TA Refugee

Not sure what you are asking.

Are you referring to the bare-knuckle experience one finds on the Trip Advisor travel forum?

Transatlantic?

Travel Agent?

TripAdvisor?

Talent Aquisition?

Trading As?

Something else?

I'm with Robert. I'm sure it's about Trip Advisor. And CJean, surely you know that most people refer to TripAdvisor as TA here. I don't think it's any surprise that that's what it means. 😊

Don't ass u me.

It's obvious (to me anyway) it's about Trip Advisor. Bit rich anyone on here calling others out for acronyms (initialisms), considering we got BSE from Bury St Edmonds the other day :)

I’m with Joe and I’m not going to assume what a TripAdvisor refugee might mean either. More clarification on what question you are asking, please!

The obvious reading of this post is that MissMarley has left Tripadvisor forums and come over to Rick Steves. When she uses the term ‘refugee’ she means she has left an unpleasant environment in search of a better experience.

She is wondering if anyone else has done the same.

Does anyone who has ceased posting on Trip Advisor now post here?

That was how I read it. Is that an assumption? Not the most well formed question ever posted, but I've seen worse.

Gee and here I thought “refugee” was a person that was forced to leave their country because of a well founded fear of being harmed, seeking safety in another country. But then I seem to know less and less in our current environment.

Pay no attention to that riffraff, MissMarleyGIrl --- welcome, welcome! You won't find as many longtime experts here as on Trip Advisor -- we're short on vets who do several trips a year, every year, because it's such a short hop from Britain, France, Norway etc. There's a oversuppply of N Americans who've mainly heard of Mykonos & Santorini (mainly because those are the only destinations that US travel agencies want to push). On the Other hand, on RS no inquiries about Hen Parties. and few about where can I be sure of seeing the Footie match.

Years ago, I lured my friend "Stanbr" over here, and he's shared his wisdom & amazing photos with his usual kindness and geniality. 2 others i first met on TA, have showed up, Alan from BRighton also chimes in with great tips, and dear Heimdall drops in to explain the joys of Antiparos. That French Fount of Knowledge, Jo-Lui, does a LOT of the heavy-lifting, in explaining transport. the European flight connections, and the ferry-driving-bus options in Greece for Yanks who are "public transit virgins" I'm hoping he gets some help, because he can't do it all!. We do hear from TommK5 of New Hampshire, about Pelops, and a lot from Valadelphia.

Although many newbies come to RS with no background whatever,, they come with open minds, and we cram them full of resources and homework, which they're good about undertaking. I'm gratified that several "newbies" have become serial travelers to Greece -- despite the $$$$$ plane fare from our Hemisphere!.. and some have become very helpful advisors as well. I feeel like a proud mama.

I'd love to see a bit more wit -- so I hope you'll stay, and lure over 123 Twinkletoes, maybe Philhellene to spice it up ... and others who have special insights, like Johnnie B for people who still insist on Mykonos. I think you'll find this forum a kinder, gentler one on tthe whole, and the webmaster keeps hands off. And YES -- the PM function is VERY good .. easier to you & keep tabs of messages -- and it's NOT gong away. So I' hope you'll brush off silly remarks & stick around. ... we can't let Venture Capital swallow up community everywhere!

Thanks for the welcome, Janet. I got great advice here when planning our trip to Spain quite a few years ago. I do agree that there is a difference in the granularity of the replies but at least you can get a reply! +1 for RS on that score! I look forward to being able to get advice and answers to questions about the trip I am planning for Sept. '26.

we can't let Venture Capital swallow up community everywhere!

@janet - has there been some big shakeup over at TA?

David that is indeed the case -- this article has some background -- https://www.phocuswire.com/tripadvisor-q3-2025-earnings Its the sad sad story In the US, and creeping forward elsewhere. Venture capital firms spot an "undervalued" enterprise, buy up a big percentage, and try to suck up all available profits to repay their investors. In the case of a Travel-advice (and tours) firm, this means focussing more on Tours & services than advice -- and cutting staffing costs by using AI to monitor member forums. First, the Private Message function was suddenly ended completely with no explanation. Then an anonymous (and unreachable) robotic monitor removes contributions, and even the original question with some hogwash sentence like "does not meet the standards of the Trip Advisor Community". Also, .. The Italy & Greece forums seem to be most affected... perhaps because the mainstay contributors not only offer advice, but opinions.

