I'm new, and I'm so grateful for all the wonderful advice that is given ono this forum!!!

So... I've been cutting/pasting valuable info into my notes, and then figured I could edit them and print them out. But I was wondering if there was a way to save certain threads within the website itself.
I know about clicking on my name. Just was wondering if there was something else or some other strategy that works.

I often post a reply like "bookmark for furture reference" so I can find a post by clicking on my name.

Another trick is to send myself an email with the URL. For example, the URL (web address) for this thread is

http://fodors.com/forums/threadselec...1&tid=34700175

cut and pasted from the address bar on my the top of my browser screen.

Unless the thread gets deleted by the editors (i.e. for nasty replies), the thread won't disappear and I can pull it up in the future.

I bookmarked some threads about Hawaii. Dusty gave some great tips and I didn't want to lose them. (We aren't going till this April.) So, I can look back anytime I need to.

Hi dina4, you can email the thread to yourself, you can bookmark the thread under Favorites or you can print it out. If you print it out and for some reason Fodor's deletes the thread you will still have the information from the thread so that is the safest way to keep information. Most threads don't get deleted however unless someone comes on and starts posting some unacceptable post. Best wishes.

You could copy the url of the thread into a document, or a draft email along with comments. One way to get the URL of the thread is to right-click on its subject in the left column, then choose "Copy Shortcut" option, then paste into the document. As pointed out tho, if the thread gets deleted you are s-o-l.

I like to copy a thread (ctrl-A ctrl-C) then paste it into notepad (ctrl-v) which removes all links to icon (such as "reply" and I also remove things I don't care about. Then save the text file. If you paste the url, you can delete all data after the "tid=34700175" (or whatever that number is)

I recommend bypassing the bookmark feature of any browser. Why not cut/paste and email to yourself? This way, you always have the data accessible from any computer. Threads sometimes are frozen and become difficult to locate using the "search" function of this board. Using Google to search within the fodors.com domain is the best remedy to the current search limit.

I prefer to have the data saved to the HD and in an email to myself.

Pis

Thank you so much! Lots of great ideas.
I knew I would get some helpful anwers.

The search function of my brain is not much better than Fodors search.

If you are going to save files or send emails you better give them descriptive filenames or subjects.

if it's that good, I will do the cut and paste right then, into a word document.

actually, I've also found it much easier to paste and save if you are able to get rid of all the html. it's complicated, but, if you copy the whole thread, then, hit "post reply" and paste it into the reply, then RE-copy it, it gets rid of all the gunk and you can then put it into a word document without all the "pretty pictures".

call it laundering the fodors threads.

(don't hit "post reply" or you will really gum up the thread - just click out before posting.)

thanks, everyone.
I found that emailing it to myself is REALLY easy. All I change is the subject to something that's short and specific. Then I added a "fodor's thread" folder to my mailbox and slip everything in there.
I've been also cutting and pasting stuff onto word documents for upcoming trips.

The only time that the emailing thing doesn't work is if the thread gets pulled down the road for any reason. Most don't, but if it's really important to you to save something for the future, you might want something more permanent.

If you want to save threads, one easy way that was suggested by someone else here on another similar thread was go to the file menu of your web browser (internet explorer, netscape, firefox, etc.) and click "save page as". You should set up a folder on your computer, maybe in My Documents if you are using Windows, and save all of them there. You can give them descriptive names, as long as you use a .html at the end.

The downside to this approach is that if people add to the thread later, you will need to re-save it. So, if a thread is active, you'll need to keep checking it to see if you want to save it again.

For those worried about hard drive space - saving this thread used just under 1/4MB of space - very small!

I read your first paragraph twice, jlm_mi, and you should, too.

You know, if you just post on the thread that you want to save, Fodors saves it under your user name. Posting on it in some way files it for you. So if you click on your name up at the top, it will list on the left hand side of the screen all of the threads you have posted to.

Hope this is making sense. That is how I save stuff anyway.

fehgeddaboudit - Are you referring to "gets pulled down the road"? Yeah, it's a bit funny. I hope people understand the point, though.

Heavens - For more prolific posters, that method requires them to search through potentially hundreds (thousands for some) threads that they have replied to over time to find one. But it works well for those who don't post very often.

"jlm_mi", I think part of your comment on strings being pulled that "fehgeddaboudit" brings to attention is that you are correct in that if one clicks the "email this thread" button, all that is sent to the recipient is the URL of the thread, which can disappear.

But if one sends the CONTENT of the thread to themselves (and they can delete portions they don't need) then they have a perm. copy of the thread as of at that moment. Those using MS Outhouse Express can click "format" then "plain text" (instead of rich text html) to remove extra code/images, etc.

So many ways to accomplish (almost) the same thing!

The way I read it, jlm_mi, you are suggesting that emailing the content of the thread would not work if --- down the road --- the thread is pulled by the editors here. What most of us were suggesting is to email the content, not the link. The link and the bookmark are both useless, in my view. I would perform the operation suggested by Pis Pistofferson. Which, by the way, is a great screen name, Pis!!

Both J62 and rb_travelerxATyahoo posted earlier that you could email the URL to yourself.

So, I stand by my previous post even after reading it twice.

Emailing yourself the content of the thread has the same problem as my suggestion to do "file/save as" - You get a snapshot in time, and do not have any future updates on that thread unless you keep up with it online to know there have been more posts since you last saved.

I guess the most complete way would be to save the content (by email, word document or save as) AND bookmark or email the thread URL. But most people probably don't want the added effort.