Miss Pink - I think some come on here for answers to a specific question, and once they have these, they are happy, only to return when they need answers to something else. Personally, I don't remember how I heard about HT, or what my first post was about, but I have been given a wealth of information on here about everything under the sun. I've also loved joining in on the more light hearted threads. I also hope that I've been able to give some information to others. I certainly had a warm welcome on here from day one.

I have been a member for some time and recommended the site to my daughter when they had problems last year due to The collapse of their Turkish holiday company. She was not impressed that her specific query was just transferred to be mingled with a general thread on the situation. I think she is unlikely to use this site again. Perhaps mods should be more sympathetic to new users.

i think there are a lot of people who come on here for the first time, who are researching holidays in advance and they come back because they have been given help by regulars in the destination forums.
these people seem to react positively to the help they have been given, and tend to return the favour. they then go on to explore other topics and end up as regulars.
i know that is how i started.
then there are those who have a complaint about a holiday. they find us by googling holiday complaints or something similar and being directed here.
some come on for a rant more than anything else, but others come on looking for help and guidance.
those that come on just for a rant will probably not come back -until next time their holiday is screwed up - as they don't really want advice but maybe just want to warn others about their experience.
then there are those that feel they have a genuine complaint and post about it in the complaints forum and this is where i feel that we may be letting ourselves down.
recently when i have read some of the replies to first time posters, usually from people who have been on here for a long time, i cringe.
while we may know the answer to a question, because we have posted the same response many times, or we think the question is stupid or just about chancing their arm over compensation i feel we should be treating each person who poses a question with respect and try to answer politely and informatively.
every forum needs new members to survive and if we put them off in answering their first few posts they will probably never come back.
i know it can be frustrating answering the same question time after time -on another forum i am constantly asked about the weather forecast for some time in the future - but it costs nothing to be polite.
if we respond to these questions in the right way we may be able to encourage first time posters to return and become regular contributors.

i don't suppose that we will get too many replies from relative newcomers, but i think that peoples views on this are quite important.

I agree with jimd-f especially

jimd-f wrote:

recently when i have read some of the replies to first time posters, usually from people who have been on here for a long time, i cringe.

. I know sometimes they ask the obvious and yes, dont always want the answers they are given, but sometimes the responses they get are just plain rude. Sorry, but thats how it is.

I came here as a visitor when I was researching a holiday many moons ago and decided I liked it so much, I became a member. I visit the site every day and although I might not contribute a lot, feel happy to post and have been made very welcome and comfortable.

Its not just the oldies that need welcoming though, its the newcomers too!

Agreed, we shouldn't be rude. New members sometimes ask daft questions, or valid technical questions about issues that old timers have become used to and think are simple (but it never hurts to see whether rules have changed). Sometimes, so do not so new members! If it winds you up, don't answer!

But Mods merging posts is not rude. I get annoyed with new posts that really ought to have a first line of "I'm too lazy/thick to see whether this has been asked before/ what it says on the airline website". Can you imagine what a mess the site would be if every question about Thomas Cook or Ryanair or Turkish weather etc. etc. had a seperate entry??? There is one particular dodgy tour op that people keeping opening new threads about - it makes it much easier for everyone, including new members, if the whole story is kept in one thread.

And what some are saying is "I'm trying to find my way round the world but can't even find my way round this website/ Google!" and I think the FCO would be grateful if we didn't encourage them. And that's also not limited to new members.

But what really annoys me about some new members are those who leave a question but forget to save us to their Favourites/Bookmarks or forget their password. So they can't get back to read the answers people have taken time to write or to provide the extra detail we need to answer properly. If I'm replying to a first post I now tend to keep it brief and only give a full answer if they do come back. So if you are a new member and think the reply was a bit short, give it time, add a bit more and see what happens.

But Mods merging posts is not rude. I get annoyed with new posts that really ought to have a first line of "I'm too lazy/thick to see whether this has been asked before/ what it says on the airline website". Can you imagine what a mess the site would be if every question about Thomas Cook or Ryanair or Turkish weather etc. etc. had a seperate entry??? There is one particular dodgy tour op that people keeping opening new threads about - it makes it much easier for everyone, including new members, if the whole story is kept in one thread.

