www.fodors.com is a technical disaster
 

why can't fodors keep this site free of bugs for longer than a blink of an eye? i attempting sending email to their contact address describing the numerous technical malfunctions and the mail bounces back! this site is pathetic. this site is tarnishing their image in my opinion. <BR> <BR>get this site operating properly damn it! <BR> <BR>herb

I also find this site to be full of problems. <BR> <BR>First of all, anyone who follows these forums regularly notices the frequent multiple duplicate postings. Most often, these are obviously due to posters receiving a "page cannot be displayed" message after making a post when the post really did go through. This has happened to me many times and has caused to unintenionally make duplicate posts. <BR> <BR>Next is the fact that at least three times a week, I cannot access the site at all, sometimes for many hours. I am able to access other sites during those times so I am sure I am not the only one who for whom this site is down. <BR> <BR>And what about the archaic format which does not allow one to reply to a specific message in a thread? If one wants to reply to, say the fifth messaage in a thread of ten messages, one has to scroll through and reconstruct the text one is replying to and the people reading must wade through all of the other messages and find the one which is being replied to. <BR> <BR>Finally, the format DEMANDS that you enter an email address, or your message will not be posted. Of course you can enter a fake email address as many people obviously do, but why should we have to bother to do that? Why can't Fodor's respect people's privacy enough not to require them to enter an email address. <BR> <BR>Why don't they use a registration system like other sites use so people would not have to enter their name and email address each time? They should also spam-shield the email addresses from spambots, as Remarq does.

I should have prefaced my previous comments by making it clear that I appreciate this site and have enjoyed and learned from these forums.

Why don't you ask for your money back? Inasmuch as Fodor's provides this service free of charge, who can complain? And if you think this site has faults, you should have been around when the old one was clunking about.

This is the best site around for travel advice, despite the glitches. Try eliminating www. when entering the site. It often works.

I like to read people's criticisms relating as to the usual suspects like TWA and US Airways. I find it curious when people criticize "bugs" in the best things going. Try to use one of the other travel discussion sources and you will be pulling out your hair. I use this forum often and am proud to say that I have a full head of hair.

I can't understand how any of you can sit back and accept mediocrity. This site has many problems. What's sad is it used to be much much worse, even horrible to use, now it's just flat out bad. Yahoo! is free but I never experience the technical snafus this site chronically suffers. I have also sent numerous emails to the webmasters since this sites inception and have never ever received a reply. Now that really ticks me off! Fodors has an obligation to it's readers to keep their running efficiently. They should be dedicated to innovation. I agree with the earlier poster in regards to improving the functionality here. I think this is a useful site in many ways, I have gained inciteful info from it's users. Now if only Fodors would take care of it's baby rather than abandon it, this site would actually be pleasurable to use rather than a flat out pain in the ass. <BR> <BR>Regards, <BR> <BR>Mike

When I first went to work, the dress code in the office was tie and white shirt for men. Being single, and not being much of a washer and ironer, I used a convenient laundry run by a gentleman who was born in China. His prices were much less than American-run laundries and usually he did good work. One co-worker of mine who used the same laundry was something of a dandy. If his shirts were not perfect, he got upset. One day he fussed loudly at the Chinese gentleman about his shirts. The man looked at my co-worker, shrugged his shoulders, and said "No like, no bring." <BR>So for the Forum cussers: No like, no read. But I do admit that it is primative technically. <BR>

A dissent :) <BR> <BR>I realize we all have our preferences, but I prefer this version, quirky as it may be, to the formats on other sites. I don't like threaded messages. I find the way you access the threads to be more combersome that the system here. I DO like the fact the index remains on the left as you read on the right. The search function is great etc... Okay there are bugs and glitches, but it *is* free and it is for my "money" the most civilized and helpful travel board on the net. I'm not going to hazard why emails weren't answered. They have always answered mine in a timely and helpful fashion.

I too have gained a great deal from the Fodor's forums and I like the format with all the messages right after each other. But I do share the frustrations with not being able to access the site. Last week there were two days when I could not get on and the week before another. I have sent Fodor's two email messages and have not received a reply. I don't really think they have an obligation to improve the system--it is free--but I would appreciate some feedback on what causes the problem. It's because the site is to interesting and useful that it becomes so aggravating when you can't access it at will.

I, too, prefer this format for message display over the "threaded" version. Overall, this is a great site, and one that I enjoy visiting often.

Admittedly, I'm a rookie at this, but I have received great information and suggestions on this forum...IF there is a better forum out there, WHAT IS IT??? <BR>Especially when the Fodor's forum is free! I'm far from being a cyberhead or computer geek, so I appreciate the ease of operation this forum supplies... <BR> <BR> <BR>For what it's worth, I find if I call-up <BR>"Favorites" on my I-MAC, I go directy into my Fodor column of interest...This saves a lot of time... <BR> <BR>

Well, okay, this format does have a lot of advantages over a lot of the threaded formats but it still shouldn't DEMAND that you enter an email address and it still would be nice if you could reply directly to a message.

