Do you Appreciate Cruise Critic's Openness to Opposing Views as Much as I Do?

[ontheweb]

5 hours ago, ecs66 said:

I am on another forum similar to this, and there is an option for posters to private mail.  I joined in 2000, and not once has there been an issue regarding mis-use, attacks, etc.  It is a political site, and if there's one place where nastiness can occur, especially in today's political atmosphere, it would be on a political site.  The "private reply" feature is within the site itself, and does not involve an email address of any kind.

 

It's very handy in certain situations.  If posters want to share email addresses, phone numbers, recommendations for companies, etc., with another poster they do it on the "private reply" page.

 

Without that option here on CC which exists to share information, the effectiveness is compromised to some extent.  MUCH more info could be shared if that option could be worked into the system.  (JMHO.)

I wonder if the reason for this is that they do not want posters to be able to privately break cc rules such as sharing names or phone numbers of travel agents.

[ecs66]

1 hour ago, ontheweb said:

I wonder if the reason for this is that they do not want posters to be able to privately break cc rules such as sharing names or phone numbers of travel agents.

I could definitely understand that if the names/companies were peppered throughout every thread.  Agents could go nuts, and drive us nuts.  It would be a free advertising scheme for them.  But it seems that a private reply, one-on-one, would eliminate that issue.  I don't know -- was just throwing it out there.  It works on other forums.

[ontheweb]

6 minutes ago, ecs66 said:

I could definitely understand that if the names/companies were peppered throughout every thread.  Agents could go nuts, and drive us nuts.  It would be a free advertising scheme for them.  But it seems that a private reply, one-on-one, would eliminate that issue.  I don't know -- was just throwing it out there.  It works on other forums.

You could ask them why that rule is in place. You could ask them if my speculation as to the reason is correct.

[Host Kat]

On 5/1/2024 at 4:41 AM, CDNPolar said:

I know that CC can enable a messaging system...

 

FYI to all,

 

Regarding the Cruise Critic message board Message feature, it is enabled for use by Administrators & Hosts ONLY. We can use it with each other and to members. The Message feature is disabled for members and has been I think since Cruise Critic was part of AOL many, many years ago. I do know for sure it was that way when I joined Cruise Critic in 2005 as a member and then later invited to be a non-paid volunteer Host.

 

In the olden days when the Cruise Critic message board used vBulletin software, if you and another member had your own registered identities for certain instant messaging networks and placed the info in your Cruise Critic profiles, you would then be able to contact each other via those networks. To do so waaaay back then you would click on User CP or Quick Links then Edit Profile and scroll down to the Optional Information - All information will be viewable by other forum members section. There you would see the following:

 

Instant Messaging

 

You may enter your registered identity for the instant messaging networks if you would like other visitors to be able to contact you using that medium.

 

• ICQ Number 
• AIM Screen Name 
• MSN Messenger Handle 
• Yahoo! Messenger Handle 
• Skype Name

 

Once you entered your registered identity info for one of those networks and clicked the Save Changes button waaay back then, your instant messaging network logo would automatically appear in all your Cruise Critic posts along with your user name, join date & post count. You and other Cruise Critic members registered with the same instant messaging network would then be able to click the logos appearing on your Cruise Critic posts to contact each other via the network.

 

However, those days are loooong gone now that Invision Community software has been used by the Cruise Critic message board since October 2018.

 

Cruise Critic values the privacy and security of all the members. That is why you are asked to use an anonymous user name when registering for membership. If a personal email address is posted on one of our boards, it should be posted as whatever name at wherever dot com with spaces & spelling the words "at" and "dot". This should help prevent automated harvesting by spambots. Most members will know what you are doing. Or, just set up another special email account just for correspondence relating to the Cruise Critic message boards. And if you want, it can be your Cruise Critic email address of record.

 

Click here: How To: Update your Cruise Critic Email Address

 

If your current Cruise Critic user name is not anonymous and you want to change it, you can send an email from your current Cruise Critic email address of record mentioning your current user name and include a list of possible new user names. I suggest a list of at least five or six. With almost two million Cruise Critic members, often your list of possible new user names may already be in use by other members. CC Help Michell, UGC Content Coordinator, will go down your list of five or six names and assign the first available. If none are available, you will be asked to submit a new list of possible user names and so on until the mission is complete.

 

Please note once changed your previous posts will have the new user name. You will not have lost your post count, join date and signature. However, due to the current Cruise Critic software any previous quotes of your posts currently in other member's posts will still appear with the old user name.

 

Click here: How to: Change your Cruise Critic User Name

 

Hope this information (and a little history lesson from my Memory Lane 😀) will be helpful! 

 

Host Kat

 

[clo]

13 minutes ago, Host Kat said:

If a personal email address is posted on one of our boards, it should be posted as whatever name at wherever dot com with spaces & spelling the words "at" and "dot". 

I didn't know that. That makes it easy. I have no illusion of online privacy 🙂 but easy enough to come up with a new address. Thanks, Kat.

