Totally agree.

Completely agree. It's hard enough to write the trip report and if we post them on individual forums, we would need to edit and format each of them again after we are done. And if we want to make a change, we need to change it on every single site.

Not to mention if they host the entire TR on FT, the contributors will be allowing FT to print or duplicate their TR contents without notification or compensation (unlikely that this will happen but still a valid reasons for them not to do so)

http://www.flyertalk.com/help/rules.php#q73
Personally I haven't posted any trip reports on FT, but have done so on other forums. If I am forced to have the entire TR hosted on a forum, I wouldn't even consider posting it. Especially when FT doesn't provide photo hosting and I would have to pay for the bandwidth and hosting the photos myself.

I wonder how many of the ones here who have expressed they don't want to click another link to view the report are actually TR contributors (again, just a disclaimer, I am NOT a FT TR contributor). We should try to stand in those contributors' shoes too.

What I am against is someone who simply create a thread and post a link to their site. They should at least make an effort to write an intro and then add the link if they choose to host it on their own sites/blogs.

I have no preference for trip reports hosted elsewhere. I would rather through FT be able to read the report, then miss out all together on it.

I am not one for video reports and do enjoy detailed written reports over ones that are just photographs. Maybe I am old school.

I agree with Seat 2A. I get so peeved when I open a thread and find it is for an upcoming trip. I would prefer at least a decent portion of the trip reported then just saying you have an upcoming trip.

But I do love this forum and live some dreams through it.^^^

hahahahahahaaaa

Surprisingly, there are a lot of products around here that you can buy that do contain ham/pork (including actual ham for ham and cheese sandwiches)... But yeah, you're not going to find that many people roasting a pig in their garden (more beef, lamb and chicken I would say).

Thanks for the correction Seat 2A ^ ^

^

That really gets on my goat as well.

It seems to me like a bit of bragging is going on when they do that. Some don't even come back and post the flippin' report.

Let me add another +1 to that. But I'd also like to mention that I don't like when people include links to their other reports in the first paragraph. Let me read your report then decide at the end if I want to be linked to somewhere else. It's like with a book, you have your author bio and other works on the rear dust jacket, and I like it that way.

Just my personal feelings...

I much prefer TR's to be hosted on FT... I am not keen on being re-directed to another site to read stuff. I like the format of FT for reading reports.

I tend to only read reports that feature mainly on the travel getting too and from somewhere. Be it plane, sea or land, but the travel, planing and execution of said trip is what interest me. Oh, and hotels.

I have a strong preference for TRs to be posted on FT itself, and not a private blog. It is rare that I'll click through to a blog, unless it is from a well known FT identity like Lucky.

Some of my reasons:

History and archival. Whilst there's never any guarantee, there is a much greater likelihood that an FT TR will remain in some accessible form throughout time, those on personal blogs, despite the best intention at the time of posting, are at a far greater risk of vanishing due to changing interests, ISP/blog provider changes, and general neglect.

Formatting and style. There is some comfort in consistency, which makes it more readable.

Safety. I trust FT. I do not trust that an externally hosted blog will not be a host for malware or annoying ads or pop-ups.

But, most importantly, community. FT is not a blog, or a board. It is a community of like minded people, and posting a TR here contributes to the growth of that community.


Now, there are certainly good reasons why someone might prefer to post to their blog instead, and I certainly considered doing so with my TRs. But, in the end, I felt, and still feel, that belonging to the community means contributing to it, and keeping TRs on the board is one way of doing so.

^ Totally agree with this one, it's got to be one of the main reasons for hosting a TR on FT, giving back.

I too would like to see TR's here, rather than be directed to another site via a link.

Indeed.

I don't buy the argument from the Bloggers that posting ones report on several sites is far too time consuming. I suspect some people are using this as an excuse in order to direct traffic to their site.
The most time consuming part is actually compiling the report. Once you've done that on Word or similar then it's a simple copy and paste job. I've done this in the past when posting the same report on FT as well as on other sites.

First, I'd like to say that this is the finest forum on FT, and I am most appreciative of the hard work that goes into each and every TR, whether it's a photo report or a long, photo-free missive. This place is just a wonderful resource. ^

Add me to the list of folks who are irked by "previews" posted sometimes weeks or even months in advance of a given trip. I understand why people do this--to try and build anticipation for their report--but it serves the opposite purpose. Whenever I open a thread and am greeted by a message to the effect of, "Stay tuned--coming Summer 2012!," I give it a big and move on, most likely never to return to the thread. Sorry, but as much as I love a good TR, I'm not going to add yours to my calendar half a year in advance. It just doesn't work that way, and I'd be happy to see mods begin deleting these "threads to nowhere."

As for links to external blogs, I'm not completely against it, though I do prefer to read reports on FT itself. Some of my favorite TRs have been written on Airliners.net or by independent bloggers who link here, so I'm not going to advocate for removing linked reports completely. My only real complaint in this department is that, like others who have posted in this thread, I get the sense that some bloggers are using this forum as a free advertising venue, trying to funnel readers away from FT for their own financial or egotistical gain. Mods could/should keep a close eye on this, and I like the idea of adding a [LINK] tag to the title.

This is the bottom line. It's a wonderful place. Let's not change it too dramatically. I don't think that destination reports necessarily need their own forum or that photo reports should be in a separate sub-forum, etc. IMHO, the place just ain't too terribly broken, so why complicating it by forcing a fix?

Again, I am guilty of the "stay tuned and preview post". All my photo trip reports are from trips already taken months ago not in the future. The problem with me is work, time and travel.

I have difficulties finding time to post all photos at once (average 400 to 500 photos per TR). If I don't start a TR, then I will probably never get around to it.

I hope my posting schedule won't irritate readers too much.

No, no, no--definintely not talking about you, UA_Flyer. Your reports are some of the most interesting and anticipated in this forum.

Starting a thread after a trip with a few teaser pics and saying "stay tuned while I actually write the report" is one thing. I was only talking about those who start threads saying things like, "Hey, I'm taking a month-long RTW odyssey in EK F and a private jet. Departure in T-minus three weeks. I'll write up the trip report when I get back!" That gets my goat.