A few months ago the mods had started a thread on how to make the Travel Deals forum better. I searched and couldn't find it. We as a group who participate and assist need to try and get mods to improve forum and get those who make request see that we are not being rude when asking for more information.
STOP DO NOT POST.... appears when you hit new topic. This is ignored over and over again by new posters who make a request. Some do show groundwork has been done. The majority do not. Some of us point this out and say please show what rates you have found. We get told how rude we are, how we are the forum police, etc.
This is really a travel deals forum and it is now turning into request land. What can we as a group do together to make this a better travel deals forum.
There is the great rental car matrix...yet people post request after request with no mention of using any codes in the main area. When we link we are slammed and told we are rude, to give helpful advice, etc. There is nothing wrong with directing and not linking.
There is the LV Hotel Promo thread...yet people request how to find a good LV hotel deal in the main forum. There is the how to find the best airfare deal...yet people post how do I find a good deal or beg for certificates, etc.
Does anyone have ideas on how improve this forum, we regulas need to band together and make this a better place. Recently there have been some newbies or oldies who are trying to make some of us miserable, disappear and just go away. Thankfully the mods have been on top.
Maybe if as a group we try to work together and and come up with ideas the mods will review and might make this a true travel deals...more along the lines of hot deals rather then begging for travel requests.
Maybe there should be one thread where people can post requests so we don't have to pick and find the true deals.
It is one thing if the poster searches and asks for comparisions, etc but totally different when people just say I want to go to Washington DC I need a hotel, car, etc.
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Any ideas on how to improve this.......1) A moderator that, without prompting via Admin alerts, removes/locks Requests/Non-Deals that ignore the "before you post" instructions.
2) FW could tap one of the regulars here to act as a Mod. in the Travel Deals forum.
3) Call the forum "Travel Info" or "Travel Free-For-All" or "Beg For Free Travel Planning Help" and be done with the question of what is or is not an appropriate post.
mom2boys said:Maybe there should be one thread where people can post requests so we don't have to pick and find the true deals.
Any ideas on how to improve this.......
Funny, there are very few threads on Hot Deals asking "Hey, I think I'd maybe like to get a TV; what should I get?" That forum does well at staying focused on deals. I guess travel is a bit looser, people know they want to go somewhere, but don't know what they want? The unwillingness of people to do even a basic bit of research. HELLO? Google can be your best friend!
It's also frustrating, as someone who tries to help, that people don't give you enough info for you to actually help them. How many requests have "Where should I go to eat in Las Vegas?" HELLO? What's your budget, what kind of food do you like, or do you (truly) like to try new and different things, etc....
Also, and I've pointed this out before, some of the laziness that characterizes a lot of internet chat is creeping in here. Maybe people think they're on myspace or facebook or something, and that it's OK for them to post misspelled, vague, incomplete and occasionally nonsensical questions here too. Then, they get upset when it's pointed out to them that there are basic rules here, and they should follow them for everyone's benefit.
Whatever. If FW is going to host these travel requests, it makes sense to have them in separate threads, clearly labeled (e.g. LV, Cruises, NYC, etc), and ruthlessly police the deals threads to keep them purely deals-oriented. Like the LV Hotels deals thread vs. the LV requests thread; that seems to be working pretty well.
Thanks for posting this mom2boys! I'll be glad to work with everyone to help Travel Deals improve. I'm all ears.
It seems REQUESTS have been overwhelming the forum and is the biggest issue here at the moment. Am I right? If so, then lets begin with that and go from there.
So far I've heard that having its own thread would be better. The only thing I see that could be problematic is that the thread would become so large with pages and pages of Requests that people won't bother responding at all. Do you think that would happen?
I know we've talked about this before, but what about having categories like in Hot Deals? That way you can choose to see the threads you want to see. So for example: If I want to see only Hotel deals, then I can set the filter to only show those, etc. It would then give the forum more of a Hot Deals feel to it I think. What do you think?
The travel forum does not seem to have many posts or much traffic generally - compared to the other 5 forums I regularly check on FW.
Most users seem to pop up on here only once in a great while when they have a specific question, so it makes sense that there are a lot of people posting threads who aren't used to the rules or who don't think that the rules should apply to them because they are only going to post one question and not be a regular user.
