To think Tripadvisor forum “experts” are a very particular breed?

[EdinaMonsoon]

A few months ago I moved to a popular tourist destination. I have been visiting this place for many years & finally bought a house & now live here permanently. Out of sheer curiosity I have been perusing the Tripadvisor forums for this particular place, having never really bothered before, & am somewhat bemused. Someone will ask a question. The response is either to entirely belittle the OP (eg why do you need to spend XXX when X would suffice? Or…why is it necessary for you to stay in X place? Why not stay in [insert preferred village/accommodation of respondent which is usually nothing like the one OP has asked about & in an entirely different location].

I have also found that where I have responded my views are often undermined/argued with eg “OP: Is XXX busy at the moment ?” My response: “No, I live 2 minutes walk from there. It’s quiet & good time to visit”. Meanwhile “Sunluvver 97” from Northampton chips in “well I was there last month & it was hell. Ignore Edina & AVOID!!!.”

Contributers also seem bizarrely irate & often downright rude towards anyone who dares to post a question at all or anyone who contradicts their “expert” advice. Which begs the question “WTAF do you think the forum is for, if not for asking questions about a particular destination?” And also…hello! You’re under no obligation to either read or respond to said questions - unless of course you are actually in the employ of Tripadvisor. I include myself in this & have decided to avoid the forum going forward as it’s not the jolly, happy exchange of advice I thought it would be!

I’ve had this experience op - I had a very weirdly cross response in the USA road trip forum when we were planning a holiday a few years ago. They seemed to take it as a personal insult that we’d not allocated enough time at a particular destination, or that we didn’t know certain information (that you literally wouldn’t know unless you were a local).

See also some if the moneysavingexpert forums and any diy forum (they will literally never admit that you should call an expert - you could have had a wall blown off your house and they’d still go ‘WHY WOULD YOU WASTE MONEY WHEN YOU CAN GET SOME BRICKS AND MORTAR FROM SCREWFIX AND HAVE A GO YOURSELF’?!

I asked the Brighton experts for restaurant recommendations as I had to book a meal with someone I had never met previously, was not able to check their food preferences and would appreciate quite a lively atmosphere so there were things to chat about.
I was basically accused of being an anti-social, control freak! Very strange keyboard warriors. Lesson learnt.

@MindatWork @Peakypolly It’s so weird, isn’t it?! Antisocial keyboard warriors is spot on. I can’t get my head around why they bother to be on there responding if they’re so offended by the perceived ignorance of others?. It’s literally an advice forum! If people knew the answer they wouldn’t be posting!

DH loves to read Trip Advisor out loud in a variety of pompous voices.

It's quite fun.

Oh my god, yes! It is unbelievable. Have you ever looked at the Cornwall forum? It is policed by two blokes who trot out the same responses 'will you have a car?' 'Do check parking before you book' and who basically bully anyone who writes anything they disagree with.

For example I suggested the sleeper train to someone. This was the crime of the century as it DOESNT RUN ON A SATURDAY!!! The vitriolic response I got was awful, totally disproportionate.

It's interesting psychology I suppose- they feel the have power over this tiny kingdom.

I like review sites, both for research and also some of the craziness, but the forums are usually crap for the reason you mention. Thin skinned self-appointed experts. I used to use a site called VirtualTourist to record holiday photos, reviews and so on.

The forums were dominated by a clique of fawned-over experts - there was one woman who had to be the first to respond to any query about Italy, usually just to share something she’d googled. I once responded to a ‘worst holiday’ thread to say my worst was a trip to Sicily. I received a deluge of outraged comments like “well, I suppose if you hate art, great food and fantastic architecture, then no, you wouldn’t like it!”, “stick to Dubai next time” and “Sicily is the best place I’ve ever been to! This isn’t true!”

Reviews from the in-gang were also much-liked and shared so they’d be at the top of any search - despite a lot being things like a snapshot of a menu with the words “didn’t go here, but it looked good” or regurgitating facts out of a guidebook. “Amazing tip, Klaus! Keep it up!”

Haha, we do this too.

Loved the cafe, can't remember where it was, who had a chalkboard outside:

"Come on in and try the worst porridge that some woman on Tripadvisor has ever had in her LIFE"

Its a bit the same on here when anyone asks about a specific place. I post about the place I live, and try and answer questions, and the utter bollocks that people come out with about it ("all Italians do X, no Italian would do Y"- usually about food and weather) is quite funny. "Go in November, it'll be boiling" etc.

I've been a DE on Tripadvisor and that's not the experience on my little corner of the world's forum at all, but I have certainly seen it on others.

The DEs have their own forum too, to discuss DE stuff. If you thought AIBU was a snake pit...

Yes I've noticed this and also how they infiltrate other groups eg on Facebook. If anyone is on Barbados for Travellers you will know who I am talking about! This woman claims to know everything and has to jump in on every single thread. And if someone says something she disagrees with then omg! Once someone said what everyone else was thinking and it all kicked off