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Post by waterhazardjack on Dec 27, 2012 2:14:44 GMT
The stipulated reasons are a joke, that's for sure. Members with a long memory will probably agree that the content there was far more contentious in days gone by.
For example, the World of Sport (WoS) branch was allowed to run on for years after deteriorating into a foul-mouthed feud between a handful of so-called British Premiership Football 'fans' who abused anyone who dared post anything of a reasonable or objective nature on any sport, let alone soccer...
As far as I can see, the Western and Eastern European branches are effectively 'policed' by the hardcore of regulars like myself and others who 'report' abusive or commercial posts on our own initiative. Otherwise these malign contributions are frequently left on the board ad infinitum...
Like Kerouac alluded to above, TT is years beyond it's hey-day but it would be sad and unjust to see the old place allowed to wither and die because the BBC couldn't be bothered to moderate it, in the first place.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out but the leadership at the Corporation is so dysfunctional now that it wouldn't surprise me what happens, up to and including closure...
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 27, 2012 2:55:49 GMT
I just took a look to see if it's up and running, but it's not. There is, however, this update message:
"UPDATE 26th December 2012
Dear Thorn Tree User,
We're sorry but the Thorn Tree forum is temporarily closed as we've discovered instances of inappropriate language and themes. Until we're confident all rogue posts have been identified and appropriate action taken we feel we have no option but to temporarily close the forum as a precautionary measure.
We're actively working on this throughout the holiday period - please bear with us.
The Lonely Planet Team."
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Post by bjd on Dec 27, 2012 8:31:51 GMT
As Waterhazard Jack says, spammers were usually reported by regulars on W Europe. I have done it quite often. And the occasional non-spamming idiot that appeared and got nasty was usually discouraged, unless the whole thread was deleted.
I, for one, would be sorry if TT disappeared. But in today's paper, there is another scandal with the BBC's previous executive director getting a huge payout, so maybe they don't want to invest any more in LP. Although I'm not sure how much they have actually invested in it.
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Post by waterhazardjack on Dec 28, 2012 3:09:18 GMT
When or indeed if it does come back, it'll be interesting to see how they re-configure the site...
Hopefully it's not a case of re-signing in and starting again from scratch. The changeover from TT3 to TT4 was a clumsy process that disillusioned a lot of the 'true-blue' contributors who had made the place such a lively, entertaining and stimulating place. Re-casting the space as 'Year Zero' and forcing us all to start again from square one would only serve to antagonise another generation of dedicated parties...
Unless the current BBC leadership are the only ones not to recognise that Mayan prophecy as superstition and are due to emerge blinking into the light in a day or two to realise the error of their ways...
PS....almost forgot...good to see you here, bjd!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2012 6:45:42 GMT
I remember the last time, I lost about 3000 posts from my post count on the TT. However, I have gorwn up since then and no longer worry about the 'prestige' of having a high number of posts. ;D
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Post by bjd on Dec 28, 2012 8:00:06 GMT
Hi Jack! Glad to see you will exercise your humour here while TT is down.
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Post by Kimby on Dec 28, 2012 14:44:21 GMT
I remember the last time, I lost about 3000 posts from my post count on the TT. However, I have gorwn up since then and no longer worry about the 'prestige' of having a high number of posts. ;D The number of posts you have on here should be adequate to massage your ego, K2. Feeling thankful all over again that you and bixa started this forum when the other one (and TTR, too) went down the toilet.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 28, 2012 16:45:53 GMT
Hi Jack! Glad to see you will exercise your humour here while TT is down. Gawd ~~ saw that right under Kerouac's post & had a bizarre moment of thinking Henning was back!
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Post by htmb on Dec 28, 2012 18:15:13 GMT
Must have been a shock, bixa! I'm also thankful for this place. I went "visiting" to see what some of the neighbors were up to, and I like it here just fine
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Post by Deleted on Dec 28, 2012 19:17:35 GMT
Waterhazardjack is a really excellent poster on the TT, but I do hope that he will hang around here a bit.
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Post by waterhazardjack on Dec 29, 2012 3:22:04 GMT
Being irritated about 'losing' a large amount of posts from one's profile wasn't necessarily all about personal vanity. For anyone that ranged over a number of branches and consequently found it difficult to remember who-was-who, the post count helped to indicate the amount of dues paid by the member and therefore how much credence/respect/credibility that one might extend to the poster. Appreciate the kind words, Kerouac, but I feel my contributions to TT don't merit such kudos. Years ago, as Firehazard, I used to try and participate in many of the more cerebral, cultural and political posts that were common on TT3, for example, but regrettably as the years have gone by, I find myself 'maturing' into a bland purveyor of bus and train schedules, cheap sleeps and so-called 'insider tips' and 'off-the-beaten-track' destinations... But I do drop in to AnyPort every so often for a browse but have always felt a little intimidated by the higher quality of contribution than we're used to over on the hoary old Volkswagen that is TT... Alternatively, maybe I'm just too lazy these days...
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Post by htmb on Dec 29, 2012 3:27:36 GMT
Welcome, waterhazardjack, from one of the newest "regulars" here on AnyPort.
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Post by waterhazardjack on Dec 30, 2012 4:21:30 GMT
Thank you, htmb...
The latest codology from the BBC is that TT is closed due to paedophilia-related posts.
Indeed the only "paedophilia-related" posts I've seen on TT are those criticising and taking the BBC to task for their deficient and ineffectual stewardship of the crisis.
The idea that the forum was being used as conduit for perverts to pursue their agenda would be laughable, if it isn't so pathetic...
Truly, we live in sad times...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2012 13:33:34 GMT
Just in case anybody is wondering: still closed, of course.
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Post by Don Cuevas on Dec 31, 2012 14:52:18 GMT
So, what have you been doing instead while TT is closed?
