Another online BB I use to frequent would put a star next to the screen name of posters who were not only regulars but had been noticed by the editors as often giving good advice & feedback.

I thought this was worth mentioning since Fodor's seems to be considering new ideas for this BB. What do the rest of you think? It was a big deal when someone earned a star next to their name and a nice way for the forum administrators/editors to recognize their contributions. I never got a star in that forum so maybe this is just my attempt to finally become a star poster somewhere else!

If there are stars (I hope not) could we also have a designation that means "flunked out"? LOL

No, I don't agree with it Just because someone has the most time to spend on a particular board does not mean that they will have better advice over someone that is busy at work all day Sounds a lot like playing favorites, very high school to me.

Actually, I kind of like the idea of putting a little troll icon next to certain people who only come here to cause trouble (and never contribute to travel discussions)!!

The longer I stare at the screen the more stars I see...

Hey, let's make a song out of it!

Old Fodor's had a star
eeaaa eeaaa yoooo

And with this star
he'd marked some posters
eeaaa eeaa yoooo

It's a value judgment and that kind of categorization isn't fair, and it could become misleading.

Let the posters go unedited- and unrated and let people decide for themselves.

Yes, I agree with travelinwifey, too high school for me too. Actually too second grade, when we got stars for good attendance or spelling or whatever. On TripAdvisor, they make certain posters Experts, and I am noticing that one of them at least is nowhere near being an expert on a certain subject, so I think keeping us all the same is better.
I love the troll icon though

The troll icon is Hilarious.

I agree - the stars are a silly idea - who suggested such a thing?!?

I do like the idea of personal profiles where we can include pics of trips, ourselves, etc if we choose. There are people I correspond with here on a regular basis who I wouldn't recognize if I were standing next to them in baggage claim!!

Wait a moment, we have already a 4-star poster!

Don't believe me?

Look at Kimamom, her name is always surrounded by stars!

LOL Faina, there you go! We can self-rate our worth by how many stars we put by our name.

*************Jocelyn***************

What's good advice for one is bad advice for another.

Just recently someone asked about an area of NC. I think my response was: boy, you sure are in the middle of nowhere (a place I wouldn't want to be) and the OP responded GREAT that's what we're looking for.

And let's not forget foodies. Good advice from me would be it's located at xxx and serves French food. One of the foodies here would go on for about 10 paragraphs about the wine list. Both offer acurate advice.

And I rated way too much in my real life, I come here for fun.

But if we could paintball tag the nasty trolls, I'm all for it.

snowrooster, yes...that was my "flunked out" category. The troll icon is perfect though, and much better. Flunked out icon could be a dunce cap if there was one. Just checked, no, but I could sure put this one to good use!!

NCgrrl, you are wrong and the foodies are right. You should never ignore the wine list

LOL Faina! You and Scarlett were definitely thinking alike

I agree that using a star or making someone an expert, etc is a poor idea. Like JJ5 said, let people decide for themselves if a posters information is worthy or not. Trip Advisor lets people nominate themselves for "Local Expert" status, and from what I have seen you can definitely tell who knows their stuff and who just wants the status.

There is a star system here at Fodors. It is used when a "editor" makes a post.

Yes, and some boards feature private messages, you can opt for that with general chat or more in depth travel related questions. I like the idea of bios too, even personal avatars.

Faina, but when the wine-ohs get mad they might start throwing drinks. Not a pretty sight. Then we would need an expert on how to remove wine stains from clothes. Someone would say, save the stained clothes for your next trip to pitch along the way; others would say, take the clothes to the cleaners; and yet others would say get some club soda ASAP. All three ways (and I'm sure there are many more) remove stains/clothes from your life, and all could be right depending on your situation.

Now if we could throw staining liquids at the trolls.

but ncgrrl, if you were wearing black the wine stains wouldn't show!! what were you doing dressed in something else?

--a certified wine-oh

The stars remind me of the third grade when I spent the night at a friend's house. He had a chart in his bedroom with stars. I asked what the stars were for and he became embarrassed. I looked at the chart and saw it said "these mornings I had a dry bed". I could never look at this guy the same again.

I think the idea of starring people who generally give good advice is pretty stupid. Good advice to whom and about what. When someone is an expert in one field does it mean his advice will be good about other things? And let's face it, since about 90% of what's asked or spoken here is opinion rather than fact, who determines which opinions are good and which are not so good?

A brand new poster may be the only one with specific information about a specific hotel he/she stayed at. But his answer wouldn't be starred because he's not considered a regular or an expert? Hogwash.