Welcome back to Thorn Tree
Replies: 1,407 - Last Post: Mar 22, 2013 7:37 AM Last Post By: Zabba
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It really has been a debacle as to what happened on this website, it seems it was poorly timed, no plan what so ever, and a complete over reaction to the issues that arose on the BBC. I can understand the TC branch needing some guidelines/pruning as it could be deem offensive to some as to the topics, not matter how silly or serious they were, they tended to be innocent and people just blowing off steam. As for the "Censoring" and "Filters" for foul language and adult related subject, it seems they had good intentions but went about it all wrong. Trip Advisor is a pretty active travel forum, and they do fine as far as the filters, the difference on the TA, is you cant really anything negative, or have a negative tone, and even challenge another opinion, nope, its all travel or its zapped. You mention politics, economy, real estate, social issues, its all forbidden.This new format with each post getting approved, after living in China last year, its really is hard to fathom the BBC is so restrictive, when the blogs in China are so oppressive and restricted. My gosh, where is the fine line between censorship and all out repression?
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" I do think how ever that many of the people who hung out there probably also had a lot of knowledge to impart on more ' on topic ' branches and if that knowledge is now to be lost its a sad day for TT."Yes, Jeraboa, in fact, most frequenters of those branches would post their travel plans there before hitting the travel branches.
And we did share the knowledge around the tree.
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I will miss WT if it doesn't return. It was a true community. Like any community, you sometimes had to take the rough with the smooth, and we bickered, but it meant a huge amount to me and I have been posting for over a decade I think. Travel posts got rapid answers and there was also a long running Women's Health thread that many posters seemed to find useful. I think getting rid of WT will prove an error.393
I've tried to post elsewhere over the last few days but that never worked, but I feel compelled to try again.Mostly to back up what barsoom, maestro, kate_r, megaera, leela, and so many others are saying. TT was a great travel forum exactly because it had a tight community; which consisted of posters on the destination branches as well as the off topic branches such as YC, WT, SiT, etc. For many posters I know, that is what brings them back here each time again.
I've been a member for over 8 years, and have used it extensively each time to research my trips across Europe and Asia, loved meeting the Tokyo posters when I was living there, have stayed at houses of TT'ers, and have travelled to foreign cities to meet up with posters. If that isn't travel enough.... And yes, I give travel advice where I can - whether that is on WT or the NEAsia branch....
LP, I'm really disappointed that you seem to have no regard for your customers, as many of the posters also buy your books. For such a strong online community, I also don't understand why there's not more of an explanation anywhere (I've found often that your LP Twitter account doesn't respond to anything that isn't happy travel). And I feel for the mods, I'm sure they are getting hit badly and have to do all the work to sort it out...
(and now, wait and see if this gets posted...)
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And you know the really stupid thing, the mods are having to sit on the fence, read all the complaints and wade through old posts and premoderate everything. That must be pretty depressing, just because some suit somewhere has decreed a change should happen. I'd hope that the mods print this thread off and put it on the fat controller's desk, so they can see that rushed decisions can have huge ramifications to their customers.Mods, I hope you're scanning the job pages, because your role now officially sucks. You've always been helpful, courteous and professional, now I get the feeling you're not allowed to respond to us.
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People have eloquently described the really positive aspects of the off-topic branches already. And it's perfectly obvious that shutting down without warning has done a lot of harm to people planning trips. They have shown complete disregard for their users; I can't imagine how they think that any of them will feel any loyalty in the future.In the past LP has contacted me and asked me for content for this website (in spite of the fact that I posted mostly on YC - though of course I sometimes asked and answered questions on travel branches too). Apparently, at that time, they thought I was a valuable contributer. I thought they understood that the community they'd built here was unique and valuable; their actions have shown that is not the case.
In spite of the optimism that a few people here feel, their heavily moderated, slow to post, slow moving, and with-no-old-threads forum is not likely to survive long.
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It's not always nastiness or ridicule when one perceives (s)he is being told off by others on an internet forum.For some, try not to be over sensitive about it, people are not rude just because they don't agree with your view.
For others, how meaningless is it to feel offended by a complete stranger on an internet forum saying things about you that is neither true nor having real effect on your life.
For the rest, it is not always nastiness and rudeness when someone tell you being annoying or stupid, the truth could be hard to take sometimes.
just try not to take it serious when you perceive a complete stranger is being rude to you on an internet forum. There is little reason to get offended by a stranger you don't know saying things you don't agree.
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Thanks for the votes of confidence in the latest few threads - ALANBRENT & JEROBOA (sp?) ...However, I'm losing the will to live here ... it's got ridiculous & plus the fact a while ago we were told our info 'could' be used for LP books!
I was contacted 2-3 years ago by a LP author pretending to be a poster on here via a PM ...
Having done all I can, I'm at the meeting pot (thanks for that GO_2) and TripAdvisor, for the time being
BBC/LP - get your act together .........
Kira
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WT was a very special community. I first happened upon the forum while looking for travel info shortly after I was widowed twelve years ago. I lurked more than I posted, but always felt the sense of kinship amongst the regular posters and knew that whenever I had a question, usually one or more of the "wise women of the tree" would have an answer. I live alone and work peripatetically, so the WT has been good company for me and an education! I shall also miss the Older Travellers branch, for the inspiration, good advice and fascinating travel reports. Thank you all for being there. I hope that LP will reconsider their plans in response to the posts within this thread.400
Like I've said many times before, mainly to Frankie flowers on the Aus/NZ branch when that branch started to be more heavily moderated, those of us that answer travel questions on here still need something to do/something to attract us here in between reviewing yet more itineraries for three weeks in NZ. When the Aus/NZ branch lost it's 'chattiness' I spent most of my time on WT, but would always visit the Aus/NZ branch to see if there was anything I could help with there. I think my post history will show that I'm usually helpful and well-informed.Now that there's nowhere I can just hang out for a bit and chat with people I have 'known' on here for going on 10 years, you can bet that my visits to answer questions on Aus/NZ branch will be few & far between.
Just my two cents.
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What has been said so far about WT & YC (and older travellers and SiT and other "off topic" branches) is true, yet I also feel that there also were communities in the travel branches - don't dismiss them so lightly as being just repositories of information.Of course this did change in recent times when "other" discussions were unceremoniously moved to other branches, but still the communities survived. We even had our own PUs (is that allowed?)!
Still, not having anywhere to just sit and chat over a cup of tea will lose me after 13 or so years. I feel sad.
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The website is a private business enterprise, not a communal activity and as such the site owner has every right and expectation to alter, enhance and protect its business asset and reputation in ways it solely determines is best for its businessNo arguement with that, however I would mention that it's highly doubtful that this move is "best for its business". It was a terrible communications blunder, simple as that. And one which the shareholders will be paying for for years to come. LP - like many publishers - has been working towards moving their assets and revenue stream from print to online. And the LP website is their flagship. With websites like this the revenue is ad driven, not sales. In other words, they need to depend on their advertisers for the bottom line, not their customers. And in order to boost ad revenue you've got to increase website traffic and pageviews. What they've done to the TT will hardly increase their website traffic...
