Trip Advisor - proof that there's something "askew" ?

[divingpyrate]

third option
that is a totally different online resource that does not require commentary from scubaboard to have a purpose

I get good advice over there at least as often as I find constructive help here

Why is the rum always gone

 

[Doc]

Not much to be honest. I always laugh at this america-centric attitude about 'the world'- most of 'us' honestly don't think about the States that often. It doesn't come up in daily conversation.

Sorry to hijack.

Not a hijack, just option #3

No, it's more when I answer their question with the word "Chicago". That's when they say "Al Capone" and mimic the Tommy Gun. It has nothing to do at all with how the rest of the world occupies their time and attention. Stimulus and response.

Very few non-Americans hear the word "Chicago" and blurt out "Borat Obama" (yakshe mahsh)

Neither do we who live in the Big Stinky Onion (google it).

The America-centric perspective squelched, the thusly inconsequential individual who is referred to by most as "the leader of the free world" is a pure distillation of the School of Chicago Politic, although he likely prefers his pizza as a "Hawaiian" ( pineapple and ham ), possibly tofu.

I don't perceive myself as jingoistic in regards to the USA's impact on world events, but even the BBC news seems to find some evidence of the USA tail wagging the dog on a daily basis. After all, we might not have invented pizza, but we did make it the worldwide health threat that it has truly become. That and the 32 ounce Coke. (946.352 ml, but we want it with ice) The US would dominate the world if we had adopted the metric system for weights and measures. We did at least create the use of Decimal Currency and that seems to have worked out well for us in that arena.

The minute someone somewhere will not take a $100 USD note from me I will know that the world doesn't see it from Murican perspective. Now that everybody has printing presses, they don't have to put up with the long standard world map with the US in the middle style. Yes, the world and ones perceived location within it does alter dramatically depending on your longitude.

That's why I subscribe to British (and German, and French) dive magazines. A different worldly perspective. Besides, sometimes they have real nekkid wimmen in them, so there's that!

I have had French Pizza in Chamonix. I can also tell you that whatever it was that I ate in Germany and England was their perception of what Pizza should be, bless their pointy little heads. Better that than mixed grille or germknodle. But, I have ventured down Path #3 far too long here....

Trip Advisor, again... My main confirmation is with the TA Forums. It really paints a picture of the low level of SCUBA awareness by questioners and 99.3% of those who answer. SNUBA, snorkeling, where can I rent gear, pretty low level kind I'd stuff compared to SB queries. Luckily there are any number of salesmen who post responses. These commercial answerers seem to have greater longevity, posting for many months, versus the flash-in-the-pan SB "professionals" who seem to come and go. I think the comments in this thread so far are confirming my perception.

 

[GrumpyOldGuy]

Wow, my brain is spinning after the mental exercise of reading your post (enjoyed it).

FWIW: A 32oz is the new medium, 44oz is common and I have seen up to 64oz diet coke........ and managed to dump the entire contents on my lap on a road trip. We also have a 72oz steak here in town, free if you can eat it with all the side dishes, $75 if you chicken out or barf. People try everyday, mostly tourist.

I had my best Italian food in Germany and best Indian in London. I agree, the UK dive mags have actual content instead of ads, a nice change (can't read German or French).

 

[TSandM]

Right now, I have very mixed feelings about TripAdvisor. I've checked in there occasionally in the past, but I can't remember actually making any decisions based on what I read there.

This last trip we took, which was not a diving one, I did three things on TripAdvisor. I looked for lodging in Red River, NM, and found only a very few places. It turns out the whole darned town is like one big hotel/motel, and there were at least a dozen options.

I looked for lodging in Taos, and found an inexpensive option that was quite satisfactory.

And I looked for dinner in Taos, and was directed to a restaurant where we waited over half an hour for a table (outside in the cold wind, and eventually rain) because the reviews were so good. The food, when we at long last got it, was absolutely and utterly mediocre, and terribly disappointing. We had had better food in a biker bar in a tiny town in the mountains the day before. The place where we ate had TONS of rave reviews on TA, some of which did mention that the service was slow (but once we got seated, it wasn't) but all of which said the food was superb. We must have different ratings for superb, because it was far from that.

I don't know where I sit right now. I actually posted some reviews, just to balance the scales a bit.

 

[dfx]

We did at least create the use of Decimal Currency and that seems to have worked out well for us in that arena.

