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Social Networks and Alton Towers - We Aren't The Voice of AT

I used to be an enthusiast and would consider myself as a member of the 'general public' now and I find the attitude of some enthusiasts very cringeworthy, I'll even admit my attitude used to be bad!

I don't think enthusiasts understand that your average member of the general public will only visit once or twice a year so when something like this ruins their day, it's a big deal and you will vent your frustration, though I personally wouldn't on a FB page.

I'm sure there were people posting having a big go at Towers etc and I'm not sure of the ins and outs, but what I have observed is what others have said; some enthusiasts and fanboys think that because they visit the place so much they can be condescending to the GP and act like the voice of Alton Towers. These people need to grow up and leave Alton Towers to it. I don't think anyone would like it if someone who was enthusiastic about your particular field of work started speaking to your customers like they were a member of staff.

Might I also just reiterate some, not all.
 
A lot of people also don't realise that some aren't visiting with an annual pass paid for by a student loan.

A family visiting is most likely on a planned visit that takes place annually at most. People have the right to complain and 'moan' - it's a hell of a lot of money for a working family.
 
Towseriv said:
Surley, although it would be a very severe move AT could block the offending names or PM the members it takes exception with.
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Sorry I ment if they have identified a repeat offender or really do have a problem then they would contact the person.

Isn't this just like all the people of fan sites that defend this singers actions or that footballs infidelity?
 
Tom said:
A lot of people also don't realise that some aren't visiting with an annual pass paid for by a student loan.

A family visiting is most likely on a planned visit that takes place annually at most. People have the right to complain and 'moan' - it's a hell of a lot of money for a working family.
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My annual pass isn't paid for by a student loan and yes I know it's alot of money as I have only ever not paid for my first two which we got as family ones when I was younger. You don't know what my situation is?
Fredward said:
I'm going to try and go all psychological, even though I'm no psychologist...

Maybe fanboys (i know that word is other used, but in this case I think its an apt reason) believe that Towers is the only thing they have and would defend the place to the earth because of it, its the place/thing they know the most about, they visit very frequently and have a merch collection that stretches to the horizon. They blatantly believe they are better then as they say the 'general public' as if they are more deserving of the place.

They seem to enjoy to flaunt their knowledge of the place on their wall and Towers. Just like jocks in stereotypical highschool TV programs flaunt their success of American football.

People find it very annoying. I even have a lot of people like that as friends on fb (no idea why they added me, they aren't even on TST....nor have I even spoke to them) And every single one of their posts are about rollercoasters and theme parks.

Its funny because one of them posted why he doesn't have a girl friend and what their problem is... Sorry but its a problem with you, you annoy people all day with you constant AT updates belittling anyone who knows less then you.

These people aren't enthusiasts they are fanboys. They've annoyed me for a while and makes it embarrassed to call yourself a fan of the place or even an enthusiast.

even seeing these people around park is embarressing, they may aswell have worked there, wearing their uniform of smiler merch!
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I have a passion not just for Towers but makeup and other parks, do I agree with everything they do no, that doesn't make me a fangirl ok. Atleast on makeup forums people are actually nice and if they are going to critisise you they will do it in a constructive way. Also isn't this a FANsite?
 
Haha, I occasionally take a look at parks' Facebook walls when something kicks off, purely because it is laughable.
If you make a well structured, unbiased post towards someone who is there just to complain, you've probably wasted your time. That's when you can post the odd sarcastic comment and continue with your day. Not to be 'belittling' anyone because you may have a higher amount of knowledge for the place, but because it's highly entertaining watching some of these people do anything for a freebie.
(I'll happily admit that I actually have no life. It's the little things like these that can brighten up your day.)

In my opinion, this topic does come across as 'attacking' towards certain members, even if it's not intended to. If it really phased you, surely by messaging said members and giving them a heads up would be easier? Rather than bringing it up in public and seemingly 'shaming' them? It's a lot calmer than causing a ruckus among members involved who are having their comments picked out by others who haven't yet heard their opinion. :)

That's my input, probably more biased towards the people involved with these sorts of things.
 
I have been known to troll the AT facebook page a couple of times. Only for a laugh and I don't get personal with anyone.

I do feel that there is a built in problem with social media. The general public seem to think that its the right place to complain, you often see posts on facebook pages of big companies moaning about poor service or some other problem. There are proper ways to get in touch with the company in question. I would guess the person(s) running the social media side of the business has very little to do with the customer service departments.

It has annoyed me in the past where you get idiots posting on ATs facebook page about something and I do feel the need to post pointing out that they are either totally wrong or should be contacting the company properly.

