Reasons people don't do reviews

[TUGBrian]

Its as simple as possible as far as the poster is concerned.

simply type and post.

There is nothing more for you to do.

Posts go into a queue for the review manager to post for a variety of reasons.

1. It prevents duplicates (we get these ALOT)

2. It allows review managers to adjust formatting and spelling errors.

3. it attempts to ensure the review goes to the right resort (obviously this is not perfect as we are at the mercy of assuming the resort someone puts into the form..is the correct resort. And if no resort is put in...then we have to guess which resort its for as some reviews do not make this obvious).

It would cause far more work to have the system open and then have to go back in and correct mistakes etc...vs doing it this way.

I really dont see the validity of your argument...as from the members end...it is as simple as type and post. There is nothing more for you to do.

 

[AwayWeGo]

"Wrong Resort" Reviews ?

it attempts to ensure the review goes to the right resort (obviously this is not perfect as we are at the mercy of assuming the resort someone puts into the form..is the correct resort.

I'm wondering whether the "wrong resort" issue is a problem (not at TUG Reviews) at some of the other Internet-based timeshare resort informational sites -- e.g., RCI, also Trip Advisor Dot Com.

I got a TUG private message from somebody looking for reassurance that a resort where I own a week is OK -- reassurance needed after seeing somebody's review at Trip Advisor Dot Com saying the place was moldy, musty, stinking, & dirty. I assured the person asking that nothing could be farther from all my experience of that resort, which has been uniformly neat & tidy & clean & fresh every time we've been there.

Later, I clicked around on that web site & did find that the negative review ("musty," "moldy") -- 1 bad notice in a sea of positive reports from people whose views ranged from highly pleased to downright enthusiastic. It left me wondering whether the negative reviewer had ever been to that resort at all, or perhaps instead had a bad experience somewhere else & somehow managed to send in a review for the wrong resort.

Then in the reviews section of RCI's web site, I read 1 negative review of the same resort that referred to old units with furniture in bad repair even though new units were being built at the resort. What's odd about that is the fact that no new units have been built there for years. Using "contact us," I suggested to the RCI Grand Pro that possibly that was another instance of getting a wrong-resort review. Sheesh.

However that may be, I can only applaud any steps the TUG Grand Pro takes to assure that the reports placed in the TUG Reviews section actually are about the resorts they're supposed to be about.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[opusX]

I am not into an argument but it is not as simple as that. I have never made a post on the board that was lost and I have made a long review that was lost. From the above posts it seems more than a few are lost or not posted. I post other reviews on travel advisor and cruise critic and have never had a problem and the post is instant. Like I said I will not bother to write reviews here.

 

[TUGBrian]

and again I have pointed out the reasons why a review could be lost.

If you are so against the simple posting process...email your review directly to me at tug@tug2.net and I will post it for you to ensure it goes in.

now all you have to do is send an email...I dont know how to make it easier than that.

people do it all the time, I have no problem with it at all!

 

[Courts]

I am not into an argument but it is not as simple as that. I have never made a post on the board that was lost and I have made a long review that was lost. From the above posts it seems more than a few are lost or not posted. I post other reviews on travel advisor and cruise critic and have never had a problem and the post is instant. Like I said I will not bother to write reviews here.

I have a web site that allowed people to post things instantaneously and what a hassle to go through all the spam. I have since made much of the posting reviewable by me instead of instantaneous.

I know a fellow who shut his site down because he could not constantly watch for spammers. The spammers literally made a mess of a site that was very useful.


PS: The moderators are very busy with spammers on the BBS, I'm sure.

.

 

[opusX]

Again I am not into arguing. OP asked for reasons people don't post reviews. My opinion is there is a problem in posting. Some get lost or whatever.

Admin has as much as admitted there is a problem when asking you to save your review in case we don't get it. Why don't you get it? Some problem I am sure.
I am sure that TUG members take thousands of timeshare trips each year but for some reason only a small percentage of the resorts get reviewed. Maybe people are just too worn out to write, maybe others wrote and they never got posted, maybe they were edited, I sure don't know why except in my case it never was posted, so it apparently got lost in cyber space.
My review was on a big property in Punta Cana that did not have a review in the past year or so and as far as I know still doesn't.
All I am doing is giving my opinion of a suggestion to get more reviews. Obviously help is needed somewhere along the line to get members to write more reviews and I thought you might want to here suggestions but obviously you don't.

 

[TUGBrian]

I understand your frustration, however again I do not see how we can make this any easier for you without causing even more problems on our end.

You fill out a single form...and click submit. It doesnt get much more simple than this IMO.

The "warning" you speak of is due to people having timeout errors on the webiste when writing very long reviews...this is an issue with the web browser/web server itself...not a problem with the review form or process. not because we expect the review to not be submitted...thats ridiculous.

You receive both an instant on screen notification...as well as an email notification if the review was submitted successfully. If you do not receive either of these items...then something did not get filled out properly in the review submission form.

Its one form...one screen...please explain how I can make this any easier and I will happily do so...simply complaining that your had one poor experience with it and not actually telling me what went wrong is not helpful in the least.

"my opinion is that there is a problem"...is not a suggestion...its a complaint.

What specific issue did you have a problem with?

for me...the main issue was the lack of an OBVIOUS error message when submitting a review and failing to fill out all required fields. We have corrected this and you will now see GIANT PRINT at the top of the review if there is an error during submission.

I also offer you the ability to simply email me the review if you dont like the submission process or feel it is too difficult or confusing...and I will post it for you.

