In my opinion LP had lost the plot ages ago as they tried to push their guides up market and mainstream. of course hotels and restaurant will open and close and transport will change BUT what can not be replaced is the many many posts that have help us plan our travels with information and ideas on places not in the guide books. I have lost count of the times people helped me (and I hope in turn I helped them). For my trip round Southern Tanzania the help of one LPer was invaluable indeed I followed most of her route in reverse in the end but whilst I had sketched out the plan it was her feedback that convinced me to detour a little and allow time to visit what were for me were the two real highlights . Her posts (and my subsequent posts) are now lost as are 1000s of similar posts.
At least we know from the newsletter Stuart will never delete all the valuable information on travelfish
Can not believe they did not communicate the changes to their "members" the height of arrogance. from what I have seen of its Facebook stuff it is in no way something that I want to be part of and the only use would be to ask the odd question rather than as an active member/follower
Yes agree. I mentioned HongHa in the post, but she was just one on dozens—including you!—who were helpful over the years. Sadly I don’t see their various social media approaches a replacement, what is great about a busy forum is, like I mentioned in the story, the other people—not those who run it.
Well past its use-by date but still a sorry day. So much info and so much fun at its zenith. I’m still keen to find out more about the India - Sri Lanka ferry though
That's terrible, to think of the hundreds of thousands of hours people spent collectively posting content not to mention the loss of the historical record. What will replace it, to be pessimistic, are simple tweets and Instagram posts.
I guess they couldn't figure out a way to make money out of it, so decided to axe it. Crazy. Doesn't cost them anything to keep it online, and it still brings in loads of visitors.
My travel forum is still being used by a lot of people, and I can think of a few others that are still seeing lots of visits. The Google-ability of a forum, and the way it can stack answers to a post years in a row so you can track the evolution of a certain border crossing or visa process, there is no social media that can top that. Not to mention, the knowledge that a good forum community can throw on an interesting question.
Tragic! While forums isn’t popular anymore apart from Reddit, I’ve spent countless of hours reading and posting on Thorntree while backpacking. It was simply invaluable! Sad to see them nukeing it from the Internet, it will never be replaced!
It made a complete difference to me and probably formed the way I travelled. I first read travelfish on thorntree and went to many of the places written about there that aren’t in any guidebook. I had coffee with Ha too in Hanoi and we are still friends. She’s recently become an Australian citizen. I’ve corresponded with other thorntree users too and met a few. There are so many useful details I've found that would never have made it to a guidebook but made a huge difference to my travel. I too was assuming it would come back.
Could not agree with Susannah more.
In my opinion LP had lost the plot ages ago as they tried to push their guides up market and mainstream. of course hotels and restaurant will open and close and transport will change BUT what can not be replaced is the many many posts that have help us plan our travels with information and ideas on places not in the guide books. I have lost count of the times people helped me (and I hope in turn I helped them). For my trip round Southern Tanzania the help of one LPer was invaluable indeed I followed most of her route in reverse in the end but whilst I had sketched out the plan it was her feedback that convinced me to detour a little and allow time to visit what were for me were the two real highlights . Her posts (and my subsequent posts) are now lost as are 1000s of similar posts.
At least we know from the newsletter Stuart will never delete all the valuable information on travelfish
Can not believe they did not communicate the changes to their "members" the height of arrogance. from what I have seen of its Facebook stuff it is in no way something that I want to be part of and the only use would be to ask the odd question rather than as an active member/follower
Yes agree. I mentioned HongHa in the post, but she was just one on dozens—including you!—who were helpful over the years. Sadly I don’t see their various social media approaches a replacement, what is great about a busy forum is, like I mentioned in the story, the other people—not those who run it.
Well past its use-by date but still a sorry day. So much info and so much fun at its zenith. I’m still keen to find out more about the India - Sri Lanka ferry though
Ha ha ha! Don’t hold your breath on that info!
NO!! This is a tragedy. Why not disable the commenting function and keep the historical data accessible - a library of personal recommendations.
Maybe they will use it for something else?
I don’t think the signs are promising, but who knows. Stranger things have happened.
I don’t think the signs are promising, but who knows. Stranger things have happened.
That's terrible, to think of the hundreds of thousands of hours people spent collectively posting content not to mention the loss of the historical record. What will replace it, to be pessimistic, are simple tweets and Instagram posts.
Yeah, the lost knowledge is the thing I keep coming back to, sure plenty is outa date, but plenty more wasn’t!
thanks for publishing this, Stuart - as one of the first of the 'people who ran it', it was lovely to read this.
Thanks—glad you enjoyed it.
I guess they couldn't figure out a way to make money out of it, so decided to axe it. Crazy. Doesn't cost them anything to keep it online, and it still brings in loads of visitors.
My travel forum is still being used by a lot of people, and I can think of a few others that are still seeing lots of visits. The Google-ability of a forum, and the way it can stack answers to a post years in a row so you can track the evolution of a certain border crossing or visa process, there is no social media that can top that. Not to mention, the knowledge that a good forum community can throw on an interesting question.
Tragic! While forums isn’t popular anymore apart from Reddit, I’ve spent countless of hours reading and posting on Thorntree while backpacking. It was simply invaluable! Sad to see them nukeing it from the Internet, it will never be replaced!
It made a complete difference to me and probably formed the way I travelled. I first read travelfish on thorntree and went to many of the places written about there that aren’t in any guidebook. I had coffee with Ha too in Hanoi and we are still friends. She’s recently become an Australian citizen. I’ve corresponded with other thorntree users too and met a few. There are so many useful details I've found that would never have made it to a guidebook but made a huge difference to my travel. I too was assuming it would come back.