How the heck do they work? I find it to be really confusing, but I'm sure once you jump in they make sense. How do you track your threads? There's a button that says "watch this topic" or something like that - what does that do? And what's the best way to get to the forums? Thanks for any guidance you can give me.

I just started to use it today and when I signed up I clicked on the button to have an email sent to me when someone responds. Other than that it DOES seem confusing!

Well...not sure how other's do it - but I click on the map on the home page for the region I'm interested in. So if I want to go to the Costa Rica Forum I'd click on Central America. Then on the left I click on Forums and then a page comes up with the different forums for Central America. I click on Costa Rica, or Belize or wherever I'm dreaming of travelling to that day! I tend to not go "deeper" into the levels of forums because I like to see all of the threads - for example in Costa Rica you can select more specific forums like Manual Antonio National Park - but if you just look at the main forum you see all of the posts. However, if you're going to post a question - try to limit it to the specific region to get a better response. Unless it's a general question.

Also if you search for a hotel in a region, then click on forums you'll be taken to the forum that cooresponds to the area that hotel is located.

The "watch this topic" I think means that you get an email when someone replies to it. I'm not sure. I know if you post a question and want an email when someone replies, you can click a box for that - so maybe it's the same thing.

I find the Costa Rica and Belize forums don't have a lot of activity so they're fairly easy to keep up with. The posts you've read turn colors, so you can see that you've read them. Just like here when something is added to them, they go to the top.

If you go to one of the Mexico boards, like Playa del Carmen - those boards are crazy active and it's much more difficult to keep up.

Hope that helps a little bit!

Thanks guys - this helps a lot!

<<< How do you track your threads? >>>

Click on your name

I bookmarked the forums that I am active in .
"Watch this topic " will have them email you a notice saying someone has posted on it.
If you want to send a Private Message to someone, you click on their name and it says Send a Message.. ..
And yes, as Alan says, just click on your name.

i click on send me emails on topic but never get any??

Are you a member cigale? do they have the right email address?
Weird... I forget sometimes to remove the Send me thing and I end up with a bunch in my mailbox.

How is P?

hi volcanogirl~ I'm a regular at Trip Advisor (something embarrasing like ~12000 post later -lol!).

I read only specific destination forums.
So I use it in a completely different way than I do here at Fodors. I post on Seattle (home city), Honolulu/Waikiki, Puerto Vallarta, and Cabo San Lucas (favorite vacations) forums.

When I go on to the forum section, I go 1st to my own home page ('contributions' then 'forums'), then click on a past post I've done to get to the general forum.

I *love* TA but you do have to learn to use it in a slightly different way than here at Fodor's.

My favorite part is that there is a PM (private mail) feature so you can correspond with other posters without using your own email address. It's truly brilliant, once you get the hang of it.

I think I'm going to like it!

What does it mean if a thread is hot pink? And then some things are blue, and some are black?

scarlett, since 2005 but never get the emails?

hmmm. I went and checked. I have just two colors. Navy blue for things I haven't opened/read/posted yet. Or light purple for ones I've opened/contributed to.

I don't see any hot pink or black myself??? suze

Weird - I tried it at lunch today and everything was either blue or black, but when I tried it on the home computer, all of a sudden I got pink. I'm sure Fodor's is confusing when you first use it too, but I'm a pro at that one now - lol.