While I think the idea of this web site is novel, how is it that anyone and everyone can leave a review on this web site, say whatever they want, good or bad, and not have it authenticated? And how can you or I believe it is true or false? I have visited a campground in Virginia several times and gotten to know the owners fairly well. The place is always packed, I usually see the same people there each season, and the owners and staff are super nice folks, and it's a nice place to stay, this is my opinion based on my experience. Yet, despite my experience, there are several posts on this web site about the same campground all of which totally trash the place and all look like personal vendettas against the owners from the same person. I don't believe a word of it and I think the folks who run this site ought to recognize deliberate sabotage when they see it. Also, anyone and everyone(particularly friends & family) could post here to make a lousy campground seem wonderful. It could make or break a campground. I hope the folks who run campgroundreviews.com will seriously consider a system to authenticate this "feedback", similar to the way a site like eBay does. If they do not they could be doing a terrible mis-service to campgrounds across the country as well as landing themselves in a heap of legal trouble. Sincerely, 8lugnuts.
The previous post, 8lugnuts, sounds like one of the nuts came off. The webmaster of this site has explained, time and time again, how they verify IP addresses, and take other undisclosed measures, to make sure that campground owners don't "stack" the site. (Could 8lugnuts possibly be a campground owner?). The webmaster of this site has also stressed, time and time again, that readers should not take any one or two comments as the Gospel but, rather, should look at what a number of visitors say about a specific campground before forming their judgment. This is, unquestionably, the best rating site in the industry, putting Trailer Life and Woodalls to shame. Read all the site disclaimers and explanations, Mr. Lugnuts (or Ms. Lugnuts, as the case may be), and you will understand.
I have entered several reviews of campgrounds that we have visited and my opinions are just that! If I have a bad or good experience I tell it like it is, the next person may have a different experience, but that is what this site is all about. If a campground consistently gets bad reviews, then I would not visit, but if it just gets a couple, I probably would try it. I think this is a good site to keep people informed on the good and bad. If the campground that you are talking about is a good campground, then the good reviews will outweigh the bad ones. I love this site!!!!!!! We live in Virginia and went to a campground that had a good review back in 2000, but we went in 2003 and it was lousy and also hard to get reservations, so being packed doesn't mean anything to me.
Beastdriver, I agree with what both of you Gloria and yourself have said regarding this website. You obviously are not very computer savy. Many ISPs (do you want me to tell you what that acronym stands for?) have a system that provides users random IP addresses. Some systems have "static" IP addresses. So depending what system a user has, they could conceiveably send a 100 e-mails from the same computer and have a different IP address each time bonehead! BUT, I value the site immensely. Wish I had seen it before I had the worst experience of my life at an RV resort in AZ. The problem with these Mom and Pop owned RV campgrounds is they are not accountable to anyone (like a motel chain would be) and if they are bad, they need to get hammered via this website. By the same token, I have stayed at a few very good ones and they are not listed on this site. My guess is most people (like me) don't want to ruin a good thing by posting it here and having the RV hordes show up and ruin it for everyone else. Most people who stay at RV sites are passing thru and will not come back to make these owner jerks accountable for their unethical business practices. This site serves as a perfect venue to pass along information that may be biased or unbiased.....you certainly can't count on the jerks from Woodalls, Camping World, etc. They're more concerned with the bottom dollar they receive from advertising.
Joe Donut: Gee, I didn't know you couldn't trace IP addresses, nor did the FBI, nor did Napster, nor did a dozen other agencies that regularly do so in order to nab the bad guys. Learn something new every day on this site, and that's what makes it so valuable!
I wish I was as smart of this Donut fellow. Too bad he IS WRONG. You can most certainly trace IPs. But he is right about one thing: This site is excellent and a real benefit to us!
Yea, no kidding IP addresses can be traced with some effort. Glad you aren't as slow as your macho sounding name. And I am sure a free site like this is spending invaluable time and resources tracking down these pesky little bad guys (just like the FBI :lol: ) You understand my point ....the site isn't foolproof for an RV owner who wants to get around the rules nor for someone who has a personal vendetta against a campground. Joe Bag of Donuts
Joe Donut: You made my day. Never have I been called macho because of my handle, "Bald Guy." Nice to know you were right about something!
I have never had a problem due to information we have received from this site. I do not spend my time thnking about our IPS address. We need good information on nice places to camp out. Our books only help a little and the lot of information comes from this site if anyone has wrote it up. For the most part sites are not bad. You will find a bad one at times and people need to know about the place. A poor park will go broke very soon in time and that will end problem. This site only has 5000 plus sites and we see a lot more places out here. We do not go to any camp site that has a lot of bad hits. One person problem is not a problem to me, a lot of problems on same site tells me this place has problems. We need this information and will use it to help pick our camp sites.
