Suggestions - OMNI: Contests and Bonuses Forum

Since there are people who are putting links to contests and stuff like "free Ice Cream" sites maybe we should create a separate site for all of this stuff.

The OMNI should be enough but I sometimes don't ahve time to go through "win a round the world trip" or "win a new brain" links to get to travel stuff.

JUST a SUGGESTION!!!

Yes that way there will be one place to post and look. Right now these are posted all over.

I hate to disagree but here's my opinion:

1. Contests for FF miles or Hotel points should go under the appropriate FF or Hotel Program catagory (United, Delta, Hilton, etc).

2. Contests for Free Trips and other travel related goodies not related to programs should go under "General Travel Talk"

3. Contests for ice cream, catfood, free cigars, etc. should go under "OMNI." OMNI should be the dumping ground for ALL this non-travel stuff, so that visitors who are only interested in travel related info don't have to be subjected to all that.

I think we have more than enough catagories as it is and I can tell from the catagory mis-postings that are evident right now that others are having trouble with soooooo many options available. IMHO.

[This message has been edited by PremEx (edited 07-31-1999).]

ditto PremEx.

I agree with Premex. I think we've reached the upper limit for forums (except for new programs/alliances) and if anything I am still in favour of taking a few (a lot?) out. I think in general people make clear that it is a contest in the thread title which is sufficient.

[This message has been edited by james (edited 08-01-1999).]

PremEx expressed my view eloquently!

ok, I'll use PremEx's guidelines. Hope others do the same. There still may be some ambiguities - people solicit MyPoint referals, these should probably go under Omni, even though MyPoints can be converted to airline miles and used for travel.

I think we have more than enough catagories as it is

It would be nice if there was a way to "hide" certain categories. For example I am not interested in the "Discontinued Categories", "LOT airline", .... etc. It would be nice if there was a way to customize my display so that ones that I am not interested in do not show up.

[This message has been edited by pgupta011 (edited 08-01-1999).]

Pgupt......I LOVE your idea! I wonder if it would be possible? I'm picturing a menu page where you select which forums you want to appear when you sign on. I'd love to be able to have my five or six favorites appear and the heck with "itineraries" or "trip reports", etc. Tell me this is a possibility!!! On the subject of a new forum for contests.......a terrible idea....we have enough.

[This message has been edited by Steve B (edited 08-01-1999).]

[This message has been edited by Steve B (edited 08-01-1999).]

Bandwagon hopping again, but I very much agree with you pgupta011 and SteveB. It would be excellent to be able to filter out the ~ 75% of the forums I never read. Please do it if you can, Webflyer http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

1. Okay, I’m being contrarian now, but I happen to like having all the different forums listed. Every once in a while I venture into one I haven’t been to before (e.g. Trip Reports) and actually have found some neat stuff.
2. Regarding where to post stuff (contests, or anything else):
Perhaps the FAQ ought to be expanded beyond the more technical topics it now covers to include hints on where things should be posted. It could even be more informal, using examples like PremEx’s post above, or the following example by NJDavid. Having unofficial working guidelines like this “codified” in the FAQ would also provide a handy reference point for new members to the board.

From: Only Randy Petersen

NJDavid
Member posted 06-12-1999 05:18 AM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, as for me I've been using the following guide:
*************************************

Buzz - "If you buy 40 bags of peanuts and send in the wrappers, you can get 500 frequent flyer miles..."

General Travel Talk - "I like the peanuts they serve on Continental better than those on United, and how come Avis doesn't have peanuts"

Community: "does anyone want to meet for some drinks at the Jimmy carter Peanut festival next week in Atlanta?"

Itineraries: "I'll be on flight 57 from Newark to Hartsfield..."

Omni: "I like peanuts. They make me feel all warm inside. Here is a URL of the peanut lovers credo..."

bokich - what I had proposed would allow you to see all forums. All I am saying is that it would be nice if one could select the ones of interest - the default could be that all forums are displayed. Also one could hide some topics for display, but then explicitly go to a topic (kind of like the setting which allows the last X number of days to be displayed).

[This message has been edited by pgupta011 (edited 08-01-1999).]

We're actually working on a few things that might be partial solutions to all this. One is called "MyMiles" which will allow you to pick and choose what that main page looks like for you, including choosing which forums you might want to feature. This one is a bit complicted so don't expect it next week. Next up is a new weekly newsletter concept we're toying with right now. Called "TalkMail", it will be a weekly opt-in email just about what's happening on FlyerTalk. Editied by Bryan on our staff here, it will seek to serve as a quirky guide to the community, with updates on what are the hot threads for the week, comments on major issues on the board, etc. We think this will help steer people to areas of interest and also serve as a "yield" to some of the areas which while catchy, aren't exactly most important part of your day.

I'll start a thread under "FlyerTalk Suggestions" for comments and suggestions on the newsletter.

[This message has been edited by flyertalk (edited 08-03-1999).]

Maybe we already have too many fora but none for Visa/MC? I'm an Amex stockholder but still somewhat amazed!

How about freezing the total NUMBER of forums? If someone suggests a new one that gets a fair amount of support..whether its for Visa...e-trade...or some other idea...then an existing forum has to go to make room for it.
The number of forums has been growing with no effort to weed out the unused ones. This might stop things from getting out of hand. I see that there is one that hasnt had a post since last December...and another's last post was in January. Would they be missed? Just a raw idea with no thought as to the mechanics of how this would work.

I realize that there are some forums that get little or no traffic and as you can guess, these are for small and often international programs. They remain for several reasons, not the least is understanding that the rest of the world isn't as Internet active as the U.S. is and that as their time comes, there will have been an established placeholder for their commnents. The other reason is that we don't want this community to send signals to those programs that we're only interested in the larger programs and that they have been singled out as not being worth the attention of FlyerTalk. Over time, all these areas will grow with traffic and I generally haven't had any problem navigating through the interface even with them there. There are those threads I go to on a regular basis, but I'm not bothered by having the others around. The goal of the community is to recognize that all frequent travelers will have equal access to their base programs for commnets and discussion. As we grow the technology, you may be able in the future to select "MyMiles" and thus edit what forums you want to appear on your own home page for this area, so I think we can continue down the path we have and work on other issues to "personalize" your choices.

Randy....OK....I buy that....."good answer"

Yes. me too. I think that's exemplary logic and I thank you for expalining your reasoning so clearly.

I must say though that it makes the case for having a personalised menu much stronger. When the board fills up as you predict, with 110 forums the functionality of this site will plummet.

...breaking up the continuity a little since was gone for a few dayz...

pgupta011 - Perhaps I wasn't completely clear. I understood you correctly that by default all forums would be available. What I meant to get across is that I personally wouldn't want to use a customization feature if it were available. http://talk.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

"...personally wouldn't want to use a customization feature if it were available

Nor would it be likely to use it! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

see my response on this because i think you might understand where all this is going. There will be an "Omni" within each new board for appropriate things relative to that board. The ice cream stuff would hopefully over time end up in the "FlyerTalkTravel" general travel Omni forum, rather than the frequent flyer. Only time will tell but i think you'll be much happier once we get all these changes in place. Thanks for your comments - they do help.
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