Indeed thank you Mark.

Dont forget another reason why the site is quiet, especially right now, is that a number of members will actually be away on holiday.

it is quiet but getting louder by the minute lol, xphx

I also forgot to say another reason why there are less postings is that some people return the same hotel/place over and over..so there is no need to write a hotel review every time you go. Maybe just write a new one of summat major happens, like an extension, a face lift, a deterioration in standards, etc.

Mind you. Michelle (Derwentrocker) is very helpful in the Sonesta Beach resort thread....if she wrote a review every time she went it would be a novel by now!! (all your info is much appreciated by the way)

I also forgot to say another reason why there are less postings is that some people return the same hotel/place over and over..

We are booked for Cyprus in October and it will be our third time at this hotel. Personally I would go to it every year instead of every other except we like to swop between Paphos and Nissi Beach.

fwh

exactly..so you maybe posted a review 1st time round..but now don't feel the need to post on it again...

reviews are always a dodgy area, you can say a place is wonderful but next week it could be sold and change almost overnight. And who's fault will it be when someone gets let down.....???

It gets even worse if the board is international, for instance you could get Americans comparing against their standards and feeling rooms are small - so, without realising, UK readers imagine it's a shoe box. I've noticed that the forums on Trip Advisor get into all sorts of trouble because people miss where the OP came from. I've just browsed one about a tour of England by some elderly Australians where others have gone to great lengths to advise on itineries - only to get to the 9th post before they realise they've mixed up two towns with the same name for the starting point! Only 278 miles and 5 hours driving wrong!! We may not have the thousands of posts that TA get but I know where I am with this board!

Justval wrote:

:rofl

I also forgot to say another reason why there are less postings is that some people return the same hotel/place over and over..so there is no need to write a hotel review every time you go. Maybe just write a new one of summat major happens, like an extension, a face lift, a deterioration in standards, etc.

We would encourage people visiting the same hotel more than once to write a review each time, even if it is just to say things are the same / worse / better.

One of the complaints we get is that some of the reviews are a couple of years old. A brief update is all that is needed for members to see that the previous information is still current and not out of date.

luci

People come and people go, and I think some get tired and think "I can't be bothered anymore.".
For quite some time I've been thinking that this site has lost something and I can't explain it, but to me its like it's lost the community that it had a few years back........ a group of regular posters in each forum who were the "backbone" and who were always there to help, and allowed to share a bit of banter amongst the valuable information, but now it's just a sterile exchange of information site with people passing through like ships in the night, and sometimes forgetting to say thanks.
Of course people "move on" for all sorts of reasons, but IMO the "backbone" was never replaced with fresh blood eager to step into the shoes of those who went on to pastures new.

Forums are only as good as the members, and forums in their quest to be "the best", can tend to drift away from the basic reason for us all being here.
Personally, I think it's sad because Vanlaywan and HT was the first, and all the rest have "jumped on the wagon", some with better finances and vested interests in capturing a "booking"......whereas here, we can always claim to be totally independant.!
You find a forum and you know when you feel "at home"

Sanji

hi all.....Im quite noisey when Im around.....thing is Ive either got loads of time or very little....am buzzing or shattered....even if Im not posting I try to keep up with my topics and its a great idea that I get an email everytime someone posts on them....this year I made my holiday truth luggage labels...hope lots of people saw them....and always tell people this is the best place to get the info for holidays.....one night I noticed there were 3 of us members on line and 75 guests....so even if we are quite post wise we are still being used by a lot of people for info ect.....if there is such as a think as " silent noise " then thats what our guests are....and in reality we arent so quiet....

Maybe as members we could get T-shirts keyrings or hand luggage bags with the holiday truths logo on....or stickers for the car ....let more people know where we are...

If your a guest reading this....hi come on and join us ...we would love to meet you....tweetie

Seriously, if you want this place to thrive once again then bring back the general chat! ...and I don't mean the external chat at the bottom of the page! People used to come here just to go in general chat and of course they would also have a look around the rest of the site and add replies all over! It was no coincidence that general chat used to get the most threads! I know it was hard to police but maybe there was another way instead of just getting rid!

