Andy Adcock
Worst person on Birdforum
Am I alone in being totally hacked off by the ridiculous number of 'trip reports' by tour companies that now dominate certain pages.
A true trip report has it's origins with independent travel and was provided by those early intrepid birders who were good enough to provide in depth logistical and bird finding details for those that followed.
By and large, trip reports now are a commercial tool and serve very little real purpose other than to sell tours. They provide a list of birds and very general information, nothing more. Just as bad or in fact worse are those that simply post a list of the birds they saw....what's all that about, that's not a trip report!!!
There are still a few good souls who do provide great reports but they are now in the minority.
It's ok that companies want to advertise how good their tours are but lets not call them trip reports, perhaps 'Tour highlights' as that is pretty much what they are.
Even on dedicated report sites (you know who you are) the list of tour company reports massively outnumbers true, independent reports that contain useable information. I wish that websites would separate the commercial from the independent report so those that seek genuine, useful reports for independent trips can more easily find them.
I'd urge anyone who's considering writing a report for publication, to include as much detailed 'gen' surrounding logistics and bird finding as possible. If you just want to write a list of birds seen, great, just write it for yourself and keep it on your computer, it's no use as a 'trip report'.
Bracing for comeback........
Moan over.........Andy
A true trip report has it's origins with independent travel and was provided by those early intrepid birders who were good enough to provide in depth logistical and bird finding details for those that followed.
By and large, trip reports now are a commercial tool and serve very little real purpose other than to sell tours. They provide a list of birds and very general information, nothing more. Just as bad or in fact worse are those that simply post a list of the birds they saw....what's all that about, that's not a trip report!!!
There are still a few good souls who do provide great reports but they are now in the minority.
It's ok that companies want to advertise how good their tours are but lets not call them trip reports, perhaps 'Tour highlights' as that is pretty much what they are.
Even on dedicated report sites (you know who you are) the list of tour company reports massively outnumbers true, independent reports that contain useable information. I wish that websites would separate the commercial from the independent report so those that seek genuine, useful reports for independent trips can more easily find them.
I'd urge anyone who's considering writing a report for publication, to include as much detailed 'gen' surrounding logistics and bird finding as possible. If you just want to write a list of birds seen, great, just write it for yourself and keep it on your computer, it's no use as a 'trip report'.
Bracing for comeback........
Moan over.........Andy