I personally am not bothered by most of these inane questions that get some readers' knickers in a twist, but maybe that's because I don't read the thread unless the topic is interesting to me or if I feel I can directly help.
Once in a while I see travel-related questions/deals posted in the main forums (hot deals/deal discussion) instead of here, and I think to myself that these travel-themed threads don't seem to be moved to this forum in the same way that most posts are moved hastily to other forums if deemed in the wrong place.
One way to improve the original-post quality would be to improve the site's search function/retained history. It is a common plea to people on FW to use the search function first, but sometimes searches simply do not turn up helpful threads from the past that were about the same topic.
One thing that is a little off-putting to me about this forum is how people who have asked a good, relevant question or comment about travel are sometimes simply told to take themselves off to a different travel website to find the answer (Flyertalk, the forums about getting good Priceline deals, etc.) Out of the FW forums I regularly visit, I think Travel is the only one that does this. Maybe that is because it is just a minor forum for this site and it can't compete with these other, well-developed, higher-traffic travel-focussed sites, and that is fine. But, to me, it limits the focus of this forum, and it has made me simply go to those other external websites first with most of the travel questions that I have or interests that I want to discuss, without even putting them on the Travel forum. I would bet that this is how many other FW regulars also think/act.
As it stands, the Travel forum seems mostly to be a repository of certain information that is in the pinned threads at the top of the page, such as how to find good hotel deals, car rental codes, Las Vegas specific info, etc. There isn't anything wrong with its being mostly a reference source instead of an active forum.
If it's a request for information thread that someone is starting, you could have a set form come up (instead of the "STOP! Read the rules" warning) that would force the person to fill out the request logically and with specific info at specific points in the form, kind of like the CashBack investigation form does.
One way to improve the original-post quality would be to improve the site's search function/retained history. It is a common plea to people on FW to use the search function first, but sometimes searches simply do not turn up helpful threads from the past that were about the same topic.
If it's a request for information thread that someone is starting, you could have a set form come up (instead of the "STOP! Read the rules" warning) that would force the person to fill out the request logically and with specific info at specific points in the form, kind of like the CashBack investigation form does.
We are currently working on improving the search function and realize its importance to the community.
Having a set form is a great idea. We are actually in the process of implementing one for HD's so it wouldn't be hard to have one for Travel Deals too.
May be there should be a Travel Discussion forum along with Travel Deals somewhat in parallel to Hot Deals/ Del Discussions. All the requests/discussions/reviews to go to T. Discussions while true deals remained here.
1) "Travel Deals" This would be for posting found deals. Any posts with "Beg" or "Request" in the title, for example, would be gently advised to move on to:
2) "Travel Requests" This would be the free-for-all where all the travel requests are posted, whether or not the OP demonstrates any effort on their own, and/or share nothing usefull to anyone else.
In response to someone not liking the reference to FlyerTalk or betterbidding - sometimes the question is best answered there. In reality, that post shouldn't even make it on this forum, since this is travel deals, after all. At least the forum members are helping the OP find the information.
Our only other option is to ignore the post, or give the OP red.
I vote for travel discussion in addition to travel deals. There are diamonds in the rough here (like the LV Hotel Discount thread) but then there is a lot of stupid crap.. a terrible signal to noise ratio. Like others, I only occasionally check this forum for travel deals, compared to the other forums I use. Hopefully FW will make a slight investment in time (and correspondingly money) to make this a better place for travel deals.
aacharya said:In response to someone not liking the reference to FlyerTalk or betterbidding - sometimes the question is best answered there. In reality, that post shouldn't even make it on this forum, since this is travel deals, after all. At least the forum members are helping the OP find the information.
Our only other option is to ignore the post, or give the OP red.
If I could give you more green I would.I find it incredible that someone would be offended by referral to those resources.
I send people to those forums all the time. That is a way to be extremely helpful, IMHO. We can't be expected to know everything about everything- and THAT IS WHERE THE CURRENT INFO CAN (PROBABLY) BE FOUND.
