This page is about the accuracy of the information in my guides, articles and reviews, and how you can play an active role in helping to keep the content of this website up to date. If you’re a regular reader of Vietnam Coracle or you’re intending to use this website to plan your trip to Vietnam, please take 5-10 minutes to read this page.
Thank you, Tom | vietnamcoracle@gmail.com
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UPDATES & ACCURACY
The following paragraphs will help provide context when considering the accuracy of the information in my guides, articles and reviews, as well as outlining ways in which readers can actively help to keep the content on Vietnam Coracle up to date – a great benefit to me and to other readers and travellers:
CONTENTS:
• It’s Only Me
• Things Change
• It’s all Free
• Date Stamps
• Comments & Social Media
• Opinions & Subjectivity
• Comment or Email Me
• Commenting Etiquette
• A Final Note
Things to Keep in Mind:
Please bear the following in mind when reading my guides, using them to plan your trip, and considering the accuracy of the information within them:
• It’s Only Me: The Vietnam Coracle archives currently hold over 300 guides, articles and reviews to places all across the nation, compiled over almost a decade. Please remember that for 10 years – from 2012-2022 – I was the sole content creator for Vietnam Coracle: the vast majority of what you read on this site has been researched, written, and produced by me. My travel guides cover hundreds of destinations, and my motorbike routes cover tens of thousands of kilometres of road, across all of Vietnam’s 63 provinces and municipalities. The more content I produce, the more difficult it is to keep information up to date. I can’t be everywhere at once, and I can’t possibly update each of my guides every year. If I were even to attempt this, I’d have no time to research and write new content. Even with the introduction of contributing writers, in May, 2022, keeping information up to date is still an impossibility.
• Things Change: Although I do my best to make sure my guides are up to date and accurate at the time of publication, it’s inevitable that some details will be out of date or inaccurate by the time you read them. This is especially true in Vietnam, a nation currently undergoing rapid economic growth, social change, and infrastructure developments: nothing stays the same for long in 21st century Vietnam.
• It’s all Free: When evaluating the accuracy of my guides, please take into consideration that, unlike many other travel guides, websites and blogs, all the content on Vietnam Coracle is entirely free-to-read, independently researched, and personally financed. None of my guides is behind a paywall, and there’s no sponsored content whatsoever. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either misinformed or deliberately misleading you for purposes known only to them.
For 10 years, this site was researched, written & produced by just one person: me
How to Measure Accuracy:
When reading one of my guides, articles or reviews there are several ways to measure the accuracy of the information and how up-to-date it is, after which you can adjust your expectations accordingly:
• Date Stamps: When reading any of my guides or reviews, refer to the ‘First published’ or ‘Last updated’ note at the top of the page, beneath the main title (see the screenshot below). This will let you know the date the content was originally researched and written or the last time it was fully updated. I’ve been writing guides for Vietnam Coracle for a decade now: in some cases, a guide may not have been updated for several years. If this is the case, obviously many of the details will no longer be accurate. I try to prioritize which guides I update based on how popular they are, but this is subject to my time and finances.
Screenshot: date stamp at the top of a post
• Comments & Social Media: At the bottom of every guide, article and review there’s a comments section (see the screenshot below). Refer to the comments section of the guide you’re reading to find updates and additional information written by other readers. Comments are also date stamped, so you can tell how new/old they are. Some of my pages have hundreds of comments, some only have a handful, and some have none. (Read more about comments in the How You Can Help section below.) In addition, you can also follow Vietnam Coracle on my social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), where I sometimes post brief updates.
Screenshot: comment section thread at the bottom of a post & date stamp
• Opinions & Subjectivity: When referring to the comments section of a guide, please bear in mind that I can’t vouch for the opinions of other readers who write comments, although I do obviously expect them to be honest and as accurate as possible (see Commenting Etiquette below). Details such as road conditions or value for money are entirely subjective: one reader’s idea of a bad road or hotel might be another reader’s idea of a perfectly acceptable one. The only opinions on this website that I can vouch for and stand behind are my own (at least at the time they were written). Of course, my opinions are also entirely subjective, but if you read Vietnam Coracle regularly, you’ll have a pretty good idea what my personal standards are for anything from road conditions to a good bowl of noodles.
