Here is my take on the question.
I try to eliminate the perception of conditions where ever I am traveling and get to the actual conditions as they exist now. Any time I am going somewhere new I research it as much as I can, both on the internet and talking with anyone I know who has been there. I look at the overall responses I get, taking into account that unhappy people, for what ever reason tend to rant and rave about even the littlest of issues while happy people tend to overlook things that might irritate others. Its well know in sales that 1 unhappy customer, regardless of the reason is worth a 1000 happy ones. I also realize that personal preferences add or detract from the overall opinion of a place in any given post. With that information, while I read and consider all accounts on both ends of the spectrum I give less weight to grossly positive or negative information, both are likely filled with more emotion than fact. I also look at the credibility of the information, giving more weight to some and less to others. Is the information first hand, second hand, hearsay, last weeks information or something from 5 years ago. For example, a new diver on his first trip raving about how great or terrible a place was holds a lot less weight with me than a well traveled diver who has much more experience. I dont completely dismiss the new diver but enthusiasm or for that matter unrealistic expectations will play a large part in their perspective of the place or event, they do not have the perspective and experience to compare a new place that an experienced diver does. With all that in mind, I look over all the information I have and in my mind build a general trend, either good or bad and make my decision based on that, realizing that the truth will lay somewhere between the 2 extremes. My job is to determine where that point is ..His story, her story and the truth that lays somewhere in between
Lets apply that logic to the current Bonaire threads on SB.
We basically have one major poster who has very little island experience and by his own admission had no problems while on island several years ago, who is posting mostly hearsay, old information or personal opinion with no reasonable information to back up his claims. On the other hand we have at least 6 to 10 well traveled posters with many many hours of island time and most with recent island experience, all of whom pretty much agree about the conditions and risk of traveling to Bonaire. None of which is saying its prefect or totally without its problems but who can and IMO do give a fairly realistic picture of the current conditions on the island. Its up to the reader to decide which to give the most credibility to and make their decision based on their interpretation of the credibility of the information they find
I try to eliminate the perception of conditions where ever I am traveling and get to the actual conditions as they exist now. Any time I am going somewhere new I research it as much as I can, both on the internet and talking with anyone I know who has been there. I look at the overall responses I get, taking into account that unhappy people, for what ever reason tend to rant and rave about even the littlest of issues while happy people tend to overlook things that might irritate others. Its well know in sales that 1 unhappy customer, regardless of the reason is worth a 1000 happy ones. I also realize that personal preferences add or detract from the overall opinion of a place in any given post. With that information, while I read and consider all accounts on both ends of the spectrum I give less weight to grossly positive or negative information, both are likely filled with more emotion than fact. I also look at the credibility of the information, giving more weight to some and less to others. Is the information first hand, second hand, hearsay, last weeks information or something from 5 years ago. For example, a new diver on his first trip raving about how great or terrible a place was holds a lot less weight with me than a well traveled diver who has much more experience. I dont completely dismiss the new diver but enthusiasm or for that matter unrealistic expectations will play a large part in their perspective of the place or event, they do not have the perspective and experience to compare a new place that an experienced diver does. With all that in mind, I look over all the information I have and in my mind build a general trend, either good or bad and make my decision based on that, realizing that the truth will lay somewhere between the 2 extremes. My job is to determine where that point is ..His story, her story and the truth that lays somewhere in between
Lets apply that logic to the current Bonaire threads on SB.
We basically have one major poster who has very little island experience and by his own admission had no problems while on island several years ago, who is posting mostly hearsay, old information or personal opinion with no reasonable information to back up his claims. On the other hand we have at least 6 to 10 well traveled posters with many many hours of island time and most with recent island experience, all of whom pretty much agree about the conditions and risk of traveling to Bonaire. None of which is saying its prefect or totally without its problems but who can and IMO do give a fairly realistic picture of the current conditions on the island. Its up to the reader to decide which to give the most credibility to and make their decision based on their interpretation of the credibility of the information they find
