Come to Cruisemates.com for message boards without the clutter
cruisemates
Internet abusers.
I apologize for the blatant Subject line, but it has become obvious
that this group is going to become unusable for many people soon, if
not already.
CruiseMates has been running excellent, spam-free, and most
importantly, on-topic cruise discussions for years now. If you really
want to talk about cruising, we are the place.
Bill C
> Unfortunately, this group has become a huge target for spam and other
> Internet abusers.
>
> I apologize for the blatant Subject line, but it has become obvious
> that this group is going to become unusable for many people soon, if
> not already.
>
>
visit occasionally and there might be 5-10 new messages per day.
Cruisecritic is much better as far as message forums go.
Bill
--
Visit my Caribbean Princess website:
www.cruisingthecaribbeanprincess.com
Connie from Santa Fe, marooned in Kansas
But why should we let the spammers win? Neither board has quite the
same community as this. There's got to be a way to get around all the
trash. I'm using Google groups as my reader at the moment, and
haven't yet figured out how to block content (except in a search) or
how to mark threads as read, but if I could just do those two things
I'd be able to read the group in peace. A better newsreader utility
is one solution, and the other - I know this is contrary to the spirit
of the group - would be to make it a moderated newsgroup, on which all
posts go through one or a group of people for posting. Fortunately or
unfortunately, I think most of the regulars here have lives too full
and interesting to leave them time for moderating, even if we were
willing to go that way.
Anybody got a better on-line news reader service to suggest?
Connie
Kurt Ullman
<4306de29-ea30-4f58...@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com>,
"Connie from Santa Fe, marooned in Kansas" <coni...@gmail.com> wrote:
\
> posts go through one or a group of people for posting. Fortunately or
> unfortunately, I think most of the regulars here have lives too full
> and interesting to leave them time for moderating, even if we were
> willing to go that way.
>
>
moderated group with all the attendant hassles.
There are some free Usenet servers such as the listing at
http://www.newsservers.net/index.php or
http://freeusenetnews.com/faq.html
I have no experience with either of this, just what came from a
google search.
There are some that you can get pretty cheap. www.giganews.com is
around $7.50 or so a month.
I don't think any of these are web-based so you'll need a
newsreader, of which there are many.
cruisemates
cruisemates
I
visit occasionally and there might be 5-10 new messages per day.
Cruisecritic is much better as far as message forums go. "
Seeing as how we have a total of 1094465 posts, at 4 or 5 a day that
would have taken us since back to Babylonian times.
We average close to 1000 posts per day. I realize there are a lot of
(obviously paid) Cruise Critic touts in here, but don't tell lies
about us.
Plus, in my book, quality of posts counts. I think are more on target
- with less chit chat, more cruising.
Once again, sorry for the advertisements, but if you haven't noticed
that almost every question in here gets a response that says "Go to
this thread on CruiseCritic for an answer..." then you are blind.
There have been cruise critic staff people boosting that site in this
newsgroup for years now.
John & Lola
"Connie from Santa Fe, marooned in Kansas" <coni...@gmail.com> wrote in
message
news:4306de29-ea30-4f58...@8g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
Connie
It's easy to get around the spam. My delete button works just fine!!
Lola in Hamilton
Charles
<0c809d52-b065-4c0a...@w5g2000prd.googlegroups.com>,
cruisemates <edi...@cruisemates.com> wrote:
> Unfortunately, this group has become a huge target for spam and other
> Internet abusers.
All the spam is coming from an exploit of Google Groups. Which you
unfortunately are using yourself. So I will ignore your opportunism
which is spam like itself.
--
Charles
Charles
<5f6f2d26-5d8d-4680...@q27g2000prf.googlegroups.com>,
cruisemates <edi...@cruisemates.com> wrote:
> Once again, sorry for the advertisements, but if you haven't noticed
> that almost every question in here gets a response that says "Go to
> this thread on CruiseCritic for an answer..." then you are blind.
> There have been cruise critic staff people boosting that site in this
> newsgroup for years now.
Name these Cruise Critic staff people. Unless you can name them I don't
believe you. You have to back that assertion up. In fact Cruisemates
over the years has been the one that has been shamelessly boosting
their web site and boards here and none I can recall for Cruise Critic.
I think people name Cruise Critic because it has by far the most
popular and used web discussion boards and popular roll calls.
--
Charles
Tom K
worse, since you're trying to steal people from here.
And why should we bother with a site that has moderators that (being people)
can't help but being biased toward the lines they like. Let's say your
moderator loves Carnival, and I want to write a post trashing them... it's
possible your moderator won't post it.
No thanks. I have no interest in a moderated site. I think I'll stick
here... with my delete key working.
