Yes, the forum is moving a little slower. Yes, that means less traffic on the site - for now. But some good can come from it. It used to be that travel questions were moved off the front page very quickly if no one responded right away. Now they stay nearer the top longer for more visibility. And there may be fewer posters - but from what I have observed people are getting more answers to their questions than they used to - at least more legitimate answers.<BR><BR>Yes, there may seem to be fewer posters now. But I used to hestitate to recommend this site to my friends and family - now I won't.<BR><BR>

As people above have stated; most of the threads now have very few, if any, replies. I know if I was planning a trip right now and posted a question and got no reply or perhaps just one not too helpful, well I'd give up on that site. I did for Frommer's long ago because of the same thing, and also other travel boards. Fodors was the ONLY board I read and used BECAUSE it had so much response. And personally I found the humor posts entertaining. Now it's dry and dull like the Wall St Journal.

As opposed to the &quot;National Enquirer&quot;?<BR><BR>Sorry, but number of posts does not necessarily equate with quality of information - and information IS the purpose of this board after all. The owners don't fork out the money each month necessary to keep this board up and running just so trolls have a place BS each other. The purpose of this board is to provide information for travelers. In the last weeks leading up to the decision to require registration, there was so much BS being posted that the worthwhile posts were being buried and lost in the carnage. When real posters cannot find anything worthwhile to read on a board, then that board is doomed.<BR><BR>Certainly there is not as much activity now as before, but it seems to me that there is at least as much WORTHWHILE activity. <BR><BR>That's the way I see it, take it or leave it.<BR><BR>Ken

uh ken, I think the point being made here is that people HAVE left.

I agree with Ken (and others). yes, there seems to be less posting, but if you removed all the BS posts from before and left the useful stuff, it would probably be the same as there is now. In time, I think more people will post, since they probably won't get the crap that they might have in the past. <BR><BR>Yes, the registration has made it a bit boring, but at least now I think I'll get real answers to questions I might post.

Less posts, less replies, less humor, more civility, more boring. This is becoming the old age home of travel boards. I can almost guarantee the demographic switch to an older readership, which will have an adverse effect on Fodor's advertising revenues.

<BR><BR>I'm glad there's less (none) troll posts. But I do miss the humor that seems to be lacking now.<BR><BR>Hopefully, once everyone settles in, the boards will liven up a bit. I firmly believe that it's possible to be informative AND humorous (or at least light-hearted at times.)

Good Point Austin<BR><BR>I think after you remove all the garbage from the &quot;old school&quot; way of doing things...we have about the same number of responses

It's way too soon to tell how this is going to go -- we're only into the 4th day of week 1. It's inevitable that it'll be more sterile around here, but hey, you asked for it...

Hi there all!<BR>Anyone notice that the posts that generate the most replies are the ones about registration and the difficulties of posting a reply? However any unique travel questions go unanswered or only receive one or 2 replies.<BR>Happy Travels<BR>Rick

JoeyJoJo,<BR><BR>Are you saying that an older demographic for travel is a bad thing for Fodors because travel companies see the younger traveler as their target demographic? While it may be true that advertisers target a younger demographic for many consumer goods this may not be true for the travel industry. Do younger travelers stay in the higher end hotels and spend more money than their older counterparts? What is the best target demographic for the travel industry?

It just aint the same anymore. Sadly I must depart. It was fun before registration, now it seems so staid and lethargic. Glad to see the mean people are gone but too many restrictions and bugs. Happy Appalachian Trails to ya!!

traffic has gone down drastically. posts have been lacking their usual flair. the site is dying a slow death. if you remove the 20 postings about key west all you have left is some blabber about how registration sux or doesn't suck. I will still tear people a new one every once in a while, and I will still give my highly treasured travel advice, but I have noticed less and less reason to come to this site and &quot;check in&quot;

One of the most amazing things that has happened is that now each of our screens must show totally different posts!! For example Joebob just posted a few minutes ago that all the posts are about registration and Key West. Yet at that same time my screen is totally different.<BR>I'm looking at posts about:<BR>Snowmobiling in Vermont<BR>Inns in Maine and New Hampshire<BR>Mardi Gras<BR>the Breakers in Palm Beach<BR>Valentines in Boston<BR>Scuba in Hawaii<BR>and a couple of posts about Las Vegas.<BR><BR>And that's just in the first 10. I just don't understand why his computer is showing a totally different board from mine!!!

Sorry, I posted before a took a longer look. I just looked at the rest of the first 50 posts and found three about registration and two about Key West, so there were only 45 out of the 50 that were on a multitude of subjects.<BR> <BR>So yes, joebob, I understand now why you say remove the 20 posts about Key West (it is easy to confuse 2 with 20) that all you will have left is babble about registration. (Yes, if you mistake 2 for 20, that leaves 30 more posts and that too could easily be confused with the 3 that are about registration).<BR> <BR>But the funniest part is that the only thread that joebob thought was important enough to add a comment to, was one of those about registration. Where were your helpful comments about the other 45 topics, joebob?

If part of the idea of registration was to ban those who only have nasty things to say, throw insults at other posters, and rant on with endless complaints, then I nominate joebob as the first to be banned. It would certainly be no loss to us, nor to him either as he clearly hates it here anyway. What have any of us got to lose?<BR><BR>Oh, and obviously joebob, you didn't read many of those countless other topic posts, or you would have already known I am still here -- I've probably added 50 or more helpful comments in the past three days on the US board alone. But of course, you will now counter that that only shows what an egotistical fool I am trying to show off with my knowledge, right? Meanwhile I'm still looking for the first helpful comment from a poster named joebob.

NotMe Joebob has been at it for quite some time now, I can assure you I did not start any of this. It is hard to ignore some one when they call you names. Be careful, you will be next. It does not take much to set this gentleman off. This is the last time I will waste my breath anymore on the subject. I do not like it when I mind my own business and someone comes along and calls me names like a third grader. I am defending myself. Stay on this board long enough and it will happen to you too. Oh well, on to more pleasant things.

Patrick and cmiranda are funny. How many times are they going to post about how they only come for informative posts and not name-calling -- as we read post after post by them doing exactly that.<BR><BR>The board has gotten a lot more boring, but the truth is people with no personality like Patrick are winning. In a few months this will strictly be a discussion of where the best early bird specials are. <BR><BR>The people who wanted registration sound like the ones who wanted to censor things they don't like. It's really quite simple, though: if you don't like a post, DON'T READ IT. DON'T ANSWER. No one is making you come here. <BR>

One other point joebob, I think you misunderstood me. I said I couldn't find HELPFUL posts from joebob. Yes, I do see your posts all over the place, but it was HELPFUL ones I was looking for. Can't seem to find any of those.

And what a funny thought I just had. Somebody was actually so convinced they'd hate this place so much and was so ready to complain that they actually registered the name &quot;Yawn_boring&quot;. How's that for making up your mind before you give something a chance?