Lani

Message: It is my understanding that we are not to advertise personal property on this site. Am I right? Personally, I'm offended when people post ads under every conceivable, remotely related, thread as someone has just done! Does anyone else agree?

I would not even consider renting from them, on principle.

Julie

No, I'm not offended -- I just read what was posted and it was in response to a question -- and they just named a website to go to -- it certainly wasn't offensive. If you're offended, don't go check out their site. Someone may find the stay of their dreams.

Lani

Julie, What if everyone who owned property responded to questions with an advertisement for their property? That's not what this site is for. A property owner could say, "I know of a great condo in such & such an area. E-mail me if you're interested." But if everyone listed their property here, this would just turn into one big classified section. And all the "ads" were not in response to a question, some were just conveniently "dropped in."

loveRlabs

Lani, I have just read one like you are referring to--why not just take the statement from the Fodor page, copy & paste it and email it directly to the person who put the ad (and I agree, it did seem like a direct ad) OR, copy the post and email it to the webmaster of the Fodor site to bring it to their attention. I did this the other day to an obscene post and it is now gone. Just a thought.

noname

A word of caution: From personal experience, don't use your real name and address when publicly complaining about advertising on this site. I did it once and got spammed and worse, much worse! Note the absence of my real identity above! There are a lot sick people out there who love to punish when caught!

Geoff

The offender in question has done this many times, over a year now, and the idea of "answering" a question is a ruse. Is answering a question "no, don't go to the nice desitnation you asked about - rent my condo instead!"

That's exactly what this individual has done several times.

Lani

Thank you to all you guys who responded. Fodor's has now "cleaned up" all the ads - they were in all kinds of threads! There are plenty of places to advertise but this is not one of them.

lonestar

Get a life for crying out loud. It was probably not intended to offend anyone. You are over-reacting -- on principle.

Todd Boyer

So now that we are all clear that this site is not for advertising, blatant or otherwise, then here is another thing that is frustrating. You search for info on a specific state (i.e. Washington) and what do you get, stuff not even related to the state you are searching. Sometimes I wonder if anyone is thinking, but....... Just thought I would tell you my pet peeve which I can live with but still bugs me anyway.

Lani

Dear Lonestar,

Of course, it wasn't intended to offend anyone, it was intended to generate business! When I see a thread pop up on one of my favorite subjects, I don't expect to see a real estate ad, and am quite disappointed when I do!

Last time I checked, this being the USA, voicing one's opinion is a good thing! So speak right up . . . . .

Donna

Advertising is not allowed on this forum. Whenever anyone sees an ad, if you e-mail Fodor's, it's removed within a day or two. I would also never respond to an "advertiser" who ignores the posting guidelines, not just on principal - who knows what else they're up to? Anyone with a property that might appeal to someone who has posted an inquiry should just e-mail them privately.

Bill

Could someone please tell me where the offensive post is??? I really haven't run into much advertsing on this forum. In my experience, its one of the cleaner travel forums I've seen to date.

Lani

Bill, Fodor's has deleted all the ads - there were a bunch of them for a day or so!

noad

Just go past their ad and ignore the idiots.

Ralph

So, NOAD, if you see "idiots" breaking into the house next door, do you just ignore them? Is that what you would hope your neighbors would do if those "idiots" were breaking into your home?

Tara

For heavens sake - advertising is not allowed on this forum. Report it to Fodor's via e-mail if you see any and they will remove it. To ignore any sort of wrong doing is to promote it. This is a travel, not "I have a condo to rent" forum. And, if the folks with condos to rent don't possess the wherewithall to e-mail those with inquiries privately and ignore the posting guidelines - can you trust their "advertisement"?

noad

That's right. I'm not the Fodors Police. Its up to them to run their show.