Dave

Gary - Fodors asked us what we thought about it, and we are just answering the question.

Fodors - Where's the "return to topics " button?

Gary

Actually, Dave, they didn't ask. And try clicking "travel talk."

Jackie

Here I am again. Fodors - PLEASE fix your site so that it works. It's MUCH slower and I absolutely HATE not being able to search specific states. When I do a specific search, up comes 3 and 4 year old messages at the top of the column. What good is that?

You have really badly messed up a good thing. I guess I'll be using other sites from now on. Yours used to be the best. No more!!

I'll stay out of the discussion now and hope you respond to everyone's concerns.

ncgrrl

I am finding it much, much, much slower to load. The first time I tried to reply to this post, I got an error message. That never happened before, so I'll say it's some type of bug in the new programming.

I don't like blinking banners. It's a grrl thing. Some researcher proved men like blinking banners, women don't. So my guess is men at Fodor's went for the blinking.

No, I do not like the space the banner takes up at the top. Most people here know about the other topics on Fodor's. My concern is next week it will say something like "Powdermilk biscuits -- gracious they're good!" OR worse, some travel service buys ad space here, which might seem like approval of the service by Fodor's. If one of us uses the service and gets royally scammed, lawsuits might happen and Fodor's might get named in the suit (seemed like an endorsement, etc.) and then it's bye-bye Fodor's forum.

What I would like to see: numbers by the respondents. "Peg" would get #1, "AC" #2, "Bill" #3, etc. That way, when I'm scrolling past the responses I have already read, I know where I am in the list.

Tom

Absolutely AWFUL! You have to scroll to and fro just to read whole post. Getting connected to the page is a nightmare!! "Error, Error" that's all I seem to be having. No sorry, it's not a success. I really used to enjoy this website, but now... Please could we return to the previous format, there was nothing wrong with it and there is no point changing for the sake of it.
Oh and the banner - what a waste of space.

Naneki

Yuck! Not liking it so far. I posted a question yesterday and now can't find it to read any responses because the listing of states has been removed. I don't like the top banner either. Plus the site is slower and I can't read any topics because the server times out. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." You've now broken what was already working. Please fix it.

Dianne

Very frustrating. I can't figure out how to move between US, Europe, Asia, etc. without going back to the home page. It's sooo slow now too. What exactly was the problem with the old format? Too easy? Too convenient? Too efficient?

Gary

Sorry, Mr. Cameron; I really didn't mean to offend. But when I see twenty consecutive negative responses, it starts to make me wonder why I have been unable to find a problem. For instance, several have complained they can't sort by state--try typing the state in the earch box. Included in the reponse is a sort-by-date feature. A few have somplained they can't go back one level--try clicking the "travel talk" box. And I LIKE the way it looks--the removal of the separation lines gives a cleaner feel. But since I'm the only one who seems to like the new version, I'll shut up now, though it seems to me that if some of the users would have spent the two minutes it took to respond instead trying to find the solution, there would have been far fewer complaints.

ClickOnTRAVELTALK

For Dianne and others who seem to be so helpless at learning this slightly modified message board. To switch between TOPICS:

CLICK ON: TRAVEL TALK

Same as before, right? It's just been relocated to appear directly OVER the location name; i.e., "UNITED STATES."

Uh oh

Top Ten Reactions To The New Format:

1. Having to click on the scroll bar again and again because text doesn't fit on the screen.

2. Things that blink.

3. Kinda white and bright.

4. "Jump to most recent post" button adds nothing. It was possible to do this before by hitting CTRL + PG DWN.

5. Banner.

6. That Fodors did not announce this change. I kept clicking on my "Favorites" button for Fodors and assumed the site was down. In fact, everyone else was having fun without me.

7. Too many error messages.

8. Why would I want the option to see the threads with the most responses? Maybe so I can just "top" these really long threads and annoy everyone and thereby play a hilarious practical joke?

9. REALLY like the fact that it remembers my screen name. Let's see if it will let me post under this fake name and then let me revert back to my usual one.

10. No one said what "Home" "Mobile" in the upper right hand corner means. Any ideas?

Oh well.

Melanie

Sorry, Gary, there are problems.

As I post this, the second post in the list(sorted by date descending, apparently) is for a topic that I know is about hotels in New Orleans. The title does not contain New Orleans or Louisiana. So it will not show up if I type 'Louisana' in to search. Given that people don't always use explicit titles for their posts, and that some people are not proficient typists and get a little fat-fingered typing, how do we know for sure what to search for?
That is the reason there are predefined posting categories, to provide consistency across posters.

In addition, when I do search for New Orleans, to find the post I entered just recently that I know includes that phrase in the title, it doesn't show up in the first 50 responses, because they are not sorted by any date logic that I can recognize. Perhaps they are sorted by the most responses -- that doesn't do me much good if the topic is dated 1999 and the information is no longer valid in 2001. Trying to sort the result list by anything ends up with a time-out error, so I can't really tell you how well it works.

angel

My biggest problem is that the topics at left are so darn close together.

L

Well, after all the folderol, and here we are again in our old familiar neighborhood, temporarily. It feels comfy to be home again, temporarily. Just a request: Fodors, presumably you're working madly behind the scenes to spring another change on us next week - or maybe even over the weekend. Why don't you give you new one a one-week trial period - and create a space for us to post feedback? This would permit you to do whatever fine-tuning that makes sense to you. Such as being able to easily search on a specific state or country - like the soon to be former system. Many thanks.

Lori

I think it is terrible - I could do without the blinkin' banner for sure.
Frankly I didn't see a thing wrong with the "old" system, it ran well, worked well, gave me no error messages and was not so s l o w!!

2 cents

It's so nice to be back in the old format, esp. since we have the full width of the screen to read the messages. I could probably get used to changes in the "search" strategy, but when the screen got so cramped up, it just got too tedious to keep scrolling every 2 lines. I agree with everyone -- what was wrong with it (other than too many of the named forums falling below the bottom of the screen at the "crossroads" page)?

For the record, it was more efficient to be able to specify "Florida" and then search on "hotels," rather than having to search first for "Florida" and then again for "hotels."

Owen O'Neill

The new format is (was!) too busy - were there complaints about the "old" format? Seems to work just fine for me.

L

People correctly ask what was the problem with the old format. Fodor's e-mails today emphasized they've been collecting poster input for a year or so, and that they never acted arbitrarily. My insticts tell me somebody is fudging the truth just a teeny bit. Okay, Fodors, lets see, lets see those recommendations urging you to insert blinking ads - and to squeeze the space for messages. If someone indeed made those suggestions, they were idiots. Frankly, and I apologize, but I'm having some difficulty believing this entire episode. Someone is fudging.

Tom

Thankyou. Could you please leave the page as it stands! I can actually read the posts again without having to use a magnifying glass - seriously, it gives you a headache (and the scrolling left and right!)

Jill

I have to admit Fodor's never asked my opinion when designing this new format with the banner and scrunched up screen. How many of you were asked??? Somehow I don't think many were. Let's hope they realize that people actually like to see what they are reading and not have some moving banner playing games with their eyes. Some of us are not so young anymore and our eyes tire easily ... did Fodor's think of that? Jumping to the last post is fine,but the rest is just miserable.

Jeannie

I prefer the format of mid-1999 to any of the recent "improvements." Where is the cruise topic?