TalkBoard Topics - TalkBoard Chat on Saturday, May 29 at 4PM EDT

Several TalkBoard members will be in FlyerTalk chat (http://www.flyertalk.com/chat/chatlog.php) to discuss any issues of interest to members on Saturday, May 29 at 4PM EDT. Please note that the views expressed during the chat will be of individual TalkBoard members and not the Board as a whole.

We hope to see you there!

Will there be other sessions scheduled?

Too bad this one is scheduled over a holiday weekend in the States. Might impact attendance.

Will there be any set questions that the Talkboard will be soliciting feedback for during the chat?

Will there be other sessions scheduled?

Too bad this one is scheduled over a holiday weekend in the States. Might impact attendance.

Will there be any set questions that the Talkboard will be soliciting feedback for during the chat?

I was just thinking the same thing. I'd 'attend' a chat, but on a Saturday during a 3-day holiday in the US I can say up front, it's not going to happen, at least for me.

Will there be transcripts of the chat available afterwards for us to read? There used to be when the airlines did scheduled chats on chat.

BTW - I would be very disappointed if, by chance there is a low turn-out due to the American 3-day holiday weekend, someone posts afterwards see, no one is interested in TB chats.

Granted, FT is int'l so there could still be folk from overseas that will participate, although that makes it 10-11pm their time on a Sat night, when one might assume they might be out & about even if it's not a holiday. But am guessing there would be more potential participation if it wasn't a holiday weekend.

Cheers.

there could still be folk from overseas that will participate, although that makes it 10-11pm their time on a Sat night

I didn't realise that "overseas" fell into a narrow time zone nowadays. :)

It's hard enough finding a time when most of the 9 of us are able to meet online due to traveling, being in different time zones, and having lives and careers outside of our volunteer hours here.

Sorry if the first available time slot that most of us could participate happened to be a US holiday weekend.

This is an experiment, the first time we're trying this, and rather than wait to find perfect times and series of times we thought we'd take a stab at just holding one and hoping that folks might participate.

In the past when we've solicited feedback on the idea of a chat, the response has been underwhelming. But we're trying it anyway.

Is this the time with the greatest likelihood of participation? Probably not. Is it the time that's worst for participation? Probably not. But either way we'll learn something.

As for agenda items, everyone can bring their own. I think there are some obvious issues that folks seem concerned about at the moment so I imagine those'll get aired.

Unfortunately, I'll be about 90% unable to participate. Currently, I live in Las Vegas, however, I will be traveling back to the east coast from May 26 to June 1st and I may be drunk & dancing to some bluegrass (http://www.delfest.com/) with no internet connection. If my plans fall through, I'll make every effort to be on this chat and the next one - this trip has been planned for quite some time & the 29th works well for my compadres on the TB - if any questions come up or thoughts, please feel free to PM me or post on this discussion thread.

Thanks!

I certainly realize that there will never be a perfect time for TB chat to occur.

Having said that, picking a Sat during a 3-day bank holiday in America is - just a guess - really going to reduce participation by American FTers, who would (right or wrong), probably make up the majority of those on chat.

And yes I realize I was quoting Europe in my response re: int'l time zones, but I'm pretty sure that Australia and some other far east countries will be asleep at the time this is happening, which is - as someone who actually is on the normal chat, where the majority of our int'l folk come from (w/ all due respect to B747).

I would hope that a) there is a transcript of the chat like there have been w/ other chats; b) that there is a 2nd chat scheduled & it doesn't get axed because this one might not have much of a turnout due to the holiday weekend.

And not to beat the proverbial dead horse - but have you all considered asking the IB admins to post a sticky/trumpet this is happening (although w/ a holiday weekend that might not matter anyway, but at least is a thought to drum up some traffic to the chat).

People who booked holiday travel sooner than 12 days before a scheduled chat would like to participate, but again holiday trumps FT. After all, we're 'volunteers' too. ;) Truthfully in future, I'd say any TB Chat should be announced sooner than 12 days out, but that's just me.

OVMV. Cheers.

Since there will be very few people active during the live chat, why not accept questions in advance? Then we can read the results of the chat the next day.

Also, what are the boundaries of this? Are you able to discuss contentious Flyertalk "rules"?

Since there will be very few people active during the live chat, why not accept questions in advance? Then we can read the results of the chat the next day.

Also, what are the boundaries of this? Are you able to discuss contentious Flyertalk "rules"?

I think if you've got questions to ask in advance, it may be worth PMing them to gleff or lucky as they're Prez & VP (if feel if you ask them here, that'll derail this thread & people would answer in here rather in chat).