Another non-truth. You may want to review Decimalisation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Russia was the first nation to have decimal currency in 1704.

---------- Post added August 12th, 2013 at 10:42 PM ----------

I have had French Pizza in Chamonix. I can also tell you that whatever it was that I ate in Germany and England was their perception of what Pizza should be, bless their pointy little heads.

I would assume that "what pizza should be" would be what they have in Italy. I would also assume that the closer you are to Italy, the closer the pizza you can get is to Italian pizza. Which pretty much means that the US is way off. Even more way off if Japan, which you can see in their pizza creations.

 

[Shasta_man]

What?! A diving magazine that isn't just a thinly veiled collection of ads?! Can't be.

 

[koozemani]

Jumping off the topic of Pizza, it has been my experience that Trip Advisor Reviews are NOT reliable at all, not only for scuba diving posts, but other reviews as well. The review system used by TA is subject to being gamed. Let me give an example. I travel quite often (2-3 times a year) to Cozumel. And I am definitely a Foodie -- I'm always on the lookout for new great restaurants. About 4 years ago, I was going to Cozumel, and it was recommended by someone that I trust that I try out a new restaurant in Cozumel, Danube. I ate there, and the meal was outstanding in every way. The food was done perfectly, the service was great, the view out over the Ocean was fantastic. It was just an excellent experience. So I posted a rave review on TA. At the time, there were a number of other rave reviews, including at least 6 from friends of mine (none of whom were from Cozumel or had any interest in the restaurant). Danube had very quickly moved up to #1 on TA's list of recommended restaurants for Cozumel. But less than a week later, my review, along with every other positive review of Danube, has disappeared from TA. It seems an anonymous tipster had claimed to TA that Danube was paying customers for great reviews (not true) and was posting its own reviews under fake names (again, not true, at least so far as I know). TA never attempted to verify this tip, it just deleted EVERY positive review of Danube, and demoted Danube to the very bottom of its list of Cozumel Restaurants. Danube was shut down for lack of business within 4 months. If it is that easy for a competitor to kill a restaurant on Trip Advisor, I just don't think its ratings should be trusted at all.

Expedia has been known to also do that with establishments that get on they're bad side.

 

[Quero]

I think TA really only works well in areas where there's not much competition/backstabbing. Then it works nicely since it becomes a source of personal recommendations in places where it might otherwise be difficult-to-impossible to find information. I don't use TA except to read the glowing reviews of my son's business, but his is a niche market in a small place, and so TA plays to that strength in his case. I don't list my own business on TA because it's too prone to fake reviews and uninformed bias in a very competitive location--a double-edged sword to say the least!

 

[Doc]

What?! A diving magazine that isn't just a thinly veiled collection of ads?! Can't be.

Yes, and surprisingly, the best of the lot is PADI Sport Diver UK. They have been brutally critical of some of their advertisers. There is a sprinkling of lightweight British street slang profanity on occasion. That cute but bawdy stuff that doesn't translate exactly.

DYK magazine seemed to have a funny name if you speak English. You don't have to read Swedish, there are those pictures I mentioned. As you might guess, they are of DYKers. It went away this Spring.

I would assume that "what pizza should be" would be what they have in Italy.

Ass U Me

No, pizza is what ever the locals think it should be. Except maybe, as in your citation, Japan.

They really have it wrong

 

[Lorenzoid]

I use Tripadvisor almost exclusively for finding reviews of a particular lodging option that I have already learned about elsewhere. I wouldn't trust it to list ALL or even most of the available options in a location.

I still believe that if not for the wave of southern Italian immigrants that gave America its insatiable taste for pizza that you might not today find pizza as widely popular worldwide, including Europe (say, apart from the Alps), and certainly places in Asia, as it is; rather, pizza might still be largely a southern Italian thing. Americans led the pizza craze, fueling its spread around the world. It's not surprising that as pizza aficionados these days look more to Italy for authenticity that many have forgotten it was likely through something American that the interest in pizza first arrived in their country. It doesn't surprise me in the least that people don't think of Chicago or New York when someone mentions pizza, since I don't think most foreigners have a grasp of regional things in the US any more than most Americans know what foods are considered "native" to Beijing and Shanghai. And speaking of China, is it interesting that the world thinks of Italy when someone mentions noodles? Did Italy co-opt noodles much like America did with pizza?