--Tom
"cruisemates" <edi...@cruisemates.com> wrote in message
news:0c809d52-b065-4c0a...@w5g2000prd.googlegroups.com...
sheree
sheree
"cruisemates" <edi...@cruisemates.com> wrote in message
news:5f6f2d26-5d8d-4680...@q27g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
clint
"John & Lola" <jl.va...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:ftjd51$2if$1...@aioe.org...
Bill
>
> I think the spamers liven up this sometimes dull group9and I'm a senior)
Leave it to the village idiot (and senior) to say something good
about the spammers. Let me guess, you actually buy stuff from
them, too.
Bill
Bill
>
> It's easy to get around the spam. My delete button works just fine!!
>
> Lola in Hamilton
That is almost as ridiculous an answer as Clint's saying that he
likes spam. First, you can't delete stuff in the news reader
(unless you are filtering it on your newsreader, which would not
involve a delete button). And as for deleting spam mail instead
of filtering it, fortunately most people have come to a much
more enlightened opinion that yours. The answer is somehow
getting rid of it at the server, or better yet, making sure it
does not get posted/sent in the first place.
Bill
Bill
> Once again, sorry for the advertisements, but if you haven't noticed
> that almost every question in here gets a response that says "Go to
> this thread on CruiseCritic for an answer..." then you are blind.
> There have been cruise critic staff people boosting that site in this
> newsgroup for years now.
I'll also chime in that you are totally out of line with this
claim. Many of us recommend Cruise Critic because it's an
excellent site with a very active message board community. If
you actually believe what you said, then I feel sad for you. And
if you're just lying, then it's pretty pathetic.
And I've also never gotten a check from them, although I did win
something from them on the Liberty pre-inaugural. But I'd
recommend them even without that.
Bill
Rosalie B.
What are you talking about? I both filter and delete spam postings
when I read the newsgroups. It is true that it is still on the
server, but I don't care about that much as I don't see it after I
delete it.
I use Forte Agent both as a mail and newsgroup reader.
Tom K
"Bill" <bill...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:47FD57CD...@prodigy.net...
> John & Lola wrote:
>>
>> It's easy to get around the spam. My delete button works just fine!!
>>
>> Lola in Hamilton
>
> That is almost as ridiculous an answer as Clint's saying that he
> likes spam. First, you can't delete stuff in the news reader
> (unless you are filtering it on your newsreader, which would not
> involve a delete button).
Sure you can... with Outlook Express.
And you do it with the "Delete" key.
What she said isn't "ridiculous".
--Tom
sue mullen
cruisemates wrote:
> Unfortunately, this group has become a huge target for spam and other
> Internet abusers.
If you post and read via google, there will be lots of spam and no way
to block it or the trolls. If you post/read using a news server, not
only will there be much less spam, but you can filter out the trolls.
RTC is still a very useful place to gather cruise information.
sue
Bill C
Let me rephrase. There are maybe about 10 post per day per forum.
Checked out the Princess forum today.
There were a whole 8 post today.
Oh well I gotta go cash my cruisecritic check.
sue mullen
Connie from Santa Fe, marooned in Kansas wrote:
> But why should we let the spammers win? Neither board has quite the
> same community as this. There's got to be a way to get around all the
> trash. I'm using Google groups as my reader at the moment, and
> haven't yet figured out how to block content (except in a search) or
> how to mark threads as read, but if I could just do those two things
> I'd be able to read the group in peace. A better newsreader utility
> is one solution, and the other - I know this is contrary to the spirit
> of the group - would be to make it a moderated newsgroup, on which all
> posts go through one or a group of people for posting. Fortunately or
> unfortunately, I think most of the regulars here have lives too full
> and interesting to leave them time for moderating, even if we were
> willing to go that way.
>
> Anybody got a better on-line news reader service to suggest?
I have been using news.individual.net for many years now and have been
very happy with it. It used to be a free news server, but now costs
$13.19 per year and is worth the money.
Using google there is tons of spam and no way to filter those you don't
want to read. News.individual.net does a good job of eliminating spam,
very little comes through.
I do not think you can block posters or mark threads as read using google.
sue
John & Lola
"Bill" <bill...@prodigy.net> wrote in message
news:47FD57CD...@prodigy.net...
No thanks, I can think for myself. If I don't want to read a post, poof!!,
it gone.
Lola in Hamilton
George Leppla
"cruisemates" <edi...@cruisemates.com> wrote
> We average close to 1000 posts per day. I realize there are a lot of
> (obviously paid) Cruise Critic touts in here, but don't tell lies
> about us.
Name them. The only website shill/tout that I know of here is you.
> There have been cruise critic staff people boosting that site in this
> newsgroup for years now.
Name them. You make the accusation, now back it up or shut up.
Readerships down, Paul? You trolling the newsgroup for more hits so you can
justify your ad rates?
