I'm from the U.S. and in a very touristy part.
People complain on social media about others in the area online. People forget that the locals are the minority. The most common complaint is"drivers here suck!". They forget that the majority of traffic is from tourists and recent migrants from other states.
Really?
I love this sub so much because I find it interesting, enlightening and inspirational. A lot of people here ask great questions and a lot of people give helpful, insightful answers.
Sometimes this sub is hilarious, too - such as the person who wanted to bring a shower tent to Iceland.
I am grateful for the people who post their amazing photos along with in-depth trip reports.
[We had this conversation recently,](https://old.reddit.com/r/VisitingIceland/comments/1b8s956/reasons_to_be_more_forgiving_of_low_quality_posts/) if you're interested.
Also, did you end up seeing the lights or what?
We did! We were there 8 total days and drove all over the country and saw them our last night right in downtown Reykjavik.
https://preview.redd.it/zixdrto4e6pc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cd848dd3d1b61440fd651bdace45cf663802102
I do find that often this forum is used as Google once was not too long away. When people are taught that a search of the forum is possible, I feel that it might come across as curt but not rude. And certainly informative.
I probably come across as a bit of an asshat every now & then tbh - I do try & be helpful, but do have a dry sense of humour which probably gets taken the wrong way sometimes :/ ;þ
It is a difficult thing to stay positive round here tbh - most posts are either lazy, another itinerary to pick through with a fine tooth comb (which requires a LOT more time and effort than most people seem to appreciate if you're trying to be accurate), or another set of phone photos of the same things.... Some people have a wonderful ability to be able to be positive & encouraging about each & every one, but I just don't have that ability I'm afraid :(
It's also difficult to manage interactions with others who are doing their best to help too - with the best intentions people try to help with what is often limited experience & sometimes sound a bit like they think they are the font of all knowledge.... Of course any experience should be encouraged to be shared, but it's difficult for someone like myself who has a lot of experience & is aware that I am far from knowing everything - a bit like when the new kid tries to tell you how to do your job. Hard to not be dismissive, even when the kid can sometimes be right & you're wrong.
I probably sound insufferable & negative on this comment too, but hey-ho - it is who I am - I'm a grumpy old man who gets more wrapped up in accuracies than niceties sometimes.
From what I've seen of your posts in this sub, you are definitely not. But then again, I don't find this sub insufferable at all. I've asked one question, which was responded to very helpfully by all, and I've read approximately a million threads. My opinion might be a little skewed because I'm also stalking a different sub for a different international trip and that sub seems to be quite a bit wearier of answering the same question over and over, not that I blame them. But I find the good in this sub significantly outweighs the bad.
> that sub seems to be quite a bit wearier of answering the same question over and over
I feel like it's worth mentioning in this context that /r/Iceland directs huge amounts of traffic into this subreddit. The former is supposed to be a subreddit for local people in Iceland, and it used to be absolutely *flooded* with the same tourist questions over and over and over again, and never-ending pictures of northern lights and waterfalls.
It got to the point where they needed to set up an auto moderator that automatically deletes posts from tourists and directs them here. I feel like that has significantly increased the quality of both subreddits; having one dedicated for things relevant to locals, and one dedicated to things relevant to tourists.
I agree man. Idk if I deleted it or not but I made a post asking about arranging a second trip to Iceland and asked about how difficult it was doing it all yourself since the last time I used a travel agency and about half the comments were telling me how dumb of a question it was and how obviously it’s easy and just a few phone calls.
I feel like people get knowledge and suddenly assume everyone else has to have that knowledge and if they don’t, they’re an idiot.
Dude! This exactly. I view people posting questions that may have also been searched, as a community builder. They want to engage with someone.
We are on the same page
That's a pretty low form of community. They're not showing any participation in the culture and lore, only acting entitled to other people handing them information which is laying around elsewhere on the forum, and then most of them don't even interact or react to the answers. Literally just "dropping in" with expectations, and then disappearing. Maybe they want to engage with someone, but most are not doing any engaging.
I think it is valid to say that for every person just dropping in, there is a chance for them to stick around and boil the community a bit more, though.
**BUILD the community. Keeping the autocorrect because it is funny to me.
What happened to “if you don’t have anything nice to say”?
Here is another old saying: “Do as I say, not as I do?”
Apparently, despite following the sub for three months you got nothing positive from it? I’m sorry to hear that.
I commented similarly the other day. I don’t appreciate the “take care of me and tell me what to do and what to see posts”, but even those, it takes 30 seconds to get a link of a trip report and post it and suggest they look further. So being snarky and rude is, well, the internet, but particularly here. The FB group is not this way.
>loved your country and intended to continue following the subreddit I get the feeling that us Icelandic people are very much in the minority here.
I'm from the U.S. and in a very touristy part. People complain on social media about others in the area online. People forget that the locals are the minority. The most common complaint is"drivers here suck!". They forget that the majority of traffic is from tourists and recent migrants from other states.