The problem is we should all try not to argue with people on the net because it just turns into a personal slagging match (the current Thatcher thread anyone?)
 
People like that are one of the reasons I've given up on facebook. :p

It's not the fact they actually stick up for Alton that annoys me, in all fairness some of the slack the place gets on fb is harsh, it's how they think it's there god given right to call anyone who isn't an "enthusiast" an idiot just because they criticise the park, or don't know the technical workings of a ride. People go to a theme park for fun, not for a science/engineering lesson. So what if someone thinks the park has the ability to power rides via generators? Them thinking that isn't hurting you, it's not making your life any harder. Just let the park deal with it and get on with your lives, please.

:)
 
Natalie said:
At least on makeup forums people are actually nice and if they are going to critisise you they will do it in a constructive way.
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Shouldn't posts in a public place be nice as well, and if someone has put out some information incorrectly, I do not have a problem with people being nice, and correcting them in a nice way.

I think the point T was trying to make, was that some people came across as a little rude, and unhelpful when posting on Alton Towers social sites, and the potential for Alton Towers staff to see members of this community being rude, and making a situation worse, what ever there intentions might of been, could lead to Alton Towers not being as friendly to Towers Street.

The idea of social sites, and the idea of people asking a question, and people helping out is good. If someone asks for help getting from Scotland to Towers, people should offer help, if someone asks where to eat on park, by all means help.

When someone makes a complaint, or is critical of the park, I think its best to stay clear. It is very unlikely you will be able to change there mind, or solve their complaint, and it should be left for a member of the Alton Towers social media team to respond, and try and help them. Yes, it may look bad, and I am sure this is why people post on the Alton Towers wall, rather than send an email, or submit a complaint form which no one would see, but only Alton Towers can fix the problem, and turn it in to a positive.

Ian
 
Re: Re: Social Networks and Alton Towers - We Aren't The Voice of AT

Natalie said:
I have a passion not just for Towers but makeup and other parks, do I agree with everything they do no, that doesn't make me a fangirl ok. Atleast on makeup forums people are actually nice and if they are going to critisise you they will do it in a constructive way. Also isn't this a FANsite?
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I think you mistook what I said, because I don't know whether that's relevant to my post. Or am I just being dense?
 
I used to be one of those nosy people who would look at Theme Park Facebook pages and respond to people's posts. This was usually when people had a question to be answered. For example if someone asked a question such as "How tall do I have to be to ride Oblivion?" on Alton's facebook page, I'd respond to them with "1.4 Meters". I'd eventually stopped doing it as I got so bored with it.

Although that said I don't normally tend to get involved with Events that can cause people of the general public to post controversial comments. However if any other enthusiast wants to respond to someone who last posted a complaint on Facebook, It's up to them and they can do what they please.

However I also will say that you have not done a good job at covering up people's names, you have cover up their header name, but when someone else has responded to that posted, you've left their name visible so it makes covering up the header name look pointless. To make myself a bit more clearer; I can tell that the original poster in the first image's name is Natalie because I can see people have typed the name Natalie in the comments even though you've covered it up.

Another reason why I think enthusiasts commented to the General Public's questions is because that I've not really seen Alton Towers (Or nearly any other Theme Park for that matter) respond to their questions (From my experiences anyway).

In short, what enthusiasts do outside the forum they're on (Whether it's here or any other forum) is completely their own business and not yours. If you have issues with certain members posted comments on Alton Towers's Facebook page, then you should deal with them personally via a Personal message, rather then single them out with a thread like this.

However one thing I will say is that calling some of the general public "Idiots" is completely uncalled for. It's not really that hard to say "Alton Towers is open now =)" or something like that is it? (This is aimed towards the enthusiasts that get involved with these types of things).
 
It is there business, but I don't see what the problem is with someone bringing attention to it and asking people to be more careful to not make themselves, let alone the community, look bad.
 
I think I'll move this thread into Alton Towers General as Dave has already commented, we as a team feel there isn't a direct influence we can have on the situation in its current regard. Obviously we are more than aware of your intentions to be concerned about how it reflects on us a community though, T.

We unfortunately did have some experience in past incarnations of member actions unfairly tarnishing the whole community, however these were on completely different scales also to be fair. It is certainly a real risk of every community that, despite pleas from the team that everyone acts individually and not representing the site, actually some people will always associate the behaviour, language and other matters to that of the community they subscribe to, rather than the individual themselves.

