Auto posts to Roll Calls

[Corfe Mixture]

Am I the only person who finds these auto posts made to RollCalls without the person’s consent both annoying and confusing?

Not everyone who uses Cruise Critic wants to get involved with either a Roll Call or a Meet ‘n’ Greet and whether or not they do get involved is an entirely reasonable personal decision whilst, some who get involved in the pre-cruise discussions have no interest in being involved in a Meet 'n' Greet.

However, as a person who has historically helped to organise onboard events, including arranging the venue for a Meet ‘n’ Greet and sending out personalised invitations to the officers, I am finding that the recent introduction of these autoposts confuse matters.

OK, some Roll Calls will be more active than others, it has always been that way, but the bottom line is that Princess will only assign avenue etc., for a Meet 'n' Greet, if we have at least 30 participants and, particularly in the case of less active Roll Calls, these auto posts just confuse matters as they encourage people who are perhaps not that enthusiastic to show a passing interest which will simply not be followed through.

[Thrak]

It's Cruise Critic. Their site = their rules. They implemented the function and, as far as I can tell, it is going to stay.

[WVBill]

Please explain "Auto Post" I don't believe I've seen any posts on the Roll Call for my cruise that haven't been posted by a live person.

[DrivesLikeMario]

I don't remember the exact wording but it says something like, "So and so has joined the roll call. Please welcome him/her." And so we all welcome the new person who makes one post and never posts again. Kind-of weird.

[Thrak]

Please explain "Auto Post" I don't believe I've seen any posts on the Roll Call for my cruise that haven't been posted by a live person.

 

Cruise Critic has been automagically signing people up on roll call threads. The message is:

 

"Hi Everyone! I am sailing on this cruise and looking forward to chatting with all of you! "

[Corfe Mixture]

It's Cruise Critic. Their site = their rules. They implemented the function and, as far as I can tell, it is going to stay.

 

Absolutely, but it sure makes life difficult for those of us who put the effort into organising a Meet 'n' Greet including preparing personalised invitations for the officers.

 

We have a relatively inactive Roll Call for this Christmas and it has certainly turned me off on the basis that I am far less confident that folks will actually turn up and I don't want the embarrassment of organising an event where the officers outnumber us!

 

Suspect it will turn out to be one of those things which 'seemed a good idea at the time' until the 'law of unintended consequences' started to apply. As I see it, if Roll Calls cease to act as a forum for active participants and instead becomes nothing more than a list of who is sailing, the camaraderie will be lost.

Edited August 11, 2017 by Corfe Mixture

[perditax]

Please explain "Auto Post" I don't believe I've seen any posts on the Roll Call for my cruise that haven't been posted by a live person.

 

Click this:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=53540772&postcount=204

[easyboy]

Auto posts have been going on for some time. I recall Cruise Critic confirming this but don't remember their explanation. They might take note of your thread.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[sunsetme]

i agree they are annoying and confusing, these newbies do not participate after the post is made.

[Thrak]

We have a fairly active roll call for our October 8 cruise. 3,920 posts to date. Each time we receive an auto post there is an almost immediate response welcoming the people to the roll call, asking them for their real names (at least first names), and a link for them to the Shutterfly site setup for our cruise. They are invited to join the Meet and Greet or any other activity or excursion listed on that site. They have generally responded and signed up for the Sailaway gathering, the Meet and Greet, and various games, activities, and excursions. We have a large group meeting for lunch one day and another large group having dinner in CG another day. We have a conference room assigned to us where we can organize excursions, play games (many already scheduled on our calendar on the Shutterfly site), etc.

 

I don't really think (but am not certain) that anybody who has had an autopost has failed to respond to the query regarding their real names. I do agree it's kind of intrusive and may be uncomfortable for those who wouldn't normally join a roll call but, on the other hand, I do see a lot of questions posted to the general boards that really should be posted in a roll call and many responses where people point the questioners to the proper roll call. Hopefully this autopost method will make more people aware of the roll call boards and cut down on the number of misdirected queries.

[WatchHill]

I noticed the auto-posts popping up from time to time and agree, they are annoying. Add to that, everyone else who is on the roll call, has to say "welcome" and IMO, that's too may posts to scroll through to get to the more serious meet & planning information. When one joins, he/she should be given an option for the auto-post.

 

Corfe Mixture - Thanks for the Guildhall recommendation for dinner in Poole. Wonderful food, great service.

 

Darcy

[Colo Cruiser]

Absolutely, but it sure makes life difficult for those of us who put the effort into organising a Meet 'n' Greet including preparing personalised invitations for the officers.

