Thorn Tree Help
GETTING STARTED
If you are new to Thorn Tree, have a quick read through this Help section. It will make your life easier in the long run.
You'll also find Help topics peppered throughout Thorn Tree. There are FAQ topics highlighted at the start of most branches and the forum etiquette branch under About Thorn Tree will get you up to speed with the do's and don'ts of forum behaviour.
If your question isn't covered off and you wish to contact the administrator, you can send an e-mail to thorntree@lonelyplanet.com.au
To join the Thorn Tree, just click on the New User tab.
You'll see a sign-up form that displays various profile fields. Fill out all the compulsory fields marked with an asterisk (*), and any others you'd like to fill out.
Before joining, you have to agree to the Terms of Use.
Confirming Your Membership Via EmailOnce you have signed up you will receive an email to your nominated email address. Just click on the link to confirm.
Don't forget to confirm your membership via the email link - this final important step completes the sign up process (and also lets you in on your promo code which entitles you to 20% off anything in our online shop!).
Signing InTo sign in to Thorn Tree, click on the Sign In tab. Enter your username and password and press the Sign In button.
If you have forgotten your sign up information, click on the Did you forget your sign in information? link. Your details will be emailed to you.
Signing OutTo sign out of the Thorn Tree, click on the Sign Out tab.
Forgotten your details?If you've forgotten your sign in details, click on the Sign in tab, click on the Did you forget your sign in information? link. Add the user name you signed up with and hit Continue.
UPDATING YOUR PROFILE & CONTROL PANEL
Your profile allows others to find out more about you. Below is an explanation of the function of each field option. Once you've signed up and in, you can update your profile at any time.
Click on the Profile tab, then the edit button to complete any details.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Username | The name you want to appear on your posts and the name other Thorn Tree users will know you by. Your username must have 20 or fewer characters, and can only include letters and numbers. If you want a space in your username, use the _ key. |
| Name | Your first name. We may use this when we interact with you privately. You can choose to show or hide your name from Thorn Tree users. |
| Your e-mail address. You may choose to show or hide your email from Thorn Tree users. | |
| Last name | Again we may use this when we interact with you privately. This is always hidden from Thorn Tree users. |
| Country | The country where you're from. It really does help to specify this so that other Thorn Tree members may be able to better assist you. |
| Bio | Tell us more about you and your travel history. Some members use this to add a photo of themselves. |
| Website | Got a blog or a spot where your fabulous photos are stored? Link to it from here. Only one link is allowed. Ensure your links starts with http:// |
| Signature | Add a by-line if you like. |
| ICQ | If you have an ICQ number, enter it here. |
| Only receive Private Messages from people in your Address Book | Would you like anyone to contact you or only those you have an established relationship with? It's pretty black or white. Answer Yes or No. |
Your Control Panel
Your Control Panel, accessed via the Profile tab, contains options to do the following:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Profile | Edit your Profile here. |
| Your Forum Settings | Nominate the number of threads and messages you'd like to see on a page. Set your time zone here also. |
| Change Your Password | Change your password here. |
| Your Watches | Watches allow you to receive emails about updated threads or users. For your convenience, watches on content that has not been updated for more than 90 days will automatically expire from your list. |
| Your Questions (Resolved and Unresolved) | We're trialling a system that enables you to specifically mark a post as a question. |
| Your Drafts | Any draft threads or posts you've saved. |
| Private Messages | Your Private Messages inbox. From here you can compose a message, manage your messages into folders and add contacts into your Address Book |
Your Forum Settings
From your Profile page you'll also notice a Control Panel. You can also get to this Control Panel by clicking on the link at the top right of every page when you are signed in. You are able to change the following preferences:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Threads per forum page: | Nominate how many threads you'd like to see on your page; 10, 15, 25 or 50. |
| Messages per thread | Nominate how many messages you'd like to see on your page; 10, 15, 25 or 50. |
| Time Zone | Because some countries update their time systems randomly, rules for daylight savings time, etc. are not always the same. Manually adjust your offset to GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). |
Changing Your Password
Go to the Control Panel. You are able to change your password by clicking on the Change Your Password link. Type in your new password and then retype the same password to confirm.
GETTING AROUND
How Thorn Tree Is Organised
The Thorn Tree has three main areas. The first area is the main page, the Branches page, which shows you all the different branches on offer. Some branches are geographical (Departure Lounge), some by a particular travel interest or theme (The Lobby), and some are chat (Three House). You'll also find an About Thorn Tree branch. This is where we receive feedback, you ask questions of Lonely Planet and where you can register any bugs you come across. It's also worth noting that there is a Guidebook Updates branch, where we pass on any changes or corrections to our print guidebooks.
Searching
In the top right hand corner of each page you'll find a search box. Simply type in your search term and hit go.
