I'll agree with your position on the top-rated hotels. Regardless, it's a list with which one can start a search. I particularly like the candid tourist pictures. That said, I repeat, that I rarely actually read the hotel reviews. The majority of my research is done through the forums.

I've never booked a trip through TA and don't know why I ever would.

As for the people that post on the forums at TA, I haven't noticed them to be any more miserable nor any more upbeat than posters on lots of other message boards, whether those boards be related to travel or whatever.

Yes, I've seen posts deleted by TA admins, but in my experience, it has been the deletion of people like Soma or someone blatantly and repeatedly posting expressly for their hotel or to get hired as a guide, etc. In this regard, I can give specific examples, if need be, to support my position.

I've also seen the hotels be allowed a rebuttal to negative posts (including a very popular hotel on AC).

I don't know to what you refer when you say that the people "that man TA have no clue what so ever about the destinations they talk about". I'm sure that posters like Hon, JeanH and Barb would be pretty surprised to hear that said about themselves.

In an attempt for clarity; I read TA forums for all my destinations throughout the world and have most recently received very good advice on Peru, Greece, Jordan and Frankfurt.

A fish and a bird can fall in love, but where will they build their nest?