Regarding rules, IMHO, there's little that should be off-limits, but if it's not in the purview of TB, there's little point in bringing it up. If your concern is with Rules (TOS), maybe bring it up, but don't be surprised if your either referred to Randy. Some rules (like to cash transactions or the progressive discipline rules) are probably not really up for consideration...FT isn't really a democracy...

Just my 2 cents...

Since there will be very few people active during the live chat, why not accept questions in advance? Then we can read the results of the chat the next day.

Also, what are the boundaries of this? Are you able to discuss contentious Flyertalk "rules"?

The same rules apply in Chat as apply posting in the threads, so that should make clear the boundaries.

Several TalkBoard members will be in FlyerTalk chat (http://www.flyertalk.com/chat/chatlog.php) to discuss any issues of interest to members on Saturday, May 29 at 4PM EDT. Please note that the views expressed during the chat will be of individual TalkBoard members and not the Board as a whole.

We hope to see you there!

Is this open to everyone on FT?

If so, what city would EDT encompass (so I can check world time zone website :D )?

Thanks.

Is this open to everyone on FT?

If so, what city would EDT encompass (so I can check world time zone website :D )?

Thanks.

EDT - Eastern Daylight Time. US East Coast.

Granted, FT is int'l so there could still be folk from overseas that will participate, although that makes it 10-11pm their time on a Sat night, when one might assume they might be out & about even if it's not a holiday. But am guessing there would be more potential participation if it wasn't a holiday weekend.It's also a holiday weekend in the UK. I agree, holiday or not, 9 p.m. on a Saturday in the UK (and 10 p.m. in most of Western Europe) is probably not optimum for contributors from over here.

Having said that, choosing a convenient time will always be difficult and TB members are to be commended for getting together like this.

Are you guys going to have IB put an announcement up this week so that people are aware a chat is upcoming?

Cheers.

Are you guys going to have IB put an announcement up this week so that people are aware a chat is upcoming?

Cheers. nah..just a PM to AFWD :D

I remember the last time a Chat was held. The majority of attendees were regular Chatters, and some TB folks.

Saturday of a holiday weekend. :confused:

I remember the last time a Chat was held. The majority of attendees were regular Chatters, and some TB folks.

Saturday of a holiday weekend. :confused:

After that, at least several weeks would pass before we could possibly have a quorum to chat with you.

Believe it or not, we volunteers have lives outside of FT. ;)

Would it be possible to know in advance which TB members will be participating in the Chat?

I realize that not all TB members will ever be able to make a chat session, but still think picking a 3-day bank holiday in at least 2 countries where FTers post a lot could have been better timing. But as my late sister said, "it is what it is" (shrug). So moving on, but related...

Is there a reason we're not aware of that an announcement can't be made alerting FTers to the chat? I don't mean on this forum. That's been done. But given 99% of FT doesn't even realize TB exists/the forum, an announcement would a) alert them to that; b) potentially increase the turn-out. Both of which would be good things, n'est pas?

If TB members are going to take time from their lives outside of FT to participate in this, I would think they'd want to give everyone a heads up & potentially increase participation. And an announcement at the top of all the forums is probably the best way to accomplish this, since the next TalkMail e-newsletter won't be out until after it happens, and the one a couple of days ago didn't mention it.

For those of us who also have lives outside of FT & will be traveling, BBQ'ing (or drunk & dancing to bluegrass like bhatnasx :D), will there be a transcript of the chat afterwards for those of us who can't participate to read afterwards? They did this when the airlines or hotel chains participated in chat, so the capability is there.

Have a good chat!

Cheers.

Wow... several members of the TB agree to give up part of their own Holiday weekend to chat about TB issues, and are met with complaints iand criticism from the very first post.

Nice.

While I'll be in flight and unable to participate, I'd like to THANK the participating TB members for their effort.

Other than the timing of the event, which I think is a valid comment/concern given the potential loss of turnout due to a bank holiday weekend, there have not been any complaints about TB members doing a chat.

Indeed, it was something asked for previously by FT members & there's happiness about it coming to fruition, as well as disappointment in the timing because some of us are concerned there won't be a great turnout due to the holiday and an opportunity is lost (and greater disappointment for those of us who can't rearrange our schedules at short notice to participate!). And because we don't want to hear afterwards, well we didn't get many who signed on, therefore there must not be any interest & it won't happen again. Some of us would like to see this be a regular happening (maybe 2x/year, or at least once).

