#I want to go to forums and subreddits to get help without having to wade through three pages of whining

[ndragoon]

Okay so because of the word limit and weird way the comments on posts are made, I've going to say this in full here:

You know how people try to act like they know what they are talking about when presenting their argument, but you know they either never looked into said subject or are intentionally playing stupid to only present the details that support their argument?

Yeah, that's what's going on when I see people complaining about 40k being introduced into a totally non-canon side product in Magic.

If you know anything more than absolutely basic surface-level information of the Space Marines - literally ANYTHING else at all - you'll know that it has a ton of magic. I cannot stress the word "literally" enough when I say that literally every other faction that is not the Space Marines uses magic in one way or the other. Even some Space Marines do. So to even claim the entire setting has no magic at all, you have to even completely ignore a sizable chunk of (and almost all the history of) the Space Marines!

But this is something I keep seeing in general about all games - whether video, board, card, or whatever else - people actually enjoy: there is always this very vocal minority who make a point of making an intense fuss about everything to make it sound like everyone hates whatever it is about when the vast majority of everyone is actually enjoying it.

Look at Neon Dynasty: it had the same exact things as Kaladesh did, but for some reason as soon as you use a neon aesthetic it becomes "all technology and has no place in Magic" despite the fact that we have two planes entirely devoted to machines, as well as one that is all about living machines that are modified and experimented on without magic being involved and spreads like a toxin. The main antagonist has a technological portal in his body that transports beings as if they were planeswalkers!

I hate to reduce it to such, but it sounds an awful lot like they are whining just for the sake of whining in the hopes they can cause something to happen. As if just enough of them write to his blog, Mark Rosewater will suddenly be like "Well, this extremely vocal 0.02% of the community really dislikes this, so we better just scratch it and move to the next set already".

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But as much as I hate to say it, this kind of behavior is one I see for e v e r y t h i n g nowadays. Any game that gets updates, you always have some sort of concentrated effort to whine about everything they can find. Warframe is a big one in this. It's gotten so bad I don't even bother with the forums or reddit because everything is just people whining about everything they can think of. People like this ruined Destiny because every time some weapon that they didn't use was any good, the pages were filled with "I was killed by X, nerf it". If you follow any game that reworks any class of items, it's always followed with all kinds of "well, the entire game is absolutely ruined, they never should have changed it".

It's honestly really annoying and I have practically written entire essays about this over the past decade and how it was bred by all these "hold hands and love each other" policies on forums where everyone who was obviously trying to cause issues weren't allowed to be pushed out. They had to be treated as if everything they were saying was legitimate and anyone who said anything even slightly negative was getting a ban. And now we are at this point where all these people who clearly only stuck around to flame everyone were given a platform to speak and feel empowered to throw what little weight around that they have and that's why we now have these entire groups across everything who do just this.

[tourguideexpert-blog-blog]

Ultimate List of Travel Resources for Budget Travel

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Ultimate List of Travel Resources for Budget Travel

There are thousands of online travel resources to help you travel smarter and cheaper… actually, there are too many. It’s easy to spend hours wading through them all. So don’t!

That’s why we’ve gathered the crème de la crème. The best of the best. The… ok, you get my point.

Thanks to my prized Amazon Prime, I always check Amazon when I’m looking for new travel gear. But be sure to shop around because sometimes you’ll find a better selection from other online shops.

REI is the gold standard when it comes to outdoor gear so it’s the place to buy backpacks, shoes, socks, etc. There is also have REI Outlet — which often has good deals on previous season gear.

It’s hard to beat Zappos when you’re looking for shoes — they seem to have everything. Plus, their shipping is crazy fast and returns are easy. Additionally, they also have a good selection of backpacks and some clothing.

Best For: Shoes, backpacks, and socks.

Sierra Trading Post doesn’t have the selection of REI but they do have a lot of good deals on travel gear. Additionally, Backcountry sometimes has decent promotions.

Best For: Basic outdoor gear.

The Ultra World Famous Savvy Backpacker Packing Lists

What should you pack? What should you leave at home?

