Restir the hornet's nest?
 

A little while ago, Fodors responded to suggestions about partitioning some of these forums by going absolutely nuts and splitting them all up into little pieces. The outcry -- justified -- was huge. So now they've put most of them back together again, except for what used to be travel tips and is now all in pieces like "airlines," "packing," etc., which are drawing comments about once every three days, at most -- and those are often trolls -- and I really think some of those could be re-combined. <BR> <BR>But meanwhile, once again, when I -- an Eastern time person -- log on in the morning to see answers to questions about the east, all I get in the first 50 threads posted overnight is about Hawaii. This is still a pain and things about the other 48/49 are still getting lost in the 2nd-50 limbo. <BR> <BR>I hesitate to poke the hornet's nest (or wake up a sleeping dog, or whatever metaphor you want), but I still think Hawaii should remain a separate thread -- or if you want to bundle, add all Pacifica. I DON'T want to see Florida split out, nor do I think it makes any sense to split UK, Italy or France out of Europe. But the original suggestion was JUST with respect to Hawaii, and that got out of hand. <BR> <BR>How many agree or disagree?

I must say that I prefer the original format - I like all the states together. And even though Hawaii is popular, I don't think you ever have fifty straight comments on Hawaii. And all you have to do is scroll down, in any case. I'm happy for what Fodor's has given us!

I'm with you Dadgum. It's pretty evident that the Hawaiian travel agents spend their evenings posting the same hotel, resort, tour questions over and over, so the Easterners, who tend to visit Hawaii more often, will be bombarded with their commercials every day. MauiHeidi was always sure to keep all her posts near the top, and now that she's been chased off, she and her fellow agents have resorted to posting fake questions so they can plug the businesses of their preferred suppliers. That's why it's always the same thing over and over. <BR> <BR>I seem to recall that most people who responded to Fodor's request did in fact want Hawaii separated, for just these reasons. The only people who opposed it were the people who have financial stakes in their ability to market to as large an audience as possible. And if they do separate it, Fodor's will have to monitor the U.S. site and keep moving the Hawaii posts to the Hawaii thread in order to curtail all this promotion. <BR> <BR>If Fodor's doesn't do something about it, this U.S. board will become as commercial-filled and stagnant as Frommer's.

Hay dadblast: <BR>" The only people <BR> who opposed it [a separation]were the <BR> people who have financial <BR> stakes in their ability to market <BR> to as large an audience as <BR> possible." <BR>Well, I opposed it and I'm not a travel agent. Nor have I ever visited Hawaii or do I plan to. And I am a real person who doesn't hide behind a fake name and email. This is just such a non-problem. So there's 10-15 Hawaii posts in the top 50 every morning. So what? Fodors, please keep it the way it is.

Well, you didn't think you could post this without stirring up the anti-Maui-Heidi and anti-travelagent hornets nests at the same time, did you? <BR> <BR>Actually, I agree with you. It does seem that sometimes all 50 threads are about Hawaii and the rest of the country doesn't have a chance. God help the person with a question about Chicago who posts it at 11 pm. <BR> <BR>But I'm afraid you're going to get shouted down by everyone except the travel-agent-phobics.

I agree. It's no coincidence that the board is covered with posts about Hawaiian hotels every morning. Other posts just get shoved down and lost before anyone even has a chance to read them. Be honest, how many pages of recent responses do you peruse? Probably only a few, and people who want to promote something know that. One travel agent who was exposed for her multiple postings on the Europe board shrieked that she HAD to do that because people have short attention spans!!! <BR> <BR>Ever notice too that the sellers get very irate and will try to verbally attack anyone who is threatening their access to this huge Fodor's target market? Deflect and redirect, it's a politician's MO. Deflect the question or criticism and redirect attention by by hurling accusations (like those anonymous e-mail addresses!) Do whatever it takes to get the glare of the spotlight off and shine it elsewhere. <BR> <BR>Yes, separate Hawaii!

I like Hawaii. I've travelled to Hawaii several times. And I voted to put the Forum board back like it was. BUT -- there sure are an awful lot of Hawaii posts. <BR>However, I also recognize that nothing is perfect. So, I will accept what Fodor's has to offer because, despite some minor annoyances, it's a darn good travel site.

I too am on the East Coast, and I don't find it too burdensome to scroll past a few Hawaii posts in the morning. It is no more burdensome than to scroll past all of the California posts at around 8 p.m. EST. <BR> <BR>But the scrolling I have to do is nothing compared to the scrolling required of the California and Hawaii folks because of the huge number of "East Coast" posts -- Washington DC, Florida, Boston, New York, leaf watching . . . Face it: if you want to participate in Fodors, scrolling past things you don't like is mandatory. <BR>

I don't think posts about the other 49 states combined equal the number of ones about Hawaii. And they certainly feature something other than which hotel, which resort, which tour should I take types of questions and responses. Never been to the East Coast, but someone who writes about a fall drive in the countryside is sharing an experience, not trying to advertise or sell anything. I'll take it over the nonstop Hawaii hotel threads any day.

I like Hawaii kept in with the rest of the United States. The idea that we should separate out whichever state has the most posts seems silly to me. Scrolling past posts you don't want to read is easy, as is clicking to go to the next 50 posts. Part of what keeps this forum interesting is being able to browse all 50 states if you want to -- including Hawaii. When certain areas were separated out a few weeks ago, it became clear that posts on the individual boards received fewer responses than those on the general boards. In fact, I posted a question on the formerly separate Hawaii forum and got far fewer responses than I did when I posted the exact same question (worded identically) on the general U.S. forum -- because most people surf the general board, not the Hawaii-specific one. I'm so glad Fodors saw the light and put Hawaii back with the rest of the U.S. where it belongs. It's much more helpful this way.

Why not color all the Hawaiian posts green but leave them in ? This will simply expedite scrolling! Or have a capital H before them.

Great idea MAUImily! They can be green on their own separate subthread! <BR> <BR>I don't think it was by chance that the number of postings dropped when Hawaii was split from the main U.S. forum. You simply had a site full of sellers with no potential customers, so they didn't bother. I think that demonstrates how effective it would be in deterring all the commercial posting here.

So, who da one sellin' what what? No hu-hu haole man/wahine. Take one trip wherevah. No need sour pusses hea. You guys waay too uptighe. We get plenny tourist already. Chill.

2datop

Absolutely agree with this. Include Vegas and Florida, and the three most lucrative areas in the U.S. for travel agents can all have their own homes. It would be nice to read genuine travel stories and questions again for a change, instead of all these obvious advertisement threads.