I was trying to update my RV log and used the RV PARK REVIEWS site to recall basic information. I have used the site before but as a lurker -- not a member. I decided it was time that I joined and started submitting reviews if I was going to earn my keep. I have submitted one review which you might not see for a while because of the recent policy changes for posting reviews. I didn't note any guidelines with repect to the character length of comments so I made what I thought were terse comments regarding what I thought were useful observations concerning the RV park in question. I tried to avoid editorializing. The result undoubtedly exceeds this post in length by two or three times. After completing the review, I went back to my log entry project and noted that most review comments, here, are _very_ terse (usually one short paragraph) and tend to editorialize rather than giving useful information. My concern is that I am going to put significant effort into contributing to this site and then my efforts are going to be rejected or highly edited. In the best case, I'm wondering if my extensive comments will be unappreciated by the rank and file members who might be looking for a more simple formula approach (like 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down'). I can't help but note that reviews are often subjective to the point that parks will receive both '10's and '1's -- without any clear differentiation as to the reviewer's point of view. If my efforts will probably not be of any use, I would rather not get involved (I have better things to do and would rather keep my camping secrets to myself, anyway). So my question to the members, is, in your experience, do you think my lengthy comments are likely to be highly edited because of that length, or, do you think extensive observations are unwanted by the members, anyway?
It has been my experience that little editing is done by the webmaster who generally lets people tell it like it is. I have had paragraphs run together (to save space, I presume), but no major changes. I believe that as long as comments are salient, the webmaster is very liberal. On the other hand, if you submit a piece that would qualify as a novel, then not only are you wasting your time, but also the time of most of us who review this site daily. I know that I hesitate to read anything over several hundred words. This post is 632 characters, and you are allowed a maximum post of 1,024,000 characters. Hope this is helpful.
I read a review on here that was a little lengthy of Petit Jean State in Arizona. If you go to the reviews, it is in Morrilton and it is the last review for the park. It was this review that made me want to visit this park. We had a great time there. It is a beautiful campground that I would have never visited if it weren't for that reviewer. (so thanks to whomever you are!) After your reviews finally get posted, you'll be able to tell if the webmaster did any editing. Anyway, to get to my point, I appreciate more details as long as they are about the campground. It is so hard to find a good campground just based on a numerical rating - what some rate a 2 others may rate an 8 - just depends on your personal needs/wants. I always read the comments and base my decisions on those not just the numbers.
Testudo....glad you decided to stop lurking and join in. Welcome and I look forward to reading your posts. As for reviews, I too appreciate valuable info. If it was too long, I might just scan it and not read every word though.
Testudo This is just my opinion, I personally prefer if posters would condense there comments to what is important and leave out all the unimportant information. (ie. leave out all the how great the leaves looked etc.) But like I already stated this just what I prefer to read.
I also write up only information that a person would need to know. We all need information about any parks, roads, sites, bad water or power problems, hard turns, poor office people, pool full of junk, bathrooms not clean, road noise, places to eat close by is nice to know, and etc. info. I read post that say " park very nice" or " we will come back" this type of information is useless. Most people do not take the time to go out and look around to see what is in a park and they write up a report. We do not need pages of information in the comment, think about the good and bad points of that park then write your report. The Webmaster has not changed any information we have sent in yet.
Wow, 1,024,000 characters. With my hunt and peck typing, it would take me all day to finish one post. Beastdriver, Just curious, did you count your characters in your post or do you have some kind of automated counter on your computer? If so, is it something you downloaded and do you care to share where from? I'm always interested in new stuff to play with.
I think it is good to go into a little detail when writing a review because as someone else said we don't all like the same things in a park. Some like a very quiet natural setting with picnic tables and fire rings and no concrete anywhere in sight. Others prefer a resort atmosphere with a pool, spa, golf course and manicured sites. Someone could give a park a high rating if it was the kind of park they like to stay at. Another person may give the same park a low rating because it was not their kind of park. But if there is no description about the park readers still have no idea what the park is like or if it is right for them. I have seen very nice parks get a bad rating because "it was an RV park, not a campground," and vice versa. If the review at least describes the park then I can make a better decision about whether or not I want to stay there. I have posted some longer reviews, and none of them have ever been edited. I try to be fair, but I'm sure my reviews are somewhat biased because I too have a vision of the ideal park. I think it is very unfair to slam a park because it rained all weekend, or the sun was too hot, so I try to mention things like safety, cleanliness (including restrooms and showers even if we don't use them), staff attitude and competence, and site basics (size, level, surface, patio, etc.), and amenities (pool, TV, WiFi). I then try to tell a little bit about the general atmosphere (quiet or party city, wooded or open, secluded or under an interstate overpass). If I can accurately describe what I observed about a place then readers can decide if this is a park they want to visit. Sometimes I add information about the local area if I think it was special. If I go into too much detail readers can always stop reading, but hopefully I have included just the right information to help someone else. Besides if we all stuck to just basic info and ratings this site would be no better than our two beloved campground directories. PS Sorry to correct you Cheryl, but I think Jean Petit State Park is in Arkansas not Arizona.
Texasrver, You are absolutely right. It is in Arkansas. My mistake! Just more proof of my hunt and peck typing - sometimes I'm concentrating too hard on finding the letters and not paying enough attention to the words. (Where's the embarrassed icon when you need it).
