Too much personal chatter in forum posts - how about a "happy Hour" forum group?

[Annette33]

Hi all,
I have noticed that more and more lately some participants have taken to expanding posts with a lot of personal chatter, like how someone's dog or spouse is doing, then a lot of bantering back and forth ensues. All that can fill up the pages and makes it hard to follow a thread. I am an advocate of reading all posts in a thread to be well informed and to be able to make a  well thought out contribution, but weeding through all the stuff that isn't related to the subject makes that extra hard.
Please don't get me wrong, I love a relaxed easy going demeanor and a friendly conversation, and some light hearted humor now and then is very refreshing. I would just prefer that a lot of those conversations that have nothing to do with Airbnb stuff would be exchanged via direct messaging, not in the forum. I understand that there are some problems with the direct messaging, hopefully that will get fixed soon to make that feature more reliable to use.
Or perhaps, this is a sign that something like a social chat room here would be most welcome and very popular, so how about having an extra group/choice for posting available here, something like "Happy Hour" ?? I would certainly go there also and enjoy getting to know the other contributors on a more personal level. The popular new Community Spotlight goes a bit in that direction.
would love to get some feedback on this.....

[Rachael26]

Hey @Annette33

@I don't like Facebook for exactly this reason. But we can only work within the parameters ABB give us - and DM is next to useless at the moment (why not a chat text room - far more instant).

Anyway - I look forward to reading our esteemed colleague Robin's reply on this one.

Best Wishes 

[Annette33]

yeah,  happy hour chat text room would be totally cool!  Lizzie, Kirstie!! to the rescue....

[Robin4]

@Annette33 @Rachael26 @Lizzie

Speaking as one of the major transgressors, I think this would be a really welcome addition Annette.

I am not here to simply say do or don't, yes or no! I have learned so much about the character of the person by the way they add the colours into the garden, not just the plants, when it comes to posts.

I have come to admire you Annette more for what you don't say on a particular threads material than what you do. Most times we all just agree with each other and pat each other on the back for saying what we would have said ourselves. It's those little snippets of someones personal life which stem from a lot of these threads that is like gold to me.

Last night @Cormac0 was all set to take me to task over my stance on cleaning fees when I threw in a pretty bad toilet statement. What followed made his day and mine...it had nothing to do with the structure of the thread, but I respect Cormac much more for the banter we exchanged, and he probably the same of me!

Some time back I had a lovely conversation with @Mariann about language which I attempted to post in Norske. Since that dialogue I have the utmost respect for Mariann! Same with @Huma0 and her fox and my crocodiles. Annette, it keeps us human!

We see so much negativity here that it does at times weigh you down, and we do need a forum where we can laugh with and at each other, and Annette if you can get this off the ground I am solidly behind you.

Cheers.....Rob

[Annette33]

@Robin4 , thank you . But see, I don't want a forum where people pat eachother  on the back -  (that is what the thumbs up under each post are for, expressing validation and approval , and I use it quite often,) or just repeat what has been said already.

not sure I understand what you mean when you say you appreciate my silence on any given thread more than when I post a comment.   I'd would sure hope you, or anybody else, would  appreciate me more for what I say than for what I don't say. 

[Robin4]

@Annette33...Ah no, not your silence Annette, you give a lot of insight into your character without actually addressing the topic of the thread and that is what I meant by that statement. You tell us a lot about you, not the actual thread problem.

Gee it's funny the way we each interpret things. What I said was 'I have come to admire you Annette more for what you don't say on a particular threads material than what you do'. I certainly did not mean that you didn't say anything, I meant you bring a lot of yourself into the thread that is not directly related to it....and that's the part I like.

I hope you can get this up though, not as a pat on the back exercise, but to talk about the quirky, funny, sad things that we each experience. I would envision it to be entirely unrelated to hosting problems. More like sitting around a table with a drink or two and chatting with friends! Is that what you had in mind?

Cheers.....Rob

ps: Hey I think I can see how I got into trouble with one particular host!!

[Cormac0]

@Annette33

You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation. PLATO

[Annette33]

could very well be @Cormac0 , yet I still believe that when I want to play I go to the playground, and when I want to have my questions answered about an Airbnb problem and when I want to learn more about Airbnb stuff, I go to the forum, to ask and to learn. I don't come here to study the character of another contributor or to discover who that person is. Cyberspace is just not the right vehicle for that anyways.

[Marit-Anne0]

Here we go again lol.

@Annette33  I am with you - for those using the forum search to find answers to their questions and concerns, it must be frustrating to have to browse through endless personal chatter.  Concise and to the point answers I belive are more useful as a whole. Most come onto the forum for help I think.   

