[Nick-H]

It isn't very new --- must be at least a year or more.

The exact details of what triggers the approval system are not publicised. The purpose is to avoid spam, not not of the shoe/phone/viagra kind.

No, it is not onerous for the mods (ex-mod speaking), in fact it saves a great deal of pressure. Without it, you would see all the aforementioned shoe/phone/viagra stuff, not to mention the drivers, the guest houses, the travel agents, on the site every day, as it would appear as soon as posted. That put the mods under a lot of pressure trying to keep the site clean.

I posted a reply in HP thread and a page came up and disappeared quickly.

That is of some concern; the message should be clear, otherwise people go on re-posting.

Can someone suggest what sort of links can/cannot be given in a post?

Please check out the site rules!

The main thing that affects new members, though, is that we do not accept first posts that are recommendations or condemnations of businesses, whether they include links or not.

This is all part of the continual game we are forced to play with business that want to get their names on our site, or want to slag off a competitor.

Tell us that you spent a few weeks in india, list all the hotels you stayed in, with comments (and links even), your post will probabky be accepted. Tell us that you spent six months in India and that one hotel/driver/agent was just so wonderful (or dreadful) --- and it won't.

The site is all about sharing travel information; obviously, hotels and stuff is a huge part of that --- but keeping the site as free as we can of commercial interest is also vital, so please bear with the small inconvenience to new members.

Any attempt to advertise or offer services, received by a member should, please be reported to the mod team.

[dhans]

Originally Posted by Nick-H

Any attempt to advertise or offer services, received by a member should, please be reported to the mod team.

Can't we make Nick a honorary mod or something?

Hans

[Nick-H]

No...

You can't.

But somehow, posts like the above still, somehow, seem to streeeeem out of my fingers still.

I'm working on it

[thatsokay]

Hi. I’m new to IM and have never been to India. I’m using your knowledge and insights to help plan my trip, and I thank you all for helping immensely.

But I disagree with the idea that a question answered once is permanently answered. Posts I read from 2004 on internet cafes, or from 2007 on prices, rules, etc. don’t satisfy at all. There is the nagging feeling that I wish I had the latest info on whatever topic I’m looking into.

Though I haven’t been to India yet, I lived in Mexico for years. After leaving, I came back a few years later and things had changed. My old apartment building had been torn down. My favorite restaurant was gone, as was my favorite taco stand. The traffic and the population had increased and the friendliness of the people had diminished as well, from the increased population, I imagine. The school I taught at, formerly a well-respected one, was no longer one I would recommend, etc, etc, etc…

So, please repost information because it’s vitally important to know what’s going on NOW. Those of you on the ground in India can tell us who live so far away what has changed recently. I always look for the most recent post.

Thanks for listening.

[Hal]

Moderator's note: Thanks for your thoughts and welcome to IndiaMike!

All the threads ever posted on a subject are still here and you can use the search tool to find them.

We do allow threads on old subjects and repeated questions. The original notice on this thread refers more to dealing with 9 threads on "How do I get from Delhi to Agra" in the same week. There are always new threads being filled with new and current information by our members. If you ask a question which has very recently been answered, you may be politely directed to that thread, or your thread may be merged with the previous.

We certainly do not want to discourage current information and that was not the intent of the notice.

[thatsokay]

Thanks for the quick reply. And the reassurance. As I'm still learning the site, I'd imagine there are aspects of it I haven't discovered yet. I certainly appreciate what I'm getting out of IM.
Peace.

[steven_ber]

Some good points thatsokay, though a lot of the time the complaints about repeat questions are regarding Delhi-Agra trains or 'do I need a visa to go to India', and those kind of threads are often repeated weekly, if not more often.

[thatsokay]

Thanks steven. I can now see that my first question about bringing a guitar as being one of those types of questions. I just hadn't figured out how to search the site yet when I posted it. Live and learn the site...

[OccasionalTraveller]

Thanks Nick for the detailed reply. But don't you think post publish moderation is better(because of lack of foolproof technology)? i.e., let the post appear, and then it can be removed based on reports from anyone reading that.

I don't think moderators will allocate time to read through list of flagged posts, it takes too much time to read and also to check the context. My post(which is not shoe/viagra stuff) hasn't appeared yet,

Thanks Haylo, will increase post count . Looks like time from last post is also taken into consideration, another post with link (relevant, of course) got published.

[Nick-H]

Why are you bothering to think about what moderators will or will not do? As an ex-moderator, I know that flagged posts are often dealt with within minutes, almost always within hours, and seldom remain unseen for a day.

The site and the system by which it runs has been evolving since it was founded almost eight years ago. It does continue to evolve, but it works well, and, frankly (if a touch rudely), the thing that moderators don't have time to do is to read complaints from new members who do not understand the working of the site anyway.

If you have a specific post which has not appeared within 24 hours, there is a chance that it has got lost in the system. If it has not been released within two or three days, I suggest you try posting it again. There is a very slim chance that it has not been accepted by the moderators, but, in that case, you should have been informed.

[OccasionalTraveller]

I understand the issues with maintaining a public forum, and my comment about moderation after publication is a suggestion, not a complaint to moderators to change the forum rules.

Frankly, I didn't expect to be branded as a noob who doesn't understand site rules and to be told what should I think and what I shouldn't for a asking a simple question which is not meant to offend anybody.

[thejag]

Can i make a suggestion here? I apologize if this was already posted cause i haven't really read the 6 pages preceding this one. Id recommend that the news and feedback section be listed on top where the India travel section is, or at least a link to Forum Help and announcements right at the top with a note for new users to go through that. This is what i have noticed in every other forum Ive seen. I hadn't scrolled to the bottom of the page until today and hadn't seen the Forum Help and Announcements sections yet and was actually confused at not having it displayed prominently.

[dhans]

If you cannot stand the Mod, stay out of the kitchen.