What we learned about you last week (November 3-9)

By Emily Woodbury

Hello, and by the time you read this (probably), Happy SaturYAY!

Before we get to our usual business, I have a tiny (okay, maybe small…medium…large…) rant because several of you have made me (us) a little bit grumpy this week. WHY ARE YOU ATTACKING EACH OTHER IN OUR COMMENTS? Yes, I yelled that. Why, people? We’re all friends here, aren’t we? Just because we are sitting behind a computer screen with our identities hidden doesn’t mean we should be yelling about politics or our world on an RV website!

This week, every single day, some of you posted something negative in the comments. Two days were about the quiz (football is a banned subject now…apparently) and two days were about the joke (sorry, Jimmy Kimmel, you aren’t welcome here…apparently).

I’m speaking on behalf of myself and my fellow teammates at RVtravel: Nothing we post is meant to be political. (We posted a Jimmy Kimmel segment because we thought it was hilarious, which, if you watched it, it was – and there was absolutely nothing political about it.)

We respect you as a human, even if our political views are different, because we’re all just trying to make this world a little bit kinder. We ask that you respect us when we ask you to not get political or rude in your comments. Take that to Facebook, take it to the phone, take it anywhere else but our website. Your angry, disrespectful, political comments are not welcome here. They will be deleted and, if you continue, you will be unsubscribed. Your opinion is always welcome and, yes, our views should always be challenged, but being disrespectful will not be tolerated. 

Today, on November 10, 2018, when our country is about as divided and as hateful as it’s ever been, we ask that you be kind to one another. From our RV to yours, we’re all human, and we’re all in this together: Rollin’ down the road admiring all the beautiful land that was made for you and me.

As our managing editor, Diane, would say, “Sheesh, people. Get a grip!” But a huge “Thank You” to the vast majority of our readers who are respectful of our other readers (and us) and keep their political views and people-bashing comments off our website.

Now let’s get to some happy stuff, shall we? 

In last Saturday’s newsletter, we challenged you to impress us by not getting political in the comments when we asked a political question. We asked if you planned to vote in last Tuesday’s election and we crossed all our fingers and toes and our dog’s fingers and toes that you’d be respectful. We were just curious. You did a good job. Yep, exactly half of you said yes, you were voting, 46 percent said you were voting through an absentee ballot, and 4 percent of you were not voting. 

In Monday’s newsletter (here’s where we encountered some problems) we asked what your favorite spectator sport is. The favorite? Despite all the negative comments, you still love football the most. You also love baseball, auto racing and hockey. You don’t enjoy basketball or soccer. A few comments let us know you also like to watch golf, lacrosse and polo. 

On Tuesday, the 1,000th issue of our daily tips newsletter (wow!), we wanted to know what you were most afraid of. The majority of you, 24 percent, said you’re most scared of heights, but right behind that, at 23 percent, you answered either spiders, bugs or snakes. The next three most significant answers? Small spaces, failure and death. Reader JESFL45 commented, “F-E-A-R has two meanings: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise.’ The choice is yours.”―Zig Ziglar. I like that!

What day of the week is it again? For 79 percent of you, it probably doesn’t matter because you’re retired! Oh, right, it was Wednesday when we asked this. It probably does matter to the 12 percent of you who are still employed full-time, or the 8 percent who either own their own business or work part-time. A few others of you do some freelance, or work some odds-and-ends jobs here and there. 

On Thursday we wanted to know how old you were when you bought your first RV and, boy, the poll is almost equal! The slim majority, 24 percent, said you were between 60-75; however, a tied 21 percent said you were between 20-30 or 50-60. The smallest percentage of you, 13 percent, said you were between 30-40. That was a lot of numbers, so I’ll attach the poll on the side. Click it to enlarge. 

Oh, also, this week we asked you to rate your Jayco Jay Flight travel trailer. The verdict? You think it’s about average. A quarter of you think it’s below average or poor, but for the most part, you seem to think it’s excellent or average. 

All right, folks. Thanks for reading, thanks for supporting us, and thanks for listening to my rant. If you want to watch something that reminds us there are bigger things going on in the world than all of us not getting along, click here. We live on a pretty cool planet – let’s appreciate it together.