[Removed user]

6 May 2019 at 15:43:03 #881730

Hi everyone,

I have been following this thread with interest and have a few opinions to air.

First of all, Arno and Annika have created and maintain an exceptional site here and with the help of input from experienced moderators and experts it continues to help anyone who wants help planning a trip in Switzerland. Unlike some other sites all posts and questions are treated equally respectfully without judgement. I would hate to see people competing for ratings and “likes” which could deter some of us from posting.

We are lucky to have regular contributers who have knowledge of particular areas in Switzerland which they are happy to share – I think of Kim whose PDF of Wengen is particularly useful, Slowpoke who knows a lot about the Emmental (as well as other places!), Peterli and his enthusiasm for Romandie, Alpenrose’s posts on the Engadine were detailed and had lots of great suggestions, Lucas on the delights of Zurich and Rockoyster who has a lot of advice on the practicalities of travelling around on the excellent Swiss transport system. We have also benefitted from some really great trip reports from lots of people who have been kind enough to not just tell us where they have visited but add advice on how to get the most out of a trip.

So when you also consider all the information available under the headings of Getting started, Where to go, What to do, Where to sleep, How to travel and the search button which can direct you to answers to specific questions and the new FAQ pages, what can possibly need improvement?

As others have mentioned, this site has posts from people for whom English is not their first language so may need more help to find what they are looking for when it can seem obvious to others but again their questions are treated with respect. This is a friendly forum with humour as well as mere factual help and that’s why I enjoy it so much. Personally I don’t get involved with all the threads, just ones where I think I may have the experience to be helpful and I am not looking for approval ratings. After all if I have posted a reply that has been helpful, it is a simple thing for the questioner to post back saying “Thanks Maggie, that was useful” or “Thanks Maggie, can you give me more details on …….please?”

Rating attractions would be very subjective and not particularly helpful. The attractions / hikes / activities are well described so people can decide which are suitable for them to include in their plans.

To sum up, I say keep up the good work folk and appreciate this site for what it is – wonderful!

Maggie

[Slowpoke]

6 May 2019 at 15:55:35 #881731

Hi Meemskirk –

I was thinking about your comments while doing some errands. Thanks. They were very helpful to me.

I realized that your comments on rail passes would have answered very well many questions that we get, and that they provide the background sense of how things work. Your examples were very effective.

Do journalists write instruction manuals? 😉

IFTT works well, and , most important, instead of “knowledge” such as “You don’t need tickets if you have a rail pass” it converts passive knowledge to action. That is, “Just show your pass instead of a ticket when asked.”

That change crystallized for me some vague thoughts I’ve been having about the writing style of the website.

There is a lot of description (Must Knows) , but not much prescription. Description requires that you internalize the information, then use it to take action. Prescription “prescribes” your needed actions. Description is necessary and desirable in many places. Prescription – “What to do” instead of “Must Knows” is appropriate in others.

So, thanks to you, my thoughts about “stronger wording” are now about “stating actions.” They still include some short simple statements.

And, I wonder if that proposed change in speech patterns is related to national language styles. We tend to be pushy in the USA; perhaps a bit more than citizens of some other nations.

And, in many cases it may be better to offer options or propose an action as a recommendation, rather than a direct “order.” That would not diminish the clarity that your examples bring.

Slowpoke

[Slowpoke]

6 May 2019 at 18:41:11 #881732

<<“One discovery I made, for example: At St. Moritz, the town centre is about 500 metres uphill from the station. “>>

50 meters. 😉

map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=swisstopo&lang=e n&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo .pixelkarte-farbe&layers=ch.swisst opo.swisstlm3d-wanderwege&zoom=10&E=2 784388.86&N=1152407.78

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

6 May 2019 at 19:39:16 #881733

I would really like it is the site held my password and ID so I don’t have to login every time I open the page.

[rockoyster]

6 May 2019 at 20:53:33 #881734

Well said Maggie.

[Removed user]

6 May 2019 at 20:58:06 #881735

I agree. 😊

[Meemskirk]

6 May 2019 at 21:46:28 #881736

Slowpoke: Thanks again for the thought you put into comments.

I think descriptive vs. prescriptive is an excellent frame of reference as many of us newbies have researched the former and are hungry for the latter!

Journalistic manual: don’t even get me started! Such a sad state of affairs.

Thanks again to you and everyone.

[Slowpoke]

6 May 2019 at 23:26:16 #881737

Hi Paddington –

<<“I would really like it is the site held my password and ID so I don’t have to login every time I open the page.”>>

That can be a function of your computer’s operating system or of your web browser. My login information is saved. I am annoyed to find that something inside my tablet (Windows 10) or connected to it has done what you ask. I absolutely do not want that to happen.

I do not want that. It has nothing to do with the MSA website.

On my other computers, Windows 7, it does not do that .

Same browser – Firefox.

Slowpoke

[Removed user]

7 May 2019 at 9:18:40 #881738

Switzerland is small with a lot to see and do. This forum tries to help. If the experts were to read and categorize the questions posted you will likely see common trends – eg, luggage, using the GEX or BEX, there are many more. If you had pro forma answers to these and the other common questions you would save a lot of reasking and your time and the posters frustrations.

