Please excuse, but I don't know where to post my question. I know, here is not the best place, but I didn't find a better one:
I'm a new user in the forum. And while I have experience with other forums, I get problems here. So I need your help:
Even if I had clicked for getting e-mail-information whenever there is a new post on any of the thread I had written, until now I didn't get any e-mail-information. What I am doing wrong?
You're not doing anything wrong. I've never received notification of any responses to my posts, as far as I know this facility doesn't exist on this website. I receive notifications of private messages but that's it.
Welcome to the forum. I am not an expert on all the functions and limitations, but I will try to answer. When you initiate a new thread such as you did here, you should get an email notification each time someone responds. So, if you correctly succeeded in checking the option to receive notification, you should get a notification when I submit this response to you. However, if you have responded to a thread that someone else initiated, then you would not be notified if someone responds to your contribution within that thread. So, if you thank me for this response, I will not get a notification. That is my best attempt to answer.
It looks like you have so far posted 11 times but initiated a topic only once so this should be your first notification. I hope this helps.
Hi, thank you both. Funnily, this is the first time I got an e-mail-information. And now I understand, that I only get this information if I open a new thread, not if I answer to any thread. But let me say, this is very dissappointing: I know from every other forum I'm taking part, that I get information about every thread I had written. So I can give more information to the questioner. Because the more I write here, the more difficult or even impossible is it for me to follow all the threads.
Is there really no better solution?
I know of 2 solutions; neither are ideal. If you look up My History in your travel forum account, it will tell you the most recent time any thread you contributed to was updated. If you are closely following a few particular threads, you can see in "view all topics" what time each thread was updated and the total number of responses thus far. You can also do this by checking a specific country or topical forum if all your threads happen to be in one place. I don't tend to have multiple threads that I am following intently at the same time so I manage with these options. Others may have additional solutions.
OP, while you dont receive notifications of replies to threads to which you have only contributed, there is still a way to follow those threads. Click on the My Account window in the top right corner. Then select Travel Forum. You will see a section with your posting history, and the time/date of the latest post.. Clicking on any of those threads will take you to that thread.
Oh thank you all. This would be a help, but let me say, it is very circuitous. But if it is the only possibility?????
Do the administrators here on the forum not have a look at other forums to see what there is offered?
Oh, I just see another problem:
When I write here I cannot see what other users before me had written. I only see my first question. This makes it difficult for answering to a special post, not to speak about answering to 2 or 3 questions in the same thread.
How do you manage all this problems? And is there any Administrator on the forum who can give answers?
You can bookmark the topic if you want to easily check back for new responses. If you look at the first post in a thread, you will see the option to "Bookmark This Topic."
You can also check your history under "My Account" and "Travel Forum" and you will see "My History." There you will see the five threads with the most recent replies out of all the threads you have posted in (even replies). If there are more than five with recent replies, you can click on "View All" to see them.
Edited to add that, once you open the thread, you can click on "Jump to Bottom" to see the most recent replies.
""You can bookmark the topic if you want to easily check back for new responses. If you look at the first post in a thread, you will see the option to "Bookmark This Topic."""
@BB: Thank you soooooo much. This is the solution for me!
rei.beate, regarding not being able to get notices on threads you've participated in but did not initiate:
Reasons that some of the other forums I've seen that you subscribe to, such as TA and Travellerspoint, have more functions than RS is because they're monetized, meaning advertisers pay to have their advertising displayed on those sites. Rick Steves does not allow outside advertising - and most of us like that VERY much - thus has a slimmer budget to work with.
There is a very good explanation about the differences in this site versus others and why as explained by our excellent (and long-suffering) Webmaster Andrew. It's also a great discussion amongst some TA members who have very recently joined the RS forum and some long-standing members of the community. You'll find it here:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/greece/ta-refugee
A quote from Andrew's post, which is about halfway down the thread:
"I can appreciate that this new home is a bit more modest... As others noted, this is not a monetized forum, so it doesn't get as many bells and whistles."