And unfortunately we won't convince those people otherwise - it was even revealed to us some time ago that we, as a community, had been brought up in daily briefings to staff that we were due on park. Obviously no real idea of the intentions in that, but I personally took it rather disconcertingly at the time.

That said - whilst there is plenty of valid discussion here about how enthusiasts act in the environment of Facebook and social media - until obviously a concern is raised about our reputation officially or association with someone of concern to the Resort, the team obviously won't look any further into it.

Team hat off - and personal hat on now! ;D

I do absolutely cringe when I see enthusiasts arguing with members of the public. I've had personal experience of trying to deal with a matter officially and having other 'helpful' people trying to 'help' out and defend a situation or decision, and its horribly painful and infinitely harder to deal with from that personal perspective, especially when conflicting information exists (like the comment yesterday about all rides being open - according to the official tweets, most of the coasters actually remained down yesterday), and certainly when a public relations plan is implemented to try and act on things!

I wouldn't dream of getting involved - and I know others have had knuckles rapped for trying to comment on behalf of organisations trying to help customers. No matter how much manure is flying through the air, it is just best to leave them to be burried in it or let them fling it back however they wish, without getting covered yourself I think :p
 
I will be the first to admit that I have commented and defended the park in the past. However whenever I do I tend to avoid being nasty/rude, and actually have some feedback. If it is causing some disturbance then I will happily stop, its just rather frustrating when the park doesn't reply, so a member of the public decides to post 5 comments saying "still haven't replied to me" or when they say something really stupid, like wanting heir petrol money paid back.

On that note the park does need to get a little better at replying to such messages, other groups don't have a topic like this to warn us, and it can get rather out of hand when a 12 year old with half the facts decides to have a little tantrum at a complaint. if the park replied faster, or more efficiently then this wouldn't have to happen. Or they could just make a Facebook page specifically for Alton Towers complaints?
 
Admittedly I have done similar things to this in the past and defended/attacked Alton Towers on numerous occasions using social media, and I deeply regret it and cringe at the sight of other people making the same mistakes that I did. But I just keep saying that we all make mistakes and learn from them and I sincerely hope that the people doing this learn from the mistakes they are making.

I do also agree with previous posts stating that what people post on Facebook/Twitter is their own voice and if they make themselves look stupid it's their problem. If you are going to comment the way that the people in the pictures have, then you are only adding to the pile and making yourselves look bad alongside the ones making the original comment. If we all love Alton Towers then lets do them a favor and respect other people of the community and other users of the social networking sites.

Love and toleration people, love and toleration. ;)
 
If Towers actually believed in customer service and employed someone to respond to all these guest queries on their Facebook wall, enthusiasts wouldn't have to take it upon themselves to do so.

I see no problem with geeks answering the public's questions (about height restrictions, or ERT or whatever) as long as the answers are correct, since the park rarely bother.
 
Personally I couldn't care less about the mundane enquiries of the general public on the Alton Towers Facebook page.

Reading them is bad enough, let alone trying to answer them I really don't know why people bother. Unless I happen to be visiting soon, I couldn't give a jot what rides are open or not on a particular day, what the opening hours are or the length of the queues etc. In my eyes it is the standard and mostly boring operational stuff that only hardcore fanboys want to know about.

Then there's the usual FAQ's, like what the height restrictions and car parking charges are. Yawn. I'm sorry but if you sit and reply to these things on a regular basis you need to find yourself another hobby.
 
I think some people just seek things out that make them angry: http://xkcd.com/386/

I find the AT page a horrendous 'read' and have learned to avoid it. I did say something unpleasant to someone on there once but it was in response to a nasty message aimed at other guests!
 
Laura said:
I think some people just seek things out that make them angry: http://xkcd.com/386/

I find the AT page a horrendous 'read' and have learned to avoid it. I did say something unpleasant to someone on there once but it was in response to a nasty message aimed at other guests!
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I don't seek it out, but I do get angry at everything, all the time. Conflict warms my soul. :*

Having said that I don't read any of the official Alton social media outlets. Infact, TST is the only coaster/park related site I even 'like' on Facebook because so many of them are awful or make me cringe.
 
Natalie said:
Tom said:
A lot of people also don't realise that some aren't visiting with an annual pass paid for by a student loan.

A family visiting is most likely on a planned visit that takes place annually at most. People have the right to complain and 'moan' - it's a hell of a lot of money for a working family.
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My annual pass isn't paid for by a student loan and yes I know it's alot of money as I have only ever not paid for my first two which we got as family ones when I was younger. You don't know what my situation is?
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I wasn't addressing you or anyone else directly, it was a generalised statement.
 
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