muirford
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 22, 2008
- Messages
- 2,498
- Reaction score
- 15
The idea that some of us don't reveal our B&Bs in this forum seems to make some posters uncomfortable and question our motives for doing so. It has been suggested on the PAII forum that this anonymity loosens our tongues, sometimes to the point of rudeness. Rather than stewing in silence over what could be considered an insult, I thought I would share my reasons for being 'anonymous'.
I have a six-room B&B with pretty good occupancy, so I book over 1000 room-nights per year, meaning I meet 1500 to 2000 guests per year. I do get my fair share of PITAs, although after 7 years I don't get annoyed as much as I used to. Still - this forum is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (unlike the PAII forum). Meaning any of those 10,000 people could find innspiring and read about themselves. Pshaw, you say - that's unlikely to happen! Yet, it has happened to one of the forum members when a group of us were all on another forum. So, I'm not making it easy for a guest to figure out who I am.
I have and would in general share my information privately with other innkeepers. I've been lucky enough to 'meet' several forum members in person or through emails, and consider them friends and colleagues. Still, other forum members have been sent threatening emails from innkeepers, received unwelcome phone calls, and one was threatened with physical violence after being falsely accused of posting a fraudulent TA review. By another innkeeper. Those things have not happened to me, but I don't feel the need to publicize my identity to any one who wanders on this site.
I personally haven't found rudeness, over the course of my 7 years of participating in this forum and the previous one, to be the sole domain of those who are anonymous. Not when this forum first started, and not now. Like any established work group, everyone here, newbie and old-timer, has their own personality with idiosyncracies not always obvious in an electronic media. There are some regular established posters on here with whom I disagree on almost every point of running a B&B. Live and let live.
I have a six-room B&B with pretty good occupancy, so I book over 1000 room-nights per year, meaning I meet 1500 to 2000 guests per year. I do get my fair share of PITAs, although after 7 years I don't get annoyed as much as I used to. Still - this forum is OPEN TO THE PUBLIC (unlike the PAII forum). Meaning any of those 10,000 people could find innspiring and read about themselves. Pshaw, you say - that's unlikely to happen! Yet, it has happened to one of the forum members when a group of us were all on another forum. So, I'm not making it easy for a guest to figure out who I am.
I have and would in general share my information privately with other innkeepers. I've been lucky enough to 'meet' several forum members in person or through emails, and consider them friends and colleagues. Still, other forum members have been sent threatening emails from innkeepers, received unwelcome phone calls, and one was threatened with physical violence after being falsely accused of posting a fraudulent TA review. By another innkeeper. Those things have not happened to me, but I don't feel the need to publicize my identity to any one who wanders on this site.
I personally haven't found rudeness, over the course of my 7 years of participating in this forum and the previous one, to be the sole domain of those who are anonymous. Not when this forum first started, and not now. Like any established work group, everyone here, newbie and old-timer, has their own personality with idiosyncracies not always obvious in an electronic media. There are some regular established posters on here with whom I disagree on almost every point of running a B&B. Live and let live.