And lifted from a helpful post by longtime member David in Seattle:
"It's always worth remembering that this forum is not funded by a large conglomerate. While I presume the company (Rick Steves Europe) is profitable and doing well (I have no insider info, just making guesses as a longtime local follower), in many ways it operates as a "mom and pop" small business. That is, on the cheap. So it's not like there's a big budget dedicated to improving and expanding the forum."
A plus? We do have private messaging....which I understand TA has recently discontinued! So there. :O)
@BB: Thank you soooooo much. This is the solution for me!
You are welcome.
Rei.beate! Welcome! I used to post on the Road Trips forum so know you well from there!
This is a lower tech forum and provided free by the Rick Steves Europe tour company. It's not a money-maker for them as there are no ads and in fact they are probably in the negatives monetarily because of having to use the webmaster and IT team's time to manage it.
I do suggest you bookmark the AllTopics view, that way you can just scan down the list of posts from every forum. You will be able to see which you've seen as the color of the type should change from blue to gray after you have opened a thread. There are usually not more than a page or 2 of new posts and it's much easier to see them this way rather than having to flip back and forth between forums.
Link to AllTopics view:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/all-topics
It can also be found here. It's in the last sentence before the lists of the various forums available.
Kate, you have gotten me smiling, bc you really has found me on TA. This is right, as you have recognized I am a DE there.
And you are right, one of the advances here at Ricks is the possibility for privat messaging. But also on TA advertising is not allowed, even if it is not superviced in the last weeks. And as there are a lot of other problems. Ricks forum will see a lot of new users during the next time.
And thank you so much for the link to the community-forum (also a thank you to Pam for this link). I didn'd find it before, but now I have to read a lot.
But also on TA advertising is not allowed,
Hmmm. I'm looking at the TA Italy forum page and see three ads: one for "Visit Lauderdale", another for "Visitgozo.com" and another for "Your holiday starring the Scottish Borders". Two of them even have the word "AD" in their upper right corners. Let's just say it's not the first time I've seen ads on that site but that aside, they are one of the "large conglomerates" David had referred to which have oodles more resources than this site.
Oh, and a belated welcome from me too!
"When I write here I cannot see what other users before me had written. I only see my first question. This makes it difficult for answering to a special post, not to speak about answering to 2 or 3 questions in the same thread. "
My solution is to right-click on the "Add Rely" icon => select "Open link in new Tab" => then both the reply window and the window containing the thread is available to check. It means clicking between tabs that but doesn't bother me.
This is in the Firefox web browser but I believe that function is also on the right click menu of others.
Yes, I am with Kate that TA runs a LOT of advertisements itself including those stupid ads within a forum and also within threads. THAT is how TA makes their money (besides cutting employees!).
It is true they don't allow advertising in a forum post but I think we are all talking about the big ads TA runs.
Kate, I don't see any advertising in the TA-Forum. Only if I scroll down, there are some. But ofcourse, you are right, TA have to make money.
RobertH: this is, what I did: open 2 windows.
OK, thank you all. I think it will take a bit of time until I am familiar with this forum.
and may I also say, how nice it is to have yet another Munich native on our Forums. Maybe you'll contribute on the Germany Forum. There is quite a lot of activity there.
The overall structure of this forum is much simpler than most others.
This is simple "post" then responses to that original post.
If in a thread, you respond to post within a topic, you really are not, even if you are the OP and respond within your own post, in reality, you are responding to yourself or the OP. No sub-threads. Sometimes it can get confusing who someone is responding to, the OP or a commenter within the thread.
There also is no tracking or notification of edits, either by the person writing the comment, or others, so sometimes continuity is off. You can read and respond to a post, come back a few days later, and be surprised sometimes.
And here is the workaround to a problem you didn't mention yet --- the search feature here is not the best, so use Google to find a post or posts you are looking for. Search on something like: Rick Steves forum Munich hotels
TA sells advertising, but you cannot advertise yourself. I can post a link to a tour or hotel or restaurant, but not if they belong to me. But yes, TA has a ton of advertising and it gets worse and worse.
