In order to keep the Slow Travel Talk travel forums focused on travel topics, we're starting a new quarterly "Member Tidings & Mentions" thread in the Everything Else forum for Slow Traveler news such as achievements and media references.

This will be the place for such posts as:
Diva - I am in print!
Article about Gail Hecko
Assisi article with Letizia

We've changed the Slow Travel Talk forum posting rules to include the following:

quote:

DO NOT post messages congratulating members on personal or business achievements (including media mentions) in our travel forums. These will be deleted. Gold Star members can add these well wishes to our Member Tidings and Mentions discussion in the Everything Else forum."

Thank you,
The Moderators

Sounds like an excellent plan, mods!

Yes, I am glad to see this change.

Unlike the previous posters I do not think that this is a great idea.

While I like the notion of having all such announcements in a single area, I don't feel it should be restricted. One of the great joys of any community is the spontaneous outpouring of good wishes that comes with a significant accomplishment. This enhances the connections within the community and furthers the camaraderie. Not allowing this to happen or restricting this will further erode the sense of connectedness which once made slowtavel fun.

Guess we will have to agree to disagree .

I think this is a good idea, and one that I am sure was made after a lot of careful discussion.

Marcia

It seems we are entering into a new era for ST with many new dimensions and additions. I guess it comes with growth. But also it comes from the camaraderie and sense of personal friendships that have been developed over the years. I am thinking of the pleasure we take in accomplishments of people we know either personally or via the net. I also think we run into this with the recent promotions of charitable causes by ST friends whom many would like to support. However, I have a concern about the possible proliferation of requests and the potential for introducing causes that could be divisive and not advantageous to the spirit of ST. Maybe, if such activity is felt to be appropriate, it could have its own section, also.

And....maybe nobody shares this concern and then I'll let it go, too.

Jane, that issue is also being addressed by the Mods and IB. As we've said before, these policy decisions are not made lightly, but after a lot of evaluating what is in the best interests of SlowTrav.

I am not sure that I fully understand this new policy. I understand that we can no longer open a new congratulatory thread, but where is the line drawn?

Can acheivements be mentioned within an existing thread?

We have a recently posted announcement/congratulatory thread re Robert's blog - isn't that a personal achievement? (Robert it is a great blog - I am just trying to understand the rules here, not pick on you)

Are announcements that relate directly to travel acceptable?

I do understand the administrative conflicts that occur - a difficult job with tough decisions, but I also worry about the erosion of the sense of cummunity which makes Slow Travel such a special place.

Announcements of articles or blogs published on the website are of course an exception. We consider it no different than us notifying people of trip reports being published, or reviews, or travel notes.

Sheena, the best I can suggest is if you're unsure then ask a moderator or post in the "Members Tidings and Mentions" thread - there you know you can't go wrong. That's why it's there.

I know Amy mentioned this above but let me reiterate, this isn't a decision made lightly. We spent weeks working on this, trying to come up with a solution that was fair, supportive of our community, and yet left our travel forums, focused on travel. We appreciate others opinions, and if anyone would like to discuss this privately with a moderator, please feel free to contact any one of us.

I wasn't questioning the policy Kim; merely trying to understand it.

It seems counterproductive to me to have to explain the policy to each person privately.

I am really disappointed in your response. I thought this was a very open forum with censorship limited to politics, religion and inappropriate comments.

I guess I'm totally missing the point on this.

We're not censoring anything. You can still congratulate fellow members. We're just asking that these types of posts be contained to a designated thread in the Everything Else forum, and not in the Travel forums.

And we're not saying you have to contact a moderator to speak about it privately, we just said if you would like to, feel free.

After reading this through again and fully understanding it (maybe), I have another question. If there is to be a special section is there no way to have it available outside of the Gold Member Board. It is a shame that not everyone can see the accomplishments of the people on ST as seeing this info. proclaims the quality of the membership, plus, the information may be useful to more than those who spend time on the Gold Member boards.

I understand the time and effort put into these concerns by the moderators and IB. Questions are not meant as criticism or second guessing--just thoughts.

