Help SWIRT

[YellowSocks]

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic. .

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

Are you being sarcastic? I can never tell. Sarcasm just doesn't work when you're not face to face.
Like Bree posted, if a guest recognizes themselves... egg on your face and apologies necessary. No fun!
You're here anonymously... I'm sure there are many Trisha's in, around, and from NY. I'm not. I haven't had a lot of pitas (so far) but if I ever get a doozy I won't be posting it here. When I do discuss guests, it's in a very general way, like "the short term memory loss" guest. Because I care very much what my guests (past or potential) think of me.
=)
Kk.

 

[DaisyMae]

What did you say to the lady, Bree, when she called you? I missed that topic, as it was on here before i was. If you don't want to say, that's o.k. i'm just curious.

 

[Morticia]

What did you say to the lady, Bree, when she called you? I missed that topic, as it was on here before i was. If you don't want to say, that's o.k. i'm just curious..

She emailed. I apologized. Not much else I could do at that point. It was embarassing to say the least.
Then I changed my policies and my user name on about.
It was for the Hospitality for Humanity project the Maine Innkeepers do in May. You offer your rooms for half off for a donation to Habitat. I never expected anyone to stay for a week! So, next year I listed restrictions...no more than 3 nights. If they had made more than a $25 donation it would have been different, but they were gloating about how they were getting such a good deal and they were going to have the whole family stay the following year. And I had to move them to a room that was not originally on the plan. The room had a fireplace which they ran non stop. I probably ended up losing money just on the propane costs. (And here I am posting it again...duh.)
At the same time I had a guest who stayed 3 nights and donated $150. Made it all the more absurd.

 

[YellowSocks]

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic. .

Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

Actually... we have an inngoer who's a regular here. She hasn't appeared to be any more psychotic than you.
=)
Kk.

 

[Morticia]

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic. .

Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

Actually... we have an inngoer who's a regular here. She hasn't appeared to be any more psychotic than you.
=)
Kk.
.

Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

Actually... we have an inngoer who's a regular here. She hasn't appeared to be any more psychotic than you.
=)
Kk.

I really think she meant 'psychic' I really do...

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

there have been a couple BAD instances.
1) An innkeeper to innkeeper situation
2) a psycho wacked out innkeeper from PA who really wanted at a particular innkeeper - semi stalking her, I think her name was BK. She changed her profile and user id after that and continues to do so every so often.
Giving PERSONAL information on a world wide forum is not smart in the first place. Then they can come into our homes and stay with us and we do not even know this (that they have prior knowledge). So NO! I don't post it and will try to rememeber not to. Seems crazy to post anything with our address hanging out there. We forget as we get cozy on this forum, but there are plenty of nutjobs out there. Turn on the news any second of any day.

 

[Morticia]

there have been a couple BAD instances.
1) An innkeeper to innkeeper situation
2) a psycho wacked out innkeeper from PA who really wanted at a particular innkeeper - semi stalking her, I think her name was BK. She changed her profile and user id after that and continues to do so every so often.
Giving PERSONAL information on a world wide forum is not smart in the first place. Then they can come into our homes and stay with us and we do not even know this (that they have prior knowledge). So NO! I don't post it and will try to rememeber not to. Seems crazy to post anything with our address hanging out there. We forget as we get cozy on this forum, but there are plenty of nutjobs out there. Turn on the news any second of any day..

Absolutely. We DO get comfy here.

 

[swirt]

There is no easy way to do a find and replace. But I will see what I can do.
email me off the forum because I've forgotten what your original username was (LOL out of sight out of mind)..

I use my own name but I'm careful what I say. I have a Canadian BB forum and it is absolutely private!! Nobody can read it except members. That's where I vent. I often wonder why this board is not made private?
.