Thank you all for your help. I will see if and when I understand the forum in total.
Oh, BTW: about advertising. You told me that on this Forum here advertising is not allowed. But just know I found two posts/threads with advertising. I reported it and now I'm curios how long it takes until they are removed.
"I reported it and now I'm curios how long it takes until they are removed."
The Webmaster and team work M-F during the time Pacific Time work hours as they are located at the Rick Steves home office in Edmonds WA. Today is a US holiday so hopefully they are taking this day off too. IF something is egregious they will sometimes pop in to clean something up.
Remember a number of years ago on TA when there was all that awful Asian language spam that shut the forums down for several days? The Webmaster here handled it and we were not inundated like TA was although they tried.
Editing to add: While advertising is not allowed, it IS allowed for forum members to add links to websites related to travel, packing, clothing, independent guides, tour companies. After you've been here a while you will be able to tell the difference between the spammers and the "regulars" who are giving additional information. Usually the post count is the first clue.
Go to My Account -> Travel Forum (top right corner of this website).
Scroll down to “My Settings” section at the bottom.
Click on “Edit Forum Settings” blue button.
Make sure "Email me when a user replies to my topics?” is checked off.
Mary, thank you. But I have done all of it.
Pam: the advertising I found were really not travel-related. One was about a very special "healthy" salt, and the other about some special "healthy" honey, if I remember right. I didn't read it.
Yes, I figured those were the ones that triggered your report. There is no way to tell if something has been reported unless someone posts and indicates they've reported it. The webmaster says it's fine to get multiple reports on the same post so they don't mind repetition.
And sometimes it's really helpful for you folks in earlier time zones to catch them so they are essentially "on the desk" of the web team when they get to work!
Pam: the advertising I found were really not travel-related. One was
about a very special "healthy" salt, and the other about some special
"healthy" honey, if I remember right. I didn't read it.
rei.beate, that wasn't advertising. It was spam. Different animal and it was reported for removal. That would have occurred reasonably quickly had it not been a holiday here in the US. As Pam also said, our moderators work on US time zones so there are times of the day that spam and other guideline violations are "up" until staff at the west coast HQ can terminate the rogues during business hours.
"RobertH: this is, what I did: open 2 windows."
If that is bothersome you might look at the latest update for the Microsoft Edge browser. I use it for special situations so I got the update notice.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/edge/features/split-screen?form=MT0160
Split screen
Work on two tasks at once without switching tabs. With Split screen in Microsoft Edge, you can view and interact with two pages side by side in a single browser tab...
With Split screen in Microsoft Edge, you can view and interact with two pages side by side in a single browser tab...
Chrome just notified me of this new split-tab feature as well. Useful in so many situations!
Price check my existing flight price vs new.
Compare restaurants, hotels, anything side my side.
My itinerary on the left, museum hours on the right.
And yes, scrollable forum topic on the left, my reply on the right.
Endless uses without switching tabs or looking across multiple screens.
Reise. Hope to see you on the Austria forum. It’s pretty slow on there.
However I have not been on here very long, so I may be doing it a miss service. I also have a foot in RS and TA at the moment
expatNomad, unfortunately I don't have much knowledge about Austria. OK, we have been there so often when I was jounger. But we always had a car. And in the last years we only drive through on our way to Italy. (Lake Garda and Lake Como are the destinations there what I know most).
About all the other countries I can help: Argentina, Chile, SW USA, W Canada, Oman, Tansania, Namibia. RV-travel.
But I don't know anything about guided tours (we never do it), for questions about public transport I always have to look it up (because we always drive by car, rental or our own).
Oh, I have another question: You all have written here, that this forum is not for money making, therefore advertising is not allowed. But now I found this thread what really is advertising for Rick-Steves tours:
https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/tours/2027-april-tours
What could you tell me about it, what is different to TA?
