Awkward Question About Inactive Fish Extender Group

[wilkeliza]

@Krissy22222 What you experienced is exactly why the new rule was implemented. Basically the Dis was getting complaints about people being left out because they were here but not there, their private information being "stolen" by travel agents who set up the groups on the other website but weren't even going on the cruise, inappropriate advertising, "stolen" information by people in the ports of call, and just not very nice things. So in an effort to protect us the Dis handles it just on the Dis. You can't even use Google Docs any more because a moderator can not moderator those things but if something goes wrong here they can help through deleting posts and banning people.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

@Krissy22222 What you experienced is exactly why the new rule was implemented. Basically the Dis was getting complaints about people being left out because they were here but not there, their private information being "stolen" by travel agents who set up the groups on the other website but weren't even going on the cruise, inappropriate advertising, "stolen" information by people in the ports of call, and just not very nice things. So in an effort to protect us the Dis handles it just on the Dis. You can't even use Google Docs any more because a moderator can not moderator those things but if something goes wrong here they can help through deleting posts and banning people.

Very nice explanation of the issue.

I'll just add, we had a similar experience. While there was a fairly active DISboards cruise meet thread, most of the decisions about activities that the group set up was done on FB. Basically, we were told "When we figure out what we're doing, we'll let you know". Sorta felt like second class citizens. Had no input in what the group was discussing, unless someone decided to ask us.

 

[Imahikergirl]

I just noticed that on the other site, the one lady is in two of my four groups. I am sailing on odd offseason times for the matching cruises.

Makes a girl go, hmmmm...but it could be legit. I'll be careful though, my spidey senses are tingling.

 

[Krissy22222]

It could be legit, we sail on the longer cruises and quite a few others seem to typically take longer cruises too, so the same people often appear on multiple groups from year to year. However, you are right, best to be wary.

 

[wilkeliza]

To be honest when I see someone in multiple groups I'll call them out and ask what they are most excited for on this specific cruise. Most will fess up that they aren't actually on the cruise.

 

[Hundredacre]

I've been toying with posting this question for awhile.

So. Say you're on an FE list that started early, but the person who has volunteered to manage the list has been progressively less involved, to the point where they haven't logged on to the board in nearly two months. The cabin lists have not been sent/provided, although the cruise is now less than four months away.

Most of the original posters, including myself, to this thread have moved on and migrated to another <which shall remain unnamed> FE list source.

I have no wish to get anyone in trouble, or taint anyone's awesome Disney experience, but new cruisers come on hoping to join the FE list. Eventually they realize the thread is ... not really viable.

Do you PM the new posters to let them know they should probably look elsewhere? I know that we're not supposed to talk about alternative FE groups, but ...

Awkward.

Four months out isn't that close. Seems like still plenty of time to organize an fe. It does sound like poaching to me.

 

[ldo]

it never occurred to me that someone would be a FE organizer and not be on the cruise. That is terrible. I knew our FE organizer (from XX group) and even had to stop by her room b/c we left our room # list at home. I cannot imagine not having someone actually on the cruise. That stinks that this is being done. I totally understand disobards.com policy then. But, I must admit, after I found the more active, in the know, site, I didn't post much or join the disboards FE. If I had joined a disboards FE, I would have felt compelled to continue to participate, as I had committed.

 

[GrannyDee]

Four months out isn't that close. Seems like still plenty of time to organize an fe. It does sound like poaching to me.

I wasn't aware of the repeated posts or advertising links that Aquadame references; I probably joined after that happened or missed them altogether thanks to Aquadame's diligent whackamoling. I've also disabled the "see other people's signatures in their messages" option, so may have missed some clues there. It frankly never occurred to me that someone would even "poach". Ah well, lesson learned.

Meh. Four months isn't that long. My daughter and I are making all our gifts and needed to know things like how many cabins, how many people, how often, etc. Half the fun of our family vacations is in the planning.

 

[Plaid Princess]

Also, I don't understand why we cannot mention other FE groups. Isn't disboards' goal to get the most out of a Disney trip? Why does it matter if I look over on XX as well? I never understood this. It like saying, "if you're my friend, you can't be Julie's friend also," as in the 4th grade.

Well the rules say that it's to protect people from scams, and I'm sure it does that to a certain extent. If you apply a little common sense, you realize that the Dis is a business and they want to keep the traffic here. It was much easier to keep everything on the boards before Facebook and other sites started becoming more a part of our daily lives. Now, with so many people only accessing the web from mobile devices, forums like this can be clunky and not very user-friendly compared to other more mobile-friendly sites and apps.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Well the rules say that it's to protect people from scams, and I'm sure it does that to a certain extent. If you apply a little common sense, you realize that the Dis is a business and they want to keep the traffic here. It was much easier to keep everything on the boards before Facebook and other sites started becoming more a part of our daily lives. Now, with so many people only accessing the web from mobile devices, forums like this can be clunky and not very user-friendly compared to other more mobile-friendly sites and apps.

