What would you like to see more of on TravelPUNK? - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**travelpunk** · 01-28-2008, 01:24 PM

What more can this site use?

**marc873** · 01-28-2008, 01:28 PM

Thats a tough one. This site has damn near everything I can think of! A few less adds maybe, but they pay the bills, so thats all good. Once again though, I miss the old user profile options. The current one is just so limited. But I understand the old one was causing a lot of tech. problems.

**travelpunk** · 01-28-2008, 01:37 PM

Thanks, bro.

I am just testing the ads out for now. Anything can and will help. That is for sure

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Since this site is always under construction, I would like to know where my focus should go. Not that this poll is the final answer, but feedback is always helpful

.

**joe7f** · 01-28-2008, 01:42 PM

Good topic Tony

I think if I were a Tpunk newbie, and I saw that the "Recent messages" weren't travel related, I would scratch my head a little.

May if you aren't logged in, the only threads shown will be from the "travel forums" rather than things from the book club, television shows, or even Nicole's I-love-Celine-Dion thread of the week

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By the same token, as mods, maybe we should change the titles of threads to more clearly illustrate what the thread is about

For example if someone wants to know about Eurail, and the thread's name is "How do I..." it doesn't strike you immediately as even being travel related. The mods could rename it to "Purchasing Eurail passes in Europe?" or whatever the gist of the thread is.

The travelpunk.com landing page can be decluttered a bit.

For actual content and the like, there can never been enough travel tips, stories and meetups. I hope to contribute more than a few of the coming weeks.

--Joey

**pinknic38** · 01-28-2008, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joe7f

or even Nicole's I-love-Celine-Dion thread of the week

HEY.

but seriously, I think that maybe listing some threads in more than one topic might be helpful also, because when I am looking for some stuff I look in a few different topics to see what it would be listed under because I think sometimes people will put stuff in "general discussions" or whatever just because you can't really go wrong there, and I know that's what mods are for, to move threads to where they belong but sometimes it's kind of questionable which topic something should go under.

For example, say someone reports in on their trip and talks about what they're doing, etc, where they're at, and talk about the hostel they're at. That could go in either the specific region thread or the hostel review thread, or arrival/departure reports. if it goes in say, the arrival/departure reports, but they have some good valuable info for a hostel they're at, then a newbie wondering that same information misses out 9 times out of 10, see what I mean? so if possible maybe be able to list a thread in more than one topic.

And speaking of specific region threads, would it be possible to break those down more? more specifically the western europe thread? I think that's one of the more popular places to backpack, especially for newbies to the whole scene, so maybe breaking it down by country. this poses a problem when folks do a multiple country trip and write about it all in one post, but this is where the multiple thread listings come in handy.

I don't even know if this is possible, but just a thought.

**marc873** · 01-28-2008, 04:05 PM

^^^ I like it. I have felt the same thing when trying to determine where to put certain threads. A lot of times when discussing a trip, I do indeed mention several different things that all belong in different catagories. It would be nice to list in one cat, but also reference it to another cat. for later research purposes.

**travelpunk** · 01-28-2008, 04:42 PM

Thanks for the input, gang. I can separate some forums like Western Europe and break it down into different countries.

When you post something that encompasses a bunch of different countries, you can create a link or thread in the other related countries that will direct us to the original post.

Renaming forums is a great idea too.

On filtering the "Recent Messages," are you talking about the "top stats" part, Joey? I don't think that option is possible with that module.

**TheJake** · 01-28-2008, 05:11 PM

Yeah the ads don't bother me at all, in fact I am glad to see them! I worry about you sometimes tony!

As far as Tpunk goes, I have always and will always believe that we have the possibility of running something a bit like the Hitchhikers guide if we could do it right. At any given moment we have several regular posters in countless different parts of the world, if we could just cultivate them to write more, have a few of the mods edit for clarity and readability and then publish those broadcasts... I think we could have something greater than we are. Like a RSS travel story feed from around the world. Or a full on Hostel review section.

