Darren, all the forums turn in circles of quiet or busy the Greek ones have been about the same as last year , some others have been quieter and a couple have been busier, as the Greek season finishes at the end of October they do generally go quiet this time of year

wizard

"they do go quieter at this time of year"... unless you're hooked on holidays like me and spend most of your spare time on this site researching holidays and collecting ideas and info even after booking a year in advance. We've booked for Crete next year and sis and I are already putting out the feelers for 2009

Also we get lots of people just looking in and not posting, like your self Daren.

Kath HT Admin

Yes, we've bookedc for next yr - in fact did so 10 days after getting back in June.

Vicious circle posting / not posting / viewing only / not looking

It just seemed to me that there was not as much traffic on the area which was not moderator. I would look on the area, see that the topics had not changed or that they were moderator post and not bother.

I may be wrong, and you can quite easily prove this if you want I'm sure, but I would imagine there are less posts in the winter for this and other summer only resorts. People will mainly post I would have thought, when they are thinking of going or actually going. Hey, I'm not dissing the site (as the kidz say), I'm just sorry it APPEARED to ME that there were fewer posts of a non-moderator kind.

I'm not trying to make an issue out of it - I just asked simple question.

Hey ho.

DA

Yes I'm the same as Shirley love my holidays, love doing all the researching for them finding reviews and recommendations. I really love this site and also trip advisor keep up the good work.
Off to Santorini and crete next year all ready booked so will be on here needing advice nearer the time. Other wise I am always happy to help others with advice on their holidays.

come on you lot- don't be shy. Get posting
Darren, unfortunately things do start to wind down and many only come on to forums when they are looking at booking holidays and just before they go. I notice in my own forums that I get excited posts in the weeks leading up to the holiday, then they go and we never hear from them until the same time next year. I think some are just too depressed to come back on afterwards Me- even before I was mod- I love to talk holidays all year round.
We may return to Crete soon- been twice before and loved it- so there may be doubling of posting when that happens

I have been regularly posting the the Turkey discussion forum, but have been disappointed with the activity on the Crete forum. We have booked to go next summer and have been looking out for information to no avail. I think it's mainly a case of Holiday-Truthers havent been to Crete this year.

Duncan

we have one forum for the whole of Turkey and 4 for Greece if i take the daily count of post for all Greece it is not that much different to the whole of turkey, also Turkey is trying to become a year round destination and has a lot of holiday home owners , not so Greece who's season is 1st may to 31st Oct

wizard

I think the elves had been in - the front page was telling me that the latest post in this forum was January 1970!!!

I tend to lurk (daily!) and answer questions when I can - Crete being so large however, there are vast tracts that I've never visited and the bits I have visited most people don't want to know about (Hora Sfakion, Kato Zakros, Sougia anyone??) Also, there are quite a few "area specific" sites for Crete which offer "nitty gritty" insights for the independent traveller - this may reduce the amount of posts for the south coast for example. In addition, quite a lot of the island is visited by predominantly non-English speakers - who set up there own (often village specific) sites.

Mind you (after all that) - I don't think the forum's any quieter....

Roll on Friday - if you're all very good I might treat you to a post from Loutro!

I think Duncan and I are on the same wavelength - very little traffic on here compared to other sites - what have they got? Why are they getting the posts?

This is a .co.uk site - more visitors to Crete are beyond UK - are they seeing this site in the US or other area high enough to register?

DA

I can explain why posts might be down for Western Crete (west of Chania). I've been to most of the Greek Islands, worked on the mainland and lived in Turkey and for me the north/west of Crete is the most beautiful, dramatic and varied. However as a Brit it's becoming increasingly difficult to get there on holiday. The Scandinavian tour operators are getting close to a monopoly on accommodation.
In the 70's it was the Germans, then we Brits took over and now it's the Scans who are prepared to pay more than us for good quality accommodation. Brits have been fed on a diet of el cheapo hols (Spanish reference intended) and we've been squeezed out as a result. The locals are happy to take more money (albeit less in the bar) and are glad to see the back of the hooligans who now inhabit the east of the island (where it's not so different now from Kavos on Corfu!).
So let this post be a shout for the lovers of western Crete and a plea to tour operators to get back in there......it's the best!