To all who post asking for advice

I imagine the bulk of them throw their hands up in the air and decide to go to Orlando, Branson, or Cancun.

This post is ah-mazing. That is all.

Yes I am so curious about some of these too! Please come back!

Yes, acknowledge if our advices were helpful and let us know about your trip.

I do sometimes wonder what people decide or think they could get advice if they answered some follow up questions - but seriously don't expect people to do that most times. They come, ask a question and get what they need and move on. Most probably don't even realize that this forum has a lot of active participants that can see threads update and would want to know how things turn out.

Amen! This is more important than a thank you, IMO. I just want to know what they did or get some response instead of crickets. But I suppose once they’ve had 59 responses they just shut off notifications and never look back.

I really appreciate the posters who acknowledge my comments, either on the forum or in a PM.

But what I really like is the chance to relive a favorite memory of Europe. Part of me thinks I should be thanking them!

I think that the forum gives the opportunity to debate and discuss an itinerary, sights in a location, etc. It gives those of us who have favorite locations the chance to promote our besty. And as traylaparks notes, it whets our appetite for that next trip.

I've learned so much from this forum in the last eight months. It has helped me plan a trip that I hope will be relatively problem free, because of all the wonderful advice that you've given to others that I've benefited from. I leave for England, Wales, and maybe Paris (depending on the train strike) on May 27th and return on June 10th. I'll be sure to do a trip report to tell you how it went.

MaryC, a trip report would be great!

Ive never been accused of promoting my besty!!

Paul,

I definitely agree! Especially after spending time & effort to try and answer a poster's questions, it would sure be nice to know if the info was useful, and whether they need any more help. I don't care about getting a "thank you", but of course it's nice when that happens.

It also annoys me when posters ask a question, a bunch of forum members do their best to provide good advice, and then the poster deletes the whole thread. The information provided by forum members is often useful to other people as well, and deleting the post means that forum members will have to repeat their efforts when someone else asks the same question. While it's certainly a person's right to delete their posts, I still find it annoying.

Yup, a sore point for me too.

Often a particularly vague question will be asked than questions will be asked to put meat on the question to give a precise tailored answer and then nothing. oh well

I think that many come on here to get stroked and confirmed in one sort or another of loopy escapade. When they don't get that support and stroking they go elsewhere hoping for it there. oh well

I admit I agree with some of the criticism voiced here. Sometimes I just stop responding when I scroll down and don't see a second post from the OP.

What's annoyed me this week is a poster who has posted multiple threads (and not just a few) asking the same questions and responding on threads with follow-up questions that indicate they have not read the answers carefully . . . or maybe they just didn't like the answers. Anyway, when I see that name, I no longer read their threads.

I agree. For some reason this occurs often with me regarding advice about Mallorca. I usually reply with quite details posts with suggestions and advice and few exceptions there is never a reply or acknowledgement from the OP, I've even had this with PM's!

I'm not seeking praise but simply an acknowledgment that my half hour of typing hasn't gone to waste.

Admit it folks, all you are is human Siri's. Maybe its robots asking the questions and the humans provide answers.

Drive-by-posters probably won't be reading this thread sadly enough.

Thanks for your thoughts, folks. As a person who decries drive-by posters, I have returned to add or comment. Yes, the issue is that we all add our suggestions. Most of us are fond of specific destinations, and contribute answers in those areas - James E for Budapest, acraven for Eastern Europe, myself for Austria/Croatia/Serbia, others for their particular favorite. I remember back to 2011, when I was taking my 3 kids (if a person of 20+ is a kid) to Europe, and needed advice. I try to put myself in the place of other posters who are less experienced, and hope that I help them. I also hope that I contribute to Rick Steves. When we did go to Europe in 2011, my daughter labeled our Facebook blog "In Rick Steves we trust".

It would be nice if these question askers would come back to say nothing more than "thanks" if our comments helped. Or tell us we were completely wrong because things changed and tell us what changed so we can adjust our answers the next time the question is asked (or maybe convince us we need to visit the specific place again). Not looking for a minute by minute recap of their adventure, although that would be nice in some cases.

Also, this has been mentioned in other threads, don't delete your entire post and responses. Leaving them out here makes it easier for those who come along later and have the same question. I understand that sometimes you don't get the answer you hoped for and sometimes the responses can be anything but helpful, but except in extreme cases leaving the thread here is helpful.