--
George Leppla http://www.CruiseMaster.com
May 12, 2008 - 5 nt New Orleans http://www.cruisemaster.com/fantasy.htm
October 26, 2008 Sleazy 5 http://www.cruisemaster.com/sleazy5.htm
Feb. 8, 2009 Solstice Valentine http://www.cruisemaster.com/solstice.htm
cruisemates
almost every question in here with a link to cruise critic unless
there was some compensation involved. I can't define what it is, but I
suspect it is staff people at Cruise Critic, some of the board
moderators perhaps.
There is FAR MORE touting of Cruise Critic in here than CruiseMates -
that is a ridiulous assertion. I see cruise critric mentioned in
almost every thread.
Cruise Critic is a good site, and so is CruiseMates. I don't need to
make any apologies. Why would you be so quick to denigrate CruiseMates
if you didn't have affiliation with Cruise Critic?
One thing I know for fact - we do FAR LESS moderation than Cruise
Critic does.
We do not zap posts just because they are negative to a cruise line.
That is our stated policy. Cruise Critic is famous for bleeping
whatever they want to bleep. That was my pooint, if you are sick of
the spam here, but want boards where you can go and say what you want
about a cruise line, CruiseMates is the place.
sheree
you're stretching. I am not, nor have I ever been compensated by cc for
anything. and neither has any of the people from this newsgroup that I've
ever met. not that there's noone, but noone i know of.
cc is referred when someone is looking ofr more specific info as there is a
wealth of it and the people i see posting are very helpful
sheree
"cruisemates" <edi...@cruisemates.com> wrote in message
news:d80ac139-78d8-4279...@n1g2000prb.googlegroups.com...
Jeff Gersten
>Paul:
>you're stretching. I am not, nor have I ever
>been compensated by cc for anything. and
>neither has any of the people from this
>newsgroup that I've ever met. not that there's
>noone, but noone i know of. cc is referred
>when someone is looking ofr more specific
>info as there is a wealth of it and the people i
>see posting are very helpful sheree
I agree 100% with what Sheree wrote in this post. Posters, including me,
have referred others to cruisecritic because they have found it helpful.
I know I have never been compensated. Wait, there was free champagne at
a get together for cruisecritic posters on my last cruise, but that was
Princess who supplied that.
Bill
cruisemates wrote:
>
> We do not zap posts just because they are negative to a cruise line.
> That is our stated policy. Cruise Critic is famous for bleeping
> whatever they want to bleep. That was my pooint, if you are sick of
> the spam here, but want boards where you can go and say what you want
> about a cruise line, CruiseMates is the place.
I have not experienced filtering on CC. The one thing I do hate
about their boards are that they don't let you edit your post
after 20 minutes. That means that if I find something I want to
change (like a typo) and I don't notice it right away, it's
stuck that way. They claim they do that because agents would
post stuff and then delete it later. It sounds stupid to me, but
I guess I can't change my posts here, either.
Bill
Bill C
> I know what I see. There is no logical reason why anyone would hit
> almost every question in here with a link to cruise critic unless
> there was some compensation involved. I can't define what it is, but I
> suspect it is staff people at Cruise Critic, some of the board
> moderators perhaps.
>
> There is FAR MORE touting of Cruise Critic in here than CruiseMates -
> that is a ridiulous assertion. I see cruise critric mentioned in
> almost every thread.
>
> Cruise Critic is a good site, and so is CruiseMates. I don't need to
> make any apologies. Why would you be so quick to denigrate CruiseMates
> if you didn't have affiliation with Cruise Critic?
>
> One thing I know for fact - we do FAR LESS moderation than Cruise
> Critic does.
You have far less traffic than Cruise Critic so of course you have to
zap less.
>
> We do not zap posts just because they are negative to a cruise line.
Never seen anything deleted that was negative towards a cruise line.
> That is our stated policy. Cruise Critic is famous for bleeping
> whatever they want to bleep.
Cruise Critic deletes post that recommend travel agents or agencies.
Keeps the shills away and it's not fair to the advertisers that pay to
advertise.
They also delete post when they get nasty, like the formal night,
smoking, baby post, that ALWAYS get nasty after a day or so, and serve
no more informational purpose.
That was my pooint, if you are sick of
> the spam here, but want boards where you can go and say what you want
> about a cruise line, CruiseMates is the place.
Your post sound like you are paranoid.
Charles
<wgc1...@verizon.net> wrote:
> Never seen anything deleted that was negative towards a cruise line.
I have not seen them deleting posts negative towards a cruise line
either. There is a large amount of negative posts about different
cruise lines all the time on Cruise Critic.
> They also delete post when they get nasty, like the formal night,
> smoking, baby post, that ALWAYS get nasty after a day or so, and serve
> no more informational purpose.
The moderation on Cruise Critic is very heavy handed in deleting posts
and threads that are controversial. I don't like it. But after all that
is what one should expect on a moderated discussion forum. Moderation.
