Travelling to the Dutch Caribbean

Quoting BelleOverture

Quoting Sander

BelleOverture: So, I'm curious. On your profile, in the travel helper section, you write "I live on sunny St. Maarten!" - so what's your intent with these questions?

Hi. I'd just like to know what people think and know about the island. Is that a bad thing?

No - but pretending to be someone you're not, is. This is a forum where travellers help other travellers. You, however, are not a traveller (at least not to St. Maarten), while both the title of the thread and your original post give the impression that you are - which means that when people are investing their time answering your question with the expectation of helping a fellow traveller, they'd be doing so under false pretenses.
Additionally, given that you have no need of finding accommodation on St. Maarten, your "What about places to stay on the island?" phrasing - reinforced in your very next post by "Are there any good places to stay on the French part?" - feels like an astroturfing setup for later casually mentioning some accommodation which you just happened to find out about, but are of course actually shilling for.

[ Edit: Edited on 30 Jan 2024, 17:51 GMT by Sander ]

That's a tough one Sander. If we had friends visiting and no room at our house and they asked where to stay, I would have no idea. We never use hotels, etc. in our own area so could never advise anyone else about it. I might very well come on TP and ask if anyone visited the Sacramento area and if they could suggest a hotel.

I do agree that without any explanation, BelleOverture first struck me as setting us up for some sort of promotion. I know people don't like to type a lot but sometimes a bit of explanation can give a whole different feel to your post. I wouldn't be so suspicious if I hadn't seen it so often here on the forum. I think most people are aware of that these days with all the hacking going on.

Alright Sander my apologies and I will retract the post. Have a good one!

deleted
Beate

[ Edit: Edited on 31 Jan 2024, 15:01 GMT by BeateR ]

Quoting BelleOverture

Quoting Sander

BelleOverture: So, I'm curious. On your profile, in the travel helper section, you write "I live on sunny St. Maarten!" - so what's your intent with these questions?

Hi. I'd just like to know what people think and know about the island. Is that a bad thing?

NO, but your first question was NOT about what people think, but about were to stay.

Quoting BeateR

Quoting BelleOverture

Quoting Sander

BelleOverture: So, I'm curious. On your profile, in the travel helper section, you write "I live on sunny St. Maarten!" - so what's your intent with these questions?

Hi. I'd just like to know what people think and know about the island. Is that a bad thing?

NO, but your first question was NOT about what people think, but about were to stay.

Where to stay is a perfectly legitimate question from someone who lives there. They have no idea where to stay because they stay at home.

What to see is a very suspicious question because they should know that well.

Quoting Beausoleil

Quoting BeateR

Quoting BelleOverture

Quoting Sander

BelleOverture: So, I'm curious. On your profile, in the travel helper section, you write "I live on sunny St. Maarten!" - so what's your intent with these questions?

Hi. I'd just like to know what people think and know about the island. Is that a bad thing?

NO, but your first question was NOT about what people think, but about were to stay.

Where to stay is a perfectly legitimate question from someone who lives there. They have no idea where to stay because they stay at home.

What to see is a very suspicious question because they should know that well.

OK, but now you give us a different reason. First it was about where to stay overnight and now it is about what people think.
I'm really wondering why this thread isn't deleted.

Quoting BeateR

OK, but now you give us a different reason. First it was about where to stay overnight and now it is about what people think.
I'm really wondering why this thread isn't deleted.

BelleOverture has deleted their account. The last post you're responding to was by Beausoleil, who is highlighting a reason why a local might with good intentions be interested in accommodation suggestions (irrespective of if that was actually applicable to this specific case).

I'm not the responsible moderator here, but I'd say the thread isn't deleted because there's a long and informative post by greatgrandmaR on page 1, which might be of benefit to future visitors legitimately interested in St. Maarten. It'd be an absolute shame to delete such a post.

oK, this happens because my quoting was not exactly done. Sorry.