In most instances I would agree but there are instances where a specific point rather than the general query was being asked. A new poster would not necessarily know there were other threads or they may have even found the thread and didn't think it was answering their particular query.
A more courteous approach would be for the mod to pm any poster to suggest that the post is merged or if there is any particular reason for it to stand alone.

I made a bad start on here unfortunately But I've definetely changed now.

Nick - the work of modding takes up hours of volunteers personal time, as every single post has to be read even one word or one liners. To answer individual queries by pm, would only serve to add to the workload, and would probably lead to discussion by pm, rather than on the main board, where answers could help others having the same difficulties. Personally, if I wasn't happy with a reply, then I would expand my question either with/or asking for more detail. I do think wer'e straying slightly as the original qustion was "do you feel welcome", not "did you find the anwer you were looking for" - that's possibly another thread.

I think you need to read my first post again Helen I was just quoting an example of one potential new members experience which she perceived as unfriendly hence unwelcome
Myself appart from the odd hiccup i have found this site more friendly and welcoming than others that is why I recommended it.

I think perceived is a good word there, but as Helen says it would take ages to explain everything the mods do after the event. Maybe there should be better guidance for people when they join to avoid misunderstandings?

In the case of the dodgy TO I mentioned, people were adding to a duplicate thread whilst we were waiting for the mod to lock it to avoid confusion - sometimes events move faster than "polite" correspondence can keep up with.

recently when i have read some of the replies to first time posters, usually from people who have been on here for a long time, i cringe.

I know sometimes they ask the obvious and yes, dont always want the answers they are given, but sometimes the responses they get are just plain rude. Sorry, but thats how it is.

Beginning to wonder if I'm one of these rude, long time members that are being referred to? I hope not - rude that is - but it's made me think. I try to remain as polite as possible and to keep to what I see as the facts but find it hard sometimes when I think that someone's expectations are unreasonable. Or they don't give you all the facts or later provide details that make me think 'Well if only you'd said that in the first place!'. Perhaps I don't conceal my irritation as well as I thought but like Steve I do find myself more and more making my first response quite short (in length I hope, rather than tone!) in relation to a very general query until such time as they do provide more information about what they are looking for.

I didn't really join in the more recent thread on reviews which seemed to become a discussion of HT in comparison to TA, mainly because I loathe TA. I find the overall tone much more unfriendly and a lot of the posts to be too snippy too often. Plus HT feels much more like a community but perhaps that can be off-putting in itself to newcomers when it can so often be quite clear that some posters have got to know each other very well over the years with direct comments and close to in-jokes to each other.

SM

jimd-f wrote:

recently when i have read some of the replies to first time posters, usually from people who have been on here for a long time, i cringe

jimd-f Would you care to eleborate, a for instance maybe??

In the case of the dodgy TO I mentioned, people were adding to a duplicate thread whilst we were waiting for the mod to lock it to avoid confusion

There were actually Three threads one after the other.

The problem is not a matter of being polite or welcoming. HT is not a chat forum and there is a big difference. If someone asks what time is the No 9 bus we there is no need for enthusing welcomes. A simple answer is all that is required. I also doubt most people expect anything but.
The problem so often is that the person asking the question has not thought it through. Many can be long rants that actually do have a question but are very hard to understand. Lack of punctuation or detailed tales that have no bearing again give problems. We each have a different approach but expressions of sympathy do not help anyone. They are not asking for or expect sympathy. Answers are given based on the information given, previous problems posted and advice given, or from personal experience/knowledge.

Many who post with problems reject/ignore the friendly approach if the answer they recieve does meet their needs/expectations. In recent years some of our members have stopped helping and that is not because they have not tried to be friendly. It is more to do with the reponse/attitude of ther person asking the question. More and more people treat HT as simply a place to ask a question, often because they have not got an answer they want from other, less helpful sites. Our reputation as the premier site is well deserved which is why we attract them.

There are a lot of people who are members of HT who have asked for and been given help and advice. We must be doing something right if they have stuck with us.

fwh

I joined a long while ago and over the years have tended to lurk more than post. I really do enjoy reading the forum and my favourite threads seem to be the 'boring waste of time topics' I am starting to mingle a bit more on the forum now however I feel a bit inadequate to give an in depth response to someone's holiday query though because I am not well travelled as others on here but then all that comes in time I suppose. I have also pm'd a few members with queries about certain hotels I have had in mind and have always found people polite and only to happy to help.