However, I, like everyone else, am a work in progress; in a constant state of becoming. I change. My values, ideas and opinions change. Thus, some views I’ve expressed in past articles, guides or reviews may not necessarily be representative of my opinions in the present.
Good road or bad road? It’s all subjective
How You Can Help:
There are several ways for readers to help keep the content of this website accurate and up to date, which I encourage and greatly appreciate. However, there’s also an etiquette I expect people to follow when doing so. Read below for details:
• Write Comments or Email Me: As someone who either travels, visits, or lives in Vietnam, you can help to keep the information in my guides as current as possible by posting a comment at the bottom of the relevant guide. Please do this. Comments are incredibly useful: not just to me, but to other readers of Vietnam Coracle. Every post and page on this website has a comments section at the bottom under the title ‘Leave a Reply’ or ‘Leave a Comment’. Anyone can write a comment: you don’t need to be a ‘subscriber’ or a ‘member’ or sign up to anything at all. Just include your email address in the form, write your comment, and click ‘Post Comment’ or ‘Submit’. (See the screenshot below.)
You can also email me with updates (vietnamcoracle@gmail.com). But comments are better as they are public so all other readers of that page will be able to see them and benefit from the information. However, before you write a comment or email me, please read the Etiquette section below.
Screenshot: comment section form at the bottom of a post
• Commenting Etiquette: The comments sections of my guides, articles and reviews are not public forums: there is an etiquette that I expect anyone who is willing to write a comment to follow. Please keep it civil and polite. Start with something like: ‘Hi Tom, thanks for this guide. I have a few updates that I think would be helpful to you and your readers….’
I moderate all comments before making them public. I will not publish any comments that I consider rude, irrelevant, offensive, or simply unhelpful and/or inaccurate. Obviously, no advertising is allowed in my comments sections, and please don’t include links to other websites in your comments. If there are specific links you think are relevant, you can email them to me instead: vietnamcoracle@gmail.com
When you leave a comment, bear in mind that many things – such as road conditions, value for money, good food – are entirely subjective: one person’s ‘good’ road is another person’s ‘awful’ road, and so on. Try to include as much information and detail as possible, and try to imagine what other people’s perspective might be.
In the decade that I’ve been writing and maintaining this website, I’m fortunate (and appreciative) that of the tens of thousands of comments and emails I’ve received from readers, the vast majority have been positive, helpful, thoughtful and considered. Only a handful have been offensive, ill-informed, or written in anger. Needless to say, those handful of comments were not made public on my site. If you do take exception to me or to anything on this website and want to express yourself, I ask that you email me instead. Don’t waste your time (and mine) by writing a comment, because I will not publish it. If you have something constructive to say, take the time and effort to formulate your ideas and write them in a coherent email. If, however, all you want to do it vent your anger at me or my site, by all means social media allows you that opportunity.
Commenting Etiquette: all comments are moderated by me; please keep it polite & informative
• A Final Note: If you think you’ve written a perfectly reasonably, useful, and polite comment and it has not been published, it’s highly likely that there’s been a technical issue: perhaps your comment went straight into my spam folder for some reason, or maybe the comments section of that particular guide has accidentally been disabled. If you think this is the case, please email me so I can fix it.
Thank you to everyone who has commented on this website or emailed me with suggestions, useful updates, information, ideas, or just friendly communications over the years. Please continue to do so: it benefits me and all readers of Vietnam Coracle.
Tom | vietnamcoracle@gmail.com
*Please support Vietnam Coracle: I never receive payment for anything I write: all the content on Vietnam Coracle is free-to-access, independently researched & personally financed. There’s no sponsored content on my website whatsoever. If you comment on a post or email me with updates & information, you’re helping to keep this site up to date & independent. Read more on my Support Page. Thank you, Tom.
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