Just the other month I wrote an article titled ‘Yet another new local travel knowledge site‘, and again this month I’ve already stumbled across two more new travel forum sites – Tripshake and diddit – there actually seems to be no end to the flurry of start-ups in this field.  It’s fascinating to see new styles and web technologies being utilized in creating more interactive and intelligent travel forums, but also frightening just how crowded and disconnected the internet is becoming with them.

Tripshake screenshot

Tripshake is currently in alpha development stage but promises to help you plan your trip with the help of locals, experts and professionals.  It’s all based around people asking and answering questions.

diddit screenshot

diddit is also in alpha development and bills itself as a place to ‘discover new stuff to do’, ‘The ultimate activity guide for your life’.  Activities you’ve done and experiences you’ve checked off on your profile are called ‘diddits’, hence the name.

The culture of travelling to tick boxes that diddit seems to be built on is certainly not one that deserves any encouragement in my opinion, rather suppression if anything.  That said, if these new ‘Web 2.0′ travel forums can improve access to useful information then that is indeed a great thing; it’s just a shame nobody is attempting to connect and aggregate these isolated communities onto a mutual platform in a similar way to Facebook with Facebook Connect, the Open ID project or Friend Feed.

Undoubtedly access points to information will become far less site specific as social elements of the internet continue to develop, and I’m sure one day the wealth of knowledge locked away in travel forums will find its way out onto an aggregator site and be delivered in a personal and relevant way.