IMPORTANT! Travel Board Future. Pls try the new boards

Edinburghlass_2

markymoo wrote: »

It's amazing how many people probably come onto the site, see forums, and just ask a question, rather than reading what is going on..

Why is it amazing that people should ask a question, they are forums, that is what they are here for

M4RKM

Edinburghlass wrote: »

Why is it amazing that people should ask a question, they are forums, that is what they are here for

I'd assume, with being here for the past few years, that the forums are very high traffic.

When someone comes somewhere new, they know what they want the answer to.

I'm not saying that people shouldn't ask questions, but click New Thread, rather than reading the stickies, on things like currency, vegas, new york, etc, then obviously, there is a bit too much clutter

last year, there were less stickies, and the NYC thread got used nearly every time.. now there are more stickies, and more often than not, a new question gets asked in a new thread, so by the power of deduction, the stickies are now ott..

and IMO forums has always been an abbreviation of "Discussion Forum", so getting people to join in the discussion by asking a question where a collection of posts already are on the same topic is a better aim, as said poster might find out more information than they originally came for, know where to help other people find out what they might need to know, and then you have a discussion..

-

on another point, lets keep to the topic of the future of the travel boards, and not keep recommending me for a board guide. (not that i'm loving the attention and the compliments, wow, it's kinda overwhelming!) But it's been mentioned in another thread that they ain't recruiting any more, and that they'll ask the existing board guides to lend a hand, so fingers crossed, we'll get someone nice and enthusiastic that is maybe a regular here to help out..

Incapuppy

Edinburghlass wrote: »

Why is it amazing that people should ask a question, they are forums, that is what they are here for

Because the same questions get asked, day in, day out - often variations on a theme several times a day.

I see you are a board guide on the 'reclaim bank charges' board. Do you have people asking, for example: 'is there a template of a letter I can use to reclaim bank charges?' umpteen times a week when the info is (I suspect) readily available either in a sticky or being discussed in recent threads on one of the first few pages?

I suspect you will say 'yes' and perhaps you will then tell me that you are happy to answer the same questions incessantly, in which case thats up to you, some people appear quite happy to spend their time on a 'Groundhog Day'.

The problem on this board is that so many questions are repeated, it would make much sense to have a couple of sub-boards dedicated to them because as it is, the main travel board seems to be continually 'clogged' with repetetive questions that other subjects and discussions soon drop off the page.

With sub-boards dedicated to the subjects previously suggested, people could get on with reading lots of different topics and a high volume of the repetetive questions can all be in the same place, where, if people are still too lazy to look at stickies, or read back a page or two, the lovely MSE'rs who have no problem with repeating themselves several times a day can answer all these questions to their hearts' content.

Edinburghlass_2

I also answer a fair few questions on the Travel Board, no matter if they have been asked before. People usually come onto the boards after reading something from the email or the main site and many times they have never used a forum before.

Human nature dictates that people don't actually read any stickies, no matter which board they are on I'm afraid. I'd agree they need tidying

blindman

pcg2001 wrote: »

In terms of board structure, we should not forget that most of us come here looking for deals and when we are around and see a question we can answer we help.
But helping with itineraries, etc is secondary, so it wouldn't really be advisable to move the itinerary help to a subthread, which in my opinion would only reduce the help given, since not everyone is willing/ has the time to go past the main travel thread on a regular basis.

I totally agree with the airlines subthread, not that it makes sense per se, but once you hang around for a few days you see the same questions over and over again (name changes, cancellations, luggage fees, ripoffs).

It's nice to see Martin taking an interest on holidays in a time of crisis!! Does it mean the crisis is over? :cool: one can only wish...

I almost agree with pcg2001.

I come here to look for Money Saving Deals related to travel, NOT to ask about how to plan my holiday as there are better sites (Tripadvisor) for that aspect.

I do give my advice about itineraries (TBHO deep down I'm actually bragging ) but find that one man's meat is anothers poison. Also the amount of repeat Q's about USA etc and peoples laziness to not search has put me off, so I tend not to bother so much now.

The main problem (apart from the clutter) is that this board is infrequently moderated.
It has improved since Crabman appeared :T but it needs daily constant attention. Coupled with a decent structure (there are too many stickes :rolleyes:) this would greatly improve the board.

I'm confused about two aspects of board guides though.
As someone has said I've never seen or heard of any of the Travel board guides and I've been around for about 5 years.
Seems a bit odd to pick a board guide from someone who never comers here

And if you are short staffed and spread thin across the boards then what's the problem with "recruiting" more people?
There must be loads of competent willing volunteers?

M4RKM

blindman wrote: »

I almost agree with pcg2001.

I come here to look for Money Saving Deals related to travel, NOT to ask about how to plan my holiday as there are better sites (Tripadvisor) for that aspect.

Tripadvisor is ok, to some degree, but what you can get here, is people wanting a cheap holiday.
If people asked for a hotel in NYC for $100 on trip advisor, they'd get laughed at, and told, you need to adjust your budget, what we do here, is tell them to consider adjusting their budget, but still help and try and find where fits within what they are looking for.

blindman

markymoo wrote: »

Tripadvisor is ok, to some degree, but what you can get here, is people wanting a cheap holiday.
If people asked for a hotel in NYC for $100 on trip advisor, they'd get laughed at, and told, you need to adjust your budget, what we do here, is tell them to consider adjusting their budget, but still help and try and find where fits within what they are looking for.

I was thinking of Tripadvisor as more of a resource for "What do I do when I get there?" part of the itinerary.
That Q's gets asked here and TBHO I don't think it has a place here.

Answering Q's on how to get to\from the aiport cheaply or where to get cheap car hire is what the travel board is for IMHO as these are usually hard facts whilst peoples ideas on what to do\where to go on holiday is very subjective.

BTW
Where is a cheap hotel in NYC

M4RKM

loads of cheap hotels in NYC.. may i suggest you read the NYC sticky at the top of the forum... muahahah!

MSE_Martin

There is a solution of having a general board which you can't post on with three sub boards aka the reclaim board... see

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=185

Would that work here?

dmg24

MSE_Martin wrote: »

There is a solution of having a general board which you can't post on with three sub boards aka the reclaim board... see

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.html?f=185

Would that work here?

I think we need a main board. The reclaiming topics are quite distinct and it makes sense that each have an equal rating. It is likely that the 'planning' travel board will be much busier than the other travel boards, and so should be a main board.