The first FE I was involved is was in a really huge cruise meet thread. All the cruise meet "business" (Fish Extenders, room crawls, pajama breakfast, scavenger hunt, etc) was discussed, organized, and set up on DISboards. When people in the group wanted to "just talk" (how's the kids? - We're buying a new house. - the weather, whatever) it was done on FB. Worked great.

I was also involved with a separate cruise board, and we also set up a FE group. There were some people on both forums and participated in both groups. Some people were only in one or the other. Each one was separate unto itself. But, again, all the "business" stuff regarding anything to do with group activities took place on that board. Any private talk was taken elsewhere.

There's no reason that any number of locations can each set up a FE group. But to come here, and say "the" FE group is being handled/organized elsewhere is wrong. A FB Fish Extender group is not a DISboards Fish Extender group.

 

[2Bnºoºt2B]

Will this do any good? Maybe I'm not understanding you. We've moved on, so this doesn't affect us and I don't have any interest in managing the FE list.

Maybe I should/could just post that there hasn't been any activity in a couple of months and someone else could perhaps take over the cabin list if they have an interest? The original organizer hasn't backed out, she's just disappeared. I just hate people to miss out on what has been such a fabulous part of the build-up to the cruise.

I know how you feel ...for us, a lot had changed between our 2nd and 3rd Disney Cruise re: how FE's were organized ... no Google Docs, less FE organization on the boards, rule infractions for mentioning other means ... and so on and so on. Certainly not as much fun. Change is inevitable ... just as texting has overtaken postal mail and in other modes of communication ... we need to be more open to finding new ways of doing things. There will always be "individuals" who will always stir up the pot through their critiques and their actions ... people though will find a way to overcome ... I just take a look at our FE aboard the Fantasy last year ... it still happened despite all that had changed. So have fun on your next FE

 

[cyclenut]

Whenever there is a single group of people using more than one site, you are going to have problems. I don't participate in the FE but I do like to participate in discussions leading up to the cruise. Sometimes I join the meet and greets and other activities. Sometimes not. But if you want to join in the planning and shipboard fun, you have got to find out which of the sites is doing the planning. In my experience, most have turned to FB. The cruise meet thread has gone pretty stale.

I agree with a previous poster that the issue is really the technology being used. It is very inconvenient to access and use from a smartphone. I do use it quite easily from an iPad, but FB is just a better way to communicate. I really think the Disboards ought to acknowledge that and allow groups to actively publish FB meets as Dis meets. It really would solve a whole lot of the problem because people would be well informed about where to go. Dis is still THE place to get good information about Disney and Disney cruising in general, but nothing beats a social networking platform for ... Well ... Social networking.

I get that there will be entrepreneurs who try to commercialize the FE experience (and cruise experience in general) but a savvy group moderator or even group of people can weed out who they don't want there. Just keep it a closed group.

 

[jiminyC_fan]

Personally I love my DIS experience and I totally support their decision about FE. The other location is not run as good. I thought about doing an FE through them last time but changed my mind. First off the group was being run by a lady NOT on the cruise. Wouldn't post ANY info until SHE wanted to. She had everyone's info. Too much control by a person NOT on the cruise. It was like a power hungry woman. If they don't like you or for whatever reason, BOOM, you're gone. Believe me. I know someone that was kicked out of her group completely. "Weeding" as mentioned above can be positive OR negative. At least the DIS has your back and can control people like that. Sad to think that people let one admin of a group have THAT much power.

To those that are uncertain about people participating in several groups, it happens. I've done it and I know many, many others have as well. I proudly delivered to all.

In the end, FE was "invented" here on the DIS and it worked back then. I don't know why some think it can't work in today's world. My first meet and greet here on the DIS was in 2002. About 10 families have become life long friends and vacation together.

One more thing, there is another cruise forum that I am familiar with. They, too, do not allow talk and mention of the social network group that the DIS doesn't allow, also. It just isn't the DIS that feels that way about the "social network" site. I understand and support it.

 

[RedSox68]

I disagree - if you have no interest to start an FE then there isn't a reason to start a new thread. People are just going to find both and get more confused most likely. Just posting in the original thread that at this time there is no FE for the cruise on the DIS would be sufficient.

Posting, referencing and PMing people to specifically look elsewhere is against the board rules - that includes in PMs.