We've been cooking and baking (and getting fatter); going to fiesta comidas, writing more blog posts and doing a bunch of photography.
Has the TT closure increased activity here? For me, APIAS and TT provide very different, both enjoyable experiences, but APIAS is much more intimate and personal. A real PLUS attraction here is the ability to embed images and videos. For me, it's a great place to post what would have been blog topics but without the overhead of blog frills.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 2, 2013 14:44:10 GMT
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Post by bjd on Jan 2, 2013 16:34:20 GMT
I never posted on or read YC, or WT for that matter, but this is another instance of a politically correct storm in a teapot. This all started because of a Bali-based writer doing an article for the NY Times? Since I read the IHT, I also read the travel articles from the NY Times. Extremely tame, talking exclusively about fancy bars and restaurants: "36 Hours in Munich" would be typical. So I can imagine that they would only want to deal with "family-friendly content". Although, I can't imagine any families other than those of extremely wealthy people going to the kinds of places they talk about anyway. They will end up killing it all -- getting rid of any humour, sarcasm and information.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 4, 2013 6:55:22 GMT
Hi, I realise I'm joining a bit late to this discussion... Surprised to see just a handful of TTers here. Did you see this board? thorntreerefuge.boards.net/
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 7:26:40 GMT
Hi, anshjain! Interesting to see that the "TTR" name has been revived. Normally, the BBC will be pouncing on any board using "Thorn Tree" in its name just like they did last time, threatening legal action for copyright infringement.
This board is one of the offshoots of that period. We try to keep it a bit more travel oriented than the simple chat boards.
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Post by bjd on Jan 4, 2013 8:18:58 GMT
Hi Ansh! I just had a look at that TTR board you posted a link to and it seems as uninteresting as the original TTR board that started after TT3 became TT4 or so). Even less so because it's just going around talking about some guy in Bali.
I find this Any Port board good because of the possibility of posting photographs -- it makes it quite different from TT. However, I admit that I miss a lot of the people on TT, even though I only posted on a few branches.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 4, 2013 9:24:53 GMT
Hi guys, I miss the people as well. The only reason I post (well, hoping for a fortunate result, I will use the present, rather than the past, tense) on the WE branch is because of the people; always nice to talk to- although I really don't have anything much to add there.
Cheers.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 14:28:13 GMT
Well, you are certainly welcome to post on the Europe board here.
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 4, 2013 15:39:40 GMT
Thanks .
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 4, 2013 17:09:54 GMT
New update:
QUOTE UPDATE 4th January 2013
Dear Thorn Tree User,
Thank you for your patience and understanding during the forum's temporary closure over the Christmas and New Year period. We're sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused you but we felt it was important that any inappropriate content was removed and that we could put in place some additional moderation to prevent certain types of language and themes appearing again on Thorn Tree.
We'll be reopening Thorn Tree branches over the coming month, beginning with a number of our destination related branches over the next few days.
On behalf of the entire team, we really appreciate your continued patience and hope you will continue to make the best use of Thorn Tree as a trusted travel resource.
The Lonely Planet Team.
UNQUOTE
Hope it's true.
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Post by bjd on Jan 4, 2013 17:44:14 GMT
Thanks, Ansh. I guess it's logical that they will open the destination branches first -- they can justify them more easily with their guidebook interests.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2013 17:50:05 GMT
It will also be an important test to see if people are determined to do "off-topic" posting anyway. I think we'll probably be seeing a number of deletions while people test the limits.
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Post by nautiker on Jan 5, 2013 9:20:37 GMT
hi there, first post here, so please bear with a newbie ;-)
limits have never been tested very much on WE, so I wonder how much (if at all) LP's new approach will show on that branch. I've been checking the web for news on TT occasioanlly during the past days and noticed that e.g. tripadvisor is almost fiercly patrolling its board for anything not destination related (i.e. deleting almost all threads on the LP closure) - if things turn like this, imo it will be difficult staying with thorntree. anyway, not looking forward to feeling like a call center agent ('your call might be listened in on in order to enhance service quality' - or whatever it sounds like where you live).
given the minimal maintenance and enhancements during the past years, I guess they'll stick to keeping this as low budget as possible (does anyone recall that approx. 3years ago TT had this huge special board where you could suggest and vote for changes/improvements? almost nil have been put into practice and almost all traces that such a section ever existed have been wiped...). I actually wonder whether they consider their board an asset or a necessary evil...
well, it has been both nice and a nuisance having a couple of days 'off', regards
nautiker
p.s. belated season's greetings!
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Post by anshjain97 on Jan 5, 2013 10:49:12 GMT
A happy new year to you too Nautiker, and nice to see you here. If the new announcement is to be believed, we may not have to wait too long to find out the effect of any changes, something I'm keen to find out as well.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2013 11:48:01 GMT
(does anyone recall that approx. 3years ago TT had this huge special board where you could suggest and vote for changes/improvements? almost nil have been put into practice and almost all traces that such a section ever existed have been wiped...). nautiker Yes, I remember that board well, because I made so many complaints and suggestions that I received a PM telling me to shut up. Happy new year to you, too, nautiker, and welcome aboard. Frankly, I think that LP might decide to phase out the Thorn Tree unless this upcoming 'reset' gets it to work again -- they saw how Trip Advisor left them in the dust in recent years in spite of (or because of?) its excess moderation. Fodor's had not really been a threat, though, and Frommer's has been laughable in its inactivity -- but I am keeping watch on it anyway since Google bought it. I assume that they have major plans to revamp before long or else it certainly was not worth buying. At least we are altruistic here, gaining no monetary benefit from anything.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2013 11:54:54 GMT
I did receive an email from "Andreas at LP" yesterday, but basically it was just a copy-paste of the latest update message.
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