suze

Pretty please, can't we have it back? I can't help but notice that no one is using Smart Travel Tips for much of anything, and no new solo threads since you nixed the forum. I don't think anyone will think to post those types of questions under this heading.

toedtoes

I think a "Special Interest Travel" board would work. Solo was very limited, as was Educational, and the others (gay/lesbian, senior, eco, etc.) were lumped into the Lounge where they never saw the light of day. Combining those categories into a "special interest" board would maybe give it more life without making it difficult to find.

Sue878

I agree with Suze, I would like to see Solo Traveler forum separate like it was before

suze

It didn't get a lot of traffic, but it had very high quality information that was incredibly useful to people who travel alone, whatever their reason.

Hidden here in "Smart Travel Tips" you might as well take it off the pull down menu, because no one is going to use it.

I think Toedtoes suggestion of special interests would be a much more logical way to accommodate these topics, if Fodor's sees fit to provide that forum.

As I've said all along with this change... being a Solo Traveler has *nothing* to do with Smart Travel Tips.

Katie_H

I appreciate at the comments and suggestions; I agree it needs more work. Let me give this a good think to see if we can't come to a compromise that works for everyone. Thanks for being patient and for caring enough to share your thoughts!

suze

hey, sharing our thoughts... that's what we're here for -lol!

Thanks, Katie. I do appreciate the thoughtful job you're doing on the forums.

teach2travel

I'd like it back too. I don't think someone new to the boards would have an easy time finding this. Maybe a grouping of "special interest" with solo, senior etc, would be easier to find.

ninasdream

Hi Katie- just putting my vote in too easier to use for the high qulaity specific content. We still will all spend so much time at Fodors! But would rather not do that much sorting through!

JBHapgood

I agree with suze. Burying "solo travel" in a dungeon with the cryptic label of "Smart Travel Tips" makes it effectively useless.

If your Editorial Executives have in fact decided that anything other than the "mainstream audience" (i.e., couples and families visiting specific destinations or taking cruises) needs to be exiled to a single ghetto forum, I will vote for calling that ghetto "Specialty Travel" or "Special Interest." That might actually make it easy to find and stimulate useful discussion.

suze

OK... now I AM begging

How can a serious travel forum allow all the schennanigans & pointless chit-chat in The Lounge (i.e., home remodels, the country club, the class & income of Fodorite's, problems raising teenagers, politics, recipes, etc. etc.) but we can't have a Solo Traveler forum anymore???

Now how's that make sense?

Katie_H

Hi Suze--

Some options I've been thinking about (some already mentioned here too):

- Start a "special interest" forum that includes solo travel.

- Do a better job of outlining what occurs here currently in Smart Travel Tips on the main talk page and within this forum

- Adding keywords to posts (like solo travel for instance) so that users can easily browse/read all solo travel posts across the forum.

It seems like now and even before with the solo travel forum a bulk of the solo travel related posts were actually in the destination specific forum. I do understand that the solo travel forum was a base for solo travelers; but there were stretches of days where no one posted. Regular users seemed to double post elsewhere on the Forum as well due to perceived low traffic to the solo travel forum.

This isn't to say that we shouldn't bring the forum back, but I did want to explain a little more the reasoning behind the move.

I agree there is still work to be done though. We certainly value "niche" travelers---the Forums are used heavily by folks traveling on their own terms so it is definitely a priority for us to make sure this is a useful resource for everyone.

I'm not sure I've completely clear here, but I do enjoy talking with you (and everyone else on this thread) about this as it really does help to have your feedback.

suze

Katie, I know you're the boss & I think you're doing a GREAT job.

Here a bit of history for you:

I had always thought solo threads belonged in the destination forums too. When FODOR'S changed & made the new Solo Traveler forum I argued 'til I was blue in the face that it would never work & they should leave the solo questions in the destination forums.

BUT since I try to support Fodor's in their efforts, a small group of us tried VERY hard (& succeeded I might add) to bring life & usefulness to the topic.

Just when we *finally* get it going, with a pretty good data base of back posts with general tips for getting along on your own abroad... y'all nix it again.