It's kind of like being a reference librarian- we don't expect them to know everything about everything, for crying out loud- but we do hope they can help us locate the information.
It is time to maintain the integrity of Travel Deals forum and stop turning it into a free travel planning service for newbies and lurkers who don't want to do the most basic backgound research on their own.
FW management has to decide what they want out of the Travel Deals Forum.
It is their playground and they are entitled to make the rules.
However, those of us who regularly contribute the responses and information, have the right to pack up our bat and ball and find another playground where the game better meets our needs.
As others have posted, I would like to see a category for nothing but deals.
I personally don't see anything wrong with reasonable requests for help, but that does not include the current free-for-all where newbies and lurkers are placing orders for travel planning and then get nasty if they are not satisfied with the level of service.
Any and all requests should be in a separate category so as not to dilute the value of the true travel deals and that category should be monitored for requests that do not provide the required information.
The FAQ's are too long and it would appear that nobody is reading them before posting.
Keep it simple - Make it clear that this is not a travel planning service and that members of the community are willing to share information and deals with those who have demonstrated that they have made significant efforts on their own behalf. Indicate that postings that do not meet these criteria will be deleted. Then enforce that statement.
Minyan said:Keep it simple - Make it clear that this is not a travel planning service and that members of the community are willing to share information and deals with those who have demonstrated that they have made significant efforts on their own behalf. Indicate that postings that do not meet these criteria will be deleted. Then enforce that statement.
Makes sense; the requirements for posting a REQUEST are clear; requests that don't conform should be deleted, and a PM sent by the mods to the OP stating why. This will also help avoid the threads degenerating into non-travel-related sniping as the "regulars" point out to the OPs exactly what they did wrong.
I've never been a mod so I'm not sure how much extra work this is...but I'm confident that a few of the people who posted in this thread would be willing to volunteer!
So, having been an active member on this forum for many years, here are my thoughts: 1. I believe this has been discussed before, and although I have definitely seen more moderation, it is still not enough. 2. I personally think having a separate forum for requests and deals is not the best approach. There is little to no new traffic daily to warrant a separate forum for deals. Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Muffin that a separate request thread "would become so large with pages and pages of Requests that people won't bother responding at all". So, I do not think that is the best approach either. 3. The first and easiest thing the moderators could do would be to lock (or delete) any request thread that does not meet the posting guidelines. Period. If locked or deleted, there should be a message back to the poster asking them to re-post with more adequate information. This itself would reduce the clutter and encourage appropriate posting behavior. 4. I believe FW gets some revenue from advertising, suppliers, etc. I think one of the values of the Deals Forum is when a vendor provides a special deal, code, etc for FW community. Why not reach out to Priceline, TravelZoo, etc to see if they could provide some travel deals for the FW community - perhaps in lieu of some advertising? That may even get some excitement into this board.
We need an FAQ for the car rental thread. I'd be happy to contribute but don't really want to do it all myself. It would be a good thing to point people to for general info and how to ask correctly.
OTOH- people get really cranky when Sheryl does this on BFT -- one of those danged if you do and danged if you don't situations.
wiseguy1100 said:So, having been an active member on this forum for many years, here are my thoughts: 1. I believe this has been discussed before, and although I have definitely seen more moderation, it is still not enough. 2. I personally think having a separate forum for requests and deals is not the best approach. There is little to no new traffic daily to warrant a separate forum for deals. Also, I wholeheartedly agree with Muffin that a separate request thread "would become so large with pages and pages of Requests that people won't bother responding at all". So, I do not think that is the best approach either. 3. The first and easiest thing the moderators could do would be to lock (or delete) any request thread that does not meet the posting guidelines. Period. If locked or deleted, there should be a message back to the poster asking them to re-post with more adequate information. This itself would reduce the clutter and encourage appropriate posting behavior. 4. I believe FW gets some revenue from advertising, suppliers, etc. I think one of the values of the Deals Forum is when a vendor provides a special deal, code, etc for FW community. Why not reach out to Priceline, TravelZoo, etc to see if they could provide some travel deals for the FW community - perhaps in lieu of some advertising? That may even get some excitement into this board.
No wonder you are a WISEGUY!! Great idea if it would be enforced and handled.
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