Community Guidelines

AFAR helps like-minded travelers and locals inspire, guide, and connect with each other, to enable deeper, richer, more immersive experiences around the globe.

Travel is changing. The world has grown smaller and more accessible, and has become in some ways homogenized and less exotic. AFAR travelers want to look beyond the superficial, the mass-produced, the mass-consumed, and the mass-experienced. They are in search of the authentic in people, places, and things.

AFAR was created to make such connections possible for travelers. The following principles are essential to fostering this community, and it is the responsibility of all our members to uphold them.

Ask thoughtful questions

Our community is powered by your curiosity. Your questions start discussions that bring together people from around the world who share your interests and passions. Being specific, thoughtful, and personal will make it easier for community members to give you meaningful answers and will motivate them to reply.

Ask clear, descriptive questions, so AFAR travelers can give you a helpful answer. Ask about specific places or specific things to do in those places—as opposed to something vague, like “Unique things to do in Berlin?” or off-topic, like “What’s new in the music scene?”

Give a glimpse into who you are and how you travel. Instead of asking, “Best snorkel spots on the big island in Hawaii?” offer information that will allow another traveler to provide more customized answers. For example, “I am looking for great places to snorkel with my wife in Hawaii. She has never been there before, so I want to make sure it’s an experience she’ll never forget.”

Do some research, please. AFAR users want to help you, but you have to help yourself first. Start with a search on AFAR for your question and location, to see if someone else has already made the same query. If you’re looking for a great place to stay in Barcelona, poke around on the Internet and come up with some options. A user is much more likely to answer a question that says, “I found hotels X, Y, and Z, which all have great reviews. Have any AFAR travelers stayed at one of these, or does anyone have even better accommodation suggestions?”

Answer questions and share your experiences in a meaningful way

Your insights can facilitate rich interactions and create a great community, both within AFAR and throughout the world. Often the information we take for granted can help others have an amazing, unique experience.

Provide your distinctive insights. If you had a great experience on a trip, let a user know specific details. Highlights are a great way to share your experiences and inspire other users to do something similar.

Remain respectful: Spam, off-topic themes, and offensive remarks are not permitted. It’s okay to disagree with other opinions, but keep it polite and appropriate.

Protect yourself and your privacy. What you publish is public and widely accessible, so consider your content carefully.

Get to know other members

On AFAR.com you have the opportunity to get to know individuals from around the world. Message and follow members you want to connect with. There’s always a reason to say hi. Perhaps they’re from the place you’re traveling to, live in the same place you do, have traveled somewhere you’re interested in, or have similar AFAR Travel Personalities. This way you can discover new places or learn about hidden gems in places you thought you knew. The idea for your next adventure might come from one of AFAR’s members.

Share who you are

Sharing information about yourself on your profile will help connect with other members and let you get the most out of your AFAR.com experience. Provide accurate and complete information about yourself, and build trust among members.

Welcome and respect others

The AFAR Connect community is as diverse as the global community, and we welcome and respect everyone who wants to be part of it. We celebrate our common ground as well as our diversity.

We expect all our users to respect and value differences in culture and beliefs, and to withhold judgment. By joining the community, you agree to refrain from posting inappropriate content. Please listen to each other’s opinions, and when they differ from your own, respectfully agree to disagree. Hate speech, slurs, and belligerence of any kind will not be accepted.

This is a carefully moderated community. We will notify you if you are not following site policies. On some occasions we will remove content first and alert you afterward. Please be respectful to our moderators and understand that their job is to keep the good of the community in mind at all times.

If you are a blogger, journalist, or business…

Our first priority is to stay true to our promise to travelers, which is to provide an environment where they can find inspiration and plan their trips, drawing on the experiences and expertise of a broad base of like-minded travelers. This means every account represents one individual and that individual’s personal opinions. Bloggers, businesses, and journalists are encouraged to join the community as long as they are good members.

We encourage you to sign up as individual profiles and use the site as other travelers do. However you are not allowed to promote your business, blog, or work directly.

Be transparent about your affiliations and interests on your profile; use your real name, state your roles and relationships. Your honesty will build trust in the community, and in turn you will have the opportunity to interact with travelers. AFAR.com users will benefit from the experience you have in your hometown and home city. Signing up as an individual means that you should use your real name, but in your profile you can explain your business in the What I Do section.

Bloggers and journalists, do not simply steer people to your blog/ writings. The content in your AFAR post needs to add value to the conversation and stand alone in the context of the thread. If you would like to post a highlight or answer a question on AFAR.com that relates to something you have written about, you can summarize your writing and include further insights, or copy and paste your text into the answer so people can read it and reply on AFAR.com. Only if you have done this may you include a link to the original post in your answer or highlight description. Journalists may find our community very useful for researching stories, but if you find details you use in a story, per standard journalistic courtesy, please credit us and the user or users who helped you.

Have fun

Every question, answer, and post can help you plan and relive an adventure!

Enjoy it.

Report abuse

If you see anything posted on AFAR.com that may violate the Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, please email community@afar.com.