In the US, when helpful governmental functions, week after week, are being eliminated for no sensible reason, this kind of behind-the-scenes maneuvering is unsettling to say the least. Here at RS, we can only rely on what seem to be the longstanding principles and integrity, and (dare I say it) idealism of Mr Steves himself. Long may he wave!

Margie the term refugee is being used metaphorically here. I felt that usage was obvious and it’s interesting that others don’t read it that way. Maybe a cross culture issue.

Helen, that's the way I read it as well. I knew exactly what she was referring to as soon as she said it.

It's the same thing that happened with Chowhound, which was a wonderful site devoted to food and cooking and restaurants. It was taken over, and hordes of long-time devotees left. It's nothing but a shadow of its former self now.

Since I am/was a regular poster on TA (Trip Adviser) and know the OP from that website I fully understand what she meant.

I go by another avatar on TA but I won't reveal who that is but I will say that TA has become unfrendly toward its members.

It's about the company and its profits. They have cut personnel and are relying mostly on AI (ask Ollie) to answer questions and/or give advice rather than trusted members.

They no longer allow personal messages between members and are constantly removing "inappropriate" posts for no reason and/or closing threads and give no reason why except "inappropriate"

I'm assuming they are using AI to "watch" the forum and using algorithms to remove anything that may have a bad word, phrase, criticism of TA, etc.

Very poor treatment of long-time members who always got excellent advice about a trip rather than relying on some anonymous AI that may or may not be trying to recommend something that most people don't want.

Anyway I'll be here regularly as I usually am and will still be on TA but not sure for how long.

Thanks to Rick Steves website!

You betcha, Tommy .... and I hope to see more & more TA "regulars" discover this forum. We'll benefit from the broader range of experiences -- and maybe they will also. I myself, since I began visiting Greece 26 years ago and developed a happy addiiction have been on 4 travel forums ... and thru the years have found enduring friendships, both online and in some happy instances, also in person. On this Greece forum, we're united in our love for this remarkable (and quirky) country, its history, customs, food, people, landscape and more. It's made me a better and happier person to have these forum connections, and we must not let profiteering and AI take this opportunity. Mr Steves, please keep your ideals.

I use both forums as well (hoping TA can rally), and both serve their purpose. I like more big picture topics (hence my penchant here to encourage people to consider the mainland), and have less enthusiasm for answering questions that google would answer better, but I mostly hang out to learn from the really generous regulars here.
So, welcome missmarley!

Hi Missmarleygirl. I’ve followed in your wake and will be posting here in future too. I think I can recognise some regular TA contributors who are already members and look forward to becoming part of this travel community.

123TT,
I honestly think their goal is to close the forums through attrition. It may take some time, but eventually people will get tired of wasting their time... A slow, but inevitable, demise.

You are all welcome! I have been posting on and off (mostly off) at Trip Advisor for almost 20 years, and it makes me sad that this is happening. But we're happy to have you here!

yay, twinkletoes is here!. We sometimes get Brotherlee about Santorini, which we always appreciate, since SO many from the Western Hemisphere have it on their Must List, and although he & I differ on hotel locations, I defer to his amazing expertise on every aspect of Santorini visits, at both modest and ultraluxurious levels.

Well, I am sadden to hear about TA descending further into encrappification - IMHO they have been going down that road for a long, long time. On one hand, it's a wonderful resource, incredibly valuable, and like no other (sure, the signal-to-noise ratio was sometimes low, but where else you gonna go for questions about Eswatini or Sakhalin?). But from it's earliest days, all the rampant over- commercialization, all the annoying pop-ups, all the incessant control and overwhelming, heavy-handed "management" of users and user content was something I struggled with.