We got you covered!

World Nomads is the most popular travel insurance for budget travelers. I used them on my first trip to Europe and they get pretty good reviews from fellow travelers. And it doesn’t cover just health issues — it also covers trip cancellations, theft, car insurance, and a few other things. Signing up is quick and easy.

Airfare and Flights

There are hundreds of airfare websites so it’s easy to get lost down that rabbit hole. Don’t be one of those people that spend dozens of hours trying to save $10 on a $1000 ticket — remember, your time is valuable.

That’s why I’ve gathered the best booking sites below. Using these resources there is a 95% you’ll be able to find the best deal without spending countless hours in front of your computer.

If you want to get mired down in the nitty-gritty details of trying to save every penny on airfare then you should check out FlyerTalk.

Momondo is quietly an excellent airfare search engine that a lot of people don’t know about. Many times I find the best price here — especially for international flights/flights within Europe. They also have a few extra tools to help fine-tune your search.

Sky Scanner is the other site I always check when I’m looking for airfare. I’ve found that Sky Scanner is one of the best when it comes to looking at tickets within Europe.

I’m still a fan of Kayak and I always check them out when I’m looking for tickets. It’s especially good for finding tickets to Europe but it rarely finds the best intra-Europe tickets.

It’s Google so you know it has to be good. Google actually owns the software that all other airfare booking sites use. I like how Google Flights shows the price of flying into a number of airports around Europe — which is nice if your itinerary is flexible.

CheapOair excels at last minute bookings… but its prices are nothing special in most other cases.

Scott’s Cheap Flights is an awesome email list that sends you daily flight deals that are super cheap. There is both a free and premium service — I highly recommend this service.

Airfare Watchdog is great because it monitors airfare deals and then sends you alerts when it finds something. This is a great service if you’re flexible with your travel time.

Not all seats on an airplane are created equal so before you choose your seat you should check out SeatGuru. It gives a rating for every seat on every plane so you can get the best seat possible.

While it may suck, sometimes you just have to sleep in an airport. Sleeping in Airports list just about every airport and tells you the best place to catch some zzz’s.

Ground Travel

Taking the train is arguably the best way to travel through Europe — but don’t forget about driving and long distance coaches!

Rail Europe sells rail passes and train tickets for most of Europe. Rail Passes can be a good deal if you take a lot of trains so you should do a little research on that option. Rail Europe also sells point-to-point train tickets but their prices are sometimes higher than if you were to buy directly from each country’s rail network website. Usually, you’re paying extra for the convenience of not having to deal with buying tickets for a foreign website.

Eurail sells rail passes (the same pass as Rail Europe) but I think they do a little better job of helping you choose which pass is the best option. I don’t think you’ll find much price difference between the two sites but they sometimes have special offers.

Seat 61 (aka The Man in Seat 61) is a no-nonsense website that covers just about every aspect of rail train in Europe. The entire site is run by a single English dude that obviously has a deep passion for rail travel. So, if you have a question about train travel, this is a great place to start.

The German National Rail Service website has train schedules for every train route in Europe (but it only shows prices for routes for German trains). It’s crazy.

Most major US car rental companies also operate in Europe — and Auto Europe searches all those companies for the best deals. I used them when I rented a car in Paris to visit Normandy and the entire experience went smoothly. Europcar is another similar site that you can check out to compare prices.

BlaBlaCar is “Airbnb” of ride-sharing and it’s exploding throughout Europe. The idea is simple — drivers post their travel itinerary and how much they’re charging for a seat. Riders then log in and search for drivers that are taking the same route. And, of course, prices are usually much cheaper than the train and you get a chance to meet a local.

Long Distance Coach Travel

There are a number of long-distance coach services throughout Europe. The largest is Eurolines and they have routes that crisscross the continent. Megabus is a discount carrier that serves much of Western Europe and they often have a limited number of super cheap fares (i.e. under $10).

BusBud is a solid website that searches multiple coach services for the best price/route.