There are lots of reasons why I will not make it private (in no particular order)

• I like the ability of this site to attract everyone with an interest in the topic.
• It was started as a replacement to an already public forum.
• I have no time to do background checks on everyone who requests an account to see if they meet the criteria.
• I have put a lot of work into building this site to be what we need and the idea of me (a search engine geek) putting its success on the shoulders of "word of mouth" is just not enough of a sure thing. I've seen lots of forums dry up and fail and I would not want to risk that happening here.
• There are plenty of organizations that run private forums (PAII, bandb.com, local associations ...) that I don't see offering more of the same to be a big help.
• I need this site to pay for itself (cover its own hosting costs). So I need this site to actively pull new people in via search engines. In general, it is not the regular users of this site that click on the ads, so I need new people to find this site and all of its wonderful pages, and the only way that can happen is if it is open. Closed pages don't show up in search engines because if the public can't get in, neither can the spiders. Since this site also does a bit of revenue sharing, it needs even more visitors than a "normal" forum to keep afloat. Currently the site has a long way to go in terms of new traffic before it covers its own costs.

.

I'm not saying you should be private. I was just tossing the comment out.
Is this board expensive? Yuku is free (with some ads) but not very expensive to keep it add free. Very easy to set up and use also. You might want to take a look at the layout on one of the public forums on YUKU.
.

Hosting and server costs increase with increased use so the more people it brings in, the more it costs, but the more people it brings in, the more ad revenue it generates so it is a bit of a balancing act. This site could not be run free at Yuku (has a limit of 50,000 page views per month ... we burn through that in less than 2 weeks currently) Even the pay to remove ads setting on Yuku changes at above 50,000 page views per month. Of course if it were a closed forum, then the page views would be dramatically reduced.
The ad revenue sharing and featured inn ads are not something that could be done (at least as near as I can tell) at Yuku or any other social networking site.

 

[Proud Texan]

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic. .

Here's the idea...someone knows your B&B name. They put in a Google search because they can't remember the exact website for your inn. Lo and behold, you just posted a story about the guests who almost burned the house down by putting the candles in the bookcase. SO, because that is a brand new post on a very popular forum (really, it is) the post about the house-burning guests shows up BEFORE your inn's website. IF you list your inn name on every post.
Soooo, the guests, being curious go and have a look...and lo and behold, there you are telling all kinds of stories about guests. Or, just saying what terrible guests you had one weekend. Now the new guests reconsider. Maybe the bad guests will come back. They don't know.
THAT'S what PT is concerned about.
And it DID happen to me. 3 years ago I posted a long rant on About.com about guests who took advantage of a fund raiser I had here. Instead of booking 1-2 nights and donating to the cause, they stayed 8 days and made a $25 donation. They sat in the dining room for 4 hours every morning and would not shut up, we couldn't tend to any other guests or get out of the house. I had to start hiding in the afternoons! They brought their family over to mooch the snacks in the afternoon. Of course I ranted.
And the guest found the rant when she was looking for something on About concerning places to stay in my town. And she emailed me, insulted. There was no way she wouldn't recognize herself, and there was my name.
.

I finally have been able to boost my Google rating to the point that our B&B comes up number one in our area for: b&b, bed and breakfast it comes in a close third for : accommodations, lodging.
Like Bree said, if someone is savey enough, they can find me and my comments here and put 2 and 2 together. Sometimes I need to vent. The whole world doesn't have to know who I am when I do it.

 

[ginocat]

There is no easy way to do a find and replace. But I will see what I can do.
email me off the forum because I've forgotten what your original username was (LOL out of sight out of mind)..

I use my own name but I'm careful what I say. I have a Canadian BB forum and it is absolutely private!! Nobody can read it except members. That's where I vent. I often wonder why this board is not made private?
.

There are lots of reasons why I will not make it private (in no particular order)

• I like the ability of this site to attract everyone with an interest in the topic.
• It was started as a replacement to an already public forum.
• I have no time to do background checks on everyone who requests an account to see if they meet the criteria.
• I have put a lot of work into building this site to be what we need and the idea of me (a search engine geek) putting its success on the shoulders of "word of mouth" is just not enough of a sure thing. I've seen lots of forums dry up and fail and I would not want to risk that happening here.
• There are plenty of organizations that run private forums (PAII, bandb.com, local associations ...) that I don't see offering more of the same to be a big help.
• I need this site to pay for itself (cover its own hosting costs). So I need this site to actively pull new people in via search engines. In general, it is not the regular users of this site that click on the ads, so I need new people to find this site and all of its wonderful pages, and the only way that can happen is if it is open. Closed pages don't show up in search engines because if the public can't get in, neither can the spiders. Since this site also does a bit of revenue sharing, it needs even more visitors than a "normal" forum to keep afloat. Currently the site has a long way to go in terms of new traffic before it covers its own costs.