"You all have written here, that this forum is not for money making, therefore advertising is not allowed. But now I found this thread what really is advertising for Rick-Steves tours:"
This site is owned by Rick Steves Europe which runs Rick Steves tours. The person asking the question is a member of the public inquiring about when the tours will be for sale. When a member of the Rick Steves staff answers a question they have the Rick Steves logo by their names.
I'd recommend you delete your last post to that thread as this is allowable. It's also allowable for other member os this community to say "I enjoyed a tour by "XX" company". It's not allowable for a person who is a tour owner (other than Rick Steves) to come on and post...."Take a tour with my company".
Pam, I understand. That means, it is the same as with TA.
rei.beate
No, this forum is not like TA. Recommendations by forum posters for services is allowed, advertising by companies is not allowed.
For example, I just went to TA Paris forum and clicked on a post. In addition to responses to the query, it shows ads for hotels and an ad for "your holiday starring the Scottish Borders". TA is making money on those ads.
The Rick Steves' forums are not ad supported.
REI.beate,
Pam and Jean have explained the difference very well. TA and the RS forum are very different.
jeanm, are you signed in at TA`?? Because I don't get this advertising you mentioned. There are only advertising on the very lower end of the site, and normally you don't need to scroll down so far, because every information is given above.
Maybe it's because I'm on the US site?
Another example, right now on the London forum I clicked on the first pinned post "Trip Report Collection". Between reply 1 and 2 are London hotels. Between reply 5 and 6 is a Verizon ad. After post 10 is an ad for visiting St. Louis.
Maybe the reason really is the US-website, if you are a signed-in-user. Because also your now mentioned advertising is not visible for me.
On TA I see outside agency advertising along the top and two times in the actual topics lists for each page of a thread.
Yes, I agree with Mona. As a signed in TA user I see ads within a forum.
For instance, this thread:
I see an ad between posts 5 and 6 and again below post 10 before the bottom header with the # of replies and the page links. I also see an ad across the top and one down the right side.
And no, absolutely NOT like TA. TA accepts advertising from outside vendors to insert the ads in the forums, at least in the US. I've never noticed when I am traveling in Europe if the forums look different as I do post when I'm on vacation. The RS forum does not accept outside advertising and does not insert ads on the website. Having a response from a staff member is very different in my view.
And now...I am laughing because the ad changes every time and the current one that is coming up is from the US Department of State exhorting people to check with the Department of State before foreign travel, hahaha! I'd rather check with this forum.
OK, I'm not here to defend TA. We DE's on TA also have a lot of problems, therefore I tried this forum here. But let me say: If you are a signed-in-user at TA you would not be stalked with such advertising.
Pam, to add to my post above: Even if I click on the link you gave, there is no advertising visible. Maybe it really depends on from where you are looking at?
I am not a frequent TA reader or user but I was curious about the differences being reported in ad visibility.. For a little experiment, when I searched for and opened Trip Advisor Greece Forum in Google, I definitely saw ads on the sides and interspersed between threads. When I did the same search on DuckDuckGo, the ads were gone except for "Related Stories"(not necessarily ads?) at the bottom of the page. I sometimes use DuckDuckGo when I want more privacy from trackers; this usually also results in fewer ads but the tradeoff is that I find it a less powerful search engine.
"But let me say: If you are a signed-in-user at TA you would not be stalked with such advertising."
"Pam, to add to my post above: Even if I click on the link you gave, there is no advertising visible. Maybe it really depends on from where you are looking at?"
It must depend on where you are and perhaps Europe has different regulations. Interesting you can't see the ads at the link I gave because I am definitely signed in and yes, I see advertising. I stay signed in to TA on all my devices and I'd already posted some this morning so your statement about not being stalked with advertising for those that are signed in is not correct for someone in the US signed in on the US dotcom version of TA.
rei.beate You may want to participate in this thread https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/greece/calling-all-t-a-refugees
"is there any Administrator on the forum who can give answers?"
It seems like everyone here answered everything pretty darn well! Thanks to everyone for their support for new forum members here.
