well you got me all excited, but I'm still banned. Funny thing is when I was banned I went up to a friends office and just logged into bft and I was banned there too! I don't remember even signing in as I only wanted to look at bids that won. I did see that you contributed a lot but I doubt Sheryl would ever be decent enough to unblock anyone.
Romelle, be careful where you log on. Although I have never worked with Yuku, I am Admin/Owner of a small forum that uses VBulletin (same as Flyertalk) and Admins can log IPs whether they are logged in at the time or not. So if your account is being targetted for a banning and you try to log in from another computer, Sheryl will know it. I think your IP was probably reset somehow by your ISP.
I think your IP was probably reset somehow by your ISP.
That was my thought, too, when Romelle posted being able to view BFT again. It's been several years, but at some point after I was banned, all of a sudden one day I was able to view BFT again. Never did try (or care to) sign in, just started viewing BFT again, like the countless others who's usernames have been banned.
OK, in the name of science I conducted an experiment. Got on TOBB (bft) via what is probably a reset IP. Everything OK. Could wander up and down and open stuff at will. Then tried to logon under my old name and password and - bingo - banned again. Bailed out and tried to get back in, and the ban was still in force.
So - for anybody else that finds they can get back in after being banned, don't do what I just did if you don't want to be banned again.
I suppose at the point I was in, I might have attempted to set up a new account with a new name, but then I wouldn't have been able to conduct this experiment.
Awwww, Romelle, I hope you didn't do that on your home computer! Proxies are a pita-they all seem to be full of pop-ups. I haven't posted there since 2004 and I changed ISPs since then so she can't get my IP even if she sees me posting here and on BB. I'm not a frequent user anyway as PL doesn't serve the areas I usually travel to. I am just fascinated by this whole concept of a forum owner banning people who are not causing trouble to other members, adding data points to her site and just not using her link for PL bids. But anyone can read the existing data points, so what use is it to ban them? It just doesn't make sense!
I'm late to this party, but finally got banned from bft a couple days ago, after years of contributing.
Holy cow! I remember you! You were so helpful on BFT.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BEAV
Welcome to the club and party. Although, yes, a little late to be considered a charter member, I believe you and robintigger (see post #88 of this thread) should both be made honorary members!
I will be happy to accept that charter membership .
Quote:
Originally Posted by davidgmg
well you got me all excited, but I'm still banned.
Me too. I'm still using a proxy to read BFT so Sheryl just lost that last Chicago price point for last weekend I posted over on Better Bidding instead.
Programs: NW silver, Spirit Somebody; DL, CO, UA once gold now dirt. AA & US for magazines.
Posts: 5,999
Also banned
Well, I too have been "banned," and without explanation. I have to assume it's from posting too many winning Priceline bids that weren't done through the BFT link. Sometimes I'd do those through the link, sometimes not.
Sheryl just doesn't "get" the people creating content for her like that for free are adding value to the site EVEN IF THEY DON'T USE THE LINK or contribute as well in that way. It may be a challenge to monetize it in ways other than an affiliate program, but someone like Randy could give advice there.
There are bloggers and other who'd dearly love to have the traffic and stickiness that Sheryl is throwing away. The error is compounded by having a "first mover advantage" that is also squandered. Running off contributors will greatly decrease the value of the site and ensure that lack of content drives off the rest.
One thing I'll do and would recommend to others is contact Clark Howard and do a posting on the message boards at clarkhoward.com. Clark is a nationally syndicated radio consumer show host who also does a lot of travel tips. He has repeatedly recommended BFT on the air from the early days and probably isn't informed enough yet about the banning issue.
Location: Northern Virginia - IAD is my home airport.
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Posts: 11,375
Ha ha...
Do a google search of her full name (I'm not going to post it here. Either you know it or you don't) plus the word "evil" and see how much stuff comes up in the results.
__________________ Hotel Deals Forum Moderator - FlyerTalk Member #215 (Original Member)
One thing I'll do and would recommend to others is contact Clark Howard and do a posting on the message boards at clarkhoward.com. Clark is a nationally syndicated radio consumer show host who also does a lot of travel tips. He has repeatedly recommended BFT on the air from the early days and probably isn't informed enough yet about the banning issue.
I second this recommendation, and urge that any publication or website listing BFT be made aware of the issues and of the BB alternative.
I should mention that I did try to contact my local paper (Ft.Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel) about adding BB to their list of travel websites. After a long time with no response, I finally did get a note saying that the feature had been discontinued.
__________________ * * * I Survived the Great FlyerTalk Outage of November 2009!!!!! * * *
Sheryl just doesn't "get" the people creating content for her like that for free are adding value to the site EVEN IF THEY DON'T USE THE LINK or contribute as well in that way. It may be a challenge to monetize it in ways other than an affiliate program, but someone like Randy could give advice there.
What's silly to me is that Sheryl doesn't realize how much $$$ she is losing by banning people. It's kind of like a car dealership who alienates folks who choose not to buy from their dealership, they are still potential future customers even if they don't buy from you each and every time. It's like biting the hand that feeds....
If someone walks out of your store without buying anything, yelling "Get lost cheapskate, and never come back!" is not a good strategy. The theory is that people will buy stuff so they don't get yelled at; in reality, people will just not show up at all.
Never burn your bridges.
I tried logging on at work, and got rejected -- she banned our corporate proxy address.
What's she going to start doing next? Banning IP addresses that visit the site without posting more than x times? There are a lot of lurkers I'd imagine.
I just discovered I didn't know one of those click-thru's that keep betterbidding.com in business - restaurant.com. So went back and re-read the list there. Learned a couple more I wouldn't have guessed - my new best friend delta.com and amazon.com.
If you want to help support bb, might take a fresh peak at the list.
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