I come on here most days (ironically I'm on my working busiest period which means I get more time online this time of day) and contibute where I can, but most times I can't actually advise or it's already been said.

Tarry

General Chat as it was known is long gone and has been replaced with something else and it is - in my opinion - working pretty well - two different identities with one common factor.

It also needs to be considered that most (if not all) of the contributions stem from the UK unlike for example Tripadvisor (a commercial operation I hasten to say) that has a world wide audience. We are never going to compete with that.

Mark

For quite some time I've been thinking that this site has lost something and I can't explain it, but to me its like it's lost the community that it had a few years back........ a group of regular posters in each forum who were the "backbone" and who were always there to help, and allowed to share a bit of banter amongst the valuable information, but now it's just a sterile exchange of information site with people passing through like ships in the night, and sometimes forgetting to say thanks.

I do have to agree with you sanji. For me, it has become a place to solely exchange information, not that that's wrong Just that I, too, enjoyed all the banter that went with the info!!!!

Chivas69 wrote:

Seriously, if you want this place to thrive once again then bring back the general chat! ...and I don't mean the external chat at the bottom of the page! People used to come here just to go in general chat and of course they would also have a look around the rest of the site and add replies all over! It was no coincidence that general chat used to get the most threads! I know it was hard to police but maybe there was another way instead of just getting rid!

Believe me, we didn't just "get rid". It was discussed for months and we pleaded with members to be more civil and to adhere to the few T&C's that came with General Chat, but it fell on deaf ears. We tried every possible way to keep it going and after months of discussions, realised that it was taking longer to mod that forum that all the rest put together.

We also found that most of the team's discussion was regarding General Chat rather than the holiday forums which are the main purpose of HT.

It's not only the members that miss General Chat, some of the team do too, but we really didn't have an alternative but to close it and the decision certainly wasn't taking lightly or swiftly.

luci

hi all.....I think car window stickers could boost intrest....so how could we get some.....tweetie

I think you can still buy HT T-shirts from THIS SITE, but it's probably a while since anyone bought one.

luci

..........

Just noticed we have 4 guests on line with us.....nice to meet you....come and say hello...so easy to join us.....tweetie

ps will check out the t shirts.....could hang them on the line when we are away....but still vote for the car stickers

Chivas
I know what you're saying and I tend to agree with you in one respect, I think you got to 'know' a bit more about the person through discussing other topics apart from holiday information, but there were quite a few people who used HT just for the chat section and who posted in the holiday forums one line drivel with no real information contained in the post, just to keep their post count up.... They weren't really an asset to HT and they got banned from one site and they went on to get banned in another forum, so time has vindicated who was right and who was wrong"¦"¦.General Chat can sometimes bring about ‘real life' friendships and it can also bring out the worse in people.

So, I don't think we will ever be going back to a GC section because it's more trouble than it's worth, but in all fairness they (Admin) know this and have allowed a section for general chat, and the link at the bottom of the page is IMO a good little site for HT members only, but I'll be honest and say that for anyone looking in, it can seem a bit clique because those who have been there since day one, all know each other now, and if I look back nearly 6 years ago, the GC in HT appeared clique too, and the only way is to join and participate.!

My little gripe is the lack of consistency within the forums because you have certain forums where the mods have created a thread for the off topic holiday related chit-chat and the little ‘in house' jokes, and those forums tend to have this ‘community thingy' where they all seem to know each other, hmmm, well does Goa or Turkey get more visitors than some of the other destinations.?
People will get fed up of having their posts removed just because the thread has naturally drifted into ‘off topic' but, as quickly as threads go ‘off topic', they can 'naturally' be pulled just as quickly back on-topic."¦.it's become all too sterile and clinical for some people and if they just want a one shot question and answer, TA is where they are going.

IMO: This is the way it is, the 'old days' are gone and this is the way it's going to go forward.

Sanji