It’s no surprise that I love Airbnb. It’s my first choice when I travel and I’ve rented an apartment over a dozen times (I can’t remember the last time I stayed in a hotel).

Hostel World has been my go-to hostel booking site for 10 years. They are the largest hostel booking site and they make finding the perfect hostel simple. Alternatively, there is also hostel bookers (but they’re owned by HostelWorld so I haven’t found a difference).

Sometimes it’s nice to stay in a hotel and Booking.com has made my shortlist of hotel booking sites.

Priceline is nice because it lets you bid on hotels. It does take a little work and there are deals to be found out there.

No other company has changed the face of travel more than Trip Advisor. So it’s no surprise that you can book a hotel on Trip Advisor. They pull in results from multiple booking engines so it’s a great place to start your search.

Want to meet people and not spend anything on accommodation? Check out Couchsurfing! It actually takes a bit of time, luck, and flexibility to find someone to host you but it’s possible.

Whether you’re looking for a place to set up a tent or want to rent a cabin, camping can be a great way to slash your accommodation budget — or at least escape the city. The two main campsite finders are CampingInfo and Eurocamp.

Each country usually has a specific website for camping so just google camping + country and you’ll find something (i.e. Camping France).

Travel Planning and Inspiration

Rick Steves Travel Videos

Good ol’ Rick Steves has all his videos posted on Hulu (see here). Additionally, he has many full episodes available for free on his Youtube channel. Personally, I like watching videos to get inspiration for places to visit.

WikiVoyage is a crowdsources travel site that is basically the Wikipedia of travel. You’ll find a wealth of free information on each country and just about every city.

Reddit has numerous subreddits dedicated to travel.

r/travel (general travel information)

r/askeurope (ask Europeans questions about anything)

r/askcountry (ask country specific questions)

r/longterntravel (long tern travel community)

Guidebook Websites

The major travel guidebooks also have free information on their websites. Don’t expect super in-depth information (that’s what their guidebooks are for) but they’re still worth taking a look.

Timeout City Guides — Timeout actually has a lot of good information about many major cities in Europe. The information skews to a young and hip audience, so it’s a good place to find trendy bars, clubs, restaurants, hip boutiques, and art shows.

Frommer’s — Solid source of basic travel information.

Lonely Planet — The Lonely Planet website has good general travel information for many cities and countries but their best feature is their Thorn Tree travel forums.

Rick Steves — Pretty good destination information and videos. Rick Steves is geared toward middle age Americans but a lot of the information is solid for all travelers.

Trip Advisor has a wealth of user reviews for restaurant and attraction reviews. I don’t rely on it exclusively because it’s well know to be full of fake reviews but I do think you can get a pretty good idea of a place by reading all the reviews.

Atlas Obscura is a website dedicated to the weird, strange, and off-the-beaten-path sights in cities throughout the world.

Rome2Rio is a journey planner that displays all the methods for getting between two (or more) places. For example, type in Paris to Budapest and it will tell you how to get there via air, train, bus, car, or a combination of multiple methods. It will also display an estimated cost and travel time.

It isn’t perfect so it probably misses some route options but it’s still a great planning tool.

Volunteer + Free Food and Accommodation

Looking for a different travel experience? Consider volunteering. There are a ton of people looking for volunteer help (usually manual labor) but they provide food and lodging. The three main websites to check out are WWOOFing, Help X and Work Away.

XE.com is a great site for easily checking current exchange rates.

Source

Best Online Travel Resources

[cashcounts]

4 of the World’s Most Popular Vape Forums

New vapers today have it easy. There are countless online vaping resources (like this one, for example) to help newcomers wade through mounds of tips, tricks and information, and get the guidance they need to get started. But when we harken back to the good ol’ days of 2009 or so, knowledgeable websites weren’t that common, and people had to resort to word-of-mouth to get by. For many, this word-of-mouth came from vape forums.

But, unlike so many communities from the early days, many of the original vape forums are not only still alive but flourishing, thanks to intelligent discussion topics, well-moderated threads, and a tight-knit sense of community uncommon to other areas.

