Vegasrider

I belong to many forums, most have likes button, but there is only one forum that I belong to with a thanks button. In my opinion, the thanks button is much better and serves more than those likes button. Like buttons are too much associated with Facebook, and thanks is not the same as a like. I think it carries more weight.

As a new member of this forum and a public one, It's hard to verify anyone's credibility, including mine but I guess on this forum and at this point post counts is really the only way. Anyone can doctor up a profile, signature, etc. Besides the thanks button, a rep meter next to the member's avatar I have found very useful. Reps are earned in a variety of ways, from posts, the number of thanks you give and receive, online activity, how long you've been a member, etc. In other words, its earned over time. But rep points can be deducted as well with bad info.

I've included a link to the forum that has a thanks button and a reputation meter so you can see what I'm referring to. This is a very active forum, whether it's a like button or thanks button, I think it should be available to minimize the clutter. And the rep meter does help, since a lot of advice are dished out on this forum. And maybe a rep meter has already been considered. I wouldn't be surprised.

By the way, that Glossary tab rocks! Very impressed. I would give you a Thanks and throw you a rep point if we had one.

http://www.600riders.com/forum/cmps_index.php

lewinr

support tapatalk

jackal

There's no minimum post-count to post in TalkBoard Topics.

Here's the thread with 755 posts of arguing about whether it's a good idea: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...ke-button.html

dancingtravel

Is there a list of ambassadors or some other way to reach out collectively for new folks?

aBroadAbroad

I'm not completely sure what you're asking. Not all forums have ambassadors. Those that do have them display their names in the upper right portion of the forum screen. You can send Private Messages but there is no "collective" contact method for ambassadors.

This particular forum, the Information Desk, the forum this thread specifically pertains to, currently has no ambassadors. It does have four moderators who can be reached via PM or by way of the mod alert button that appears in the lower left corner of every post. Messages sent via the alert button will be received by all forum moderators. If the forum has no designated moderators, the alert message will be received by all of the Senior Moderators.

If you're looking for something on a sitewide basis, not just about the a info Desk forum, the best I can suggest is to see the full list of FlyerTalk moderators at http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showgroups.php. It provides contact methods for individual mods, but there is no means of contacting all of the site's moderators as a group.

What exactly is it you're wanting to accomplish? In general, the best way for new members to communicate is to use the discussion forums to get feedback from all members.

kishme

I posted this under the "Which Frequent Flyer Program to Join" thread, but figured it'd get more notice here, and kudos to have a suggestion forum!

I know the idea to post all of the "newbie" questions in [one] thread seems like a way to keep the main forum clean, but honestly very few of the messages [in the thread] get replies and I think it does a huge disservice to new users who may not continue to engage with this community if they feel like their question isn't being heard. Plus asking a follow-up question and responding is a nightmare in a thread this long. And, no email notifications as you get with individual threads.

I posted my question in the main forum and got three responses within the day, fabulous. Everything posted [or moved to the other thread] just dies.

As a community manager for a forum with half a million registered users and 1-3k members online at any given time, I highly encourage you to create a separate dedicated forum instead of maintaining a 28-page thread.

Adam1222

The problem is you can always create a separate dedicated forum for anything. The goal is to encourage new users to learn to be self-sufficient, by using the search tools on this site and researching themselves rather than having people do the work for them. This is not a site for spoonfeeding "newbies." People are not going to go running to a dedicated forum to do so. And if you got a lot of replies by posting in the wrong space, good for you?
For the first 5+ years i was a member of this site, people got by just fine without any Information Desk forum at all. Now you're essentially asking for more fora just to be created for people who refuse to search the site and find the answers to their questions.

kishme

I researched three hours before posting my question. How many US airlines and FFP programs exist and are they all straight-forward? At what point does a forum offer a place for newbies and not just members of elite and diamond status? Who better to offer help to someone who might want to engage with the community?

I'm all about using the search bar, but with constantly changing FFP programs, and a wealth of knowledge here among members, I don't think it hurts you to have a separate forum. That 28-page thread (30-pages since two days ago when this was originally posted) isn't doing anyone any favors.

Just from my own personal experience of managing a large-scale and highly technical forum in a niche product industry... There are plenty of people who are more than willing to offer help to the new folks who have shown they've done research before posting, and aren't looking for a "spoonfeeding" handout. Our veterans are super active in our newbie board, and don't get anything other than a 'thank you.' But even the newbie board is a place for users to connect and talk about a shared interest that they're passionate about, which I suspect is the same reason that your users are active on this forum. Just because you don't want to help newbies doesn't mean all of your users feel the same way.

