Many thanks @MeNoTalk :) I think outside of technical flight websites, you've probably made this site one of the best for getting info about air cabins, flight crews and more
he edited after my comment to make it more into travel, I wrote the comment after seeing the first version of the question, which if you see the history is IMO off-topic.
@MarkMayo cat is a cat... I just can't even imagine..
I love animals.. not particularly cats, but I can't imagine eating a cat..
I've always had dogs. Dogs are awesome. I could never kill a dog (or cat) but I do think if there was a piece of meat on a plate in front of me, already cooked, and I was told it was cat/dog....I'd probably try it
but they're even worse - they get tough with cooking as well, but they have disease which you need to cook out. So you either get sick, or eat tough meat. Clever animals, way to stay safe.
I apologise for having posted frequently here, but I'm truly trying to improve my questions. Yet I think that the main problem is my imperfect, rudimentary English, which has impaired my repeated attempts thus far. So would someone please edit, elucidate, rewrite my post at How to plan for road ...
this is like the 5th time he's asked this. At least 4 people have tried helping, he waits a day or two, doesn't act on the suggestions, and asks again :/
Several things tell me too that you were not planning to leave Schweden after your visa has expired. I am happy you were denied the visa. First, you talk about visiting friends and family, then it's your boyfriend, then your man. Second, you are a student but won't be a student anymore in one mon...
um, wow, this is an answer?
@pnuts I was going to say it's weird to downvote a new user, even if they've done no research, but the guy has actually been on the site for 5 months :P
@hippietrail why did you tag the cat question with "pets"?
@MarkMayo I'm curious what kind of questions become hot, and which ones don't become hot, but are still successful on other metrics (eg total votes, total views, etc.). Are questions with a high novelty value more likely to become hot?
@AndrewGrimm I think it's partly to do with lots of activity early on. Edits, votes, answers. And it's proportional to the traffic/normal stats for the site - so a couple of quick answers on an expats question is currently more likely to go hot than say, one on travel.
but they don't seem to publish the algorithm, for good reason :)
@AndrewGrimm well if not pets, by 'cats' did you also mean lions/lynx/cheetah? ;)
@AndrewGrimm for the same reason the story made the news and the same reason your question is getting this much attention. because cats are not normally eaten either as farmed meat or as game. they're usually pets. also it will be fun for it to come up with other pet questions.
@MarkMayo I realise -1 might seem offputting but (a) a new user asking a Q seems to me to be unlikely to care (or know much) about rep and for someone on 1 anyway it makes not much difference (b) I tend to show more consideration for those who have offered answers, accepted answers, who make an effort and/or who have taken the Tour, but do try to avoid favouritism.
The sooner a new user learns the better for all and I believe votes are intended to be part of the feedback process. Anyway, Julian seems OK with it, thankfully.
They won't care about rep, but arriving at a site and seeing their question go into negative is going to be off-putting regardless. They'll wonder what they've done wrong and potentially be hurt/confused. If people comment, that's great, but it immediately puts them on the wrong foot. This has come up lots on meta so there's not much point debating it further, some people want to help the newbies and not penalise them right off the bat.
However a user that's been there for 5 months already should have done the tour :/
@MarkMayo I did also offer him an 'answer' that I think is at least as good as the one he seemed satisfied with, so no particular reason to stay away in a huff, IMO.
TQ. This is beginning to make sense - once one realises that it may not be a "6-month" visa (of the kind I am more familiar with - ie non-UK) but perhaps rather "short-term".
I think that + a margin (either a flat week or maybe percentage) seems bleeding obvious really - seems to be quite often the case when I apply for a visa (mind you, I might need 14 days where 15 is standard anyway).
Anthony seemed to think he had been granted permission to stay up to 6-months. Sorry to keep quizzing you, but would he have had reasonable notification somewhere that whatever was said about 6 months the permission granted to him was for the duration as in his application?
Not literally. If he told them he was staying for 30 day, they would still issue a 6 month. Remember it wasn't the duration of the visa that upset them.
And, thanks to your clarification, I now appreciate the link with "Finally I failed to include ..." is rather more than the separate issue I first thought it was.
Hopefully someone in the same circumstances but who produced a bank statement for the earlier application that showed many thousands£ rather than a few hundreds£ would have had a soother ride. I think one word may have been enough to determine "he won't be back"! - criminality.
I can speak reliably only for the case of visas for the developed Commonwealth and Schengen zone. It is riddled with scam operators. These are not necessarily based in Europe, but occur frequently in the less developed world as agents or lawyers providing visa services to the developed Commonw...
The corollary to your question: how NOT to do it is to conduct a trial by internet gossip relying upon personal anecdotes provided by random individuals. Random individuals include dissatisfied customers, vengeful employees, sock puppets, and the like yet all are given equal weight in a trial by internet gossip.
Having said all of that, questions which openly ask SO to confirm or deny if a given company is a scam should be sign posted to a regulator or marked as off-topic.
This too is very true.
Even if we all feel for the victims, the travel SE community cannot become a watchdog for visa scam services.
It would nonetheless be cool if someone in the community created a dedicated site.
visaexpert was a little odd because though saying "contact me if you want help" no means to do so was provided (at least up till when the posts were deleted). The rest of the "answers" did not add anything useful, so yes, did otherwise seem like touting.
I am VERY grateful that applying for a UK visa is never likely to be my problem. There was a time when I got most upset by some of the rigmarole required for me to visit other countries but, since TSE, I have calmed down a LOT.
CIBT - recommended by my Travel Agent when called Golden Arrow (subsequently taken over by the Americans) - I think the largest such in the world - but seemingly without a decline in standards.