Whatever happened to the "Ambassador" program?
 

I got an email about it from you a while back but then nothing happened.

Just curious if the problem is me (I have been showering regularly, honest!) or the program.

No, you've never been a problem for me.

Actually just a few weeks ago i gave a brief update to our Moderators, letting them know that in some subsequent research i found a lot of "proof-of-concept" from others, some good, and frankly, some not so good. The experiences of others gave me a new reference to reframe some of the ideas I thought we might use. Nothing that drastic, but different enough to take the time to make sure i have at least minimal expectations to share with each new Ambassador.

The concept of reinforcing good practices to help our other members seems simple enough. I get it, and I know you do as well. But it still demands reasonable efforts to roadmap it for the test.

Thanks for your continued interest and in the meanwhile, let's all go out there and find a member to help.

OK, thanks. Hope the roadmap gets done soon!

Does this refer to the fact that some members are now designated "FlyerTalk Ambassador"? Randy, I'd appreciate if you could clarify this program for me. If this is explained elsewhere, I'm afraid I missed it.

Thanks for the question. You don't see much if any mention because it's really a test program and only in 4 forums. We'll test this for an undetermined period of time and see what it looks like to new members and even members who have been on FT for some time. The best test is if we don't draw a lot of attention to it and just let to determine its own need and success.

The four test forums are: Alaska, Hyatt, oneworld and Thai. Essentially it is just a thread in these forums whose purpose is to draw the attention of newbies and others who want to ask a question. A question they simply don't know where to begin to ask and we may see questions in these forums that don't have anything to even do with the forum itself, but its a place to ask. Questions that simply don't seem to be in the search engine and really just a warn welcoming place. It might help keep some of the basic and repetitive questions isolated and makes for a cleaner regular forum for those who have more experience in participating in these types of online forums. The Ambassadors were simply chosen at large from whose who said they'd love to help see this test get off the ground and many of them had some memories of being a newbie and getting flamed for asking a question that had been asked before, etc. (not necessarily on FT but in other online forums).

These threads aren't there to be exclusive to Ambassadors, we continue and hope that all members feel free to stop by and see if they can assist any who post their questions there. The Ambassador program is really there to ensure we have members dedicated to making sure questions aren't left unanswered.

This is what the threads in each test forum look like:
[NEWBIE LOUNGE] Ask Your Questions Here (flame free)

and here's a general overview of the test program and its intent:
Ambassador Program Overview:
Feedback suggests that new members, as well as some longtime lurkers, can feel isolated or unsure about how to get the most out of FlyerTalk. The feedback further suggests many members are seeking basic and repetitive information, but are unsure as to how to find this information without inflaming/annoying the more experienced and knowledgeable members of the community.

The Ambassador program would be developed to address these issues. The program would recognize the "most helpful of the helpful,” as well as provide a reliable source of community members who volunteer to help answer questions, greet and assist new members, and help members expand their network of friends on FlyerTalk. The primary responsibility of Ambassadors would be to help FlyerTalk be more welcoming.

What Wouldn’t Ambassadors do?
Ambassadors would not be responsible for resolving member conflicts, editing or deleting content, responding to reported posts, merging threads, or any other tasks that require Moderation permissions. Should a member approach an Ambassador with any such issue, the Ambassador should assist the member to utilize the proper reporting channels.

Hope this clarifies the test program. We want to be proud of FlyerTalk as a welcoming and smart place to learn about miles, points and travel.

May I ask how many Ambassadors there are? Do we get to know who they are? I happened to see two so far.

I think there are 30 of them right now.

And actually, we have hundreds if not thousands of other members who also are ambassadors by the way they welcome new members and try to steer them toward finding the answers to their questions. It's just a test and also a reminder that FlyerTalk works best when we take newbies and make them experts at travel over time -- that's the way many of our members started and that's still happening today.
They are identified with the Ambassador tag under their name and again, remember this is only a test and I'll report back as to how the test goes over time.
Thanks for the question.

More questions
 

Who decides who the Ambasadors are?

Are they nominated?

Do they volunteer?

How does one become one?

I volunteered (a call went out some time ago) and I believe that Randy chose from among those who volunteered.

Sadly, the title appears to come without diplomatic immunity. I was looking forward to being able to ignore parking tickets!

The key to understanding this answer is that this is a test. A test of having a dedicated Q/A thread devoted to newbies, a test of having titled members helping serve as our welcome committee, etc.
The initial group of Ambassadors were all those who responded to a call for Volunteers a while back. No nominations etc.

If, and again, this is but just a test, if we decide to continue this and Ambassadors are part of the program, we'll certainly announce where, how and why Ambassadors will be named. What I have always found is that there are a large number of members who are natural Ambassadors, with or without this program and I encourage all members to be helpful to the newbie who visit FlyerTalk daily. Thank you for the question.

If Im understanding this new role correctly, folks designated to these positions are there to assist moderators in getting to threads/places where they may be needed. I assume this group will be used more in areas (forums) that dont have specific moderators designated to them, would this be correct...?

No pun intended, I'm sure :) A "warn welcoming place" is where someone tells you to "do a search" politely, with a basket of baked goods ;)

I just asked a friend who's an ambassador and now also has a new title of Mayor to pardon my parking tickets, but unfortunately, he's the mayor of House of Miles and not San Francisco.

What does the Mayor at the House of Miles do for us commoners?

Invites you to visit him at HOM! See the thread in Community.

Cheers.

Ahh! He owes me a cup of joe then... ;)