Though forums may not be as immediate as social media, and can be a bit overwhelming for newcomers, they are well-maintained and do a great job helping new users find the right information, regardless of how they want to vape.

Let’s look at a few of the notables…

E-Cigarette Forum

Around since 2007, E-Cigarette Forum (ECF) is far and away the biggest name in vaping communities. Set up in the traditional database forum layout, ECF now has more than 250,000 members – a small fraction of whom are regularly active each day.

ECF is extremely beginner-friendly, and does a good job helping guests and new members navigate its admittedly unwieldy waters. There is a clearly defined “new vapers” section, with a treasure trove of new vaper advice, product definitions, tutorials, e-liquid/nicotine comparisons, and helpful dos and don’ts.

And, just to ensure newcomers don’t come in to wreak havoc and bail, a minimum of 10 posts is required before new registrants can post outside of the “New Members” section. You need to crawl before you walk.

Highlights

While the new vapers area is invaluable for getting people off on the right foot, the real meat of the site comes from the unbelievable variety of vaping-related discussions. Everything from products and preferences to laws and legislation are debated on a very high level, with little of the sophomoric flame-throwing that is all-too-prevalent on social media.

In turn, there are amazingly deep reviews and opinions to be had for any store or product you can imagine, ranging from gas station cig-a-likes to five-battery mods. It’s incredibly thorough, with a very strong community of regulars ready to chime in and help.

A few items of note about ECF

It’s all-too-easy to get lost in the threads and cross-links, but the information and opinions are there ten-fold. And highly knowledgeable administrators and moderators ensure there aren’t a slew of repeat threads or dead threads.

That said, a handful of members and staff can be a little – shall we say – assertive. While those familiar with the site from daily visits will know where to find information in the extensive archives, some members of the community assume new visitors have read every one of them.

In other words, if it appears you’re being hasty in asking a question or posting a topic, you can and will be warned. Do it again, and you face banishment. Seriously.

Truth be told, many find the short-tempered shtick to be more than a little silly. But it’s also avoidable. ECF’s built-in search engine is a good one, and will generally succeed in delivering the right links for your queries. So, before you pop a question on a whim, do your homework, and you shouldn’t face any trouble.

Vaping Underground

Every yin has a yang. Every alpha, an omega. When it comes to vaping forums, if ECF is an alpha, consider Vaping Underground a proud, unapologetic omega.

Utilizing a MUCH less-stringent approach than ECF, Vaping Underground (largely) allows its members to govern themselves. That means newcomers can dive right in, ask questions, and just get involved without any predetermined waiting period. And get involved, they will. This (still growing) community is ripe with friendly, easygoing members who really love vaping of all varieties, and are eager to bring new people onboard regardless of experience level.

Highlights

Vaping Underground is a considerably more welcoming, intimate community of like-minded vapers. The loose approach lets newbies ask questions without fear of scolding from self-important moderators. And VF’s active community makes new members feel more involved from the outset, rather than worrying their inquiries will be lost amid a sea of similar threads.

Also, the lack of strict moderation means users can find more than one thread about the same topic, product or opinion – something many members find to be a positive, rather than a negative, as they can usually get a wider variety of opinions to digest.

A few items of note about Vaping Underground

The lack of moderation does not just apply to friendly, helpful people. Though it’s not too prevalent, overly aggressive responders have the same first amendment rights as the rest. So, if you ask something that others deem to be “less than intelligent,” the aggressors will let you know about it. Hard.

If you’re thin-skinned, perhaps a more regulated forum is a better option for you. But if you can take a little ribbing with your vape discussion, there are few stronger communities than Vaping Underground.

Planet of the Vapes (UK)

Not to be confused with the cannabis vaporizer retailer in the US, Planet of the Vapes (POTV) is a UK-based vaping website, with a companion forum that has grown into one of the most trusted resources for new and experienced vapers alike.

The primary website is a strong collection of reviews, guides and the like, displayed in an attractive magazine-style layout. The forum is a nice extension of this visual approach, with clearly laid-out sections for new members, general e-cig discussion topics, and highly specific topics, as well. It’s not nearly as overwhelming as ECF, nor is it as free-form as Vaping Underground, but POTV offers a thorough, concise cross-section of the topics most resonant with its community.