**TheJake** · 01-28-2008, 05:12 PM

to add... I don't like the social networking idea... I think it would be a waste of bandwidth with most members already being a part of 1-3 other similar sites who do it better than we ever could...

**DC_Jessica** · 01-28-2008, 05:44 PM

I picked the "things to see" one. Not that nobody provides that, but I was just giving an emotional response. Maybe I'll just start a thread that asks "what's the single coolest thing you've seen/done that nobody knows about?" So I can fantasize since I can't leave the country at the moment.

So basically, I just voted to take a break from writing about China at work. The site is awesome. And I love that every post I make schills for Google! Woo! Just don't let Vagisil or anything advertise on my posts, Tony, and we're set.

**Rozza** · 01-28-2008, 05:54 PM

can we have a new photo gallery please? i felt that the old one really added to the boards, it was simple to use, it was sociable, and most of all it let us show off and brag about our most awesome of adventures :D

**c0urt** · 01-29-2008, 06:55 PM

I second the there is waaaay tom much social networking, i thin kthe site has near everything

**Sijuki** · 01-29-2008, 07:19 PM

I say the articles, news and such. Information is the key that makes traveling so interesting. Even if you can't do a trip, or if you are researching. Where better to find all your information than Travelpunk? I realize that it would require users to provide more input on their trips and such.

**MolsonGirl** · 01-30-2008, 12:14 AM

More online Hostel Info and booking capabilites..

**worldwidemike** · 01-30-2008, 11:19 AM

One idea I think I mentioned awhile back, but would probably be somewhat labor intensive, would be some sort of page with a listing of countries by region. Tpunkers could go onto that particular country thread, and post what they did there and what help they might be able to provide for newbies or folks planning a trip there.

Something like this:
SOUTHEAST ASIA
Cambodia
Laos
Myanmar (Burma)
Thailand
etc.

So, worldwidemike goes to the Thailand thread, posts "I've been to Bangkok, and a day trip to Ayyuthaya -- feel free to contact me about them." Then I do the same for Myanmar and Cambodia. LiveFreeOrDie does the same for Thailand and so on, Freespirtiz does it, too. Then, when someone has a question about a trip, he or she has a network of PEOPLE to ask -- not just posting a thread and hoping someone responds to it. Plus, it'll be a way of demonstrating how well traveled our community is.

If this type of page is established, I think we need to go back to some sort of prompt that lets a person know they've received a PM first thing when they log in. I know some of us have had problems missing or not noticing PMs. Also, perhaps restore the feature that e-mails a person when they receive a PM?

I'm sure there are ways of fine tuning this, but it would certainly focus some energy on the site into travel and make it easier to utilize people as resources. And Tpunkers who receive PMs or e-mails asking advice may be more prone to log on and participate...

worldwidemike

**pinknic38** · 01-30-2008, 11:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by worldwidemike

I think we need to go back to some sort of prompt that lets a person know they've received a PM first thing when they log in. I know some of us have had problems missing or not noticing PMs. Also, perhaps restore the feature that e-mails a person when they receive a PM?

I dunno about the rest of you but when I receive a PM a little box pops up when I get on TP and I also get an email in my yahoo inbox.............

**joe7f** · 01-30-2008, 01:03 PM

I don't receive an email but for me it isn't important. I check Travelpunk more than my email as it is usually more interesting

--Joey

**jengt** · 01-30-2008, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pinknic38

I dunno about the rest of you but when I receive a PM a little box pops up when I get on TP and I also get an email in my yahoo inbox.............

Me to. I guess it's how you've set up your options in the control panel.

**raoulduke** · 01-30-2008, 04:10 PM

I think the main TPunk page looks a little too cluttered which may turn people off. There are too many options on the left hand side and the sites purpose isn't very clear. People may not notice all the links to quality information because they assume it's just full of travel search engines and deals.

It also needs a bigger link to the boards so more people can find us.