Cheryl: When you post something on this site, at the bottom of the page, you will find a box that allows you to check the length of your post. It tells you how many characters long your post is and the maximum number of characters the site will accept.
"It is in Arkansas." Cheryl, you almost got away with it because I really had no idea where Jean Petit SP was. But after you mentioned it in your earlier post I did try to read the review and couldn't find it anywhere in Arizona. I then did a search and found it in Arkansas. Sounds like a pretty place, but a little different from the desert settings in AZ. Happy travels!
QUOTE It has been my experience that little editing is done by the webmaster who generally lets people tell it like it is... I believe that as long as comments are salient, the webmaster is very liberal. Yeah, this is good to hear. While I couldn't find any indication of a length restriction on comments (something small, anyway, like 2,000 characters) I was a little concerned that there might be an editorial policy to cut off "inches" of copy like a newspaper would do ("All the news that fits"). QUOTE On the other hand, if you submit a piece that would qualify as a novel, then not only are you wasting your time, but also the time of most of us who review this site daily. I know that I hesitate to read anything over several hundred words. My bigger concern was that the readers would find the details unimportant. For example, we are not self contained and I need a hot shower in the morning like I need a hot cup of coffee. Without those two things my day is ruined and everybody best stay out of my way. On the other hand, just looking at the rigs everyone here has, I can see that there are a lot of hard-core RVers that have probably never seen the inside of a camp ground's sanitary facilities (maybe never even stepped out of the RV). While this is exactly the information that _I_ want, I have to be prepared to forgive folks that would never think of checking out the bathrooms let alone being able to convey any information about them in a review. QUOTE This post is 632 characters, and you are allowed a maximum post of 1,024,000 characters. Hope this is helpful. I _did_ see the post limitations. I think I can stay within that parameter [grin!].
QUOTE I think it is good to go into a little detail when writing a review because as someone else said we don't all like the same things in a park. Yeah, everyone is interested in something different. I was at an RV park that was wonderful to me and seemed like big-rig heaven but, when I looked at other reviews, I realized the incline of the terrain and the (relatively) narrow drives, made it less than suitable for big rigs. The bathrooms don't get any better than the ones in this park but I was usually the only one in there (people with big rigs could care less). Before I wrote my first review, I could see that I needed to frame my reviews to help a wider audience make decisions rather than just conveying superlatives with regard to my own gratification. Because we spent four nights at that particular RV park (kind of rare for us) I had scrutinized it from top to bottom so I was in a better position to think in terms of what a big rig owner would care about. In most cases, it would probably be difficult for me to recount issues to warn a big rig owner about since I wouldn't have paid attention to those aspects of the park in the first place. Further, I can appreciate the problem with phony reviews -- reviews that might sneak in from people that have a financial interest in the park. Avoiding superlatives and sticking to facts would tend to mitigate this pit fall. Of course, if everybody just says, "Park was fantastic!", there isn't much there to validate the reasons for their satisfaction. Everybody is different and one person's heaven might be another's nightmare.
QUOTE Cheryl, you almost got away with it because I really had no idea where Jean Petit SP was. But after you mentioned it in your earlier post I did try to read the review and couldn't find it anywhere in Arizona. I then did a search and found it in Arkansas. Sounds like a pretty place, but a little different from the desert settings in AZ. Happy travels! Well, I'm sure glad you did catch it. Now if anybody is interested in the park, they will be able to find it. Beastdriver, I'm not seeing it, maybe it doesn't work for Netscape. Oh well, it's not really important, I doubt if I will ever use anywhere near that many characters. Thanks anyway.
Cheryl, Look at bottom right side of replaying box and you will see box that has "Check Post Length". B) That is the trick.
It's just not there. Do you use Netscape? When they first put spell check on, it wasn't there in Netscape, so maybe the same thing is true for the check post length.
Cheryl, I see your problem. OK, do the steps below and see if this will fix the problem. 1. Go to "My Controls" 2. Pick "Options" 3. Under options pick "Board Setting" 4. Go to bottom and find "Rich Text Editor" 5. Pick "Standard Editor" 6. They pick "Change My Account Options" 7. Now go back and see if that will fix the "check post length" problem. 8. If not, no charge for the information. If it fixed problem, mail my check.
Cheryl, I'm not computer savvy at all, but for what it's worth I used Netscape 8.0 to open this site (I usually use Internet Explorer) and the "Check Post Length" box was there--on the right at the bottom of the typing box next to "Guided Mode Off" box. Do you get that box? I didn't check to see if my controls were already set as John Blue suggested because I didn't want to screw up something that was already working. At least we know it does work with Netscape. But like you said if you don't need to use it, you don't need to worry about it. BTW my advice isn't worth sending a check. Save your $$ for the gas pump.
I think the best thing you can do is review the park from your point of view. I just recently stayed at a park that had pretty low ratings. Looking at the reviews most of them were done by people in big trailers or motor homes. A lot of them were complaining of the cramped spaces and lack of shade for the bigger RV's and I would tend to agree with them from what I saw. However, when I stayed I was in a small pop-up and stayed in one of the rustic sites. There were shade trees and the sites were a lot nicer which is why I gave it a little higher rating. It is good to get a overall picture of the park from different points of view. People can then read through the reviews and decide which points will be more important to them.