So to answer the OP's original question do I feel welcome? then my reply would be yes.

I feel a bit inadequate to give an in depth response to someone's holiday query though because I am not well travelled as others

That is not a problem - many people here are just the same. But it is surprising how much (sometimes mspecialist) knowledge some of our members may have without being well travelled. This is often because of their occupation or interests. A couple of years ago I was able to assist a couple from New Zealand when they had a problem with a camper van hire.

fwh

MilleMiglia

jimd-f Would you care to eleborate, a for instance maybe??

i, like a lot of members, read most of the threads that interest me, and the complaints section is one of these parts of the forum i read regularly.
i don't think it would be helpful for me to take an example post, as that could look like a personal attack or would move the debate from the general to the particular.
all you have to do is have a look at some of the posts in the complaints section, and you will see the sort of thing i was referring to.
i also post regularly on TA, and i do agree that it can lack the friendliness of this site, but it does get people from all over the world rather than just the uk, and i think that part of the abruptness on that site may be to their understanding of english. my girlfriend is foreign, and her method of saying "may i have" is "give me"; so things can sound harsh if english is your second language. they also tend to get a lot more posts than here.
i also look at MSE regularly, but find that very cliquey and the standard of replies is not as good as here.

i think that this is a very friendly site, with a great number of very knowledgable people posting advice, but we will not get a realistic response as to what new members think about us unless we actively try to encourage them to post more than once or twice.
people who have got to double figures in posting have obviously found something they like as they have come back, but those with only 1 or 2 posts who may have been put off by an unfriendly welcome response -bear in mind that they have taken the trouble to find us, register and post about their normally disastrous holiday -will be lost for good.

I have been a member for some time and recommended the site to my daughter when they had problems last year due to The collapse of their Turkish holiday company. She was not impressed that her specific query was just transferred to be mingled with a general thread on the situation. I think she is unlikely to use this site again. Perhaps mods should be more sympathetic to new users.

That is a fair point and personally I do try to merge posts that are related so as they are not all scattered around a forum under different headings, having said that I try to make a point of sending a PM to a poster if I move their post to somewhere that is not directly obvious and particularly if it is a new member posting who might wonder where their post has gone.

Nick I know that recently you were not happy that I merged one of your posts in the Egypt forum however I feel that merging it in to the current existing topic has not detracted from it but highlighted both it and the existing post which has seen an increase in posts and discussion as a direct result

As has been mentioned by others there are a lot of new members who come on to either give or receive advice and information and start a new thread, we do have to merge their posts otherwise the forums would be littered with one post topics, merging ensures that all the relevant information is located in one easy to find location.

Anyway it is interesting reading this 'customer survey' keep it coming so we can make HT even better

Gaham

I remember when I first did a post and I was very nervous about posting but I was made very welcome with a excellent and friendly reply to my question and pms of some members who made me very welcome.. that was back in the days though of 2006

Danny

I cant remember when I joined, maybe 2004 or 5 but I was looking for a hotel review for a specific hotel in one of the Canary Islands. I read a variety of reviews..some good, some bad and decided to book the holiday there anyway. I joined when looking for the review asI thought you had to!! I decided that when I got back off the holiday I would post a report as well...and it snowballed from there.
I seem to remember being made particularly welcome by Sanji as she gave me lots of information about the immigration problem in the Canary Islands at the time with boatloads arriving daily from Africa.

On the other hand, I remember an entire thread by someone talking about the problems her daughter was having as a Travel Rep out in Turkey ( I think it was Turkey) and it disgusted me the way people shouted her down here, virtually accused her of lying becuase it was not something they had witnessed or experienced. There were some very established members in that and it was tantamount to bullying. It was a disgraceful way to treat a new member and I remember jumping in having a pop at these so called "senior" members. Some of them are still on here and some of them still have got no idea how to talk to people even in print. I still have the PM that the original poster sent me thanking me for what I done. She has barely posted since...yet her information via her daughter could have been invaluable to so many people in the years after her original post as she would have been able to answer so many questions.

Hopefully, I am one of the more established members that makes new members feel welcome. We all had to start somewhere and the forum will not continue to grow and improve if we don't get new members.