When are they going to fix the problems with the refresh button and how long it takes for posts to move to the top? At one point tonight it took nearly 45 minutes for new posts to show up on the list. Almost seems like things are worse since they shut down for maintenance a couple of weeks ago.

What else is new? Some cheese with your whine? This subject has been beaten to death and you were one of the floggers in another message area.

You can suggest an alternative?????

Another weird thing that has been happening is that when I click on "Next 50 posts," the 51st post is NOT the next one, it's often from much earlier the same day. Going back and clicking on "Next 50 posts" repeatedly, results in 51st posts of widely varying times, one of which eventually looks abut right.

OK now, HERE's a weird thing -- after I posted at 6:13, my post appeared at the top, with the accurate time (7:23) and number of posts (3). But I come back an hour later, and the listing shows just 2 posts (rather than 3), and the time of the 2nd post. So how come it registered updated info an hour ago, but not now? Yeesh.

Sorry:

"after I posted at 6:13" --> "after I posted at 7:23"

Didn't mean to confuse things even more.

Anon, I've observed that same problem--and I'm adding to this thread, as I have to all the others on this topic, in the hopes that the Editors will let us know what's happening. I think we'd all chill out if we heard something, anything, from them.

There has been some discussion of this over on the Europe Board.

There is some info in the "News and Announcements" forum. (If you checks there is a new forum line up and News/Announcements will have updates)

Apparently Fodors are having some server problems and the different servers are not linking so you can get different results when you click on a forum/next 50/your name/etc. They know about it and are working on it . . . . .

Thanks, janisj! Unlike some others I could name, you actually gave some very helpful information.

The "News and Announcements" board is news to me!

Anonymous, I hope you know that you were not one of the people to whom I was referring! I appreciated your input on problems you were having.

And, as I said, appreciated janisj filling us in on where to get answers!

CAPH52, maybe you didn't deserve the scolding you got, but I just checked and it IS true that you have already posted about this, as I have (with what I thought to be a remedy) and many others.

The problem is not unique to United States nor Europe, so if nothing else, this thread wasn't created in the best category; "Other" immediately comes to mind.

I'm sure you've no question that Fodor's is aware of the problem. As one who has worked in software and customer service, there's NOTHING quite as aggravating as TRYING to solve a problem while people look over your shoulder chanting:

"When's it gonna be fixed? When's it gonna be fixed?

(standard reply: harassing the programmer does not reduce the completion time)

The problems are frustating. But we've all received much more than we've paid for at this site, no?

rb, you're probably right about leaving the programmers to do their work.

But I object to the idea that we users of this forum are somehow beholden to Fodor's--I see it as rather the other way around. fodors.com derives significant benefit from hosting a forum made lively by our--all of our--contributions, We post and read for fun and out of the kindness of our hearts and a shared love of travel; Fodor's hosts in order to enhance its website, from which it profits.

I view this forum as a quid pro quo rather than a gift from Fodor's to us.

Yes, you're right, I've already posted about this. And since then the problems have gotten worse, not better.

Just seems to me that people who have nothing to add, either in terms of bringing to light other problems or to add useful information like janisj, don't really need to respond at all. Nor do they need to open the thread in the first place if the subject irritates them.

And yes again, Fodor's is a free service. And I appreciate it very much. But that doesn't mean that problems shouldn't be fixed. Thanks to janisj, I now know that Fodor's does know the extent of the problems and is working to fix them. Enough said.