{sigh} A bit of a rant, so please show some grace.
We are members of several Facebook groups with travel, travel hacking, points & miles-related topics. For the most part, we spend more time sharing from our experience, but do find nuggets of information or insights that benefit us.
Something that’s important to us, across all facets of our life, is accountability. And while this extends to our social media, we realize that we are in the minority.
Today, we left a group because of a disagreement with one of the group moderators. Specifically, they described our suggestion of a relative newbie as “bad advice”. Not that they disagreed, or had a difference of opinion, but that what we said was bad advice. That hurt.
Why? Because it’s easy to spout “wisdom” on a social media platform without thinking of the consequences if you are not correct. Particularly in the travel hacking space, where people are taking the time and money they have accumulated and asking genuine questions and hoping for genuine, well thought out responses.
But that wasn’t the case here. The moderator suggested a path that was clearly a “1-way door” – if it didn’t work out for the poster, it would be a disaster. Our response was a reasonable, less risky approach. And, importantly, one that we have used ourselves, most recently 3wks ago.
Our point is this: there are many of us in the travel hacking community that have a wealth of experience. But that doesn’t mean we are “experts” – there is no certification available for what we do, and that should drive caution, even for what we share 😀
Do your own research. Ask questions. Consider the source. Ask for specifics. We enjoy what we do, and love to share. Our hope is that everyone has as great a life of travel experiences as we are enjoying!