Changes To Review Submittals, Everybody please read Options

[Cheryl Fuller]

I'm with them. Even at 3 reviews it's a bad deal for the users.

Our family only stays at a formal "campground" once or twice a year....the rest of the 10 trips a year we make is dry-camping out in the boonies. Basically, we hate campground camping but when we choose to camp in a campground it's critical to see reports from folks in order to make our stay as less-irritating as possible......and the more folks and the more reports the better. This new policy stiffles that. It also puts a clamp on us being able to submit reports for a couple of years (until we meet the new threshold for reporting)

There's got to be a better way, especially for those of us that have already been published 1 or more times on the site.

I think it is a necessary step to insure that campground owners do not come here and try to stack the deck in their favor. Maybe you should post reviews for the past campgrounds you have stayed at. You said you have submitted 1 but I would assume you have stayed at more than 1 campground. I support the webmaster in his efforts to keep the forum a true review by campers and not owners. I am sorry that you feel you are being left out but I really don't see any other way that wold not involve greater time and expense.

[blomquir]

I submitted 1 in 2004 which is still out and can be read. I also submitted one a week or 2 ago from a trip we made last year (never posted on the site but now I know why).

Fast forward to tonight. I just reviewed another CG we stayed at in June. When I finished that I saw a notice on the top of the page that said something to the effect of "thanks for submitting a review, we're holding it until you reach 3 reviews of different campgrounds, you have 1 of the 3 required on hold".

So the system is not counting the one I have published from 2004, nor it is recognizing the one I reported on a couple of weeks ago (from a trip last summer). Frustrating................

p.s. I think those folks that are submitting bogus reports to bolster campgrounds should be identified on the page.

[Texasrvers]

I am still fairly new to this site, and I don’t want to anger all the good RVer’s who write honest reviews or the wonderful folks who do such a good job maintaining this site. What a job it must be to screen all those reviews! But here are my thoughts.

If campground owners really want to be dishonest and post a review for their own campground, they will find a way to do it regardless of the restrictions that are placed on this site to try to keep them from doing just that. So then it is really the honest reviewers who are being hurt by the restrictions, not the campground owners. You have indicated that you have ways of determining if the review is from a campground owner, but I would bet that for every way you have, a dishonest person can figure out many ways around it. The only thing that keeps anyone (RVer or owner) from writing a dishonest review is his/her own honesty and integrity.

Also, if some people write only one review a year it could be three years before their first review is posted. Campgrounds can change a lot in that time, and I think most people who use this site would prefer a much more recent review of a campground before choosing it.

I just wanted to voice my opinion, but let me end on a good note. This is still a fantastic site. I always rely on it to plan our trips, and it has been a great help.

[Syl]

Is there a link to click on to find out what campgrounds I've posted about? I'm new here and maybe it's staring me in the face but I don't see it. We took a lengthy trip recently and I'm not sure which reviews I've left that are in the 'hold' area waiting to be approved. I know ... it's not very smart of me, but I thought the posts would pop up quickly so I did not write them down. Now I am reluctant to add more in case I've already done so. Help.

Sylvia

[Lucky Card Campers]

On Monday (2 days ago) I posted a review to the site and it hasn't shown yet. I have other reviews on the site so obviously I have met the 3 visit quota- what can be wrong?

[Cheryl]

The webmasters are probably busy, jobs, everyday life, etc. They do not get paid to run this site, they do it out of goodwill and the love of camping. As long as your reviews meet the guidelines, they will post it when they have time. It sometimes takes a few days. If you don't see it after a week or so, resubmit using these guidelines (found on the review notice page)

• Due to the volume of reviews that we receive, we need your help! Please punctuate your reviews correctly, and use mixed case. Include 2 spaces after punctuation at the end of sentences and 1 space after commas, and use Proper Case! DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS! or all lower case, PLEASE!
• Spelling "my best camp" or "my town" without the first letter being a capital letter or "WISCONSIN" in all capitals is not correct punctuation. "My Best Camp" and "My Town" and "Wisconsin" is correct!
• Everything that you enter wrong (including partial names of campgrounds) has to be re-entered by hand. So if you entered "My Best" and it should read "My Best Campground" you will know why your review was not posted!
• You must enter the exact state and city that the campground is in or the review will not be posted.
• Do not add extra "notes" with the city such as "near Chicago" as this just has to be removed. Enter just the city where the campground is actually located--nothing more!
• You must provide an accurate complete name of the campground you are giving the review on. Entering just "KOA" is not good enough, as there could be more than one KOA in the area. If we can not verify that the review matches the city and campground, then we will not post the review.
• Take the time to find and enter the campgrounds website, but get it correct please. Entering a website such as http://www.koa.com is not correct, as that is the main website for KOA and not the campground you are giving the review on.

Don't get discouraged, the more reviews on here the better!

[blomquir]

[*]Spelling "my best camp" or "my town" without the first letter being a capital letter or "WISCONSIN" in all capitals is not correct punctuation. "My Best Camp" and "My Town" and "Wisconsin" is correct!

I guess I don't understand your quote and instruction about capitalization.

If I'm writing at sentence such as:

"My best camp........" why would I capitalize the "b" in best and the "c" in camp?

or

"My town is very much like........" why would I capitalize the "t" in town?

