Originally Posted by
Moomba
How do feel about threads that simply links to blogs/sites?
Do you think the report should be hosted on FT?
Should a trip report contain a transport element or can they simply be a city or attraction report?
I think that this is a great idea
Moomba.
Recently I've found that there are a lot people that have been posting each section of a report in it's own thread. This really is not helpful, because it just fills up the first page, pushing 'combined' reports onto the 2nd page away from people that want to read them. In my opinion, posters should be encouraged to group related posts together into one thread.
With regards to linking to blogs, the content is not in question for me. Some great reports are actually hosted outside of FT. However, I don't really like the disconnect that the approach produces. I also don't like the idea that people won't post directly on FT because they want ad-revenue and to drive traffic to their blogs. That seems a little unfair to those of us that do post directly on FT.
I like the idea of adding '[LINK]' to thread titles where the actual report is hosted outside of FT rather than trying to force people to re-create the report on FT, if this is not seen as practical.
As part of a 'transport' based report, time on the ground should absolutely be encouraged. Part of the fun of reading the reports is not about the travel, but the very reason that people have taken the journey in the first place, to visit cities and attractions. I don't believe that a purely non-travel related report is right for this forum.
My suggestion is that there be a limit on the size of photos that can be posted, as happens on other blogs/forums. If this is unduly limiting on grounds of quality, then (as in some other blogs) a facility so that when you click on the photo you can see it at a larger size or higher resolution.
I think that this is a great idea. I always limit photos to a maximum width of 800px. Using code, it is very possible to link to a larger image by clicking on the smaller one.
It might be a good idea to post a short guide that explains how to write a trip report (the technicalities, not
what to write). I tend to write the report in Word, using FT markup and then I can post it directly into a new thread. I wrote a very short guide for a fellow FTer so that he could write his first report. I'd be happy to submit that as a starting point if desired.