How To Post Your Trip Report (Tips, Guidelines, and Photos) About This Page:

[Jennifer Marx]

When we moved to our new message boards in January 2007, we were able to put a cap on the total size of uploads at 5 MB. This was necessary because files take space, and space costs money. The majority of members will not use anywhere near 5 MB, so this is a generous amount. We recognize that members who post trip reports may include many files, and may encounter problems with that 5 MB limit. While it is possible to delete old uploads, and we encourage you to do this for files that are no longer important, we don't want you to have to delete photos from old trip reports. We value your trip reports and want to encourage you to include photos. So to make this happen, we've created a special "member group" called Trip Reporters -- this group has one special privilege: a 10 MB upload limit.

Membership in the Trip Reporters group is for members who have already posted one complete trip report with photos. If you're a new member or a member who hasn't posted trip reports before, you should be fine with the 5 MB limit for the time being, and we encourage you to apply for membership after you've completed your first trip report.

To apply for membership in this group, locate your most recent trip report, copy it's link (URL), then go to My Home > Group Memberships. Here you can make a request to join the Trip Reporters group. When asked to state the reason why you want to join, please include the URL to your most recent report. We will check for join requests every 24-48 hours. If you are approved, you will receive a private message to that effect.

We hope you find this option useful!

[Jennifer Marx]

So you want to share your adventure with the world?

GREAT! We'd all love to read your trip report and glean tips and tricks from it. Here are some helpful tips and guidelines to keep in mind while writing/posting your trip report at PassPorter.com

1. Write Offline. Write your trip report in Microsoft Word, WordPad, SimpleText, or any other text editor. Do not compose it in the message box of this message board. Why? Because if you lose your connection suddenly, or there's a posting problem, you'll lose all your hard work! Write it, save it, then post it.

2. Stick to One Topic. Please keep your trip report to just one topic (thread) -- you can post additional days of your trip as replies to the topic. If you make a new topic for each day, the sequence of days will get scattered throughout the board and it will be hard for people to follow your trip report. Please note that if you create more than one topic for a single trip report, you may be contacted by the Message Board Guide and asked to repost your report into a single topic.

3. Choose a Good Name. Give your trip report a good subject -- include the dates, where you stayed, and (optionally) a distinctive title. Here are some examples:

- October 18-27, 1999 (BoardWalk/Disney Cruise/Wilderness Lodge)
- Jan. 20-23, 2001 (Disney Institute) - Jennifer's Dad & Chad Trip Report
- Our Inaugural W. Caribbean Cruise: 5/10-5/21

4. Provide Introductions. Include an introduction at the start of your trip report with the following information:

- Our Party (who went, ages, experience)
- Our Journey (departure date, return date, method of travel)
- Our Cruise (if you went on a cruise, indicate the number of nights and if it was a special cruise)
- Our Lodging/Stateroom (where you stayed, special requests)
- Our Special Plans (special things you planned to do or that happened during your trip -- the highlights)

5. Picture It! Include photos of your trip, if you have them. It makes the trip report more interesting and informative. Please note that images in the body of a post cannot exceed 400 x 400 pixels EACH. Additionally, you are limited to seven (7) images per post. For example, you can include as many photos from your vacation in your trip report topic (thread) so long as each does not exceed 400 x 400 pixels per image and do not exceed 7 images per post. There is no limit to how many posts can be in a thread. If you need help resizing pictures, please post your need/question in the Garage Forum. There is also a sticky thread at the top of this forum to help guide you along.

Note: There is a limit of 5 MB for all your photo (and other file) uploads. If you reach this limit and have completed at least one trip report, you may apply for a higher upload limit -- see details here.

6. Keep Days Together. Post new days of your trip report as replies to your introduction post. Type the date and day at the top of the reply to make it easy for folks to follow your report. Your readers will want to know what day you did things on whenever possible.

7. Spotlight the Good Stuff. Highlight your hints and tips throughout your report. You can also include a Trip Highlight section at the end of your report with your best experiences and tips for other vacationers.

8. Update the Title. If you post your trip report over a span of time rather than all at once, let folks know your trip report is updated or completed. You may request that your report's topic (thread) title be modified by requesting help from a forum Guide (see details here).

Need more help? Here are more helpful tips on keeping notes, remembering details, and writing your report.

We hope this has been helpful, and we look forward to your trip report!

[Chrissi]

New to the boards? Never posted a TR with photos before? Want to add a photo to a post to illustrate a point? If you are new to the boards and/or have never uploaded photos before, please take a moment to read through our Member Options Page. There you will find complete instructions for uploading, resizing, and posting photos. We do have photo size limits and you'll need to be familiar with them to test and upload photos even if you're familiar with the process.

If you would like to practice or test your photos, please confine your practice and test posts to the testing forum: The Driveway so as not to clog other forums with test posts.

If you're still stumped, you can ask for help in the technical support forum: The Garage. PassPorter Guides monitor the forum daily and can guide you through the process if you're having trouble.