Thanks, Rick, for no ads

Yes, it's a refreshing privilege

ah, it's so peaceful .....

Yes, that is a great thing about this site.

You make an excellent point !!!

Thank you Rick !!

One of the reasons I spend so much more time here than elsewhere.

I never really thought about it, but now that I am I’ll express my appreciation as well.

Ditto

If you send your comments to the company using a button below or to rick@ricksteves.com the staffers will see it.

They don't tend to hang around here - an anarchic group of fellow travellers gently guided by a benevolent Webmaster - so comments to the company will be appreciated I am sure.

I agree, Dave. It’s very nice to come here without being bombarded by marketing. I know everyone here appreciates it as do I

It is nice.

Of course, in a very real sense, this entire website is an ad for Rick Steves' tours, guidebooks, and merchandise. Tour providers rarely have ads on their sites. They use their sites to draw traffic to look into their tours.

The best thing about this site is the wealth of free information (including this forum) that has so much value for people even if they're not buying anything or signing up for a tour. I've never taken a RS tour, but I have bought his guidebooks and other merchandise from his retail store near Seattle when I lived there. I'd guess this site is effective in generating revenue for the company.

@Lane-so true. When I started on this forum 6 years ago, I kept reading how much people loved their RS tour. So, guess what? We signed up for one! The Greece tour back in 2019.

Yes!!! Yea!! I get so sick of the flashing ads on TA and it's so nice to come here! Thank you Dave for starting this nice thread!

"gently guided by a benevolent Webmaster" 👀

😇

Webmaster, hahahahaha!

I agree with all these comments. I love lots of clean white space!

‘I love lots of clean white space’

Me too, Carroll!! I used to frequent Fodors Forum some years ago and it was really helpful in my early solo travels. I gradually shifted to here when I started to combine RS tours with solo travel. I’m very surprised how much more traffic this forum has in comparison. And very helpful without any ads.
Thanks, benevolent webmaster 😉.

I echo the comments, esp to the benevolent Webmaster. He/she/they have cut off discussions that were going waaaay outside the bounds of travel or the OPs questions without being nasty about it. I also appreciate the lack of ads-pop into CruiseCritic, TA, Youtube and others -the pop ups really ruin the experience.

As a writing journalist for 32 years, I regard advertising as the bane of my existence. I choose Rick as my travel guide for numerous reasons, one of which is the lack of advertising craziness.

And since we all appreciate how RS runs his forum, remember to "remind" posters that many of their questions can be answered quickly in the RS guide they should already have in their possession. That's how RS gets his shekels, his moolah, his dinero.