Why Yet Another Barbados Travel Forum/Blog

As some already know, I author a few other travel related blogs/forums about Barbados on the Internet including the Mullins Bay and West Coast blogs. One would think that I needed to try to maintain yet another one like I need a nail in the head. Yet, the idea for the Barbados TravelAdvisor came to me a few months ago when I became more active on TripAdvisor and witnessed several of my early posts disappear from the forum for one reason or another which someone(s) felt violated Trip Advisor’s "strict guidelines." TripAdvisor is very successful and very good at doing what they do so I really have no quarrel with them and will continue to contribute there. However, and I am borrowing heavily from the verbiage of the American Declaration of Independence here (4th of July in the air and all) - it has also become necessary to dissolve some the TripAdvisor bonds and to assume that separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle me, and, hopefully, others as well.

Consequently, I have bitten the proverbial bullet and launched Barbados TravelAdvisor which is a combination of a forum and a blog that hopefully will put most of the mysteriousness of TripAdvisor behind us. I am not seeking to be in competition with TripAdvisor but rather to bring another fuller voice to the Barbados travel conversation on the Internet. I believe that both Barbados and the Internet are big enough for both voices to be heard. Unlike TripAdvisor which is an ongoing business venture, this is all a hobby for me although in the interest of full disclosure, I must say, as some already know that I do offer a little cottage on the beach for vacation rental and I do advertise it on the Internet on my blogs and chats.

Chatting on the Internet is something that I have done and enjoyed going back to the days of the BBS, CompuServe and 1200 baud modems long before the birth of the worldwide web. But chatting alone does not build the successful forum or blog like Barbados TravelAdvisor should aspire to be; you have to create a quality database of information people would want to refer to and the kind of atmosphere that keeps them coming back for more answers. Here is where I will be needing the help of those who will be walking with us. As the blog and forum grow we are going to be needing people to volunteer as moderators and creators of information - not just readers and commentators.