"Place Comment" intrusion.

G'day Allan, Most would agree but without those annoying posts, the forum wouldn't move at all. It's certainly different to what it was 20 years ago .

Hi Allan,

There has been a shift in policy.

Until recently Place Comments were hidden by mods so they were only visible for a short time. Not long ago David and Michelle decided that there was benefit in leaving the info they contained visible to travellers, so that's what we do.

Cheers

I agree - pointless to me but I can see that they may be of interest to others - remove from the main forum search that currently lists new posts and put these "Place Comment" threads in a separate section that you have to deliberately go to rather than having them come up in the basic search.

Allan,
V7 of Traveller encourages users to participate more in keeping the Places database up to date. As a Place admin, I think I see more activity in Places since the release of V7- that may have something to do with it.

Maybe with Covid-closed borders re-opening people are on the move again - another contributing factor, maybe?

Cheers

Think it might be a good idea to have your attention drawn to any correction on a mapping system.
Several years ago heading West to WA I was looking out for the Big Gala at Kimba. My Nav put it on the right hand side not the left and by the time I realized the mistake I was in Wudinna.
Got it on the way back though.
Dave.

I too find them to be 'clutter' in the forum.

Perhaps a single thread entitled "place updates' & made 'sticky' could save the clutter?

Good to encourage updates, just think there may be a better way to do it. Pretty Please. ;)

.
My point is this..........

Look at the image below. There are site sections for Products, Destinations and Community, each with sub-sections. Traveller and Places are each in their own sections just as Forum is in the Community section.
The Forum is described as a community page of "exchange of opinions, comments, and ideas" primarily of 4WD-ing. We are not permitted to place Blogs or advertising expressions in Forum threads, they have their place elsewhere, but of late the Forum page is becoming overshadowed as a Help Page for the Traveller app and now posts of "Places" editing are appearing frequently. I understand that "Traveller" is a valuable product but it may be unwise for it to become pervasive.
The "Camp Fire" is becoming crowded.

Im sure Michelle will explain why the place comments are appearing on the Forum but Im sure they have been appearing for a long time - they are just becoming common now as people use the comments more.

From my perspective as one who is passionate about the excellent source of reliable info we have here, my best guess is.....Place comments are a good reminder to site users that the site is live and the info in it can be updated by individuals using the site. There is a bigger picture with ExplorOz and the forum is an integral part of the communication of that bigger picture. It seems lots of places are being visited but havn't had a comment or updated info about them posted for some time. As for traveller - I'm sure the more people who know about this feature, the more up to date info we will have on places when we are using traveller...dont just put it on social media where it gets lost - put it here where it is preserved for all.

Having them appear on the forum also allows input from others who may have relevant info as well.

I guess I personally havn't really been concerned about them growing in numbers, just thought they were a function of a live website.

So is Forum admin going to address the issues raised in this thread?

Hello

One thing increasing the number of Places comments popping up on the forum is people reporting errors. If you spot an error in a place don't post a comment - use the Alert Admin function as shown below. They can then fix issue. That is what its for, (or just correct issue yourself using Traveller app etc if possible).



Cheers
Greg

Seeing that on my computer at least, new or updated threads fill less that a single page I personally don't see a problem with just scanning past any I'm not interested in then marking the page read. Could be because I may have been responsible for a couple of ''intrusions" and the way I'm working through deleting some of my Private Places and updating others there could be more coming.

I could get mildly upset though when looking at updated threads for further information but then find it was only updated by people deciding to have a chat with old friends and nothing to do with the subject at all. Wasted my time.

Surely there is a more appropriate place for such unrelated chat eg, emails, social media or dare I say it, a phone call? After all, isn't that the complaint being made here that there are more appropriate places for some subjects?

Signed: Grumpy Phil

Hi Allan and followers - I have not had time to address your question until now, but please refer to my latest post. Thread ID 143486

And copied here FYI:

When you want to post a comment you have 2 options - if you give a star rating this is stored as a review and the comment remains only within the app/places/treks/blogs/track logs page. If you don't give a star rating then our system assumes you want to engage in an open discussion with someone so is republished to our Forum as a "Comment". This is great if you have a question, or want to spark a conversation but if you don't want your comment to be posted to the Forum - make sure you give a star rating and it will remain in the app/relevant web pages only.

PS: this feature has always been the same when posting comments on Places, Treks, Track Logs, Blogs or Articles on the ExplorOz website and has been in the Traveller app the same way for the last 6 years. Forum moderators have previously made an effort to hide unnecessary comments appearing in the Forum that should have been posted as reviews but its not guaranteed.

TIP: when you see a post appear with a heading "Places Comment" or "Article Comment" and there is a a box at the top this links you to the original source where the person posted the comment. This helps understand the context in which the comment was given.