As usual, John Blue, you are absolutely correct. This site is extremely valuable to us and people like the Donut Man just enjoy listening to themselves, I'm afraid. Let's all be thankful for this site and, as long as we all are truthful and tell it like it is about sites, we have nothing to fear, IPs, ISPs, or SOBs.
:lol: :lol: :lol: If "8lugnuts" would take the time to read this site, its instructions, and its disclaimers, he would understand how most campers know that, from time to time, there may be "sour grapes" but most of us have the good sense to look for a pattern, or a multiplicity of reviews, before making a decision. We're not stupid people. If we were, we would be staying in motels instead of living the dream in an RV. :lol: :lol: :lol:
This site may not be perfect, but at least it allows the average RV user to post his opinion about a particular facility somewhere. The printed books have their own "opinions", and we have ours!
There have been many times when we used the ratings in those campgrounds books and were disappointed. On the other hand there were times when we went to a campground that didn't get great ratings in the books, but we love it. I think what is great about reviews on this site is there are more specific. People here not only tell you they liked it or not, but why, in detail...unlike those books. I said it before and I'll say it again....we all have different ideas of the perfect campground. What one person doesn't like another person will love. So getting reviews from real people with details I think is great. In the end we always draw our own conclusion.
Put it this way...I trust the reviews in general on this site more than the ratings in the rating books that have fullpage ads for the 4* campgrounds that turn out to be duds! Hmmmm. Jan
I think you have to have realistic expectations using a site like this. If you want someone to go out and verify every posting placed here, pay the site owner an annual membership fee and he can go out and compete with TL and Woodalls. That being said, I have generally found the reviews here to be on the money. I can generally recognize the folks with an axe to grind and when I see posts about "they were mean to me" or "they let the neighbors kids run wild" I don't put as much weight in those postings. But when I see "the bathrooms were filthy" or "the sites were small and poorly cared for", then I pay attention.
I am currently working on a research project that could help answer this question. I have created an extensive database of good (avg 8.0) and bad (any rating of 3 or less). I have compared the good recommendations with the ratings from at least 3 other websites and have come up with a composit rating. Anything in the top quartile (7.5+) is a good campground. I have about 760 confirmed good campgrounds and 500 more that are recommended but unconfirmed. I also have found 460 campgrounds where someone has had a bad experience. The package is written in Excel and is fully macro driven. I will be making it available for FREE when It's complete.
The reviews here can only be as accurate and objective as the person posting them. If there's something about an RV park that really annoys someone, then the park will probably get a bad review. A case in point in my experience is the WAC RV park in Sarcoxie, MO. My wife and I stayed there twice in 2002, in part on the recommendation of friends from Kansas. Later that year, my daughter and I spent the night as well. WAC isn't a five star park,and it doesn't pretend to be, but it was quiet and comfortable. And we were three times served the absolutely best fried chicken dinners we've ever had, in their very small dining room. On one of the evenings, the mayor of Sarcoxie was at the adjoining table. (Though this is Sarcoxie, and not St. Louis, remember. . .) One of the things that I noted in the office was that they had several presidential campaign bumper stickers from the 2000 election posted on the wall. It doesn't matter which candidate because there's plenty of nastiness from each side. I suspect that torqued off some visitor with a political agenda, because a review from someone who visited after we did was vitriolic beyond belief. Many of the features of WAC were "spun" to make them sound bad, when they really weren't. The "spin" was the same sort I see when someone is trying to paint some political candidate as evil. For example, the WAC owners have a pet bison. It's near the swimming pool, which we found to be very clean. The vitriolic review made it sound like the bison was IN the pool, when in fact they were well separated by a double fence. (And WAC cleans the bison enclosure *way* better than the dog crap doesn't get picked up at the Islander RV park in Lake Havasu City, AZ,) WAC has some long term residents, but not as many as some RV parks that got higher numbers in their reviews. We're headed east again this summer, and plan to stop over at WAC. If it's changed as badly as the later reviews make it seem, I'll say so. (Note to midwesterners: You *are* east of us. ) B)
Dear Arizonian, Thank you for such an enlightening post. I am so happy to hear about your great freid chicken dinner and the fact that some po-dunk small town mayor sat right next to you..WOW! That is exciting. And I love your diatribe on the analogy between politocal candidate campaigns and RV park reviews. Thank you so much for contributing such valuable insight to this website. Next time keep surfing and don't stop.
Dear Arizonian and all others who are reading this post: I did not write the last "cute" note to Arizonian. Some sicko has borrowed my name, Beastdriver, and apparently gets his kicks by trying to steal someone else's identity.