Your results page will show forums that contain that term to link off to, as well as a list of search results. You can Sort the order of those results by relevance or date.
You'll find some tips on searching on this page also.
Filtering Your Search
You can fine tune your search page by a number of different filters:
Category on Forum.
Date Range: All, Yesterday, Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, This Year, Last Year.
Results per Page: 10, 15 or 30.
Search Users
Click on the User Search link. Type in some key words and hit Search. You can filter your search by profile field options also.
Search the Lonely Planet website (including Thorn Tree).
We also have a very powerful search engine in operation across the website.
Type a search term in the search box located at the very top header image of each page. It will bring up results from across the entire Lonely Planet site. You may also narrow your search by type of information and destination.
Results in green denote contributions from our traveller community. Results in blue are entries from our authors and editors.
KEEPING TRACK OF WHAT'S NEW & WHO'S ON
There's so much up to the minute information on Thorn Tree it can be overwhelming! Luckily there are a number of ways you can make tracking all this info quicker and easier. Let a few of the tools do the ground work for you.
New & Updated Content
Once you're signed in, the Thorn Tree remembers your viewing history and will highlight new and updated content since your last visit. The icons for these are:
 | New since your last visit |
 | No change since your last visit |
 | Updated since your last visit |
Watch lists
A watch notifies you by email if the thread you are interested in, or have posted, has been updated.
Start a Watch List
To add a thread to your watch list, sign in, then click on the Watch Forum or Watch This Thread link at the top of the thread page (depending on which level you are browsing at the time).
Stop Watching
Click on Stop Watching Thread to end the email notifications. After 90 days, inactive watches automatically expire.
You can also watch forums, categories and users. For example, when a new message is posted in a forum you're watching you'll be notified by email.
Deleting a Watch List
You can delete a watch by clicking in the Delete tick box for the watch you want to delete in Your Control Panel, then clicking the Delete button.
Viewing Your Watch Lists
To see the current list of watches you have subscribed to, when signed in, click on Profile, then Your Control Panel then Watches.
Preferences for Watch Lists
From Watches under your Control Panel you can also manage the preferences for your Watch Lists. Options include:
- Watch threads I create
- Watch threads I reply to
- Send watches; immediately, once a day, every other day or once per week.
Expiry
If there is no activity on your watched thread for 90 days, the watch expires.
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.
RSS readers allow you to subscribe to multiple feeds and provide a one-stop summary of all new content available on the sites you've subscribed to. You can subscribe to a feed by either cutting and pasting or clicking and dragging the feed URL into your RSS reader.
Setting up an RSS Reader
Try Google Reader to get you started. Otherwise, simply search for "RSS readers" and follow your nose. To learn more about RSS and other Lonely Planet feed available see http://www.lonelyplanet.com/rss/.
Getting Feeds For Destination & Popular Activity
RSS feeds are available for all content on Thorn Tree and can be detected whenever you see the 
icon. Click on this icon, then click on the Get requested feed link.
Feeds are also available for announcements, messages, popular threads, threads and community statistics.
Getting Feeds For User Activity
You can even get feeds for your favourite users. Simply click on the displayed in their profile and then click on the Get requested feed link to receive and track their latest contributions.
You can also view the 5 most recent posts of any user within their profile.
Announcements
Check out the announcements pod on the right hand side of each category for news updates and alerts.
Thread of the Day
Often there are threads worthy of highlighting. If we detect a great thread we'll highlight it on our Community Blog. If you see a thread worthy of bringing to everyone attention nominate it as a Thread of the Day, under About Thorn Tree
Community Blog
The Community Blog showcases great user generated content contributions from Bluelist, Classifieds, Accommodation Reviews, LPTV, and Thorn Tree. It's also the spot where we communicate new features and improvements.
Who's On
You can check out who's online by clicking on the Who's On tab.
Comet Newsletter
Another great way to keep in the loop is to sign up to Lonely Planet's Comet Newsletter.www.lonelyplanet.com/comet/
POSTING ON THORN TREE
Chances are, the reason you're here on the Thorn Tree is to read discussions, ask questions, and answer other people's questions. Here's how.
Creating a new thread or post
To start a new thread, Sign In, choose the appropriate forum and select Post New Thread. Before posting, it is best to do a quick search to see if your question has already been covered elsewhere or in the FAQs within each branch. Nothing is more annoying than the same question asked over and over again! Hello Ground Hog Day!