Also, let's not forget that those regular FT members who can re-arrange their schedule at relatively short notice to participate in the TB chat are also giving up part of their own holiday too. It goes both ways.

Also, for those of us who can't make it due to prior engagements, whether planes or otherwise, I hope there will be transcripts of the chat afterwards so we can catch up w/ what was discussed.

And of course we do appreciate the TB members who are willing to participate in the chat as well as serve on TB in general.

BTW - I'm not on a plane, but supposed to be an event. Trying to figure out if I can 'sneak out' to participate.

Cheers.

I will be trying to sign in from SFO or ONT, however with the tight connection that I'm currently booked on I'm happy if I make my flight at all so we will see how that turns out.

Did you guys maybe consider that the chat can be held in the first place BECAUSE it is a holiday in the U.S. and some of us have jobs to attend on a regular basis, maybe even on weekends !? So I just speak for myself here when I say, if the issue is that important to you then maybe it's possible to adjust your schedule as well as we try to adjust ours.

This is a project that results out of the goodwill of the TB. If it is not appreciated then this will be considered when future decisions in these regards are coming up - at least on my end.

Thanks to all of my TB colleagues who can make some time available this weekend. ^

Cheers,
S

The timing is imperfect.

When we last queried the membership on interest in such an event, there wasn't much expressed interest.

But we decided to try it anyway, the first time we could coordinate a decent number of members. Remember it's not just day of the week but time zone we're working on as well!

So we thought we'd give it a go.

If 5 people join us, then ew've made ourselves available to 5 people.

If it's only 5, that could be because of timing or lack of interest, and we may need to poll it afterwards.

As a fairly new member, I think this is a great thing for the leadership to do. I really wish more sites would be willing to do this. Barring unforeseen circumstances, I will definitely participate. I will say though that, in my experience, espeicially with any international site, there will never be a perfect time. Sometimes you can only go for the time that stinks the least.

Bumping the question in case it was missed.

Would it be possible to know in advance which TB members will be participating in the Chat?

Would it be possible to know in advance which TB members will be participating in the Chat?
I can't speak on behalf of the other members, but I plan on being there...

Bumping the question in case it was missed.

I speak for Spiff and barring any travel issues <cough> bump <cough>, Spiff will be there. :)

I intend to be there.

skywalkerlax, while I appreciate weekend works better for some TB members (and normal FTers too), it was a HOLIDAY weekend that was the issue, not a weekend per se. The reality is most people have planned their holiday weekends sooner than 11 days out, so it's hard to reschedule at that point & thus a potential lower turnout.

Disappointed in timing only because I think folk who would like to be there won't be able to be due to bank holiday & again 11 days not much notice. But 'it is what it is'. Hopefully, the announcement at the top of the forums will help.

If I can reschedule what I already was suppposed to attend, as a reg FT member I'll be there. Cuz I'm a reg FT member, totally support TB, and interested in what you all have to say.

And if I can't, like others, hope there will be a transcript of the chat.

Cheers.

I speak for Spiff and barring any travel issues <cough> bump <cough>, Spiff will be there. :)

Are you trying to be there? :D I will expect to be there, too.

I intend to be there.

Yes, indeed. I will be there, too. Lets try to discussed with TB member on the chatroom by Saturday afternoon. I am looking forward to hear from you guys.

skywalkerlax, while I appreciate weekend works better for some TB members (and normal FTers too), it was a HOLIDAY weekend that was the issue, not a weekend per se. The reality is most people have planned their holiday weekends sooner than 11 days out, so it's hard to reschedule at that point & thus a potential lower turnout.
No disrespect, Sharon, but not everyone has the hyper busy social schedule you assume -- whether holiday or regular weekend. FT being a leisure activity for all FTers as such (save RP, HOM and IB), what difference does it make which day of the week the volunteer TB offer an hour of their waking leisure to the membership at large? Yes, I get that holidays are sacred and holiday weekends somewhat special. The chat isn't scheduled on Memorial Day itself nor is it considered a holiday on the order of Christmas or New Year's so I'm wondering what the fuss is all about?

It is my intention to attend, I will be in the UK - where I live - and will stay up beyond my normal bedtime in order to be online.

I was very interested in attending this (in chat), however I have just now worked out the timezone thingy (I think) and its being held at 5am on SUNDAY here :eek:. So, given that its been an extremely long, busy week and I dont have Monday off....I am going to pass this time. I have a busy day on Sunday with Mini DG's dance performances so I need to get some sleep prior to that.