Not trying to pick a fight but I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

V/R

Rich

[johnwadams]

Why not:
1. If someone posts a review for a CG that has already had reviews posted for it and their review is in line with the others, let it post, regardless of it being someones first post.
2. Since the worry is that CG owners will overate their campground, allow all average or below average reviews post at once.
3. Let the readers use some common sense. I don't see the percieved problem unless an owner posts a 5 star review for his campground and no one else has ever posted anything about the CG, either positive or negative. Most readers have access to the Trailer Life Directory or Woddalls and will try to do additional checking on a CG with only one review.

Last:
How many campground owners have actually been caught posting overrated reviews for their campgrounds???
John of Memphis

[Cheryl]

I guess I don't understand your quote and instruction about capitalization.

If I'm writing at sentence such as:

"My best camp........" why would I capitalize the "b" in best and the "c" in camp?

or

"My town is very much like........" why would I capitalize the "t" in town?

Not trying to pick a fight but I'm not sure what you're trying to say.

V/R

Rich

First off, these are not my instructions. I copied and pasted them from this site's submit a review notice page. My interpretation is that they are using My Best Camp as an example name of a campground and My Town as an example of the town the campground is in.

[genestoy]

Hi,

The "My Best Camp" refers to the actual name of the campground not the comments section in other words you would enter New York KOA, not New york koa or new york koa. and the "My Town" refers to entering New York, not New york or new york. Of course these would only matter if the campground had never been reviewed before as the correct names and punctuation should already be there in the list.

[mpj]

Bad Idea. I understand WHY it is necessary, but isn't there a better way? Some people only camp once or twice a year and need a good reccommendation or a warning "not to go there". Some people only post once or twice a year. Try to come up with a BETTER solution - otherwise, Why have the reviews in the first place?

[rodman]

Thats to bad. I gave my first review for a park I really loved and it's a shame people won't hear about it. I use this site quite often, my wife and I try and get away once a month or so. I would like to be able to check for recent reviews instead of going somewhere and finding out the place was a dump and the review was being held. I sure hate to waste a weekend because a few moron's ruin it for the majority of honest people that really enjoy this site and benefit from it. Oh well, only takes a few.

[rodman]

The webmasters are probably busy, jobs, everyday life, etc. They do not get paid to run this site, they do it out of goodwill and the love of camping. As long as your reviews meet the guidelines, they will post it when they have time. It sometimes takes a few days. If you don't see it after a week or so, resubmit using these guidelines (found on the review notice page)

• Due to the volume of reviews that we receive, we need your help! Please punctuate your reviews correctly, and use mixed case. Include 2 spaces after punctuation at the end of sentences and 1 space after commas, and use Proper Case! DO NOT USE ALL CAPITALS! or all lower case, PLEASE!
• Spelling "my best camp" or "my town" without the first letter being a capital letter or "WISCONSIN" in all capitals is not correct punctuation. "My Best Camp" and "My Town" and "Wisconsin" is correct!
• Everything that you enter wrong (including partial names of campgrounds) has to be re-entered by hand. So if you entered "My Best" and it should read "My Best Campground" you will know why your review was not posted!
• You must enter the exact state and city that the campground is in or the review will not be posted.
• Do not add extra "notes" with the city such as "near Chicago" as this just has to be removed. Enter just the city where the campground is actually located--nothing more!
• You must provide an accurate complete name of the campground you are giving the review on. Entering just "KOA" is not good enough, as there could be more than one KOA in the area. If we can not verify that the review matches the city and campground, then we will not post the review.
• Take the time to find and enter the campgrounds website, but get it correct please. Entering a website such as <a href="http://www.koa.com" target="_blank">http://www.koa.com</a> is not correct, as that is the main website for KOA and not the campground you are giving the review on.

Don't get discouraged, the more reviews on here the better!

You can't resubmit, it says you have already submitted a review of this site and have to wait 90 days before submitting another one. Did I miss something. I love this site and would like to submit more as my wife and travel almost once a month to a place somewhere we have seen on this site.

[rodman]

I submitted 1 in 2004 which is still out and can be read. I also submitted one a week or 2 ago from a trip we made last year (never posted on the site but now I know why).

Fast forward to tonight. I just reviewed another CG we stayed at in June. When I finished that I saw a notice on the top of the page that said something to the effect of "thanks for submitting a review, we're holding it until you reach 3 reviews of different campgrounds, you have 1 of the 3 required on hold".

So the system is not counting the one I have published from 2004, nor it is recognizing the one I reported on a couple of weeks ago (from a trip last summer). Frustrating................

p.s. I think those folks that are submitting bogus reports to bolster campgrounds should be identified on the page.

Now thats a great idea!!!!!!!!!!

[Cheryl]

You can't resubmit, it says you have already submitted a review of this site and have to wait 90 days before submitting another one. Did I miss something. I love this site and would like to submit more as my wife and travel almost once a month to a place somewhere we have seen on this site.

Since I can't see your review, I can't tell you why they didn't post it. Your best bet would be to PM the webmaster and ask what went wrong. I would guess that the 90 day wait is so that one person can't flood the site with reviews about one campground. Just another way they are trying to keep the site "legit".