I am bending over backwards to satisfy issues that members have...it just seems like at times it is impossible to make some of you happy.

 

[AwayWeGo]

Suspenders & A Belt.

One time when a TUG review I had spent some considerable time writing seemed to be balky in the Internet transmission process -- causing me to wonder whether it actually went through -- I re-sent it via E-Mail, just to erase any doubt about whether it was received.

In due time -- i.e., a day or 2 -- it showed up in the TUG Reviews section, so 1 way or another the system worked.

-- Alan Cole, McLean (Fairfax County), Virginia, USA.​

 

[opusX]

So tell me what does Admin think is the reason for so few reviews?

 

[TUGBrian]

where exactly do you see anything that indicates there is a problem with the number of reviews?

We have thousands of reviews for thousands of resorts. In fact since offering the membership/ad bonus for them...submissions have increased substantially.

Still waiting on you to point out exactly what the problem is that you have with the current review submission system that makes the process too difficult for you.

If I do not know what you feel is wrong...I cannot hope to fix it. Your main complaint seems to be that you dont see your review instantly after submitting it.

The amount of time it takes between you submitting a review...and it getting posted is not a "difficulty" on your part as far as I am concerned. Nor do I see how changing it so that reviews are posted instantly somehow makes this process easier for the members.

 

[lengnuy]

I think the reason there are less reviews is simply due to people not submitting them because they don't have the time, inclination, or motivation for various reasons. I don't think that it has anything to do with the actual process of submission, which is pretty standard, and IMO, works really well. Thanks for all the hard work!

 

[TUGBrian]

I guess I still dont see this "less reviews" issue?

in fact since we implemented the bonus for reviews...submissions have nearly doubled.

 

[teachingmyown]

Three topics in one thread?

I see at least three different topics here...

1) Is the process for posting reviews on TUG too difficult for the average TUG member to be expected to deal with?

Well, that calls for a subjective opinion. Obviously some think it is and others think it isn't. I happen to be one of the ones who fall into the second category but without concrete definitions of what constitutes "too difficult" and "average TUG member" then who can really say?

2) (Why) Are there so few new reviews?

Again, that calls into question "how many are too few"? There are 17 separate "areas" that resorts are divided into by location on the Reviews page. Within those areas, there are anywhere from 5 to 31 sub areas and each sub area has the potential to cover multiple resorts. If one were to equally spread out the number of Tuggers over ALL the resorts we have in the database and then every single one of them went on vacation in July and wrote a review which was posted in August I doubt that we'd see more than 1 or 2 new reviews per resort. (Just my opinion here as I don't have access to actual numbers) And then everyone would have to go on vacation again to a different resort and write a new review on that resort just six months later for us to get another 1 or 2 new reviews for each of the resorts in the database.

I guess my point is that an awful lot of new reviews can look like very few once they are spread out over the vast range of resorts we have to choose from. I checked the Florida reviews before starting this post. At that time (may have changed by now) there were 73 resorts with new reviews posted in the last 6 months, and some had multiple new reviews. Even if Florida gets the lion's share, that's a lot imo.

And finally, the third question, which actually was the first question...
What are the reasons people don't do reviews?

I can't speak for everyone else but here are mine:
* Too much other stuff demanding to be done since I've been gone a week
* I feel like everything has already been said by the umpteen other people who reviewed the same property in the last 3 months (I tend to go to popular places)
* I intend to, but procrastinate, still basking in the "feel" of vacation
* I have so much to say and don't know where to begin or want to wait until I "have time" to sit down and do a "good" job
* I don't like people posting back advice to others to disregard my review because their opinion is that I'm wrong. :ignore: (Yes, it happened, but it was long ago and I've moved on)

This is not to say that I don't write reviews. I do. I just don't do them every single time I go somewhere. I'm actually better now than I used to be.

 

[SciTchr]

You motivated me...

to post 2 reviews of our recent trips. I had good intentions while at Pacific Shores to share how wonderful it was, but just forgot about it when I returned home. I think people just get busy. Anyway, thanks for the reminder.

 

[geoand]

I wrote a long detailed review. Sent it in and it was never posted. Why bother?

Sorry that you wrote a long review and it didn't get posted. In answer to your question as to Why bother - it benefits the tug members.

Do I post reviews? Yes, but only on those resorts that have few, or old, or I have different view, etc. The reviews are not about me but about whether or not some other member of TUG would benefit from it. Have I had a review not posted? Yes, but it was to the wrong coordinator who happened to be on long vacation. When I sent it to correct coordinator, it was posted immediately.

 

[TUGBrian]

Id also like to point out....that the old process of simply emailing review managers and having them post reviews is certainly still an option...but the review submission page creates the review within TUG itself...and it sits there until the appropriate review manager publishes it on the site.

Review managers do not pick and choose what to post...nor do they edit posts in any way other than for formatting and or spelling errors.

Your review will always be posted as you submit it (minus said items above if applicable).

It has been many years since the old days of you emailing a review...and the review manager having to go in and edit the actual review page itself to append the review to it.

Id say a very good percentage of reviews are not linked properly to the correct resort...and this is one of the main reasons reviews are not published instantly. Gone are the days of having a few dozen or even a few hundred resorts and reviews.

We have thousands of resorts...with many thousands of reviews...it would be impossible to maintain the integrity of the data if it were to be inserted unchecked by everyone.

Sure the occasional review goes into the wrong place...but thats even WITH these processes in place. It would be far worse if reviews were submitted as is 100% of the time.