I do hope there is a transcript that I might be able to read at some point. I was keen to hear more about the FT Ambassador idea (I would be happy to be one too :p ). I prefer to welcome new members to chat instead of chastising them for not doing a search (like some members seem to have so much joy in doing on certain boards :td: ).

My lack of attendance is not through lack of interest :D, just unfortunate timezoning.

Was looking forward to attending the chat although it's 5:30 AM in ADL. Unfortunately, my netbook didn't have java and the pathetic speeds at the Adelaide Hilton indicated it would take 30+ minutes to download. :mad:

I am truly sorry that due to the above limitations that I will not be able to attend.

I'm trying to log on & it's telling me I can't because I'm already on :mad: So need to wait 15 minutes for the system to 'reset'. Sorry 'bout that, but nothing I can do.

Cheers.

I'm trying to log on & it's telling me I can't because I'm already on :mad: So need to wait 15 minutes for the system to 'reset'. Sorry 'bout that, but nothing I can do.

Cheers.

Try clearing your cache and closing your browser and opening again. That's happened to me and that's what I did

I want to thank Gleff, Spiff, Markie and B747-400 for hosting the Chat today.

IT would have been nice for a majority of Talkboard to be present especially when committing to the chat...

and the chat product was a bit flaky for some...

Thanks again guys.

Sorry I missed it - just logged in just in case because I hadn't worked out what the time difference was, but obviously completely wrong - but couldn't have done it earlier :o

I understand a couple of Talkboard members did have flight issues that prevented them from joining.

But we had (4) members of the TalkBoard as noted above. And at the peak we had 11 members of the community in addition, as well. So 15 people in chat, which I thought made for a lively discusion for 75 minutes or so.

I've requested a transcript and if it's possible to get it I'll share it with the community.

But in the meantime, I thought I'd flag the issues that were discussed.

Members who eat drink don’t pay at Dos, how do we handle/can we suspend?
* We don’t really discipline for off-line behavior
* Prepayment may be an option
* Best solution may be to better develop best practices documents and toolkits for DOs, these have actually been circulating, and that the best practices learning could help prevent some of the problems that members have experiences. We should find a way to support our members to organize events as trouble-free as possible.

Midwest/ Frontier merger
* There are members who want forum merged immediately
* TalkBoard seems to see this as coming soon, but not yet, plans/timeline for integration of FF programs not yet fully clear.

International Focus and Global Reach
* How can FT be a truly international community and not such a US-centric one?
* Spiff took action item to better flesh out the issue

Mileage Run forum/subforum access restrictions
* There’s currently an open vote on this
* TB and community members articulated some of the arguments that have been expressed in the discussion thread

Ambassador program
* Summary of flame-free thread idea and test being proposed
* Expect an update from TB Vice President once he gets off a plane but a proposal was advanced today.

How do TB members like / involve themselves with member feedback
* Consensus is that we’re available, express your opinions in the public forum or otherwise, but that members aren’t looking for the most vocal majority but for arguments about what’s best for the community.

Forum closure
* Talkboard has articulated reasons for opening a forum, are we moving forward on closure of moribund forums?
* This was discussed in-person and reported in minutes from our Los Angeles meeting, we have discussed reviewing annually, likely with flipside of articulated forum opening criteria

What did I miss?

Thanks to all who joined!

I'd like to say THANKS to all the TB members who participated in this!

It was a nice sesssion. Sorry it was so flakey for some of the TB & FT members (me included) w/ chat, but oh yeah - that's chat (happens on a reg basis). Maybe that's the part gleff left out in his notes - get IB to fix it ;).

BTW - note to self - you can only use 'the battery died & I'm on my way but AAA is delayed due to it being a holiday weekend so I'll be there in about an hour or so' excuse 1x. Even though I was the one who used it I'm just sayin... ;) :D

Cheers.

Sorry I couldn't make the chat - I'll look forward to reading the transcripts & will be happy to answer any questions folks may have of me.

Thanks to my fellow TB'ers who were able to participate! ^^^

Thanks for the summary, gleff. My apologies for not making it. Had every intent of being there, but got stuck on Super Shuttle despite leaving plenty of time (2+ hours) to make it to the hotel in time to attend the chat. Sounds like it was very informative, though.

And at the peak we had 11 members of the community in addition, as well. So 15 people in chat, which I thought made for a lively discusion for 75 minutes or so.

I've been traveling in Australia and between time zones and $US25 hotel internet access was not able to participate in this chat.