.

I'm not saying you should be private. I was just tossing the comment out.
Is this board expensive? Yuku is free (with some ads) but not very expensive to keep it add free. Very easy to set up and use also. You might want to take a look at the layout on one of the public forums on YUKU.
.

Hosting and server costs increase with increased use so the more people it brings in, the more it costs, but the more people it brings in, the more ad revenue it generates so it is a bit of a balancing act. This site could not be run free at Yuku (has a limit of 50,000 page views per month ... we burn through that in less than 2 weeks currently) Even the pay to remove ads setting on Yuku changes at above 50,000 page views per month. Of course if it were a closed forum, then the page views would be dramatically reduced.
The ad revenue sharing and featured inn ads are not something that could be done (at least as near as I can tell) at Yuku or any other social networking site.
.

Maybe it's how the pages are set up?? I don't see that YUKU has high fees at all. Doesn't matter to me though. If your happy with your board that's all that counts.

 

[swirt]

Proud Texan - I managed to replace them all (I think) but you may need to go back and edit these particular nodes that have links to your site.
node/528
node/1205

 

[swirt]

Proud Texan - I managed to replace them all (I think) but you may need to go back and edit these particular nodes that have links to your site.
node/528
node/1205.

Note the old threads may still show up using the search tool here on the site because the internal search system takes a while to re-crawl the site. But they should fade given a bit of time.

 

[GeorgiaGirl]

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic. .

Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

I'm here, does that make me psychotic?!

I actually found the about.com forum while looking for B&B's to stay at.

 

[Proud Texan]

Proud Texan - I managed to replace them all (I think) but you may need to go back and edit these particular nodes that have links to your site.
node/528
node/1205.

Note the old threads may still show up using the search tool here on the site because the internal search system takes a while to re-crawl the site. But they should fade given a bit of time.
.

Thanks Swirt! Your a gentleman and a scholar!

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I would LOVE for guests to read about "the dopey things that guests do".
I know I can be very sarcastic here on this forum, but Bree, you know, I think that's a great idea. To post on our site, -- DOPEY THINGS THAT GUESTS DO.
Most of our guests go to tripadvisor.com and not THIS forum.
Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic. .

Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

I'm here, does that make me psychotic?!

I actually found the about.com forum while looking for B&B's to stay at.
.

Maybe it's me, but I really can't imagine a guest coming to this forum unless they are psychotic.

I'm here, does that make me psychotic?!

I actually found the about.com forum while looking for B&B's to stay at.

You bring a good perspective too!

 

[greyswan]

having an alias here is an alternative... just remember which name you're under while venting.... I've started to vent and realized I wasn't under my alternative vent name - I think I caught it before posting. :-(

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

having an alias here is an alternative... just remember which name you're under while venting.... I've started to vent and realized I wasn't under my alternative vent name - I think I caught it before posting. :-(.

having an alias here is an alternative... just remember which name you're under while venting.... I've started to vent and realized I wasn't under my alternative vent name - I think I caught it before posting. :-(

I know who you are on the alias side of things, altho I thought maybe VINNY would be a good one from a story way back...LOL!

 

[Proud Texan]

Maybe I should change my name to "Proud Cheesehead" to really through people off. I think this forum needs to be as secure as a witness protection program. It's not the best place to advertise, so why try?

 

[YellowSocks]

Maybe I should change my name to "Proud Cheesehead" to really through people off. I think this forum needs to be as secure as a witness protection program. It's not the best place to advertise, so why try?.

Maybe I should change my name to "Proud Cheesehead" to really through people off. I think this forum needs to be as secure as a witness protection program. It's not the best place to advertise, so why try?

I get Google alerts for my B&B from this forum, so Google spiders are here.
For free advertising, I don't expect much.
It's good publicity, and being non-anonymous keeps me from getting catty. (Well, more than I already am...)
=)
Kk.

 

[JunieBJones (JBJ)]

I think NOT being anonymous doesn't stop anyone from being catty.