Mari - there is no place on this forum for people who send intimidating pm's. You need to send them to one of the mods immediately, so that the culprit can be contacted.

Hi

Yes thanks have reported this I think I'm not the only one who has been 'stalked' by this person

It's sad really been on here since I was 20 and used to love coming on here.

Had some great holidays and alot of ideas came from here.

hi all...havent had much time lately but trying to follow thread....when reading last few posts a thought came .....why dont we have a HT members reunion week each year....set up a thread and pm all registered members and invite them to log in and update us about where there holiday interests lay at present and any bits of interesting info they'd picked up ect.....members who are from holiday companies ect who come on to help can intoduce themselves and say how they can help sort problems ect...then at end of week put a list up of those members who were at the reunion ....tweetie

Wouldn't that turn out to be a huge thread though tweetie and would it cover anything new that us regular members aren't posting about already?

I think anybody who'd be interested in this, already posts about where they've been and what interesting things they've been up to in the various countries forums.

I may not quite understand what you're getting at though- sorry

Sanji my post wasn't aimed at you or anything to do with TA.

Please accept my apology if it wasn't aimed at me, it just felt like it was because I'd put the last input into the thread.

I just feel like I am being stalked by someone who is also sending me pm's.

If you are being stalked then forward on the private messages to the Admin and block their PMs..or have the Admin block them.

If this is how certain people are going to behave thats why I think it has got heated and wanted it locking

I'm afraid there's always going to be people like this following posters around the board/Internet, and why they do it, I do not know"¦( well, I have a good idea, but I don't want to spoil my manners) I know it's not nice and some forums are better/worse than others, but you will not be in a better forum than HT to get it stopped and I honestly believe that, and you should never let it influence what goes off on the board because if you do, they are stifling your right to an opinion and have 'won', and that's not on.!
(I can visualise all the mods falling off their chairs because I've said that.)
Sanji

Thanks Sanji the person who it is knows who they are and I would ask that they do not reply to any of my posts going forward or contact me in anyway.

They obviously lead a sad life

Hi mari ... this is perhaps not the best place to raise such issues. If you feel you are being stalked or intimidated on the forums and it is not being detected by the Mods or Admins, then you should use the 'Report this post' function, and forward any relevant PMs to one of the team so that we can deal with the problem.

David

mari wrote:

Mods - How do I stop a certain member sending private messages all the time it is intimidating especially when they are twice my age) you know who you are! go on your own forum.

Hi mari ... further to my PM yesterday afternoon and my post above yesterday evening, just a reminder that we are still waiting to hear from you with details of the relevant posts and forwarded copies of the intimidating PMs. Claims of stalking and intimidation are taken very seriously, but we are unable to investigate or take any action until you provide us with the necessary information. Please get in touch with myself or one of the team by PM as soon as possible.

Anyone else who feels that they too might be experiencing any form of stalking or intimidation should also report the relevant posts or forward any PMs to a member of the team as a matter of urgency.

Many thanks
David

An interesting article in The Sunday Times travel section today that highlights how untrustworthy are some of the reviews posted on TA. That cannot be said about HT

For those of you who don't read The Sunday Times ( I usually get to read it on Monday after the OH has finished with it, and so it's a battered Monday Times)

Use the zoom tool.
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/825/save0028x.jpg/

A very interesting article Sanji, and one that doesn't surprise me one bit! I do read reviews on TA but don't give much creedance to them

I think we have known for some time now that it's easy to fake a review on TA but I still use it, it's probably the only review site that lists the majority of hotels that I stay in on my travels and the information that I have found on the site has been a huge help when travelling to many of my destinations, info that often isn't available on HT. Like many subscribers I'm suspicious of OTT glowing reviews if they are in the minority and tend to disregard them, the same happens if I read a poor report when all the others are good especially if the poster hasn't posted before but I do hope that members give credence to the reviews that I give on TA, I would hate to think I'm wasting my time. Though I know from the pm's I've received that members have found my info. useful.