I agree with the sentiment of the OP however in real world practice a questioner posting may be doing so a month or more before their trip. If they are gone only two weeks by the time they find out if any of the advice was good or bad the post is so old that nobody would come back to see the comment they left anyway.

I am in Europe for 4 months and I tend to post as I go along. Having been here many times before I don’t tend to post too many questions but more trip report and update-info sorts of things for which coming back is unnecessary. But when I do post a question I do thank the responders, but 1-to 4 months is a long time from when that original post was first written.

As an OP I always try to stay engaged with a post for a time based on if it generates interest and I make it a point to thank the responders. But it is understandable if many just need a quick answer and then go about the business of actually traveling.

I agree with the sentiment of the OP however in real world practice a
questioner posting may be doing so a month or more before their trip.
If they are gone only two weeks by the time they find out if any of
the advice was good or bad the post is so old that nobody would come
back to see the comment they left anyway.

I don't agree here. If advice is sought for a trip taking place a month or a year from now, I don't believe that the OP doesn't return at least within 24-48 hours later to see what advice is offered. People who have taken the time to respond ask follow-up questions only to HELP that person. There is no reason not to respond or just say thank you for any assistance offered.

Well what you say is true but that is a bit different issue than what I interpreted the OP to be saying. I interpreted his post to say that folks should come back and tell how the advice worked out. Not just to acknowledge the advice.

And my statement doesn’t preclude anyone from coming back and responding to comments made or questions posed, which I think is a good idea and should be done...but not one that keeps me up at night with my own posts.

It does help when people come back by and respond to questions. My biggest question is usually when are you going? My recommendation(s) will be completely different depending on whether you are there in winter, spring, summer or fall. Rome in November is great, Rome in July not so much.

Back in the early 90s - I think it was - when email first became mainstream in business and the workplace, I quickly noticed how people behaved differently, compared with their face-to-face persona.

More recently, inhabitants of the internet have started to attempt to use emoticons in a better way, to help convey the 'spirit' of their words, not just the literal meaning. It is amazing how often words are misinterpreted in the absence of some clue to the person's intent or context, especially when different nationalities are involved.

But getting back to the OP's issue, I agree that drive-by enquirers who subsequently vanish can be annoying and this is another facet to the internet and it's new (or lack of) social etiquette. I bet the folks we're talking about, if they asked a colleague at work for a advice, would be sure to thank them, yet on the internet and dealing with strangers, they seem to lose their manners. I don't think they can all be horrid people and I suspect I might be guilty of this myself, though I can't recall. Perhaps it's just that we all tend to think of the internet as simply a resource, like a dictionary or encyclopaedia, forgetting that it's actually people we're dealing with.

Especially after spending time & effort to try and answer a poster's questions, it would sure be nice to know if the info was useful, and whether they need any more help.

It seems that that happens a lot on the Trip Advisor forums. I'm not sure why.

I agree, very frustrating and also not helpful to those trying to research past posts. When it looks like it could be a drive-by poster, maybe I'll start ending with a comment like "Please let us know what you decided and how it worked out."

Now I'm nervous that when I was a novice traveler, perhaps I was a drive-by-poster! So here's a question, a few times I've responded to posts and I'm curious about what the poster decided or of the other comments and I've searched for the original post and have been unable to find it. Can the original poster clear the topic completely?

Jules, Yes. You can edit and delete your own answers. I sometimes edit mine to add info or correct my typos.
If it was your post, you can also edit the title and the original question; and, if you hit delete it deletes the whole post including all the answers.

I find this feature very annoying. I craft a reply, trying to answer the question and also help anybody else reading it, look back later to see other answers and the whole post is gone.
I don't know if some people think "OK, I have read the answers, I can now delete it", or they just accidentally click on "Delete" instead of "Edit", but either way it is annoying.

I really hope they remove this "feature"

Chris, Yes that is very frustrating because often I come across a post and find it and the comments helpful. I try to keep up on any responses and sometimes even plan to print off answers and then I go look for it and its gone!

My assessment is that the majority of the posts that are totally deleted the OP happens because the OP is not getting the answer they want or the support for what they think they want to do. And some are just rants that are not well received by the majority and when it becomes obvious what the real problem is, they just disappear. And there are the postings that I view as bragging and, of course, they are not interested in having a discussion.

And deleting any posting requires a double action so it is not by accident.