Truth be told, I was apparently banned there years ago. I had no idea what transgression I committed (I probably offered an opinion that was unpopular or ran against someone's perceived business interest). I didn't appreciate that, and I tried to rectify it, but was never able to reach a human to get a response. This was 5-10 years ago, long before so-called "AI" blew up in our consciousness. I could find no moderator, no human staff at all, who could or would respond to my emailed or posted questions. I tried creating a new account to post my question about why my previous account had been closed, and every new account was immediately shut down. All searches for a human contact went circular with nothing but finger-pointing and dead ends. It was Kafkaesque: your account was closed, we won't tell you why, you can't ask us why, you can't open a new account, just a technical brick wall. OK, fine, Be That Way. I gave up for a while.

I'm pretty savvy technically, have worked in IT for decades, created and hosted my own (non-travel) domain-specific forums, and managed online communities for a large Fortune 100 company for years, so I know my way around online stuff. And I can be persistent (OK, stubborn). One day I needed to do some research on pretty obscure places, and decided to try to re-engage TA. I set up a VPN, approached carefully, set up a new account, and was successful. I've been extremely careful (walking on eggshells) there but have used TA occasionally and lightly for the past couple years, with no troubles. But it's obvious that the Heavy Hand of TA is still Being That Way.

I can easily imagine that some for-profit entity "discovering" TA, quickly recognizing it's potential, but also quickly balking at letting it run in its longstanding format (just look at it's user-facing structure...). It would take an army of humans to moderate it (something that all tech companies abhor - their primary goal seems to be to shed labor, but that's just business, folks). I can easily imagine that "leadership" would simply throw some algorithms at it and let it bleed out, then repurpose it without a second thought.

If there is an exodus coming from TA, that may be a mixed blessing. It'll be good to gain more savvy travel insights here, but (depending on just how much of an exodus it is) managing the load may become a challenge. In any case, welcome to those who arrive looking to make positive contributions, as we who came before did, as most refugees always do...

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

(with apologies to Emma Lazarus, and RSE staff, especially our moderators)

Thanks for the welcome, folks. I won’t respond to your posts individually (would take quite some time!) but recognised you immediately, Jan.

Perhaps you can help me with an initial hiccup I’ve encountered here, please. How do you know when another comment has followed yours on a thread? (With trip advisor you tick a box to be kept informed and then receive an email advising of a response).

I thought no-one had commented after me on this thread, hence a late response (apologies!). I did tick a couple of boxes about notifications when signing up and thought I’d got that element covered but apparently not. Any help you can give would be very much appreciated. TIA.

Twinkletoes, one very annoying feature of this forum -- and I don't know why they don't change it, it would not be a biggie in reprogramming -- is that when you click to respond on a thread, you can ONLY see the original posting. Thus, you must open a 2nd screen to see the prvious postings. Grrrr. I've begged for change, with no luck.
Also, there is a maximum length on a given post... but that's not so awful, does remind us to stick to the subject.
One Good thing, there's no algorithm here that I know of, which would whack you if you stray slightly off-topic. sometimes in answering a query, i'm reminded of a funny incident at that location... and my anecdote doesn't trigger an A-I delete!

Twinkletoes, you can see every post you have participated in under your Travel Forum account page, there is a history section.

“Perhaps you can help me with an initial hiccup I’ve encountered here, please. How do you know when another comment has followed yours on a thread? (With trip advisor you tick a box to be kept informed and then receive an email advising of a response).”

The only person that gets notified of new posts is the OP. There is no way to be notified of activity on a thread as on TA.

Welcome to the new posters! Do remember that Rick provides the discussion forum as a side to the Rick Steves Europe tour business. It’s a different model from TA, including the “old” TA and the “really old” TA, lol. He doesn’t make money off the forum, no ads etc.

I do post both here and TA but my main TA forum is a US National Park so a different audience.

Thank you for your replies. I can see that, in some respects, this site is less user-friendly than t.a. Like now, I’d really like to look back (without leaving this box behind) on one of your posts in case I’ve misinterpreted it because I’m still not clear as to how I’m alerted to a new post having been added to a thread I’m currently active on (I mean without having to check in frequently and look to see if there’s anything additional been said). Sorry if I am not explaining myself too well.