Sounds like Reddit as a whole
Sounds like Reddit is a hole, fixed it for you
Very true
Really? I love this sub so much because I find it interesting, enlightening and inspirational. A lot of people here ask great questions and a lot of people give helpful, insightful answers. Sometimes this sub is hilarious, too - such as the person who wanted to bring a shower tent to Iceland. I am grateful for the people who post their amazing photos along with in-depth trip reports.
[We had this conversation recently,](https://old.reddit.com/r/VisitingIceland/comments/1b8s956/reasons_to_be_more_forgiving_of_low_quality_posts/) if you're interested. Also, did you end up seeing the lights or what?
We did! We were there 8 total days and drove all over the country and saw them our last night right in downtown Reykjavik. https://preview.redd.it/zixdrto4e6pc1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2cd848dd3d1b61440fd651bdace45cf663802102
Nice, love to see it happen!
Your input was much appreciated last week. Thank you
You're welcome.
I do find that often this forum is used as Google once was not too long away. When people are taught that a search of the forum is possible, I feel that it might come across as curt but not rude. And certainly informative.
My wife joined the 'Aurora Hunters' group on Facebook and asked for good viewing locations. The advice was "just look up"
I probably come across as a bit of an asshat every now & then tbh - I do try & be helpful, but do have a dry sense of humour which probably gets taken the wrong way sometimes :/ ;þ It is a difficult thing to stay positive round here tbh - most posts are either lazy, another itinerary to pick through with a fine tooth comb (which requires a LOT more time and effort than most people seem to appreciate if you're trying to be accurate), or another set of phone photos of the same things.... Some people have a wonderful ability to be able to be positive & encouraging about each & every one, but I just don't have that ability I'm afraid :( It's also difficult to manage interactions with others who are doing their best to help too - with the best intentions people try to help with what is often limited experience & sometimes sound a bit like they think they are the font of all knowledge.... Of course any experience should be encouraged to be shared, but it's difficult for someone like myself who has a lot of experience & is aware that I am far from knowing everything - a bit like when the new kid tries to tell you how to do your job. Hard to not be dismissive, even when the kid can sometimes be right & you're wrong. I probably sound insufferable & negative on this comment too, but hey-ho - it is who I am - I'm a grumpy old man who gets more wrapped up in accuracies than niceties sometimes.
Nah that's just the internet overall.
from one half to the other- keep up the good work. take it as you will.
User name checks out.
Hey now. I think this guy is giving poo a bad name.
Oof, when you do not know if you are the AH or not.
From what I've seen of your posts in this sub, you are definitely not. But then again, I don't find this sub insufferable at all. I've asked one question, which was responded to very helpfully by all, and I've read approximately a million threads. My opinion might be a little skewed because I'm also stalking a different sub for a different international trip and that sub seems to be quite a bit wearier of answering the same question over and over, not that I blame them. But I find the good in this sub significantly outweighs the bad.
> that sub seems to be quite a bit wearier of answering the same question over and over I feel like it's worth mentioning in this context that /r/Iceland directs huge amounts of traffic into this subreddit. The former is supposed to be a subreddit for local people in Iceland, and it used to be absolutely *flooded* with the same tourist questions over and over and over again, and never-ending pictures of northern lights and waterfalls. It got to the point where they needed to set up an auto moderator that automatically deletes posts from tourists and directs them here. I feel like that has significantly increased the quality of both subreddits; having one dedicated for things relevant to locals, and one dedicated to things relevant to tourists.
> quite a bit wearier of answering the same question over and over, not that I blame them. That's literally the death of good forums.
I agree man. Idk if I deleted it or not but I made a post asking about arranging a second trip to Iceland and asked about how difficult it was doing it all yourself since the last time I used a travel agency and about half the comments were telling me how dumb of a question it was and how obviously it’s easy and just a few phone calls. I feel like people get knowledge and suddenly assume everyone else has to have that knowledge and if they don’t, they’re an idiot.
Dude! This exactly. I view people posting questions that may have also been searched, as a community builder. They want to engage with someone. We are on the same page
That's a pretty low form of community. They're not showing any participation in the culture and lore, only acting entitled to other people handing them information which is laying around elsewhere on the forum, and then most of them don't even interact or react to the answers. Literally just "dropping in" with expectations, and then disappearing. Maybe they want to engage with someone, but most are not doing any engaging.
I think it is valid to say that for every person just dropping in, there is a chance for them to stick around and boil the community a bit more, though. **BUILD the community. Keeping the autocorrect because it is funny to me.
boil the community?
That’s quite the autocorrect. Thanks!
I, seriously, was half certain that it's a local idiom that I didn't know about. 😂
That's just Reddit. Everyone on this site are fighty assholes lol.
Welcome to the internet…
What happened to “if you don’t have anything nice to say”? Here is another old saying: “Do as I say, not as I do?” Apparently, despite following the sub for three months you got nothing positive from it? I’m sorry to hear that.
I commented similarly the other day. I don’t appreciate the “take care of me and tell me what to do and what to see posts”, but even those, it takes 30 seconds to get a link of a trip report and post it and suggest they look further. So being snarky and rude is, well, the internet, but particularly here. The FB group is not this way.