Strictly "social" topics have long been limited to the Everything Else and Food forums. These are both Gold Star only forums. So in that sense, this is no different, and no more limiting. If you aren't a Gold Star member, you aren't participating in these more community-oriented parts of ST, including the "kudos" forum.

quote:

We're not censoring anything. You can still congratulate fellow members. We're just asking that these types of posts be contained to a designated thread in the Everything Else forum, and not in the Travel forums.

This is my problem exactly. I don't believe that if we find a reference to Baur B and B in the New York Times we should only mention it in a private forum with restricted access. Frankly this makes no sense. When I return from Acqui Terme you can bet I'll be mentioning a few things all over the Italy forum. I don't see why my drivel is any different than a NY Times article. Frankly I would think the article would be of greater import.

When I look at the items that are already in the private, restricted 'thread' - three of them contain tibits which would be informative to travellers to Italy and other places. Restricting this to the a private forum when the information would be of benefit to travellers makes no sense.

quote:

Strictly "social" topics have long been limited to the Everything Else and Food forums. These are both Gold Star only forums. So in that sense, this is no different, and no more limiting. If you aren't a Gold Star member, you aren't participating in these more community-oriented parts of ST, including the "kudos" forum.

To suggest that an article about a travel experience in Assisi or an article listing 10 eco-friendly places to stay is 'social' merely because they mention a member of the slowtravel community is wrong. These articles contain information that would be of interest to the greater travel community.

Does this mean that accolades for ST can only be published on the GM Boards?

So--
If Jonathan wanted to just post about the 10 eco friendly places article, he could put it on "Everything about Travel" and start a new thread? But since he is congratulating Giulia in the post, it needs to go on the "kudos" (I like that term, Marian) thread in the EE forum???

It's a fine line...

jan

And how about someone not knowing me from the forums posting the article about 10 eco-friendly places to stay and someone else reading it and posting: "wow! Giulia's place is there!!"... it's an even finer line.....

as one of the people that placed one of the questionable posts......

I posted in the gold members section as I felt that since I have been told in the past that I cannot write about my cooking classes ( ok I have a paid ad on site too) that giving a link to an article which provides my ST friends and fellow gold members with free access to my monthy column.. with recipes would be ok.

I don't see the point I guess in putting in it's own category?

what has happened to ST?

Well I'm confused for 2 reasons.
1) In today's "Member Tidings", there is a post from Krista about the cooking class she will be teaching. Is that an achievement or is that promoting something commercial & therefore more suited to be in the 'For Sale/Wanted" board?

2) How do you draw the line between a posting with content that is purely congratulatory and non-travel - such as a member publishing a cookbook - and a posting that has lots of good travel content but which mentions an ST member's business? I think that's what is puzzling here: the value of travel info and making it available to others, Gold or not, and why would mentioning a member make it invalid? That's where I'd like some clarity.

Judy,

Your article was totally appropriate in my book. I think the rule applies to people posting in the TRAVEL forums which is much different. No bad there.

quote:

Originally posted by JDeQ:
When I return from Acqui Terme you can bet I'll be mentioning a few things all over the Italy forum. I don't see why my drivel is any different than a NY Times article.

Jerry, I just want to make it clear that you (or whoever) can write about Acqui Terme or any other place you visited, stayed at, ate at, etc. as much as you want.

If there is an article about Acqui Terme in the New York Times, post about the article. But if a member who has a business in Acqui Terme is mentioned in this article, offer up your congratulations to that member in the Member Tidings thread.

Diva, you can still post about your accomplishments here, but just in this thread. It will be better in the long run, as your thread won't get buried - it will remain active for a long time, and more people will see it. Just make sure to post every time there is a new article, so we know it is there.

I feel the need to chime in...
If I were a new traveler looking for info on a B&B in Omaha, and google sent me to slow travel- I would be glad to know that there seems to be a personal connection to that B&B.

If I found a 'congrats for your article in National Geographic' I might be more inclined to go out and buy the magazine and learn something new.

Is information for travelers not what this is all about? You can go to any number of sites to get statistics and facts. The community is what has always made Slow Travel unique. To limit Kudos to special golden members seems like y'all are cuttin' off your nose to spite your face. ~to put it in southernese

To assume that our congrats to another member is in some way promotional smacks of petty jealousy.