[ontheweb]

22 hours ago, Host Kat said:

 

FYI to all,

 

Regarding the Cruise Critic message board Message feature, it is enabled for use by Administrators & Hosts ONLY. We can use it with each other and to members. The Message feature is disabled for members and has been I think since Cruise Critic was part of AOL many, many years ago. I do know for sure it was that way when I joined Cruise Critic in 2005 as a member and then later invited to be a non-paid volunteer Host.

 

In the olden days when the Cruise Critic message board used vBulletin software, if you and another member had your own registered identities for certain instant messaging networks and placed the info in your Cruise Critic profiles, you would then be able to contact each other via those networks. To do so waaaay back then you would click on User CP or Quick Links then Edit Profile and scroll down to the Optional Information - All information will be viewable by other forum members section. There you would see the following:

 

Instant Messaging

 

You may enter your registered identity for the instant messaging networks if you would like other visitors to be able to contact you using that medium.

 

• ICQ Number 
• AIM Screen Name 
• MSN Messenger Handle 
• Yahoo! Messenger Handle 
• Skype Name

 

Once you entered your registered identity info for one of those networks and clicked the Save Changes button waaay back then, your instant messaging network logo would automatically appear in all your Cruise Critic posts along with your user name, join date & post count. You and other Cruise Critic members registered with the same instant messaging network would then be able to click the logos appearing on your Cruise Critic posts to contact each other via the network.

 

However, those days are loooong gone now that Invision Community software has been used by the Cruise Critic message board since October 2018.

 

Cruise Critic values the privacy and security of all the members. That is why you are asked to use an anonymous user name when registering for membership. If a personal email address is posted on one of our boards, it should be posted as whatever name at wherever dot com with spaces & spelling the words "at" and "dot". This should help prevent automated harvesting by spambots. Most members will know what you are doing. Or, just set up another special email account just for correspondence relating to the Cruise Critic message boards. And if you want, it can be your Cruise Critic email address of record.

 

Click here: How To: Update your Cruise Critic Email Address

 

If your current Cruise Critic user name is not anonymous and you want to change it, you can send an email from your current Cruise Critic email address of record mentioning your current user name and include a list of possible new user names. I suggest a list of at least five or six. With almost two million Cruise Critic members, often your list of possible new user names may already be in use by other members. CC Help Michell, UGC Content Coordinator, will go down your list of five or six names and assign the first available. If none are available, you will be asked to submit a new list of possible user names and so on until the mission is complete.

 

Please note once changed your previous posts will have the new user name. You will not have lost your post count, join date and signature. However, due to the current Cruise Critic software any previous quotes of your posts currently in other member's posts will still appear with the old user name.

 

Click here: How to: Change your Cruise Critic User Name

 

Hope this information (and a little history lesson from my Memory Lane 😀) will be helpful! 

 

Host Kat

Thank you for clearing up the mystery of the messaging feature on cruise critic. Every now and then you see a post saying use the feature to "message me". and then several posts saying that does not work.

 

But now we know it does work, just not for us the general population posting on cruise critic. But it really does have a purpose as you have made clear.

 

[clo]

4 hours ago, ontheweb said:

Thank you for clearing up the mystery of the messaging feature on cruise critic. Every now and then you see a post saying use the feature to "message me". and then several posts saying that does not work.

 

But now we know it does work, just not for us the general population posting on cruise critic. But it really does have a purpose as you have made clear.

Okay, color me confused. So if you email me at catholiver at aol dot com that doesn't work?

[Host Kat]

On 7/14/2024 at 12:07 AM, clo said:

Okay, color me confused. So if you email me at catholiver at aol dot com that doesn't work?

 

I think @ontheweb was referring to the fact the Cruise Critic Message feature does work for Administrators and Hosts but does not work for members.

 

Yes, your email address being keyed in that way into an email provider will not work.

 

The point is that if you want to post your email address on the Cruise Critic boards for others to email you, just post it as catholiver at aol dot com to prevent it being harvested by automated spambots.

 

As I said, most members know what you are doing. When they key in your email address to email you, they know it is to be keyed in using the normal format for email addresses. If you want to make sure they know, just say something like, "Here is my email address catholiver at aol dot com but use the normal email format."

 

[ontheweb]

10 hours ago, Host Kat said:

 

I think @ontheweb was referring to the fact the Cruise Critic Message feature does work for Administrators and Hosts but does not work for members.

 

Yes, your email address being keyed in that way into an email provider will not work.

 

The point is that if you want to post your email address on the Cruise Critic boards for others to email you, just post it as catholiver at aol dot com to prevent it being harvested by automated spambots.

 

As I said, most members know what you are doing. When they key in your email address to email you, they know it is to be keyed in using the normal format for email addresses. If you want to make sure they know, just say something like, "Here is my email address catholiver at aol dot com but use the normal email format."

Yes, that was exactly what I was saying.