[Robin129]

As a brand new host (joined in January) I found it very frustrating to search threads for information and have to wade through long political commentaries and rants against other hosts who may not share the same cultural or religious views as others. At that point I was researching the cons of hosting. I wanted to see if it was worth opening my home to strangers, or if there were a lot of problems with theft, damage, etc.

Perhaps "fun" or "personal" threads could begin with **Fun Thread - Cats v Dogs, or **Venting re: ___" or something so those who want to read it can and others can skip it. That would only work if members disciplined themselves against continuing the long side conversations in a thread to start with. 

[Cormac0]

@Robin129

The most difficult part of Hosting, I think most Hosts, novice and experienced would agree, is dealing with the vagaries of people, ironic really.

[Lizzie]

Hello @Annette33,

Great suggestion! 🙂 This was actually something I was thinking about over the weekend, as we do like to go off-topic, so it is fantastic to see that you and others would like a specific chat thread. 

We could have it in the off-topic board 'Where in the world' and if we find within this thread that there is a particular topic we really want to dicuss more, like your idea @Robin129's 'Cats vs Dogs' then we can always start a new topic specially for that? 🙂 

Annette, would you like to start this 'Happy Hour Chatting' thread or I am happy to?

Thanks so much,

Lizzie

[Annette33]

@Lizzie, ahh! I learned something new: I had never checked out 'What in the world", but had wondered where those fun games and other off topic threads you and Kirstie initiate come from - so now I know!  Great idea!

Seems like I am not the only one who would prefer the forum posts to be about helping  eachother and exchanging info  about Airbnb related issues, and reducing the personal banter there to a minimum . Going to "What in the World" for social connection and bantering is a great first step, I can only hope that the contributors who need the extended personal contact would be mindful of that and utilize it as such. Once it becomes more popular, I would think that is an incentive for the people who like a larger audience to post there and attract their followeres to alsogo there.

Maybe rename the "What in the World" ( though i like the wording) into something  like Happy Chat Room, just to make it more obvious that it is meant to be the social forum on the site.  I do see Airbnb related stuff there, so it must not be obvious to everybody, could possibly be helped with a new name/title.

Anyhow, as it is - I made an attempt and started a new thread there, making up a brand new topic:

https://community.airbnb.com/t5/Where-in-the-World/funny-scary-or-just-plain-memorable-travel-storie...

sure hope the social butterflies here will chime in 🙂

[Rachael26]

@Annette33

You may well be my 'Sage of Airbnb' - wise and oh so diplomatic!

I just wish this Airbnb community center site wasn't so convoluted - duplication, moribund posts coming 'back to life as new' a year later, cross-threads, no meaningful moderation, no meaningful usage rules (yes I know that the community center has just started 'tutorials' but really!), no quick response to inappropriate links or abusive, illegal content... (and of course I mean no disrespect to the two hardworking moderators/contributors/community center staff Lizzie and Kirstie) but this part of the website is the most backward I have seen from any large corporation such as Airbnb.

And, at the risk of being personal here (!) - my Dad (a US national sailing champion) would say we are sailing into the wind by asking for change (especially people)....

But I for one like knowing the rules, like following them, like asking others to do so, and like challenging and changing things when too many rules get broken or not adherred to.

So I vote with @Annette33 for a community Host Chat Room (sorry can't vote for 'Happy' in the title - so as not to proclude any 'rants' especially if they are funny!) 🙂

But I would ask that it be locked and not public (searchable online through google etc) - and restricted to existing, provable, active, live hosts (as opposed to guests, brand new profiles or anyone without a booking/listing). But is that even possible?

AND - while we are at it - WHY can't we have a THUMBS DOWN (as well as thumbs up) on ALL posts.... there have been several times (ok, many!) I have read a post within a thread and thought - not appropriate, not relevant, not germaine, or just not funny.... (of course would never want to thumbs down any posts that are too long - as that would discount most of my contributions! ha!).... but it would certainly help new members and 'take the wind out of some sails' - (influenced by my Dad again).

Thanks @Annette33 for grasping the nettle and posting this one!

Best Wishes.

[Andrea9]

I do see the wisdom of not cluttering the threads with private convos to offer help-seeking posters a better and quicker oversight of suggestions. 

I agree that the threads often veer away from the topics. 

I also feel that if we as hosts spend our free time doing a large part of the job that Airbnb doesn't have because of us, and we do that without any financial benefits for repeatedly repeating (wow, that's repetitive!) the same pearls of wisdom,  then I don't feel guilty for allowing myself or another the luxury to have a laugh with each other now and then (well, a few times it became a pillow fight when a tender soul felt stroked the wrong direction...).

So what are we suggested  to do when we suddenly find we're in the middle of a personal exchange on a thread? Hey @X, lets conversatione abruptus and hop over to the general socializing scene for that last sentence? Am I the only one who finds that enormously kill joy?

I feel quite divided over this...