I use TA reviews for most places I'm looking at staying simply beacuse they are more likely to have them listed than anyone else, when they are elsewhere I check those too.
It's simple really, be wary of any member who has only posted the once, or a few times, & has done a glowing or scathing review, not to mention several that are worded very similiarly with the same grammatical errors. Once the likely false ones are weeded out & ignored it's the same as anywhere else. BTW, these can be reported to TA & with the massive membership & volume of input on there you can't possibly compare their vetting procedures to a site like this, there is bound to be more automation & a lower level of personal scrutinisation. I have had success with reporting such issues in the past, there was one place I knew very well & a whole row of similiarly written 'reviews' were obviously false, several comments made it obvious that they had never set foot in the place. It is now red flagged, telling readers to be aware.
Read the bad ones as to what their 'problem' was, it's often due to unrealistic expectations or about something that wouldn't bother most people. Take an overall view, not just pick up on one particularly good or bad report to make your decision.
I would do the same with any site with reviews, even here, because what one person thinks makes a resort/hotel/restaurant etc wonderful would probably be my worst nighmare & what some see as a downside may be what I'm looking for. It is all only opinion anyway. You are the one that makes the decision in the end & if you only rely on one place or a couple of reviews to base that decision on that's your choice.

Back to the subject of why people don't use HT any more. Boring comes to mind for anyone not going on a package or to the main tourist resorts. I have been happy to post detailed replies to people asking a bit beyond that & would love to be able to more often, but those wanting that sort of info don't seem to frequent this board.
The above is relating to Greece, flights only, city breaks & this forum, I don't look at other destinations.

Similiar approach to TA reviews Judith!
BTW, it is not impossible to have a fake review on here as it's not linked to bookings like some other sites where you are invited to do a review after it is confirmed you stayed there.

As I am no longer fit to fly, I feel my knowledge about hotels, eating places is probably too out of date to be of much use. I do post when I feel I can be of any help.e.g location of hotel etc.
I still come on most days as I enjoy learning of others experiences and even seemingly irrelevant posts.
So although I can't contribute as much as I would like, I still love the forum.

Helen

Whilst TA reviews may be unreliable they aren't always fakes. There is an intrinsic problem with that site. It has an international membership and anyone who can speak a bit of English can post a review in English - without making clear where they are from. Not a problem with clear facts like the hotel is 500m from the beach or has 300 rooms and only 100 seats in the breakfast room but it gets less reliable when it comes to opinions as readers have no idea what norms they are based on. So, for example, if you are in the UK, read a review written in English and see that rooms are described as small or large you tend to think of that in UK terms. But the writer could be used to a tiny Tokyo flat or a large US house without saying so - in which cases comparisons mean little. Same problem with other variables - what's the difference between fast service to someone from New York and brusque service to someone from Chipping Norton? What's a "good" selection at breakfast to someone from Madrid or someone from LA? Because this site is mostly only members in the UK it narrows things down a bit, but to be honest I never really put much faith in the opinions of people I know nothing about - they could be a lot classier than me!

David I have pm'ed you privately.

Steve,
I agree that hotels descriptions can mean different things to different nationalities but TA isn't just a hotel review site, that's just part what it is. It's usually the first place I look at when I want info on one of my long/medium haul holidays. Last year I went to Oman , I don't think the country had ever been mentioned on HT and although I did get an answer to my post requesting info from someone who had lived in Dubai there wasn't any interest from anyone else. Three years ago I visited Laos and the amount of info I received on the country on TA made my trip much easier, again I could find minimum info on HT.

Unfortunately many of the posters who used to post on long haul topics (especially the far east)on HT have practically disappeared and the interesting trip reports that they posted seem to be a thing of the past.

For me the endless discussions on the same subjects have become a little tiresome. Though the same thing happens on TA and is not always greeted with the same patience and politeness that questions are usually dealt with on HT.

edited to insert a missing word

Personally I think they should sort out the forums too.
Tonight I have been over there and someone posted a thread about a disabled woman being robbed, I'm not going to say where, apart from in Spain.
The opening post has now been deleted and the thread has been locked, after several posters dissed the OP's content down, so I can only read the replies and no longer what the OP had to say.
Next thing, a thread singing the virtues of the place which was months old, has been bumped up by those who will not have anything wrong said about the place and of course it's in TA's interest to sell holidays to this place.
So who decided to get the OP's opening post removed.? Click happy members or did TA think a post about a disabled woman being robbed was not good for the resort and their booking figures.?

The few are influencing many.!

Sanji

Sorry, don't mean to turn this into an anti TA thing, but I think HT should be given the credit it is due.
It is a free Internet world and people will make their own mind up, and whilst we might be slow and boring, we are independant and nobody's sock puppet.

Sanji