You might recall, when lucky9876coins was asking for topics for the recent Talk Board meeting, I raised the topic of better communication with members. Did Talk Board make any effort, aside from publicizing this in the Talk Board forum, of notifying members of the chat session? I still hold the position that the majority of FT have no idea what Talk Board does, let alone that there is a Talk Board forum, and the numbers that participated in the chat session would seem to validate that.

Are you satisfied that you're getting your message out to members that don't subscribe to the Talk Board forum when you get 11 non-Talkboard members participating? Any consideration to using the monthly FlyerTalk newsletter to let members know about these chat sessions, or banner posts in all the forums? Possibly an e-mail to all members? I see SkiAdcock asked about one of these items prior to the chat but did not receive a response.

Tom in Melbourne, Australia

You might recall, when lucky9876coins was asking for topics for the recent Talk Board meeting, I raised the topic of better communication with members. Did Talk Board make any effort, aside from publicizing this in the Talk Board forum, of notifying members of the chat session?
Yes, there was a forum-wide announcement posted across all of Flyertalk, it was viewed a very signfiicant number of times.

I still hold the position that the majority of FT have no idea what Talk Board does, let alone that there is a Talk Board forum, and the numbers that participated in the chat session would seem to validate that.
I'm not sure that the majority of Flyertalkers come here for anything other than the miles, points, and travel discussion and that they're having their needs met. I would't ask or expect that a majority of the hundreds of thousands of visitors be particlarly concerned.

That said, this was an experiment in making ourselves available to those folks who do have an interest. It wasn't the best time for many, but it was a time and I'd think that the vibrancy of the discussion fro the small number of people who did turn up would make us think it's worth repeating.

As far as specific venues or mechanisms for getting Talkbaord messaging out, I don't have the hubris to think that everyone would be interesting in the administrutia that we're engaged in regularly, I'd reserve broader communication for things of clear specific interest to the broadest number of members. And I wouldn't want to distract user experience from the core interests and purposes that most members have in coming here. But when we have something important enough we can probably do better at broad messaging. I'm not sure this one chat would have warranted that, FWIW.

I agree with most of what you say.

At the same time, given the degree of member churn on FT, and the low activity of TB over the past few years, then I would suggest that if TB doesn't do something to maintain its profile, we'll end up with the situation where most active members on FT simply have no idea of what or who TB is. If they don't know you exist, how are you meant to represent them? How can you listen to their concerns if they aren't telling you? How can any of you, all of whom are multi-post, multi-year members of FT see FT through the eyes of someone who might have only been on the board 6 months, unless they can communicate with you how they see FT - and if they don't know what TB is or who the TB members are, or even that such a thing exists, then how can they do that?

Its why I do object to the low level of interaction of some TB members on this forum this year. The 'I don't have time' or 'I'm listening' is all very well as an excuse, but you also have a duty to be visible to those you represent. As I've banged on (ok, I seem to have inherited koko's dead horse :o) how do we tell the difference between 'I'm listening' and 'I've wandered off the radar and am likely about to miss my second consecutive vote, having posted only once on TB since I was elected so am doing nothing to fulfill my duties'?

We may only know the difference when jackal, the first runner-up, steps in and becomes the new Talk Board member in place of an inactive member.

Yes, there was a forum-wide announcement posted across all of Flyertalk, it was viewed a very signfiicant number of times.

I'm not sure that the majority of Flyertalkers come here for anything other than the miles, points, and travel discussion and that they're having their needs met. I would't ask or expect that a majority of the hundreds of thousands of visitors be particlarly concerned.

That said, this was an experiment in making ourselves available to those folks who do have an interest. It wasn't the best time for many, but it was a time and I'd think that the vibrancy of the discussion fro the small number of people who did turn up would make us think it's worth repeating.

As far as specific venues or mechanisms for getting Talkbaord messaging out, I don't have the hubris to think that everyone would be interesting in the administrutia that we're engaged in regularly, I'd reserve broader communication for things of clear specific interest to the broadest number of members. And I wouldn't want to distract user experience from the core interests and purposes that most members have in coming here. But when we have something important enough we can probably do better at broad messaging. I'm not sure this one chat would have warranted that, FWIW. FWIW I would have made 12 :) but couldn't get the chat thing to work

FWIW I would have made 12 :) but couldn't get the chat thing to work

Ditto from would have been #13; for me it began to too closely resemble biz calls/meetings where nothing works & it wasn't worth hassling over on a holiday weekend.

I did have questions about the proposed Ambassador program (& have posted in that specific thread) so I'll be looking for the minutes from the Saturday Chat.