Fodors should organize these boards so we can click on an email address to see all the posts one has made. They should also allow for private messaging. Their email notification system should work, it never does. This site leaves such a bad taste in my mouth that I have turned to buying Lonely Planet books. Unfortunately this is the only decent global travel board that I have found. I would go elsewhere if there was an alternative. <BR> <BR>Mike

Gee, Mike, we sure will miss you.

Funny, I have never had a problem and I'm always on it. Guess I'm lucky.

yeah, it's sad here.

I prefer this format other others as well. Those with "threads" are too cumbersome to read, and I just don't bother. Moreover, you can "cut and paste" selected responses or information into a new file to save or minimize printing. I've noticed that "post my reply" receives a "page cannot displayed" message when two or more people are posting to the same subject at the same time (you can tell by the timestamps), but that almost always the message does, in fact, appear. I've had no problem recently accessing the Forums. On the rare occasion that I can't get in, I fire up the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser, which gets me in immediately almost every time. I've also always received a response within a day or two, or once in a while several days. This is the best travel forum on the web that I've found, in spite a few off-topic subject and even more off-topic responses. In spite of the occasional "technical difficulty" or less than preferable to some format of the board, I am continuously amazed at the information and services Fodor's offers at this site at no charge to those of us to visit.

Can't really say that it bothers me that much: if I can't access the site I do something else, if my message doesn't post I post it again. <BR> <BR>Nothing in this world is perfect, nothing.

What the hell is "a thread", pray tell???

If you want private messaging, e-mail to the poster, etc. <BR> <BR>I love this site; fortunately, it works better for me than it used to. (Have been upgraded to Netscape 4.7; 2.0 was impossible at this site.) <BR>

The entire site was down last night. I kept getting their generic "sorry we're updating pages" sign. Unfortunately, this is indeed typical for this site.

Thank you to all who've contributed comments to this thread. We do appreciate your thoughts, and we are listening very carefully. This site is tremendously important to us, and we *are* constantly working on improving it. So, all your suggestions for enhancements and improvements will not go on dead ears. <BR> <BR>We hope that those of you who contribute to these forums will stick with us as we continue to improve the performance. <BR> <BR>Sincerely, <BR> <BR>Aisling Brennan <BR>Senior Producer <BR>Fodor's Travel Online

Thank you Mr. Brennan, I really appreciate your post and the fact that you didn't delete the negative comments. <BR>I also really appreciate that people are free to say whatever they like (within reason, of course, no obscenity, etc.) on these forums. Fodor's seems to be a great champion of the First Amendment. <BR> <BR>Cal, a thread is the group of messages under a subject line. I was hoping that someone would give you a better answer.

Wow, humans really do maintain this site. I'm impressed. I thought it had been on autopilot since day one hence the failure to upgrade this site up to 1999 standards. This site has been around for 3 years or so and I have yet to see a single innovation since it's inception. <BR> <BR>Regards <BR> <BR>FSP <BR>

Noah, <BR>FYI it's Ms. Brennan, Aisling (pronounced Ashling) is an Irish name. <BR> <BR>Nonetheless keep those comments coming. We do listen to you, and we are working on adding those advancements. Stay tuned.

Wow, what a bunch of whiners... do you pay to use this site? Quit demanding. Have some PATIENCE. If you're so computer savvy, offer your services to correct the problem or better yet, just leave the forum. :-)

I love this site. It has the best information. We travel alot and I have received very comprehensive reports from fellow travelers. I have tried to use other sites but found them not to be user friendly. I like the set up of haveing the questions on the left side. I do not like the sites with single threads where you have to pull up each response. Ms. Brennan keep up the good work.

I'm sorry about that Ms. Brennan. I actually wasn't sure and should have said 'Mr. or Ms.' to be safe. Please forgive me.

Aisling, when will you be launching a more robust site? This site seems to go down at night fairly often. <BR> <BR>Mike

Gee guys, I'm not sure when you all are on here, because I very rarely get the "malfunction" page (Really, maybe 1 out of 30 visits) and I check here 3 or 4 times a day from early morning to late at night. I think it works pretty well. <BR> <BR>The only improvement would be to have Ms. Aisling Brennan greet us in person, like the AOL mail guy, "Good day and welcome to Fodors...." (In a lovely, lilting, Irish greeting.) <BR> <BR>Ok, Ms. Brennan, I'll go away now. But you did ask for "advancements". <BR>

Please don't change it to be the "threaded" model - those forums are too tedious to read. I love to just load the page once and be able to quickly scan all the responses as I scroll. <BR>This site does have a lot of technical problems though. I've learned to create my response in Notepad first (or at least save it temporarily to the clipboard since those error messages so frequently occur). Maybe just a sign of lots of use - this really is the best travel forum.

I HATE those threaded messages. And I,too, rarely have any problems with this site. <BR> <BR>This is the best thing on the overrated net.

For those "dedicated users" who haven't experienced technical problems...try logging in on any given evening. Chances are one if not all of the forums will be down. <BR> <BR>Herbert

It's funny that you said what you did Herb. I tried getting in here last night to plan a trip and kept getting an error message, all the Forums were inaccessable. <BR> <BR>