Trip report too long?
 

I posted my trip report on our six days in Le Marche, hoping to help people intrested in that region, but it rapidly sinks to the bottom. Although one responder said a report can never be too long, I wonder if I really WAS too long winded on this one?

Vera

I'd say not. But I can understand how frustrating it can be to pour hours and hours into developing a good detailed report only to have it sink from sight within a day or two. That's why it would be nice to have a counter on the posts so you could see how many views they get. Not everyone who reads a post will respond. Some save them and return to them later when they have time to read. Some, like me copy the good ones and file them for access when we start planning a trip to the area. Sometimes you'll see one of your posts/reports resurface months, even years later because someone has accessed it through the search function and posted a reply that brings it to the top for another mini-life. I guess that's kind of the nature of the beast. I admit that, because I'm not thinking of Le Marche for travel anytime within the near future, I didn't read your report initally and only did so after searching for it following my reading of this post. Thanks. It's a good report and I appreciate all the time you put into it.

Hi Vera,

I looked at your trip report, and around nine people commented on it. That's really not bad. I know that it can be frustrating when you put so much time into something; it seems like all of Fodors should be adulating you about it. :) (By the way, that is not meant to be sarcastic. From experience, I know that that's how it feels.) Anyway, there are many reasons that more people don't show interest in a particular trip report. I doubt that length is one of them. I'm not putting nearly as much energy into the one that I started today--"Dreams of an English Summer"--and only one Fodor's friend has had anything to say about it so far. Yes, it's frustrating. I would hope that some of the many people who gave me input would comment, but perhaps they haven't noticed it yet. Well, like I said, nine people enjoying and benefitting from a report is not too shabby! Good job!

I wasn't fishing for compliments, but thanks anyhow. I really do wonder if it is self defeating to post a really long report. Attention spans being what they are these days.
I'm working on a Rome-Venice-Florence report which will be much shorter, since it is well-trod ground. I imagine a lot more people will read it because a lot more people go there.
Vera

Hi Vera,

>I'm working on a Rome-Venice-Florence report which will be much shorter, since it is well-trod ground. I imagine a lot more people will read it because a lot more people go there.<

You are correct.

However, you have performed an immense service for those who will one ay develop an interest in Le Marche.

Think how happy you will be when, a few years from now, your report is brought back up and dozens of folks start asking you questions.

((I))

I think you've put your finger on an important aspect of posting here. If you report on Paris your audience will be much larger than if you post on Romania. Different folks also like different types of reports. Some want the facts, only the facts. Others love to hear a story, a chronological story with all the details. Some folks like subheads so they can breeze through to the stuff that interests them. Sometime your title can make a difference. I think it generally should let folks know that it's a report rather than a query and it should be catchy. (Here as elsewhere sex sells) In the long department I consider myself something of an authority. My first report was 21 pages and I even said so in the title. But it wasn't the length or my snappy writing that garner the viewers and the responders. It was the fact that I provided prices for all hotels and meals since I'd seen others do the same and seen those who hadn't be questioned to provide the info. It was a fairly pricey trip and I was roundly criticized (and then defended) for flaunting my "wealth." It's tough to know what will set folks off--or get their attention. At least this post of yours got mine. Perhaps it will get others. I agree with the other poster that 8 or 9 responses to a trip report is not bad, actually pretty good. I've had fewer.

I don't think I commented online, but I loved your report! I actually printed it out (with larger print, it was about 23 pages!) and told my husband I wanted him to read it.

Hi Vera,

I'm glad you posted this because I did not know where Le Marche was. Now that I know it's in Italy I'm gonna go find that report and read it. I think alot of people are probably like me and are unfamiliar with that region.

Hi Vera, I agree with the others. In that the region is not as well known or as well visited no doubt a lot of people did not read your report. And no doubt a lot did but didn't post, I know I don't post on every thread/trip report I read.

And I generally do not read reports regarding countries I know I will never visit such as Ireland. But when I do I always enjoy the reports. A reminder to me and to others to read reports even if we think we will never visit that particular country.