Highlights

Though the site is definitely UK-focused, it is more than welcoming to vapers from any shores, and all skill levels. The regulars aren’t nearly as acerbic as Underground’s notables, but the British sense of humor comes across more often than not, so be prepared for a little bite with your responses.

Perhaps this is because the POTV community is HIGHLY intelligent. And no, I don’t just mean because they type with British accents. This is an informed, well-spoken, pull-no-punches collection of vape enthusiasts who answer threads with dynamic fervor. It is both comforting (for veterans) and intimidating (for newcomers), but results in a consistently high level of discussion across the site.

Also, the UK-heavy vendors section is a nice resource for vapers who may be tired of seeing the same retailers on their own shores, opening up a new world of international vape mail opportunities.

A few items of note about Planet of the Vapes

ECF might have sheer depth, and Vaping Underground might be the most loosely monitored community. But for a well-balanced collection of topics, reviews and opinions, POTV is worthy of investigation. That said, of these “big three,” POTV is also the most limited.

Of the standard forums we reviewed, this one had the most open/unresolved threads – even on some fairly recent topics. It was as if the community just abandoned the topic and moved along. Which is fine for regulars, but frustrating for people who arrived via Google, only to be left with a dead end.

I suppose all forums face this problem, as it is the nature of the medium. But on ECF and Vaping Underground, they weren’t nearly as prevalent, even though they are larger overall communities.

More notable is how POTV’s intelligent community might come across as a little “too smart” from time to time. That’s not a negative reflection of the members, but rather the sign of a forum that might be better suited for experienced vapers — though they are very welcoming. There’s a well-crafted newcomers section on the forum homepage, but most of the dialogues I followed quickly became exchanges that would overwhelm someone just entering the vaping world.

Reddit

This relative social newcomer is an oddball entry for this piece, but warrants mention because of how closely its format resembles forums from yesteryear. For those unfamiliar, Reddit offers a simple, tiered thread layout that allows you to follow a conversation (Subreddit), and subsequent side discussions – in one page view. In addition, relevant side topics worthy of their own separate chat can become additional Subreddits, which have their own threads, but remain linked with the parent topic.

Highlights

Reddit is currently one of the most popular ways to discuss vaping today. With the primary Electronic Cigarette Subreddit exceeding 150,000 subscribers and countless daily visitors, it is an active, engaged community of vapers of all experience levels. It’s also a self-moderated one, with many Redditors policing their communities to ensure there’s little repetition or redundancy.

Another major highlight is the sheer abundance of Subreddits available – most of which are VERY active. If there’s a vaping niche, there’s a group dedicated to discussing it. Some of the most prevalent include:

/r/electronic_cigarette

/r/ecigclassifieds

/r/Canadian_ecigarette

/r/ecr_eu

/r/ecig_vendors

/r/DIY_eJuice

/r/Vaping

/r/vaping101

Things to note about vaping subreddits

For straightforward subjects, the tiered approach can be an easily accessible way to view content. But on more elaborate discussions, such as reviews of e-liquid retailers, the amount of side chatter can quickly become distracting. For many, Reddit is already a bit intimidating, but it’s like anything else: you need to read up on the TOS before diving in, and in general, pay close attention to how people communicate. Don’t go in disregarding how things there are done.

Lastly, we don’t know how the Reddit community does it, but somehow they seem to get all the good information, even about news and politics, before everyone else. If it isn’t on Reddit, it likely doesn’t exist! Reddit is a place to go to get the latest info about almost anything ecig-related.

In closing

Forums may be a dinosaur in a world on real-time communication, but they also present an easy way for vapers to find a wealth of information in one location. Though most of the world’s forum communities are dwindling, vaping forums are growing alongside this burgeoning industry.

This list was just a small cross-section of what’s available. Which of your favorite forums? Let us know in the comments section, or on our Facebook page!