To post, fill out the following fields:
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Subject | Type in a subject line. For best results, ensure your subject line will make sense to someone browsing the forum (or reading your posts via an RSS reader). |
| This post is (mostly) about: | Select a country option from the drop down box. This ensures your post is assigned to the correct country within a regional branch. For example, when posting under the Asia - North East Asia branch, your post may mostly be about Japan. |
| Mark this thread as a question | This alerts users to your questions and helps you track answers. More about this feature here |
| Message: | Type away! You can format, link, spell check and preview your post as below: Formatting To format your message text, there are three buttons for Bold, Italics and Underline. Clicking on these buttons will add code tags to the message field. For example, typing: "This is [b]bold[/b] text, and this is [i]italicized[/i] text" will appear as "This is bold text, and this is italicized text" once you post the message. Linking Spell Checking To choose one of the suggestions, simply select the suggestion you'd like to use and click on the Change button for each of the words you would like changed. When you are finished checking your entire message, click on Post Message to save your changes and post the message with your spelling corrections. If you want to continue editing your message, hit Go Back or Edit to return to the post message area. PreviewClick on the Preview tab to view your post as it will appear. |
| Tags: | Add some tags to your post. Tags are descriptors, a bit like keywords, You can assign as many tags as you like and easily rename or delete them later. Tagging can be a lot easier and more flexible than fitting your information into preconceived categories or folders. Use spaces to separate your tags and an underscore to combine two words. (trip_report) You may notice that there is a list of popular tags already showing. If any of these suit, just click on the tags to add them to your collection also. |
| Post Message, Save or Discard | If you are happy with your submission hit Post Message. If you'd like to cancel altogether, hit Discard. If you'd like to save your draft for later, hit Save. |
Note: There may be some threads that an Administrator has assigned Read Only' status to, but these are few and far between.
Replying to a Thread or Post
To post a reply to a thread, Sign In then select Reply to this Thread link. Type in your message and add tags (see Creating a new thread or post above).
If you want to reference specific text from the original message, click on the Quote Original button , and that will add the text from the original post in your message.
Editing your posts
Once your thread or post has been added to Thorn Tree there is only a small window of opportunity to go back and edit your post. You can edit your message as long as there has been no replies to it.
Deleting your posts
There is no option for you to delete your posts. A moderator may delete a post that does not adhere to the Terms of Use.
Moving Your Thread
You've realised you've made a boo boo and posted in the wrong spot. Unfortunately you can't move your thread, but you can contact a Moderator to do it for you. Look out for a user name with a special Moderator avatar.
General Ground Rules
Thorn Tree is probably one of the most liberal forums on the web, but there are rules and there are consequences if you cross the line.
As mentioned in our disclaimer, Thorn Tree is provided "as is". Lonely Planet does not verify or endorse any information on the Thorn Tree. It's driven purely by the community. Our moderators will, however, remove any content that does not comply with our Terms of Use.
Commercial advertising is prohibited on the Thorn Tree - by posting or via private messaging. Accounts that break the rules are disabled/removed at our discretion. We also try and remove any disingenuous attempts to promote businesses. Abusive or persistently off-topic posts might also get you banned. Of course, the one thing we hate more than an airline losing our luggage is SPAM. This is removed also.
To get the most out of your Thorn Tree experience, it's also recommended that you familiarise yourself with the forum etiquette guidelines under About Thorn Tree.
Reporting Abuse
If you notice a post that does not comply with our Terms of Use you can report it. When signed in, click on the Report Abuse icon 
, outline the reason and any additional comments. This will be reported to our moderators.
What Are Tags?
Tags are descriptors, a bit like keywords. You can assign as many tags as you like to your post and easily rename or delete them later. Tagging can be a lot easier and more flexible than fitting your information into preconceived categories or folders. You can view everyone's tags by clicking here.
Use spaces to separate your tags and an underscore to combine two words. (trip_report)
When posting, you may notice that there is a list of popular tags already showing. If any of these suit, just click on the tags to add them to your collection also.
Searching Tags
Hit the Tags tab on the menu to view all tags the Thorn Tree community has attributed to posts.
Sort by frequency or name in any or all categories.
Popular Tags
You'll find a tag cloud on the far right hand side of each page, denoting the most talked about and popular subjects.
It seems obvious. Isn't the point of a forum to ask and answer questions? Well yes, but there are often many other types of content on Thorn Tree; trip reports, reviews, debate and discussion topics, recommendations and random chat.
By deliberately marking your post as a question, it lets the community know you are looking for answers, enables you to track progress and also lets you nominate the most suitable or helpful answer to pay it forward to other members.
How It Works?
Start a new thread as usual by clicking Sign In, choosing the appropriate forum and select Post New Thread.
Once you've filled out your Subject and This Post Is Mostly About fields you'll notice a box to check: Mark this thread as a question. Check this box.
The status of your question is noted in a box at the top of the forum. If you checked this box by mistake you have 15 minutes from time of posting to un-mark this thread as a question.
Mark Answers as Best Answer' or Helpful'
An answer can be just some hints or helpful information to help the original poster (OP) solve an issue. The OP can mark an answer or reply as a "Helpful" post. A small yellow star will appear next to that reply.
