"a regular member or flit in & out" springs to mind thats just one.
things that help other members no matter how trival are important but topics like the above imo are a bore.
i seem to be in a minority though. anyway i'll take justval's advice and just read things i'm interested in

I personally didn't think the topic mentioned was boring or a waste of time: obviously we are all different, but I like there to be some personal and more general topics where we can learn a bit about others on the forum. Of couse the main focus of he site is travel and holidays, but a little bit of light hearted stuff is good too.

If people put a descriptive post title then it's easy to avoid those you think will not interest you. I tend to ignore ones that just say "help" without any info. I think if you can't be bothered to be specific, I can't be bothered to read!

like you say meerkat2505 were all different i didn't mean to upset anyone on here but posts like that just don't do it for me.
i like to get info when i need it and help out when i can. some people seem to post trivia a lot but some like that i suppose.

"a regular member or flit in & out" springs to mind thats just one.

As you can see from my very inventive username, I registered in order to ask one question. However after reading several other threads,I decided that I liked these forums and have become a regular member. I started the above thread to see how many others were like me. Who popped in "just the once" and is now a valuable, regular member, and who came on, asked what was important and perhaps only comes on now when they have a specific question to ask. I'm a generally nosey person, and like to know what makes people tick I like knowing how many bikinis people take away, and whether they buy their towels abroad or in M and S. Maybe that's sad to others, and while not earth shattering news, light hearted stuff can keep the forums going when things get quiet.

I agree Helen. Somebody's got to keep the forum alive and ticking. As we all know holidays are the focus of the site but some days are so quiet on here it's nice to have something new to contribute to.

Definitely Shirley!

I agree Shirley,it would be boring with no new posts.

You can usually tell at a glance what you want to read, and ones that don't involve you.

For example, topics about travelling with children, or during holidays or such things, I don't have children, and so as I don't think I would learn anything, and I don't have any advice to offer, I don't read them. It doesn't bother me that they are there, as they do help a lot of people. I just skirt around them.

Sometimes the topic title doesn't really give you much of a clue, so you read the first post, and are either interested or not. Simple, if you are interested, carry on reading. If you are not, get out of the topic.

It's a bit like going to the flights forum. You probably don't read about all the airlines, just the ones which are relevant to you.

Some of the "pointless" topics are actually really interesting and funny. The don't necessarily have a value in respect of adding to my holiday, but I still enjoy reading them.

Definately the lighthearted topics give everyone a chance to contribute, not just subjects a member knows about, so i'm all for it ! I think it gives you a little insight into the members that do contribute to the 'trivial' posts as they are usually more personal posts.
Keep the 'trivia' going please !!!!

The funniest trivia one in recent times was 'holiday wardrobe"Euro Chic" or can you tell I'm British' It was SO funny.

Long live the trivia threads!

I agree Denny. I still laugh at some of the comments made, also the one about the "wife being in the shower" some real laugh out loud moments in both threads. Most of these type of threads will run their course and then disappear, and I certainly hope they never stop happening though.

Long may they continue.

Long may they continue.

And so say most of us I think.

I will second that .....

Nice one ! I started the eurochic or can you tell i'm british and, tell you what, I had some proper belly laffs at the tales of woe on that one Really, we need these little funny threads , as everyone has an interesting ( well, I think so ) tale to tell, same as we need the evocotive ones like ' taking your children out of school in term time ' threads, great debates fom all sides and gives people another perspective on subjects they may have had firm views on.
Anyhoo, here's a new one 'how many times did you yawn on your last flight ?' haha, only joking

'how many times did you yawn on your last flight ?'

Not at all - I slept right through!!

I think really that if you don't like the kinds of topics posted in 'General Holiday Enquiries, Hints and Tips' then just stay out of that forum , there is nothing to make you go in it, if you are only interested in Spain, Egypt or whereever your fav holiday destination is just look at them.

I loved the Euro chic one from years ago that Juby started.

Also its a bit offensive to the people who start the topics to post that they are boring/waste of time topics. They are probably starting them to stimulate a bit of holiday related discussion at times when the forum is quiet.

Folks cant win one minute someone is complaining that the forum is too quiet and the next that topics that are posted are boring/a waste of time.

I do agree the headings of some topics could be better, not so much in here but in the main forum 'help please' is a particular no brainer.

Doe

Steve asked

It would be interesting to know how many users have only posted one message and then gone dormant

Well that got me thinking, so after much scrolling and number crunching I have the following trivia for you -

At the current moment we have

Total posts 71675

Total topics 62861

Total members 52946

1 post wonder members 10944
This one surprises me, members who have gone as far as joining and then making 0 posts, a staggering 20286

The highest posting members has 17547 posts

Graham

That makes for interesting reading Kiltman. I wouldn't see the point of joining and then not posting anything at all.

Very odd indeed, especially as you can have a good look round the site as a guest. without joining or posting. which should give anyone a clear idea as to whether they want to get involved with us.