I’m going to return here later to see if there’s been a response from anyone but I’m struggling to believe there isn’t something in the system I’m missing. Goes with the territory I’m afraid 👵!

Apologies. When I wrote my last post, I was messing about with trying to get my wording right (and especially, intelligible) that Pam must have posted in between times and I failed to read her response explaining that only the OP gets tipped off when a thread gets added to, so thank you Pam for putting my mind at rest that I wasn’t missing the obvious. Hopefully, familiarity will iron out any early navigational difficulties I encounter.

@Pam, Just curious, are you seeing the same level of meddling on your preferred TA forums that the Greece TA forum is experiencing? It seems to wax and wane...Maybe some preset cleansing schedule? Haven't paid close enough attention to know if there is a rhyme or reason to it...
Agreed... it would be nice to be able to see the previous posts while replying without having to open another window.

Another issue that should be fixed is that when someone posts a link to say their photos you leave Steves web page then go to the link.

You have to click the return arrow to get back to Steves.

On TA when you click on another link you get another page while TA is still in it's original window..

Not a big issue but would be nice if it could be fixed.

I've never had any of my threads/posts removed for no reason like TA has been doing lately.

I'll take Steves website for being more member friendly and hopefully more TA more migrate over to here.

I just noticed that the original post has been altered with this:

Anyone else?
Report
Bookmark this Topic

What's that all about?

The original post has NOT been altered.

If you are signed in to the forums, you will see "Report" under every single post. You, as a forum member, can report the post to the RS webmaster if you feel the post has violated community guidelines.

If you are not signed in, you will not see the report or bookmark links.

This site is extremely user friendly and welcoming. Take the time to read the "rules" and you should have few issues.

OK, I see that now.

That's on me!

Like now, I’d really like to look back (without leaving this box behind)

I usually duplicate the tab with the thread in my browser and then hit reply on the new copy when replying to a thread.

"@Pam, Just curious, are you seeing the same level of meddling on your preferred TA forums that the Greece TA forum is experiencing?"

No, but traffic has slowed WAY WAY WAY down on the Yellowstone/Wyoming forum since pre-Covid or even during Covid because there were lots of park visits during 2020. There is a proliferation of FB sites related to Yellowstone/visiting Yellowstone/etc so I think many people go there for advice. I used to try and follow some of them but there is seriously so much really, really terrible advice and nastiness on them that for my own sanity I just stick to TA. I also visit the Paris forum regularly and do not see meddling on there either. But also, I've noted a drop in traffic on there as well.

"I usually duplicate the tab with the thread in my browser and then hit reply on the new copy when replying to a thread."

I also suggest to the newbies, that when you hit the "add reply" button that you open that in a separate window then you can easily go back and forth thru the whole thread if you have a few posters to address. On my MAC that is Shift+Command+Touchpad. I think it was just a right click on my Windows-based system but my brain has struggled hard to forget that, hahaha.

Also know that on this forum you can edit without a dumb 5 minute time limit including the OP and OP title.

I agree with JeanM and feel this is more user-friendly than TA. There is more personal moderation and an overall nicer attitude most of the time.

I also suggest to the newbies, that when you hit the "add reply" button that you open that in a separate window then you can easily go back and forth thru the whole thread

It ends up I usually start replying to a thread, remember that there's something I want to quote or read again, duplicate the tab with the reply already started and go back to the thread in that new tab.

That sounded a bit complicated to explain first time though :)

I’m a TA regular, or I was, for many years so I guess I’m a refugee too but before that I was a LP refugee. I hate that TA removed the private message option. It’s really changed for the worse over the last year. Boy do I miss the lonely planet forum. I also use Fodor’s for research

The Rick Steves forum is gold!

With that said, as AI continues to consume, summarize, plagiarize and hallucinate while being relentlessly pushed by every tech giant on the planet, one has to wonder if the days of any and all forums are numbered. As for Trip Advisor, well, it hallucinated too!

Happy travels!

Well said David! I love this place.