I might have misunderstood -- I thought GrannyDee wanted to start a new thread because she wanted to continue the FE list. If she's not interested in actually doing the thread, then I agree with AquaDame -- just let it go

 

[GrannyDee]

I might have misunderstood -- I thought GrannyDee wanted to start a new thread because she wanted to continue the FE list. If she's not interested in actually doing the thread, then I agree with AquaDame -- just let it go

I have.

 

[awinangie]

Would this be an okay place to ask about how to set up an FE group?

I've posted on cruise's "Meetup" thread and see several folks have chimed in, "We've booked our rooms!" sort of thing...

I'm super excited about the Fish Extender gift idea... I always make gift bags for our group vacations. Autograph books, journals, shirts, penny press coin containers and the like.. I LOVE making the things and I LOVE surprising my family/friends... But with Fish Extender groups... Even *I* get to be surprised!!! It makes me giddy!!!!!

So, our cruise is in February 2017... Plenty of time. But nobody has said, "I'm planning to set up a group." Are there rules about how it needs to be done? I'd be happy to set up a low-key group... Do I need to ask anyone's permission? The OP of the meet thread, maybe??

I'm also not really interested in other Meet & Greet activities, only because I'm quite sure my family/friends will take all my time. Does the person who plans FE groups generally also plan other things??

Thanks for the thoughts. Hope I'm asking in an okay place...

Best,

Angie
"Auntie" & Mom to a Future Cruising Crew

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

So. Say you're on an FE list that started early, but the person who has volunteered to manage the list has been progressively less involved, to the point where they haven't logged on to the board in nearly two months. The cabin lists have not been sent/provided, although the cruise is now less than four months away.

Most of the original posters, including myself, to this thread have moved on and migrated to another <which shall remain unnamed> FE list source.

I have no wish to get anyone in trouble, or taint anyone's awesome Disney experience, but new cruisers come on hoping to join the FE list. Eventually they realize the thread is ... not really viable.

Do you PM the new posters to let them know they should probably look elsewhere? I know that we're not supposed to talk about alternative FE groups, but ...

Awkward.

This happened on our thread, but I was the lead. Our thread started a year in advance and we vacation out of the country for the entire winter, for some reason notifications STINK on the DIS and I wasn't getting any of them, not to mention I was not checking in daily as I was on vacation. I came back to a thread wondering where I was and this was in April for an October cruise. I felt we had PLENTY of time as final payment hadn't even been made and final cutoff is in September. We had 3 people bail to another site but the rest stayed when I explained myself and it's all fine.

I think 4 months before a cruise is still plenty of time to get organized. The way I keep the thread alive is by posting daily questions of the day, pictures of the ship and random information. All you need to post on the thread is a BOLD and COLORED announcement that says something like:

This thread seems to have died, if you still want to do a FE, someone will need to step up and organize it. As of this post there is no one. That will let everyone know what is going on.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

Would this be an okay place to ask about how to set up an FE group?
I've posted on cruise's "Meetup" thread and see several folks have chimed in, "We've booked our rooms!" sort of thing...
So, our cruise is in February 2017... Plenty of time. But nobody has said, "I'm planning to set up a group." Are there rules about how it needs to be done? I'd be happy to set up a low-key group... Do I need to ask anyone's permission? The OP of the meet thread, maybe??

Step up in your thread and begin organizing it officially. We started a year in advance and just updated as we got closer. I made it a list for chatting and for those wanting to do the FE. If they wanted in on the FE, they had to post stateroom, who was in the stateroom (ages and genders) and what dining they had. We have both chatters and FE people, it's a lot of fun as we get closer to cruising time.

You only need to be in charge of what you want to do, if someone questions a mixology class or a meet-up, let them know you are only doing the FE and they are more than welcome to do that part of the cruise!

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

You can't even use Google Docs any more because a moderator can not moderator those things but if something goes wrong here they can help through deleting posts and banning people.

Wait....what? Why can't we use GoogleDocs? I am running our FE here on the DIS and nowhere else and I needed one central place to let everyone click to get the master list to print out without additional junk printing out. The link is public so any mod can see what I have posted. I don't collect emails or any personal information from the people in my group, we have kept it simple and no frills.

 

[awinangie]

Step up in your thread and begin organizing it officially. We started a year in advance and just updated as we got closer. I made it a list for chatting and for those wanting to do the FE. If they wanted in on the FE, they had to post stateroom, who was in the stateroom (ages and genders) and what dining they had. We have both chatters and FE people, it's a lot of fun as we get closer to cruising time.

You only need to be in charge of what you want to do, if someone questions a mixology class or a meet-up, let them know you are only doing the FE and they are more than welcome to do that part of the cruise!

Thanks!!!!