Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

November 23, 2006

RateVegas.com: Thanks To All Plus Info on The Site's Mobile Features

Posted by Hunter

I hope that all Americans are having a great turkey day today - Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone here - your participation is what makes this community work. I am very grateful for you all. Thanks.

I also want to remind you guys about a few features on the Web site that you might not be aware of. Keep reading after the jump for more info...

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We have changed the main Web site significantly this year and with that in mind, here are some reminders about a few neat features we have added:

Mobile Features

With the new site launch in September we re-vamped our 'mobile' features. We offer several ways for users to get info about Las Vegas hotels, restaurants, casinos and shows while they are on the go. This means that you can get useful tips from Las Vegas Boulevard just as easily as you can from home.

There are a few ways to get at this stuff, all of which are detailed on our PocketVegas.net site: http://www.pocketvegas.net.

Do you have a high-tech PDA or smartphone like a Treo or BlackBerry? You can navigate our full mobile site by directing your browser here: http://cell.ratevegas.com

Now, sometimes doing your Web browsing on your phone can be a bit of a pain. Lucky for you, we have another option for instant info!

Just send an email to hotel@ratevegas.com with the name of the hotel (hotels only for now) you want more info on. The subject can be left blank. So, for instance, if you wanted to learn about Bellagio you would simply send an email to the address above with just the work 'bellagio' in the body. Our system will send back the details about Bellagio, including ratings, restaurant info, shows and more in a return message. This is especially great for BlackBerry users out there - it works like a charm. If our system cannot understand you then we send back a note explaining why. This particular feature is still in beta testing so there may be a few glitches. If you do have trouble, I'd be interested in hearing more about it.

RSS Access

For those that are not familiar with RSS, we have a page here that explains what it is and how it is useful. In a nutshell, it allows you to add our content to your home page, such as MyYahoo!, MSN, AOL, Google and others.

With the advent of the new Web site, we have even more of our content available via RSS, including RateVegas.com comments/ratings, recent photos, VegasLists.com lists, and of course our podcast! We continue to add more content via RSS and I think it is very useful.

I think that's it for now. Thanks again for everyone's contributions to the blog and remember that if you have comments on a specific hotel stay, restaurant, show, etc..., please feel free to leave the comment on RateVegas.com where we maintain a large database of customer opinions that is helpful to anyone planning a trip. We no longer require users to create an account to submit ratings so it is even easier than before to share your thoughts!

Categories: RateVegas.com


Comments

Read archived comments (6 so far)
November 25, 2006 9:43 AM Posted by Hunter

One other thing that relates to the blog...

If you post comments you may have noticed that it takes a bit of time for the comment to be approved and posted on the site. You may have also noticed that some people's comments seem to go up immediately. Well, you're right - some people's do.

Yours can too!

The moderation is only turned on to battle against automated comment posting spammers. If you want to have your comments posted without me having to approve them, you can sign up for a 'TypeKey' account here:

https://www.typekey.com/t/typekey/login?&need_email=1&lang=en_us&t=XP1XGvXS6lmxjCgHHlpn&v=1.1&_return=http://www.liberationmedia.com/mt/mt-comments.cgi%3f__mode=handle_sign_in%26static=1%26entry_id=681

Once you sign up, you will no longer be moderated and your comments will be posted as soon as you're finished writing them.

November 26, 2006 5:16 PM Posted by motoman

Well....recent evidence suggests some moderating might eventually be in order....

That aside, it looks like a good timesaver for you and will prevent "reply lag" so that retorts are directed at the intended parties ;)

Also good that it doesn't require personal info. My one gripe since coming here is the exponential increase in SPAM since contributing. (Hoping that's not how the makers of this blog software, or our moderator, make their living....)

November 26, 2006 5:25 PM Posted by motoman

Let me quicly qualify the above by noting that this is the first blog I've been involved in, and I've noticed since that many sites use the same type of "Reply" field. And of course, I joined voluntarily after finding such an enthusiastic community of fellow Vegas aficionados (and, mostly, Steve Wynn appreciators).

November 26, 2006 5:32 PM Posted by Hunter

Regarding any influx in spam, we DO NOT sell or give any email addresses to anyone. That said, what sometimes happens is people scanning the pages to 'harvest' email addresses from the pages. I am going to add some additional protections to guard against this. Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

December 3, 2006 3:54 PM Posted by motoman

Thanks Hunter; certainly not meaning to cast any accusations your way. In going thru the archives here, it was amusing to see all the automated responses in some of the earlier posts (from scammers, no doubt).

With everyone using this WordPress thing I'd more suspect a vulnerability there or at the places that host these sites. Can't figure why they all want our email addresses, 'cause there doesn't seem to be any legit reason unless I'm missing something. Our addresses don't show up in our posts....

December 3, 2006 3:56 PM Posted by Hunter

The default template *does* include email addresses in the posts. My templates are all customized and I removed them.

As far as my uses, I often contact commenters if I have a question or if I need to ask them to re-work a post for whatever reason so it can be very useful for me to have a way to contact folks.