Trip Report Format

Just wanted to give an opinion on report styles. I follow VMB because it receives far more activity than others I followed in the past. The first board I started following sometime following the ice age always had reports that gave an account of the entire trip in a single segment unless it was an extremely long trip. I particularly liked those with pictures (that could be telling) of room interiors, meal description and prices room and car pricing etc. Pictures of the present day strip do nothing for me because I've seen it too many times. Info on gaming doesn't really interest me unless it gives tips for better machines or conditions. How much you won or lost does nothing for me. I like gaining info that might result in better deals or just knowing what a particular hotel offers. Same goes for cars.

The one thing I've had a hard time adjusting to is what I call tweet reports. The poster will write 1-3 sentences of whatever and that's it. There'll be a few replies and then another few snipits. The one good thing is that most of these are done on phones and include pics along with the commentary. If the report is done like this, give a paragraph or two. Reading this style of report just feels like a lot of work.

Conversely, it's nice to follow a board that has the activity of VMB. The dinosaur I still belong to gets a about one new trip report a week. If it weren't for Ken posting a golf trip or a new article of his from time to time,the golf forum might as well follow Guatamalan rules ping pong!

Enough of an old guy ranting. Any thoughts out there?

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes

 

My earlier reports were a very short version of my trip, then I started reading other members reports and the different styles of reports.So I started splitting mine into a day by day report. I have included odd pictures in some reports but hope to include more in future reports.

 

I'm not knocking anybody but I hate live TRs. I'm just glad when people place the term "live" in the subject line and then I can just skip the entire thread. I really don't want to read day 1 blah, blah, blah, then 20 replies or more to get to day 1 later in the day etc.

But I really do appreciate seeing live in the subject line. Thank you to all that do that!

 

I can do without pics of half-eaten meals. If you forget to take a pic first, wait for the next one, lol.

The short updates during a trip are OK, like when someone's bouncing from game to game or casino to casino on a given night. Beeejay seems to have a talent for those.

I like the idea of being able to filter and only see an OP's posts, but as Sonya said that won't fully solve the problem with the so-called tweet reports. The problem there is that I think maybe a year or so ago, some OPs got in the habit of replying back to every single reply, the purpose of which is inflating your thread's post count under the guise of politeness. So you end up with pages of nothing. Still, just like the delete key exists, you can just page forward. I'm not sure it's an unbearable burden to click a mouse or swipe a couple of times.

 

I am also not a fan of live or tweet reports. I prefer the poster to wait until they get home and put some thought into it and really tell the story of the WHOLE trip all at once. I also love it when the poster puts some personality into it. Tell some of your adventures. Just a list of "we ate here, we played there, we slept here".....puts me to sleep.

 

I can only do live. I've written them up afterward, but that that takes far too much time and effort and I don't like you guys that much . Just put me on ignore!!

 

I'm a big fan of live TRs. From my perspective they seem to be a lot more accurate and inclusive of all the little things that make up a Vegas vacation. In other words it's all in the details. I've done a few TRs and I found that doing a live TR with a wrap up once I get home is by far the easiest and most detailed.

I like Joe's suggestion about having Live TR in the thread heading. I admit that sometimes I find all the side comments a little tiresome but they are in no way too much of a deterrent to read and follow along the great TRs by BeeJay, Nate, Packer and other great posters. Their live TRs are gold. The pics of chip porn, food porn and general Vegas porn probably wouldn't be as prevalent if these were not Live TRs, let alone all the good info and sharing of their ups and downs on their trips. Part of the reason most of us read live TRs is to live vicariously through the poster.

Like Joe said I think if the poster puts Live TR somewhere in the title that could be a good compromise. That would serve as a good caveat emptor.

 

This. Full agreement. I hardly ever read TR's anymore, too difficult to follow and take waaaaay to much time to read with all the comments. I used to spend a lot of time reading the TR's and really looked forward to them, but only pop in once or twice a month now. I prefer to read them as a story.
diane

 

I'm also in this club. But like Joe said, putting "Live" on your trip report heading is greatly appreciated.

In my opinion, "Live" reporting is not easy and it really needs some personality to it. Some members are great at this and I believe it takes talent and a savvy knack at writing it to keep it interesting.

With that being said, just the idea of wanting to share your report, whether it be live or in story mode, is wonderful and in the spirit of this forum.

So everyone, write it the way you like to write it. There will always be someone here who will appreciate your effort.

So to those who add "Live" to the reports, thank you. And for the rest of us who do story type reports, the lack of "Live" is also appreciated by those who prefer "Live". We both know which ones to pass over.

I'd like to add that I read them all, but for me, the "Live" ones are not the first ones I go to. I'm sure others will treat the story type reports the same.

So, in ending I'd like to say God Bless America, God Bless VMB, and God Bless those who post TR's.





And Thank You for coming.....

 

i read all of the trip reports. Love them. Whoever does them, keep up the good work.

 

I would love the word Live or Full in the title....or possibly divide the category into 2 new categories. If the word Live is in it I typically don't read it. I've also learned to look at the title...if the title has the dates of their trip AND that date has not arrived...means live or Pre and I ignore. Too bad since I love trip reports! There are times when I swear no one writes them up after they return anymore. Live would not be so bad if I didn't have to wade through 20 responses between the trip posts and if people didn't start them and never finish them. We all like to see/read different things. I just like flow and continuity which Live trip reports don't give me.

 

My trip reports are insanely long. I will try to write the next one in day-at-a-time segments, but it ain't gonna be short.

 

I like to read longer type reports. I also enjoy reports with the owners opinions, feelings, and reactions to things he/she encountered along the way. Makes it more personable and unique. I don't care much for the "Today I did this" and "Tonight we saw this" type of report without no input as to how the owner felt or reacted to the experience.

I also like pictures along with the report.

Long or short I like them all, but prefer the longer ones....the reports I mean.:evillaugh

 

I am suprised at the response to this thread. Looks like I'm not alone in my thinking. I do think the live reporting is natural to younger people or those used to texting a lot. It's the most prevalent mode of communication these days it seems. I just hope grammar and face to face communication skills don't suffer too much as the result, but it does beat the hell out of phone tag!

Anyway, I personally like long reports as long as they contain multiple paragraghs. Nothing worse than a two pages of continuous sentences. Whether it's one long report or divided into daily reports doesn't matter to me.

Good Luck!
Ric at Joes