We have a relatively inactive Roll Call for this Christmas and it has certainly turned me off on the basis that I am far less confident that folks will actually turn up and I don't want the embarrassment of organising an event where the officers outnumber us!

 

Suspect it will turn out to be one of those things which 'seemed a good idea at the time' until the 'law of unintended consequences' started to apply. As I see it, if Roll Calls cease to act as a forum for active participants and instead becomes nothing more than a list of who is sailing, the camaraderie will be lost.

 

 

Why? I would not include them in the RC until they actually respond personally to the RC.

[cherylandtk]

According to the FAQ section posted about this, the new user has to click the "I'm sailing" button for the autopost to generate. Is this not still the case? And if it is, it's not really that much different than the folks who post once and never again.

 

I suppose I don't see the problem with with this; if I want to ignore the one post wonders it is easily done. There are easier ways to obtain the list of active participants than by scrolling through each page.

[OCruisers]

It's Cruise Critic. Their site = their rules. They implemented the function and, as far as I can tell, it is going to stay.

 

(y)

[jasbo49]

I look at this as a problem, but from the opposite angle. I don't think seasoned veterans are going to be too taxed figuring out who's really on their roll call. (Sorry, Corfe; I agree with you on a lot of stuff.)

 

My beef is that the newbies don't know they're posting on a roll call if they hit "I'm sailing." I don't know what they're thinking will happen, but nowhere does it say "clicking on this button will automatically post a message from you on your roll call."

 

I don't think Cruise Critic should enter a post under someone's screen name without permission.

 

Jim

[paul929207]

I have not been adding people to the Roll Call or the M&G unless we get one or both first names.

[CGinMTL]

I just ignore them. Why would i resond to a machine.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

[Charles4515]

It's Cruise Critic. Their site = their rules. They implemented the function and, as far as I can tell, it is going to stay.

 

Yes, it is their rules but it is still annoying as on the roll calls I have been on that autopost is usually the only post from that screen name. And it does confuse people who actually joined the roll call and participate in it.

[Go-Bucks!]

I just ignore them. Why would I respond to a machine.

 

 

Ditto.

[TwoCruisers]

I have been keeping the Roll Call List for our cruise in March 2018. I have found that most people who have wondered onto Cruise Critic and clicked on the “I’m going on this cruise” button don’t know what is happening and don’t realize that there is a Roll Call to join.

 

So, like “paul929207”, if they don’t come back on and introduce themselves, I don’t add them to the Roll Call List.

 

I have never clicked on the button myself, so I don’t know what sort of response the “Clicker” gets. I’m wondering if they know that a message was sent somewhere.:confused:

[Charles4515]

I just ignore them. Why would i resond to a machine.

 

Sent from my SM-T580 using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

Since I know it is a machine I ignore them. But some do respond without knowing that and someone on one of my roll calls asked if there was a cult on the sailing who all mindlessly post the same.

[DrivesLikeMario]

...I don't think Cruise Critic should enter a post under someone's screen name without permission.

Jim

 

Exactly! The newcomer to the roll call doesn't know what's going on and where they should go from then on and because of that, I think it's confusing.

[Thrak]

I look at this as a problem, but from the opposite angle. I don't think seasoned veterans are going to be too taxed figuring out who's really on their roll call. (Sorry, Corfe; I agree with you on a lot of stuff.)

 

My beef is that the newbies don't know they're posting on a roll call if they hit "I'm sailing." I don't know what they're thinking will happen, but nowhere does it say "clicking on this button will automatically post a message from you on your roll call."

 

I don't think Cruise Critic should enter a post under someone's screen name without permission.

 

Jim

 

OK. I do have to agree with this point of view. I wonder what sort of feedback (if any) the person gets when clicking on that button. It may be true that they simply don't know what happens. I also have to agree that posting anything under someone's screen name is wrong - especially if it isn't made abundantly clear that it is being done.

 

While I do still say "their site=their rules" I don't necessarily approve of their rules or the implementation of those rules.

[sherryf]

I have never clicked on the button myself, so I don’t know what sort of response the “Clicker” gets. I’m wondering if they know that a message was sent somewhere.:confused:

 

They are not notified that there was an autopost in their name. My daughter signed up for Cruise Critic before our recent cruise. She clicked the "I'm sailing..." thing. Later, I was checking our Roll Call (which was the slowest one I've ever been on!) and was excited to see there was a new post... only to find that it was an autopost from my own daughter. I asked her about it and she seemed mortified that something actually posted when she clicked that!

[caribill]

Since I know it is a machine I ignore them. But some do respond without knowing that and someone on one of my roll calls asked if there was a cult on the sailing who all mindlessly post the same.

 

see http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=52287632 for Cruise Critic's post about this.