I think though that the Cruise Critic moderation is too heavy handed.
> Your post sound like you are paranoid.
It sounds like sour grapes by Cruisemates to me. After all it was
Cruisemates that used to have it's staff of shills post ads to this
newsgroup and other posts touting Cruisemates. Robocop did it all the
time before his falling out with his employers. I guess because that
was what Cruisemates did, Paul thinks Cruise Critic must do the same.
I don't recall Cruise Critic ever advertising itself and self promoting
itself on this newsgroup like Cruisemates did. It is funny that Paul
complains about Cruise Critic doing something there is no evidence it
is doing that Cruisemates did all the time!
I think Cruise Critic gets mentioned as a resource because it is by far
the most popular web site of cruise discussion forums and as a result
has a lot of info on it. It is also the site to go for roll calls.
Cruisemates is not popular so it does not get mentioned.
--
Charles
kerfloyed
Others read and respond, both here & CC. Do edit what has already been
stated differently causes confusion. If you want to change the info
you have posted, put up another post with the new info in it where it
still allows the discussion to flow the same as the posting sequence.
Oz
kerfloyed
content and clutter confused with each other.
You are talking down to SPAM, yet you are promoting your website here
on usenet - the very definition of SPAM. It might be on-topic, but it
is still SPAM.
Cruisemates has approx 7% of the daily posts Cruise Critic has.
I am not paid by CC, why would I promote it?
Has a lot to do with the cruise info available from the 340,000
members at the site. In the past 2 years it has helped with my
cruising obsession, and I have met many wonderful people from around
the world via the networking available on the site.
Jeff Gersten
>Bill
Once when I tried after the editing period was over to correct a typo, I
e-mailed them and asked how I could now make the correction. They ended
up doing it for me. At the end of the post, it read edited at request of
the poster. They even found and corrected a typo that I had missed.
D Ball
1. Who ever heard of a marketing strategy premised on telling
potential clients they are liars, blind, shills, illogical and
essentially uninformed and stupid for choosing a competing product or
service?
2. Disparaging the market leader instead of building a better product
or service is not a business strategy, it's an act of desperation.
3. Anonymous posts are not credible and convey cowardice. It is
especially peculiar and unprofessional for a business to utilize an
anonymous spokesperson. Under other circumstances, I would have
suspected that someone was fraudulently posting as a Cruisemates
representative.
4. However, that didn't occur to me here because, sad but true, this
unbelievably petty and insulting post is actually consistent with
every communication that any spokesman for Cruisemates has targeted to
rec.travel.cruises Usenet posters over the years I've been posting
here.
Not to get too zen-like or philosophical, but sheesh, it is clear
there is a lot of negative energy at Cruisemates. If half that energy
was devoted to creative R & D, Cruisemates would have a shot at
building a user base by offering something new, different and
innovative to the community of online cruise enthusiasts. When Steve
Jobs got Apple back, it was in shambles and Microsoft was the 800-
pound gorilla. Now, nearly everyone...even MS users...has an iBook,
iPhone, iPod playing some iTunes or iTouch, or uses Mac software or an
iTunes-related service.
I like Cruise Critic and will continue to recommend it to newbies.
There is a reason all of the mainstream media tout Cruise Critic as
the number one site for online cruise information.
Diana Ball
Austin, TX
Bill
> I like Cruise Critic and will continue to recommend it to newbies.
> There is a reason all of the mainstream media tout Cruise Critic as
> the number one site for online cruise information.
They're also on the CC payroll???
BIll
Bill
Almost all other message boards I have used allow you to edit
with no time limit. As for your concern about changing the post
and confusing later posts, if the person replying quotes the
relevant piece of the post, then there is no confusion (other
than maybe what happened to it). And when I complained to the CC
powers-that-be, I was told that it was because travel agents
posted stuff and then went back and deleted it.
You can't edit posts here because the newsgroup protocol does
not allow for it.
Bill
Charles
<bill...@prodigy.net> wrote:
> You can't edit posts here because the newsgroup protocol does
> not allow for it.
Newsgroup protocol allows for cancels and supercedes of posts. Most of
the providers have turned that capability off on their news servers
though because it was abused by forgers who would cancel and superscede
others posts.
--
Charles
PTKREUSER
> have referred others to cruisecritic because they have found it helpful.
> I know I have never been compensated. Wait, there was free champagne at
> a get together for cruisecritic posters on my last cruise, but that was
> Princess who supplied that.
Reply to edi....@cruisemates.com
I visited your website yesterday for the first time in many many
months. Personally, I don't see that much there. On the other hand,
CruiseCritic has gobs of info - plus very busy roll calls for our
upcoming cruises. I want to say that I think your new (?) format is
much much nicer than it was. Kudos for that. But I'm going where the
action is.
OK now, where is that check?!!!
LOL! Vada