I may not read it now, Vera, but it will be a useful report when we start researching for our Umbria and Le Marche trip next year.

There were a few buried posts with 2 or 3 responses about regions like Puglia and the areas around Piedmont which we perused prior to our previous trips.

In some ways, I am glad that there are still very few interests in these areas, because as much as we also often go to the heavily-visited places in Europe, these truly off-the-beaten-path areas that are more laid back are the ones where we find more enjoyment in visiting lately due to their very nature of not having many tourists around and which translates more to becoming relaxing and less stressful trips.

On trip reports in general: There are only so many words you can read on a computer screen before fatigue/blurry eyes set in. Plus, many posters need to get in touch with the power of paragraphs!

I just wanted to say that I read the report but did not reply. I didn't mean to do you a disservice but so much was said that I didn't think I would add anything to the thread. Nicely done, though I would not start off saying it is long winded. That makes the reader think that you the writer have a negative outlook on the piece to begin with, which is rarely an effective "marketing tool" so to say.

Not too long, just not too many people planning trips to Le Marche. I agree that is will serve as excellent research material for years to come.

I was pleased to see your trip report because this is one area of Italy I plan to visit. I hope others will post their reports for areas less visited.

Don't let a lack of response deter you from writing a trip report. I ready many threads but don't comment because I have anything to add that is worthwhile other than thanks for writing a trip report.

Gail

A trip report is never too long. There are posters here whose answers to a simple question or comment on a trip report are much longer than anyone's question or report. There's one I recall that she can't seem to answer in one sentence when it does require a simple answer.

Perhaps you should consider posting your trip report on a site like travelblog.org? It's free and very easy to publish. You could add pictures and maps too. Then you could simply come on Fodors and post a link. You could occassionally do the old "TTT" trick to bring it back up to the top of the day's list.

you stated that you should write shorter reports about well travelld destination, and indeed it makes sense since there are so much infos available on this board about such places.

But actualy, I suspect it's precisely because your report was about a somewhat more obscure destination that it got less answers. Les people are interested because they don't plan to go there, less people will add comments because they never visited the area themselves, etc...

But I don't think it should discourage you or that you should write shorter reports in the future. A report on a less travelled place is all the more valuable, since available infos are more scarce. It might be very useful in the future for other fodorites. If the search engine is cooperative, of course.

Lots of good replies here, but I think Julie, especially, hit the nail on the head with many of her points.

I posted several trip reports about our trip to Germany a few years ago, each city as a separate report. Several, if not all of them, received no comments at all but sunk like rocks into the murky deep. Briefly hurt, I later reread them and found I was pleased with what I'd written. I have no way of knowing why they didn't provoke any written responses.

As I said on the report on our recent trip to several European cities, it is only when I sit down to write my trip report that I finally get a clear picture of what the trip was about and how I feel about it and what, if anything, I might do differently in the future. The time and effort extended is not wasted at all.

I have also learned somethig about the art of bumping one's own thread and perhaps building some interest and responses, by busting it up into separate segments, with each new segment bringing it up to the top. It's not an ego trip - it provides a chance for more people to see it and possible find some useful information in it before it sinks permanently out of sight, ad it also gives me the benefit of other people's input.

Finally (and I haven't read your report and won't have time to do so for a while as I'm trying to finish my own), I generally will not even try to read a trip report that is not divided into reasonable paragraph bites. I have partial vision loss which I suffered from a stroke caused by open heart surgery a year and a half ago, and reading unparagraphed stuff just is too much work for me.

I'm a formatting fanatic as well, having worked on documents in law offices for 30 years, so in my own reports, I try to use bolding, underlining, and similar tricks to break up the tedium and lead the reader forward.

In sort, I don't think it's the length of a report that puts people off. I know it doesn't me.

Vera -

I liked your report, even though I didn't post a reply! Great information. And I too felt the same when I got low response to my trip report last year after putting in so much effort....just know that your post will definitely help someone in the future who is planning travel to Le Marche.

"In sort ..." that should be "In short ..." See what I mean about that pesky vision loss?