Welcome!
The Independent Traveler is a community of folks who love to travel and we all benefit from the exchange of advice that takes place particularly here! Our Travel Boards are a cooperative effort which depend on all of you to make it work well. If you post questions, please try to take the time to answer other members' questions as well. The Independent Traveler has adopted a series of guidelines to help make the Travel Boards easier to use and better for everyone.
Messages posted in The Independent Traveler must conform to our Community Guidelines found in this area. Posts that violate these guidelines will be removed from the travel boards. Repeated violator's may lose their posting privileges. We will automatically remove any subsequent inappropriate postings without warning. Please use good judgment in posting any message.
Remember, these are YOUR Travel Boards. Help make this a great source of information for you and your fellow travelers by sharing the name of that wonderful beach you found, the great restaurant you ate at, or the fabulous tour you took in Rome that just can't be missed! If you have any questions or comments regarding our posting guidelines or any content found on our message boards please be sure and let me
know. I'll be happy to discuss them with you.
Looking forward to reading about all of your travel journeys!
Laura Sterling
Community Manger
The Independent Traveler
Disclaimer
The Independent Traveler's message boards, as well as the information
you may read in a Member's Trip Report (and other member-generated areas)
are designed to help travelers obtain unbiased travel-related information
and discuss ways to make travel more enjoyable, and perhaps even offer
you a money-saving tip or two!
On our Travel Boards, this information is sometimes provided by our
volunteer Hosts and sometimes by other contributors, many of whom use
anonymous user names and are people we've never met.
We recognize that while we have tons of great stuff in our forums, people
sometimes post messages in our folders or submit articles that may be
misleading, deceptive, or downright wrong. They may do this unintentionally
or, sad to say, intentionally.
Treat the travelers here the same way you'd treat anyone you'd met for
the first time. This is important because anyone is allowed to participate
in our community. You shouldn't make a travel decision just because
some stranger (or even an online friend) talks it up. Basically, you
shouldn't treat cyberspace any differently than you would real life.
The fundamental concept is that you should NOT totally rely upon the
information or opinions you read. Rather, you should use what you read
here as starting points for doing independent research on destinations,
hotels, tour operators, restaurants, excursions and bargain-hunting
techniques. Then judge for yourself the merits of the material that
has been shared in our forum.
We do not guarantee the completeness of any information provided on
our Travel Boards. Although we do read through the thousands of messages
we receive each day, check out all the hyperlinked web sites, we cannot
research each one for accuracy. That isn't why we're here. Staff members
are here to provide you with an environment that is free from advertising
and soliciting (unbiased), free from harassment, vulgarity and disparaging
statements, as well as providing you with a safe haven brought together
by those sharing a mutual interest: travel!
You are responsible for your own travel decisions. The Independent Traveler
will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a reader's reliance
on information obtained in our area, or in a hyperlinked area.
As cyberspace develops, the freedom and openness from which we all profit
can make us the target of touts, shysters, and frauds. These people
could infect our forum, just as they infect other parts of the world.
Please proceed with caution, do your homework, and be wary of those
who post hyperlinks to strange web sites.
"Host" USER NAMES
You will see some people with the "Host" prefix on their user
names around our Community. These people are the official Hosts of our
community. Their primary purpose is to keep our forum running smoothly,
with politeness and good humor. They perform a variety of tasks, especially
answering your questions about the information available within The
Indpendent Traveler, and explaining how to navigate our forum.
Many of these Hosts contribute to the various discussions. They
are free to contribute, or not contribute, as they see fit. Their opinions
are their own. The Independent Traveler does not regulate what the staff
says about a location, hotel, tour operators or travel provider.
Our staff is drawn from a wide circle of daily life. Most of them are
experienced travelers -- either realtime or "armchair." Most, however,
are outside the travel field in their professional lives. You should
not believe that these people have any additional insight or information
simply because they have a "Host" prefix to their name.
Advertising Guidelines
The Independent Traveler has strict guidelines prohibiting blatant advertising,
commercial sales and solicitation posts on all of our message boards.
Our Travel Boards are meant to be a traveler's exchange of advice and
tips where you can talk about your travels -- not a marketplace for
advertising and selling services. There are thousands of travel professionals
online and if we didn't insist on a non-solicitation policy the travel
boards would be very quickly overrun with nothing but ads.
The Independent Traveler defines advertising as an individual or company's
attempt to generate business or other commercial enterprise, either
directly or indirectly, by using our Travel Boards. Solicitation includes,
but is not limited to, requests to be E-mailed, the posting of phone
numbers for your business, and the referring to or posting of one's
own Web site address.
Also, although third-party recommendations are the lifeblood of the
message boards, when, in the sole opinion of the message board staff,
those public postings are too commercial or promotional in tone, excessive
in quantity or if there is reason to suspect that they are disingenuous,
or posted by the agent, themselves, under cover of "alias" screen names,
such postings will be removed. While we welcome the third-party recommendation
of your personal travel or cruise agent, they MUST be in response to
a request for such information, and they must NOT contain contact information
of any kind. Touting of your travel agent is not allowed.