It's very frustrating it all.

If I was new here I'd never think "gee whiz I should put 'solo travel' into the search engine and see what posts it pulls up. BUT I would click on the forum, if I saw it on the main menu.

teach2travel

Another thought - looking for solo travel and having the first post in Travel Tips come up for a honeymoon is a little discouraging. Certainly folks travel solo for lots of reasons that don't have to do with broken hearts, but it seems like honey moons and solo is a bad combination.

toedtoes

I would very much like to see the "Special Interest Travel" board. I agree that it's difficult to know where to ask questions about "Where can I go as a solo traveler that is safe?" or "Do you travel green?", etc.

I don't think making a better description of the forums will help because people just want to post and won't take time to read the descriptions. They'll look and possibly give up because they don't see anything that fits.

Katie_H

Thanks both of you for their thoughts.

If there was a "special interest" forum of sorts---would solo travelers post there? If we moved the solo traveler posts to this forum would folks "tag" their posts "solo travel" in that forum.

Just want to be sure that I understand the idea as you have it correctly.

suze

hola Katie~ Well I was being so bold as to request it all the way back on the main menu as its own forum.

For myself, I often travel solo, because I am a single person. I don't think of my circumstance as a "special interest". But I guess it is probably closer to that than a "Smart Travel Tip".

thanks, as always, for listening.

goingtobeijing

I started a thread on the same topic in the Fodorites Lounge forum, here's a link. http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=134

Katie_H, I have posted my comments over there.

Regardlss, of what the fodors editor choose to do, I think this website in GREAT, and the editors here do a GREAT job. Ii have leant alot on fodors.com, on subject that are not restricted to travel.

goingtobeijing

I have read the posts on this thread, I think a special interest travel board is a great idea. There are many different topics to discuss, all of which are important but some of these topics will be of no interest to the majority of fodorites.

toedtoes, makes a good point, we (solo travellers) simply do not want to see threads about honeymoons, when the topic we are researching is totally different.

Katie_H, is there a way fodorites can post in a special interest travel board under (mandatory) subcatergories? This would make it easier for fodorites to search specific topics. Some subcatergories that come to mind are- solo travel (of course), travelling with a disability, travel safety, family travel, first forgein trip, tipping ettiquette, vacinations and food and drink do's and don't's. Okay, I'll stop now instead of rambling. Just some ideas.

Katie_H thank you for taking the time to review my comments and suggestions.

Katie_H I have a question, I have often wondered how long these forums have been available to fodorites. I have come across posts from 1999. Could you please let me know when these forums started.

Thanks.

suze

For myself, I don't mind seeing honeymoon topics or whatever. I am content as a single person. It's more that I don't think it is at ALL intuitive when a new person signs up for Fodor's, that they would think to come to a special interest forum if they wanted to know about a honeymoon, or safety traveling solo, or availability of wheelchairs in major cities, etc. The topics don't hang together other than that they don't fit anywhere else. It is a bit of a pickle!

toedtoes

I don't mind as a solo traveler lumping into honeymoons, etc. Actually, I find the idea that a solo traveler would get "depressed" to see posts about a honeymoon so they need to be separated as worse (no offense meant travel2teach) - it builds into this idea that JPH mentions that solo travelers are "less".

Thinking out loud here:

Problem 1 - The original Solo Traveler forum (by itself) doesn't create enough traffic to be worthwhile for Fodors to maintain.

Problem 2 - Solo Traveler as a subcategory of the Smart Travel Tips forum is lost and won't get any traffic (will basically die a cold lonely death in the midst of others - little play on solo traveler there ).

Problem 3 - while linking Solo Traveler with Travel by Wheelchair, Green Travel, Honeymoons, etc. is an acceptable compromise, the title Special Interest Travel doesn't really make it easier to identify.

Solution Needed - a title for a forum that would include Solo Traveler, Travel by Wheelchair, etc. that would be more explanatory of what the forum is about.

So, let's start thinking up a title that could work so that we can save Solo Traveler from a dark and lonely death here in a foreign land!