If a community member posts a specific answer that provides a solution to the OP's issue, the OP can mark this reply as a "Best Answer" post. A large green star will appear next to that reply.
Reviewing Your Resolved & Unresolved Questions
You can review your own resolved and unresolved questions by clicking My Questions option under your Control panel.
Some members have been granted special permission to conduct polls. Polls are created by clicking on the Create Poll link from any branch, viewable if you have permission.
The life of a poll is controlled by three dates: the active date, the end date, and the expiration date. During the period between a poll's active and end date, it will appear in the forums and anyone can vote once signed in. After the end date, voting is closed but the poll is still visible. After the expiration date, the poll will no longer appear.
If you have ideas about what you'd like to see as a Poll, add them to Feedback thread under About Thorn Tree.
Private Messaging is similar to email, and is a way of privately contacting other Thorn Tree users. To get to the private message screen, click on the Private Message link on the far right hand of each page when signed in.
Compose a Message
To send a private message, click on Compose Message.
| To (insert from Address book) | Select a user from your Address book. |
| Subject | Add a subject line |
| Message | Type in your message. |
| Save a copy of this message to my sent folder | Check the box to save a copy to your sent folder |
| Send Message/ Save as Draft/Cancel | Send, Save or Cancel |
Address Book
You can choose who you receive private messages from, either anyone in the Thorn Tree community or only those in your Address Book. To choose the appropriate option sign in, go to Profile, click edit, and answer Yes or No to Only receive private messages from people in your Address Book.
View/Receive/Action Messages
If you have new private messages, your Private Message icon will light up. Click to read. Once in the message, hit the appropriate action Reply, Forward or Delete.
Manage Folders
This function works very much like email. You may create folders to organise your messages into.
Storage Limit
The storage limit for your private messages is 250 messages.
Search
There is currently no search function within Private messages. This will be incorporated soon!
Dispute Resolution
As stated in our Terms of Use, you are responsible for your interactions with other community members. We reserve the right, but have no obligation, to monitor disputes between you and other users, including interactions via private messaging.
What do all those icons on Thorn Tree mean? Here's a quick reference guide:
| Icon | What it means |
|---|---|
| New since your last visit |
| No change since your last visit |
| Updated since your last visit |
 | Announcement |
 | Private Messaging (Read) |
| RSS Feed available |
 | Forum Settings |
 | Poll - View or create |
 | Watch List - Add or Remove |
 | Answered question |
 | Unanswered question with answer points still available |
 | Unanswered question |
 | Print Topic |
| Report This - used to notify Lonely Planet moderators of inappropriate content |
 | This signifies tags associated to |
 | Link to Search |
 | Sticky Thread |
About Cookies
You need to have cookies enabled to sign in to Thorn Tree.
Where does the name Thorn Tree come from?
The name Thorn Tree was taken from the famous Nairobi café where travellers would pin messages on a notice board that surrounded the trunk of the large acacia tree outside. To read more of the history of Thorn Tree Travel Forum, check out our Community Blog. More
Do I have to register to use Thorn Tree?
No, if you are not registered and signed in the Thorn Tree all information is still available to you to browse, however, your experience would be significantly enhanced by becoming a member, rather than a lurker.
Not only will you receive a 25% discount on all Lonely Planet products and any other benefits we introduce, a whole new world opens up to you to interact and get to know other travellers. This is an invaluable!
Can I change my user name?
Contact Thorn Tree Administrator and ask them to zap the username you no longer want. This may not be possible if posts are already associated with your user name. This will done at the discretion of the Administrator.
Can I delete my account?
No, again contact Thorn Tree Administrator.
Can I change my password?
Yes, sign in and go to your profile. See the change password options under the Control Panel.
Can I get my private messages sent to my email?
No, this is not available currently.
Can I subscribe to threads if not a member?
You can certainly subscribe to RSS feeds, however you need to be a member to use the 'watch list' function.
How do I send family & friends a link to my Profile
Simply sign in, click on the Profile tab, and then cut and paste the URL in. Your family or friends do not have to be a member to view your Profile.
I sign on and Thorn Tree signs me back out again - what gives?
We know, it's driving you crazy. This happens when you don't have your PC set to accept cookies. For information on how to do this look under section 12 - Some Techy Stuff of this Help manual.
My Thorn Tree activation email hasn't arrived
Check that your anti-spam settings haven't blocked the email, particularly make sure that thorntree@lonelyplanet.com.au isn't blocked. For some reason some email providers think the sign-up messages are spam.
I've been a Thorn Tree member for years! What's new and changed in TT4?
We recently upgraded our forum software. We refer to the new version as TT4. Whilst the most significant changes are really only apparent behind the scenes, there has been some changes to the look and feel of Thorn Tree and improvements introduced as a result of feedback and requests.
To learn more about the changes introduced, check out our thread under About Thorn Tree.