WILL SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN
 

In my efforts to plan a good first-time trip to Italy I have been using this board extensively. The info is wonderful, the tone is civil, and sometimes it's even pretty humorous. But I still can't figure out what to the top means! I've read the help page and I've looked to see if anyone else explained it. I think Rex may have a while back, but I couldn't figure it out. Is it shorthand for saying that all the answers have wandered away from the original question and that people need to look back at the top(ic)? Or does it mean that you click on the name of the author who writes ttt and you can find more info written by that person in previously written posts? Someone please help! It's driving me nuts that all of you are getting so much more use out of this great forum than me. Also, if anyone has any good approaches for ferreting out info, tell me. Thank you all, Fodorites.

it simply means to bring a post to the top. I'll top one now that no one has answered. But next time try a title that will show what you want to know so you will get responses.

This puzzled me when I first started reading the forum, too.

As new questions are posted, older questions fall to the bottom. On an active forum such as the European or US one, a question posed yesterday may fall 300 or 400 posts down, which lessens the likelihood of it being seen and answered. So people often bring the question back to the top by clicking on "Reply to this Question" and simply typing "topping," or ttt (to the top)

Thank you thank you thank you! Now I get it.

check the post Hotel Grimsel, I topped it for you as an example.

Thank you Cigalechanta for topping. I don't think poor Mr. Bob Brown ever suspected he'd be used as a teaching example (hope someone answers him for real)! Do people use ttt as a way to bring oldies but goodies back to life? Has there ever been a volatile topic to which someone has typed Please don't ttt, anyone!!? Once again, thanks.

"Topping" is now so much less common than it used to be - - it used to be (practically) the only way to refer to someone to an old thread - - it is ony recently that it is possible to provide a "hot link" (URL - - like this - - http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34422777 - - for this particular thread).

I still use "ttt" for a question I answer from a first-time poster (ever), because I suspect that they might not know how to find their own post.

Since it is so much less common now, I typicaly say "bringing your message back <<up to the top>>" - - hoping that phrase makes it more self-explanatory.

Best wishes,

Rex