The Independent Traveler reserves the right to approve or deny links
which lead directly to or link to travel-related material that is not
located within our Web site.. This does not mean all links will be removed,
but rather reviewed on a case-by-case basis.
Travel Professionals, Tour Operators & Travel Agents
Travel professionals, tour operators and travel agents (and their associates,
employees or designated representative) are encouraged to participate
in the discussions on the Travel Boards and establish themselves as
experts on a particular topic by responding to members' inquiries with
useful answers.
In doing so, you are welcome to sign your name and note your professional
title only. . You may not list your business name, phone number, business
location, web site address, contact info or e-mail address. Responding
to members' inquiries on the boards with an ad for your services is
not allowed.
You may offer your services via private E-mail to members who have **specifically
requested such information or services**. However, you should understand
that unsolicited marketing mailings are considered a breach of Internet
etiquette and are not looked upon favorably by its recipient.
The Independent Traveler considers requests to be E-mailed for additional
information as soliciting and will return those postings to Travel Professionals.
Travel professionals and property owners (and their associates, employees
or designated representative) may not list or refer members to their
World Wide Web sites.
Harassment, Flaming and Trolls
The harassment of our members is not allowed.
The Independent Traveler is committed to providing an online environment
that is free from these types of harassing postings. Please, don't attack
another poster personally. Do not harass, threaten, embarrass, or do
anything else to another member that is unwanted. This means: don't
say bad things about them, don't keep sending them unwanted Instant
Message notes, don't attack their race, heritage, etc. If you disagree
with someone, respond to the subject, not the person. Postings of this
nature will be removed from the boards.
Postings that have been placed on the boards to disrupt the flow of
conversation will be removed.
Multiple occurrences of harassment/flaming may result in your loss of
posting privileges on our message boards.
Profanity and Vulgar Language
The use of profanity and foul or vulgar language is not acceptable. Keep
in mind that members come in all ages and all have access to our Travel
Boards. Using asterisks to blank out several letters of a word is *still*
considered a violation if the vulgarity is discernible. There are far
more powerful ways to get a point across. Discussions of any nature
that The Independent Traveler staff feels inappropriate for the Travel
Boards will be removed.
Illegal
Activities
The Independent Travleer prohibits the conducting of illegal activities
on our Travel Boards, including (but not limited to) the posting of
pyramid scheme/chain letter/make money fast-type information.
In addition, the discussion of illegal activities, such as (but not
limited to) drugs on all of is also not allowed.
Copyright
Infringements
The posting of large blocks of text obtained from the Internet, online
newspapers, web sites, magazines, etc., defeats the purpose of our Travel
Boards. All of this information is available to everyone online, and
doesn't add to the idea of sharing firsthand experiences and travel
advice. Also, the majority of information out there is protected by
an author's individual copyright. Therefore, we will remove such information
from the message boards.
Spelling
and Grammar Errors It
is important to remember that everyone makes mistakes at one time or
another, and that there are many users who use English as a second language,
especially on our Travel Boards. There are also a number of people who
suffer from learning disabilities and who have difficulty noticing their
spelling mistakes. Do not make comments on the spelling and grammar
of other users. It is simply not a productive expenditure of energies.
Please
Browse BEFORE You Post
Browse a topic first to see if your question has already been asked
or answered by someone else. This is your ##1 best resource! And please
post your messages in an appropriate folder so that you'll receive the
best possible response. It is very time consuming to return misplaced messages that are in the wrong topics.
Posts
Appear Immediately and You Cannot Delete Them
We do not review messages before they are posted and you cannot delete
your own messages once they are posted. As much as we'd like to, our
volunteer staff is too busy to delete messages for you, extend spell-check
services or rescue you from a momentary lapse in good judgment! ;) If
you don't see your message after posting it, close your browser or click
your "refresh" to see your posting. You'll see it -- and so will everyone
else!
Answer
Postings on the Boards, Not in E-Mail
Please try to answer message board posts on the boards instead of E-mail
when appropriate. There is a lot of great information that we're all
missing because it is passing through private E-mail. There are of course
times when private E-mail is more appropriate but
if you have information that would be helpful to many people, please
try to come back to the boards and post it rather than replying to a
posting through E-mail.
ALL
CAPS
Typing in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS is considering shouting by many, so please
double check your caps lock key before posting.
Rich
Text & Graphic Images
The use of these features on our message boards can greatly enhance
your online Travel Board experiences. However, postings that are difficult
to read, too BIG or too small, too light in color, etc., will be returned
to you so that you may repost.
Private
Addresses and Phone Numbers If
you wish to respond to a post with your name and address, please send
it via E-mail and do not post it publicly on the boards. It is not a
wise idea to publicly post your address and/or phone number online.
The Independent Traveler staff will return these postings to you.
Copyright 1995 - 2009, The Independent Traveler, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This file may be downloaded for personal use only. Other copying or reproduction is expressly prohibited.