I guess there is a reason swiss rail does not permit reservations or tickets availability before 3 months out, but you may wish to clear the mystery. sound like PPPP, a US acronymn

Post a picture of the luggage compartments – a common question

There is too much to do in this country and the forum might well think about structure

trips east to west – Zurich to Geneva – west to East Geneva to St Moritz – North, South, well you get the idea organize your site

[Slowpoke]

7 May 2019 at 9:58:42 #881739

Hi Oldie

<<“eg, luggage, using the GEX or BEX, …”>>

Hi Oldi –

We certainly get a lot of question about luggage. You are right about that!

In what way do these pages not meet those needs?

What is missing?

http://www.myswissalps.com/tr ain/practical/luggage

http://www.myswissalps.com/ac tivities/scenictrips/t rain

I found those using the search tool, or the main headings on the home page, i.e., “What To Do.”

Slowpoke

[rockoyster]

7 May 2019 at 10:56:41 #881740

PPPP? Is that shorthand for start here – http://www.myswissalps.com/fo rum/topic/please-read-these-faqs-before-you-post? 😉

[Removed user]

7 May 2019 at 12:18:55 #881741

Slowpoke

Windows 10 does have a save system for ID and passwords but you have to “allowed” the computer to do that. To reset it so it does not store your ID and passwords deleted browsing history including cookies and passwords.

But I am on other forums that never require me to log back in or only once every 30 days (even on my mobile phone which doesn’t store IDs and passwords) so I thought it was something to do with the site itself.

[Slowpoke]

7 May 2019 at 12:38:26 #881742

<<“Windows 10 does have a save system for ID and passwords but you have to “allowed” the computer to do that. To reset it so it does not store your ID and passwords deleted browsing history including cookies and passwords.”>>

Thanks. That was helpful.

Slowpoke

[Peterli]

7 May 2019 at 17:46:16 #881743

This thread is now up to 8 pages. Is there any way that a new thread could be started for all the computer genii who are extending it longer than the half-life of U-235 ? I suspect that most of the logistic and technical stuff being proposed and discussed ad nauseum has gone far beyond the scope of Arno’s original post, which I have copy/pasted below:

“Apr 9, 2018 – 9:11 AM

Hi everyone,

From time to time we receive ideas for improving MySwissAlps.com. You can still e-mail ideas, but you are also welcome to suggest improvements here in this thread. Improvements can be related to anything here on the site, not just the forum section.

In order to manage expectations: our wish list is permanently much, much longer than what we can ever implement. Priorities have to be made. So, suggestions are more than welcome, but we can’t guarantee anything, sorry 🙂

I will make sure this thread will remain open even if there’s no activity for a while.”

Maybe I am wrong, but I don’t think the average person consulting this forum for ideas and advice about travel in Switzerland has the slightest interest in most if not all the recent posts to this thread. The only reason I contributed to this was to ask if there was some way for somebody who when posting accidentally attaches the wrong image to be able to delete it and the attach the correct one. Until that is possible, I’ll just email Arno and ask him to delete the wrong image.

[rockoyster]

8 May 2019 at 4:51:09 #881744

Hi Arno,

How about adding a reference to the MeteoSwiss app at http://www.myswissalps.com/we ather?

[Arno]

8 May 2019 at 12:52:42 #881745

Hi contributors,

Many thanks for your suggestions, compliments and warm words. A caring community is appreciated, not only by us but particularly by first time visitors. Maggie described that accurately I think.

I can’t reply to all recent posts but I did read them of course. A few comments:

• Attractions and other stuff are currently ranked by popularity, which is based on our experience (and website measurements like page visits), rather than likes by visitors.
• Forum post ratings is something to consider in the future. There are pros and cons, it is not a high priority feature for now.
• (Nearly) all information to prepare for a trip is there, but I agree it’s hard to make sure people find it and read it. It’s a challenge we’ll keep working on.
• @Oldie: note that MySwissAlps is not a forum, but a website offering tips, which also happens to have a forum as an additional feature. The structure you’re looking for is not in the forum section (apart from the 4 different forum categories), but in the rest of the website. Almost everything is available as pro forma answers there, I think. Although I do agree that there’s room for improvement, always! If you go to the top menu you’ll find a lot of structured content answering frequently and less frequently asked questions. The forum is the last place to go to for people who can’t find what they need in the main sections of MySwissAlps, or need a personal opinion. The search box can be helpful too and returns pages both from the forum as well as from the more structured content of MySwissAlps.
• @Rockoyster: for now we’ve listed useful apps at http://www.myswissalps.com/ab outswitzerland/practic al/websites, and the page you mentioned has links to 5 weather websites and ultimately their apps as well.

We’ll keep working on making things better. I agree with Peterli: it’s now time to close this thread, at least temporarily, as it has become very long. We have to keep working on the long to-do list I have mentioned multiple times. There is a lot, and really mean a lot, on that list. More time is needed to get more things done. Anything urgent about features that are not working can always be e-mailed to us.

Speak to all of you in the other threads! Thanks again!

Arno

PS: I am working on various technical improvements right now and in the coming months, so you may see MySwissAlps go into maintenance mode every now and then.