but for newer people, it might be helpful to have a link to this actually in the specfic forums. Also, it could include aforementioned directions for creating a clear post.

janisj

not ONE person has been rude to you idaho . . . yet you spring w/ the d***head.

Real class, lady! Now - was that rude enough for you????

mr_go

Can we please get back to what we like about the forum? I mean, all discussion boards have their own sets of quirks...but on this one, the good outweighs the bad by a considerable margin!

In a word, I admire this board's <b>generosity</b>. People here are willing and able to help, and that is a very valuable thing indeed. We take the information we need, but we replenish it with our own observations when we return. It's that spirit that keeps our knowledge base vital, fresh and alive. That's a beautiful thing, man.

I love it here, and I don't care a bit if it gets snarky from time to time (or if the noobs insist on being clueless).

Just my $0.02.

Michel_Paris

I love the fact that there are people out there who love paris as much as I do, and that there are people here who produce travel reports on their visits to that city that read as well as any well-written novel...I can see myself walking down the street with them, feel their excitement, taste their food, hear the sounds of the street, see the neon cafe lights...

Makes my day and makes me aspire to visit again.

Giovanna

I'm feeling a real sense of pots calling kettles black! Who is rude? Because some of the &quot;regulars&quot; respond in a fashion not considered appropriate by the OP, the OP now feels it isn't hypocritical to do what she's accusing the regulars of. Interesting &quot;logic.&quot;

What I love about Fodor's are wonderfully helpful responses to what I consider reasonable questions.

What I hate about Fodor's are the occasional posts by &quot;newbies&quot; who find it necessary to chastise the &quot;regulars&quot; for being mean, hateful and the most recent rant &quot;d**kheads&quot; in their responses to the sometimes ridiculous questions! Now let's once again begin a discourse on being rude.

Pausanias

I think the OP is yet another persona of one of our brilliant, if unbalanced, regulars.

Plays a good game but it reeks of underemployment.

cigalechanta

I'm a regular,
I LOVE fashion,
I don't think I'm rude,
I always welcome newbies,
I admire nice posters like Nikki
Who, like me, doesn't respond if they don't know the answer.
Yes, there are some here who think only their choices where to eat or see are the last word. But that doesn't count because you should make your own experience not follow in someone's footsteps. My favorite village is not someone else's. I don't drive, can't answer about differences from here to there like Stu.
We travel long distances, often with no plan,so that some posters shake their head at.
My trip is mine, like it or not
Idaho, you need to apologize.

milley_5

I don't hate anything about this board. My DH and I have only had the opportunity to travel to Europe in the last few years and the help, information and support I've found here has been wonderful.

What I love though about Fodors is when someone says 'thank you' for the help they have been given or come back and let us all know how their trip was.

milley

Guenmai

Kerouac...The Asia forum is quite civilized. We don't have a lot of snippiness as has been found on other forums. Happy Travels!

MarciaMarciaMarcia

I agree milley_5, I have spent the last 9 months or so visiting this site nearly every day planning our family trip to Italy. (We leave this Saturday) The information and personal experience that you find here cannot be found in any guidebook or with any amount of research. I have never visited an open public forum where there weren't snarky people. That's just the way it is. I find it really easy to ignore them here because for every 1 of them there are 10 others ready to offer helpful advice with good cheer.

tripgirl

I love hearing about others trips when I am between trips, makes me feel like I am constantly on a trip!

I love well organized trip reports, any fashion will do,: day by day, categorized by hotels, restaurants, sites, general observations, etc. What I don't like is unending paragraphs: Write in short paragraphs.

I love some of the people here although I have never met them; there are many, but just a few pop out immediately: brotherleelove( always gracious with Greece), LoveItaly and Sea Urchin( fantastic with Italy advice and so complimentary of my trip reports), tcreath( tracy) such a nice person willing to share about Croatia; I could go on and on, but appreciate smart, solid questions to my own and other posters

I love that about the advice I have got since 2002, about 98% of it was useful and accurate and I love the insider, first hand knowledge
I love the warning about scams, museum closings, events, all the little things that having a board of travelers where someone is always on a trip, helps so much!!

I love trip reports in progress!!

I love hearing the weather report of someone who is in a destination I am about to arrive to. What I 'hate&quot; about myself is that I so am weather sensitive!!( note to self: you have no control over the weather, keep telling yourself this, obviously yrs of travel haven't transformed you yet: keep trying!) But I do find it helpful anyway!

I love the different expressions we all use from around the world: a better education than school! It's fun to hear how various terms are used!

I love that I can give back and help someone avoid some mistakes I have made or just make someone's day because my answer was EXACTLY what they were looking for! It makes my day too!

I love sharing a passion that both me and DH have, some of our friends have, but not enough of them do, so it's fun to &quot;hang&quot; out here.

What I don't like:

Yes, among the others who have said it before: I don't like when someone posts &quot;What should I do, where shall I go&quot; with no obvious research on their part. I don't think anyone on Fodors is asking the OP to know everything ( otherwise they would not need this board), but a little preliminary research please, just to show you are doing something on your own trip. I often find when people ask such general questions, they are all over the place and it ends up being hard to help them anyway.

I don't &quot;hate&quot; but my eyebrows get raised every now and then when people are really rude. Some are funny and so tongue n cheek ( Margiela, margiela( formerly thingorjus), but some are not. I remember one poster, was downright antisemetic.

I don't like the overly political tones sometimes a thread gets to. I live in DC, thank you very much ,and I'm pretty much up on the scene. It's fine to interject political views as really and truly they do fall nicely sometimes in describing a place, but when the discussion just goes way off course, I skip right over the thread.

And I hate it when indeed a thread that starts out right on point with good vollying between posters and then it takes a bad turn and ends up way way off topic and with lots of slamming of this and that; I think what a shame!

I hate ( although hate is pretty strong for this one), when budget travelers think luxury travelers are wasteful of their money and luxury travelers can't understand why some people would rather cook on their trip and save a few bucks. To each their own! I hate it when some people say if you can't afford it, just stay home
Equally I hate when luxury travelers nit pick over their accommodations, making sure its so perfect to the point of ridiculous( I'm a luxury traveler, but know that when I pick these places to stay, I am pretty much guaranteed a nice room and I don't worry about it or make a fuss, narrowing the places down though can be a challenge, but not a nit picky worry)

I like this question

I hate that I have to go now and test a recipe.

ira

&gt;...a LOT of questions have been asked and answered ad hominen. &lt;

That's what the OP is peeved about - all those ad hominem remarks.



Did you mean ad nauseum?