Trip Report Pet Peeves

I have always loved TRs. Especially back in the day when they were numerous and showed info you didn't know. I still do, but two styles drive me crazy.

The first is the never ending paragraph. This style is not only hard to follow, but actually hurts my eyes. Evidently, fewer people paid attention in English classes than I thought.

The second one is what I refer to as the "Tweet Report!" You don't see them on LVA, thank God. Since I like TRs and we don't see many, I go elsewhere for them. Vegas Message Board has a number of them, but....... Most are referred to as live or semi-live reports. These are done in the style of of numerous one and two liners depicting the trip. It drives me crazy to scroll through 5-8 screens to get a report that could be done in two paragraphs.

I much prefer the daily post style of James (Stungazed) or the daily report style ala Jman (Sionow). Of course this doesn't take into account that I'm old and getting older! Guess it's a sign of the times (and smartphones)

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes.

I too go on vegas message boards to read the trip reports. I have never cared for the live reports. I would much rather read one report after the person gets home.

I know what you mean about the never ending paragraph. Very hard to read - simply adding line breaks (as your post has them) would make those much more enjoyable.

I miss the many trip reports that used to be posted. I guess many of those people have moved on from here. Some of them used to be so well written I would feel like I was right there with them. One of the reasons I have not re-upped my membership has been the lack of trip reports. I would log in daily to see who had posted a new one. Now I read the ones posted here, on the free side.

the style that they use in their trip reports does not matter to me. I am just thankful when people take the time to post.

I miss the days that yielded a lot a lot of TRs too. I had two reasons. First was just to read about all the different resort room type and restaurant visits. The second was for the value info you could get out of the reports. It was a lot of fun back then to find different ways to get more and more value out of LV. The difference between now and then is that most of these ideas have already been floated. There are only so many car lot upgrades, $20 tricks and coupon books to be found. I had a few friends that were regular LV visitors and when I would talk about this promo or that trick to save money, they were amazed at the info I'd picked up. I spent one trip at Palace Station and liked it. A couple of months later I suggested Sam's Town for what would become our first summer golf trip. Our group were strictly locals guys after that . All of this came from the LVA and especially the online forums after they started. These days most of this is common knowledge and really takes a lot of the fun out of it. Back the I play a game of getting more out of LV than it got out of me. I still do that to an extent today, but it's just not as much fun.

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

When I see a really loooong TR, I might skip it unless I see that it is broken up into topics, e.g. HOTEL, FOOD, GAMBLING, etc. And as mentioned, plenty of white space (line breaks) helps a lot.

I personally don't care for the daily style, the Day 1, Day 2, Day 8. I can stay interested for 2-3 days, but after that I drop out, and I probably miss some good stuff.

Funny/strange stories, big jackpots (and photos), food stories (and photos), show/concert reports, hotel room critiques are all interesting to me.

But I can do without the precise hour of every wake-up/turning in, every valet/parking experience, every rented vehicle, and details of every VP/slot session. Just the exciting, big winning ones!

Disclaimer: I'm speaking from the perspective of one who has visited Vegas (and other locales) many times, and have read thousands of TRs. Some topics that have become tiresome to me are probably thrilling to others. So take anything I said with grains of salt, and keep on writing!

I agree completely about disliking those two styles of reports.

I prefer the more detailed reports with the day to day activities, you never know when you might pick up on something. This is how I usually write mine and I'm always amazed when someone comments on an idea or tip that I didn't even realize I gave. I tend to skip the broken topics, one I read on another site would list restaurants followed by either "good", "ok" "decent", that told me nothing except that he ate there.

There seems to be less TR's posted, which I do understand because they can be time consuming to write, so I appreciate any reports people take the time to write. I have found some great places to eat and places to see that I would not have otherwise.

I'll take any trip report in any format! I appreciate anyone that takes the time to create and submit them. I have never taken the time to create a TR, so I can't really critique anyone else!

I have no problem with any length of report as long as there is some continuity involved. I prefer longer reports, but only if they say something. Whether you write a day by day account or by catagory, a good report says something. If you're concerned about shampoo, lotion etc. provided, you skipped travel 101 where you learn to bring your own so there are no suprises. I like info on activities, prices at given restaurants etc. I love reports with pictures, but hate reports with pictures that give no explanation. I wish I could be as good as some we have on this site. I will mention just three, but the number is higher. Sionow, Stungazed and Blondeforever each have a distinct style and consistantly use it. One day I hope to write a single report that comes close to measuring up to them!

There are a lot less reports than in the past. I think there's more than one reason. First, I know going back in time there were a number of people that had problems with the site. Whether it was administration, speed of the site political posts, member infighting and a few had problems with Anthony for one reason or another. A lot of strong posters just said the hell with it. I never posted enough for any of this to bother me, but I can see how a prolific poster might not care for it though. I would like to see LVA regain some of it's former glory. Time will tell.

Good Luck
Ric at Joes