10 August 2019, Baltic Cruise Tui

[Outwell Notts]

Hi,  just booked our St Petersburg Tour with Alla Tours,  really looking forward to seeing a beautiful city.  Anyone been on the Tui Discovery or done the cruise?

Edited August 1, 2019 by Outwell Notts

[broberts]

This area is intended for those seeking help using the website. You would get a better response posting the question in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea or perhaps the roll call for your voyage if one exists.

[Turtles06]

OP: welcome to Cruise Critic! 

 

As noted above, you have posted in the wrong forum.  Besides posting in the Northern Europe forum as broberts suggests, and your Roll Call if there is one, you might also want to post in the forum for your cruise line.  I believe that is Marella; if that's correct, the Marella forum is here:

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/388-marella-cruises-formerly-thomson/

In any event, I suggest that you spend some time browsing through the various forums here on Cruise Critic, so that you will know what is where.  I think you will find that helpful.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[Aulanis]

This  getting first posts in the help section used to happen a lot.  I did and still do wonder if "the system"  automatically sends first posts here  for vetting. I used to ask the posters if they had posted here deliberately or had they tried to post elsewhere.

@Outwell Notts  perhaps you can comment on that.

[Charles4515]

5 hours ago, Aulanis said:

This  getting first posts in the help section used to happen a lot.  I did and still do wonder if "the system"  automatically sends first posts here  for vetting. I used to ask the posters if they had posted here deliberately or had they tried to post elsewhere.

@Outwell Notts  perhaps you can comment on that.

 

I think they post here because this is the first board they see and they don't bother to look further. It is unfortunate commentary on attention spans...... 

[Turtles06]

6 hours ago, Aulanis said:

This  getting first posts in the help section used to happen a lot.  I did and still do wonder if "the system"  automatically sends first posts here  for vetting. I used to ask the posters if they had posted here deliberately or had they tried to post elsewhere.

@Outwell Notts  perhaps you can comment on that.

 

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

 

I think they post here because this is the first board they see and they don't bother to look further. It is unfortunate commentary on attention spans...... 

 

Charles, I agree.  First posts are not thrown in here for "vetting."   Too many new CC members just don't take the time to read the forum instructions, or to learn what goes where, or how to use the message boards. 

[TxCityKat]

Here's my 2 cents.

 

Look at the Categories page at https://boards.cruisecritic.com/.

 

What is the first thing a new member sees at the top?                  

Forum Assistance

•  Need Help Using the Forums? Check Here!
•  TEST FORUM
•  Announcements

 

So they click Forum Assistance and see the following:

1.  

   Need Help Using the Forums? Check Here!

   Before emailing the Community Team, we ask that you please browse the many pinned help topics below.  Also, your question may have been asked by other members and answered -- please browse those as well. 

   Note:  This area is intended only for questions and answers relating to technical assistance in using these message boards.  Please do not post general cruise-related questions or Roll Calls here.

   11,390 posts

2. TEST FORUM

   Test your signatures, images, avatars.  Try adding photos, or a video!

   1,127 posts

3. Announcements

   13 posts

Yes, the "Before emailing..." does show along with the "Note this area...", but they click Need Help Using the Forums? Check Here! because they are ready to jump in & think they need some kind of help from there on how to navigate and/or use the boards. The forum opens... and "WOW! I'M IN!" begins. Again the "Before emailing..." does show along with the "Note this area..." info at the top of the forum, but they are intent on posting their first post... and maybe a little bit scared too! And maybe they do scroll down looking at the thread titles first. However, they see titles for previous off-topic threads posted on this forum. Maybe they find out they can hover over the title and see the first post of what WE know to be an off-topic thread for this forum... but THEY don't. Without clicking Last Post or clicking the title to read the whole thread, they probably assume if someone else can post that type of question or statement on this forum, so can they. Remember, they don't even KNOW what an off-topic post is. They are so nervous about posting on the first place they see on the Categories page that they have not taken the time to check out the pinned threads at the top of this forum or any of the other forums to see what they are all about.

 

And even though they were supposed to read all of the Guidelines when registering for membership, new as well as not-so-new members forget the following portion toward the end:

 

... Browse Before You Post
Browse a topic first to see if your question has already been asked or answered by someone else. Also, many of the major cruise lines forums have a FAQ (Frequently Asked Question) topic that has been created by our members. Give that a try first. Browsing is your #1 best resource! Please post your messages in an appropriate topic so that you'll receive the best possible response. It is very time consuming to move misplaced messages that are in the wrong topics...

 

7 hours ago, Aulanis said:

This  getting first posts in the help section used to happen a lot.  I did and still do wonder if "the system"  automatically sends first posts here  for vetting...

 

Actually, a new member's first post or one of their first few posts STILL happen every day and have been so since the original AOL days. Just scroll through the pages in this forum and you will see off-topic threads for this forum from new as well as not-so-new members on every page.

 

And no, there is no 'automatic sending' on a new member's first post. However, in the old vBulletin system there was a time when a new member that was not logged in could post in this forum. That was because if a new member needed help from this forum about how to post, etc. they could post to get the help they needed.

 

If you think this forum has a lot of off-topic posts, check out the next ones on the Categories page:

 

New Cruisers

• Ask a Cruise Question
• Cabin Selection Tips
•  First Time Cruisers

 

Many of the off-topic threads there should be on a specific cruise line forum, the type of cruises forum, port of call forum, Roll Call forum, etc. where they would get the best informed answers by being on the correct forum. But to new cruisers or new members... they have found their Mecca! And who remembers they were supposed to browse first? And Lord help them if they try the new software's Search feature for the first time! It takes a bit of trial & error for all of us to figure out how best use it.

 

And speaking of Search, I think when using the feature folks should try to use words/phrases their fellow members would have posted in a previous reply or thread title. You know your words for what you are searching for... but what are the actual words/phrases another member would have used? Search works a lot better for me when I think in their words, not mine.

 

Okay, off the soap box for now...

 

Kat 🐱

Edited August 2, 2019 by TxCityKat
typos

[Outwell Notts]

On 8/1/2019 at 11:22 PM, broberts said:

This area is intended for those seeking help using the website. You would get a better response posting the question in Northern Europe & Baltic Sea or perhaps the roll call for your voyage if one exists.

 

On 8/2/2019 at 9:15 PM, Charles4515 said:

 

I think they post here because this is the first board they see and they don't bother to look further. It is unfortunate commentary on attention spans...... 

 

Thanks for the note Broberts, very helpful.