My tiny experiment of "posting in the wrong place" and getting more responses shows that there is some validity in my statement. I'm surprised you aren't interested in giving users a place to facilitate this conversation.

aBroadAbroad

I think you raise a valid point about the consolidated "which program" thread being unwieldy and often overlooked by knowledgable members. As a moderator I regularly have the same thoughts. I believe the primary reasoning behind having a consolidated thread was to ensure queries included the most critical info needed for recommendations, and to get them posted in a somewhat standardized format. These are great goals, but I'm personally not confident that it's working as well as it might.

Well, actually, the info desk IS the dedicated forum that was created for these questions. Whether the forum was suitably designed, is functioning as originally envisioned, has been appropriately named, and/or should be modified or abolished, are questions that have been raised in the TalkBoard forum. I encourage you to join that discussion here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...esk-forum.html

Members may propose NEW forums by starting a new thread in the TB forum. Please review the sticky at the top of that forum, giving particular attention to post #2, before doing so.

Adam1222

So instead all of the information should be repeated anew in a new thread each time some newbie is referred by the Points Guy or another blog? Your experience doesn't prove a point. If *everyone* had posted their request for help in one forum, and nothing else was there, you wouldn't get helped. You only got help because you posted in the wrong place and thus your post stood out. A collection of 100 separate threads of people asking for personalized consulting services isn't going to get much more attention than a thread of 100 people asking for personalized consulting services.

Your experience on some other website isn't particularly relevant. Most Flyertalk veterans skip the information desk because few posts actually belong here, and broad requests for "tell me what to do" are really hard to answer efficiently. If you have a specific question about a program, by all means ask it and I agree people will be more than happy to answer it. But super broad questions like "plan my vacation" and "what FF program should I join" aren't conducive to answering 300 times.

usAir

This is an interesting predicament.

Adam1222, the problem with not responding to questions from new members is that it discourages new members from participating, and degrades the quality of the board in the long run.

I think that it is obvious that there is currently a problem with the stickies (not just for this thread, but on the alliance specific stickies of people asking which FFP to join), as no one is answering these inquiries.

One part of a solution could be creating two separate threads:

1. Which FFP should I join? [UNRESOLVED]--this would be the sticky thread that people would post their inquiry in, and where members could respond.

2. Which FFP should I join? [RESOLVED][LOCKED]--after someone's inquiry had been answered sufficiently (mod's discretion), the inquiry and related replies would be moved to this thread.

This way, people coming in and helping new members answer questions would know at first glance which questions had already been answered, and makes sure that questions don't get forgotten about in the middle of a long thread.

Another suggestion:

Create a badge for answering questions on the info desk forum--it will encourage established members to post here.

Edited to add links to some other suggestions I made on the relevant talkboard thread (and *jackal* 's suggestions as well):
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...l#post24501842
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/24503695-post71.html

CDKing

I bet if this was removed from the registration process more people would actually look through the forum tree to locate the correct place to post their questions. How about replacing it with a link to one of the start here sticky posts

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/infor...faqs-more.html

Gringa

This may be another stupid question but is there anywhere on this site which decodes all the abbreviations used by members? I understand the reason for it but it's difficult to decipher what they mean.

Mwenenzi

Click on Glossary or Airport codes on the bottom of every page or these in Help (top middle of screen)
You will soon be able to write a reply using nothing but the abbreviations. We will understand 100% ^

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/glossary.php

84fiero

While I was at my folks last night I had my mother sign up for a new account as I was curious what exactly a brand new user sees after reading the above and your quoted text.

After getting through the email confirmation link process, she ended up with the entire forum tree displayed, but also with this message at the top of the page:

(the Information Desk was hyperlinked in the actual message)

On the one hand the forum tree is present and the message encourages the newcomer to take the time to become familiar with FT. OTOH it also says "start....at the Information Desk".

I think your suggestion to perhaps replace a link to begin at the Information Desk forum in general, with a link to that sticky, is worthwhile. Perhaps some other minor tweaking of the welcome message would be in order to go along with that? Maybe something along the lines of...

Just brainstorming. I think the welcome message shouldn't be too long or it may not be read, but a message that is more direct about encouraging folks to look for a specific relevant forum might help.