Although I am English and live in the UK I am half Viennese on my mother%26#39;s side. I have visited Vienna regularly for 40+ years and love the city so I have found the Vienna Forum very interesting.
In my opinion it has some of the best contributors to be found on TripAdvisor - people such as Vertical, Fritz, Mikey, HuSanNiang, Operettaman, Ulrike and many others who give comprehensive answers to just about every question posed. Well done to all of you!
I have noticed, however, that some questions crop up time and time again:
How do I get from the airport to town?
What transport ticket should I buy?
Where can I get details of concerts during my stay?
Can you recommend a restaurant in my price range?
etc etc etc
These questions usually get a patient reply from you guys (and girls!), but you often have to repeat yourselves.
TripAdvisor has a section of Inside Pages on Vienna which do get updated from time to time. I just wondered whether if everyone looked at these and kept them up-to-date and comprehensive then repeat questions could just be directed to the appropriate page saving lots of time on duplication.
The Vienna Forum already has TripAdvisors best contributors. Why not give it the best Inside Pages of any city!
How about it contributors?
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Norman you present a good question.
First - thank you for the positive comment.
My experience with the Inside Pages has not been good.
Yes, the Inside Pages offer information regarding most frequently asked questions and can be valuble.
I had posted there often in the beginning of these pages not only for Austria but other places I have frequently visited.
I found most all seekers of advice ignored these pages and just offered direct questions. Mostly when suggestions were made to look at these pages and receive good advice posters did not do it.
Note that the existence of these pages does not have a promenent ( spelling? ) space or good notice.
Unfortunately , too often individuals , mostly in the employ of Trip Advisor would follow informational postings with their own editing.
In almost all instances , these peopl, apparently part- time employees , seemingly paid by contributions had obviously not been to the very places they were writing about or took information directly from well known travel guides.
Nevertheless these pages are advertised for Travelers by Travelers.
In one instance, I posted on one such site only to receive an edit by someone who obviously had never been to this place and could not even copy information from some guide book and took other information of of context.
I posted my comment regarding this in the comment section of that page.Fruitless to do this.
I then decided that i would not volunteer my time, energy and cost of computer time to compile information that ultimately benefited Trip Advisor while they employed individuals to edit, change supply incorrect informtion and be paid for this.
Just look at some supposed contributors that post dozens times daily on pages from Bangkok to Los Los Angeles and every place in between. just after legitimate and knowledgeable posters such as you add and update information. Often change is just a word , punctuation and vocabulary.
How do they find all of these pages- answer is obvious.
I advised on one site that I would not waste my time posting as a volunteer and have a paid individual with limited knowledge of the subject alter and edit the post for no legitmate reason.
I have no trouble with this if my information is not correct. Unfortunately this is not the case.
I had commented- no more contributions by me on these pages.
I continue to honor my promise.
I suppose this rant does not find favor with Trip Advisor. I speak my mind.
I will still post thoughts and answers trying to fit them to questions asked- perhaps a little more time than just check Insider pages but it makes me feel better.
Now enough - time to get ready for an evening at the Volksoper.
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Vertical
You make a good point. It%26#39;s a shame the Inside Pages are not more prominently displayed and better utilised by TripAdvisor.
There%26#39;s nothing wrong with tidying up grammar and spelling, but putting in misinformation or just copying out guidebooks is useless.
Enjoy the Volksoper - what are you seeing?
Norman
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First of all, thank you Norman for bringing this up !
Now I am not definetly not a part of this long enough to know every detail about this page, but I am supporting your boths point that this editing by random contributers should be limited to Grammar and Spelling mistakes, beeing somebody who makes millions of them, I am actually a bit sad that its not possible to edit ones own contributions after they have been posted.
But I think it should definetly not be able to change them fundamentaly so easy. I think it would be better if only Local experts can make real changes, other posters should only be able to make a %26quot;marked%26quot; comment directly in the text like %26quot;Attention: Museum now closed every Monday%26quot; ... or something like that, and the local experts could be informed about this in some automatic way, and if they find the time for this, could then verify the new information and change the article if necessary, or simple leave it there if its unclear, so that people at least now that it is unclear.
And you are right as well when you are saying that the inside pages aren´t really presented properly.
But personally, I would also prefer to go on answering the questions, even if they repeat themselves from time to time, but that at least forces us to keep our own knowledge up to date. When I started posting here, e.g. I tended to give people wrong ticket-prices for public transport in Vienna, simply because I was so sure I knew them anyway, if you look these things up regularly to find the right weblinks, you will more easily notice if something changes, then if you always have to think %26quot;Did I write about this somewhere - Do I have to correct it now ?%26quot;
Greets, Fritz
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Agree with Fritz and Vertical. It is easier to answer the questions here even if they are sometimes repetitive. Thanks for your kind words; Wien is our favorite city and we love to help those who are newcomers, especially those who have done at least a little research on the city before posting their questions.
Vertical and Fritz: I am thirsting for Sturm!
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Thanks for being mentioned!
I agree with the posters above on the answering of the questions.
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Norman,
Volksoper last evening- Orpheus In Der Unterwelt.
A new production - well staged and an excelent cast of some Volksoper regular ensemble and some other newer faces to the Volksoper.productions
It receives some good reviews and much better than some of the new productions offered under the old direction.
It is probably not for a visitor who looks for a Vienna style Strauss, Kalman evening but very entertaining.
The new Director Meyer, seems to being doing all the right things.
many subtle and not so subtle changes The ensemble seems to like him too..
The House full last evening. Audience seemed to be mostly locals - a good sign.
I would like to add the name of Roley to the list of good contributors.
She often visits Vienna and offers excelent comments in my opinion. Often with some good humor
Happy to see that most have similar feelings regarding the topic of this post.
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Operettaman-
Sturm- both white and red-seems excelent most everywhere.
I attempt to drink my share.
Perhaps 2007 wine may be good also - much sugar in the grapes.
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Vertical
You%26#39;re right, I should have included Roley who%26#39;s contributions are just as interesting, informative and valuable as everybody else%26#39;s.
Maybe it would be good for the managers of TripAdvisor to read the responses to this post so they can appreciate why the Inside Pages as currently set up do not work.
Glad you enjoyed the Volksoper. On a recent post comparing the Staatsoper to the Volksoper I mentioned that the surtitles at the Staatsoper could help a newcomer to opera%26#39;s understanding. When I last went to the Volksoper in Dec 2006 they didn%26#39;t have sutitles - is that still the case?
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Re: subtitles
Some but not all offerings at the Volksoper offer subtitles
Only in english and the screen just above the stage.
It is not a complete translation of all dialogue and song but enough to allow one to esaily follow general plot and happenings.
As you know , the programm offers a good synopsis in several languages- also acts as a nice souvenir.
A nice thing now at the Volksoper- a small bar set up outside the entrance to allow guests to have a drink before the offering. This in addition to the Buffet inside.
Of course only in good weather.
I assume the owner of the Oper Cafe is not so happy with this arrangement as he also now offers stand- up tables just outside that place too.
This adds to the nice atmosphere in front of the house.
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Thanks for this honourable mention!
That makes me feeling happy about my tireless effort to assist potential visitors to my home country. Additionally I can practice my lingustic skills. Although I sometimes feel bored by repeating (simple) questions, I still try to do my best to ease someone%26#39;s confusion.
Would it be possible to create a %26quot;locked%26quot; thread on the top of the list that includes very basic information of the corresponding sub-forum?
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