magiciansampras

I just realized this is a better forum for the suggestion (it was previously in Suggestions).

It's pretty clear no one is using this feature (all of the top 10 restaurants have 1 vote each, making for a 10-way tie for first place). Given the lack of traffic and use, shouldn't it be removed?

Martinis at 8

I agree. The forum seems pretty useless.

ScottC

I'd rather see us give it another chance, perhaps a mention in the next talkmail? FT has several features and sections that don't get the attention they deserve....

kokonutz

Is the the TB taking Starwood Lurker's suggestion that the TB establish criteria for pulling the plug on forums? Or is the does the TB charter/jurisdiction only include the creation, not the deletion of forums?

Dovster

TB both recommends the establishment and the deletion of forums and has done both in the past.

I read Scott's post as saying that he considers the feature worthwhile and would rather try to save it through publicizing it than to cancel it. I don't see anything in what he wrote that says TB can not vote to recommend its deletion -- or, for that matter, that he himself would not vote to delete it if the publicity did not work.

Scott, I may have overstepped my bounds in interpreting what you said. If so, please correct me.

Martinis at 8

Sounds to me like it was created with a "build it and they will come" rationale that failed. So is FT now going to try and herd FT'ers to that forum.

Seems to me we get enough review info on Travel Buzz, Dining Buzz, the different hotels forums, and the trip reports. The review forum was probably never needed. Who identified the need, and how was it validated?

M8

Dovster

If memory serves, TalkBoard had nothing to do with this forum. Randy thought it would provide an extra service to our members and instituted it.

gleff

TripAdvisor is hugely successful, there's certain space for this sort of thing on the Net.

In general the folks who frequent Flyertalk are more likely to provide the kinds of reviews and experiences that are useful to me in planning than the more mass audience/general Tripadvisor type of site.

So I do see merit in the idea, at least from a personal need/wants standpoint.

The TalkBoard wasn't a part of creating this, but could certainly make recommendations about how to proceed with it. I'd love to see it be successful... but like I frequently say about new forum ideas, moribund forums are a detriment to Flyertalk, and what we need is a real critical mass.

Flyertalk Reviews really haven't been much promoted. I don't know whether this idea will be successful here, and if it is indeed possible how to go about MAKING it successul. So I really am interested in hearing more feedback on this. Would it be possible to achieve critical mass, such that it would be a must-read?

tazi

Except with the Reviews forum, you don't have to search those forums in hopes of finding the information you are looking for. I think the forum is a great idea and like Scott said, perhaps it just needs a little push.

magiciansampras

I tend to doubt it. The problem with Flyertalk Reviews is that it is in direct competition with more popular forums, most notably Trip Reports. If I go on a trip and I went to a good restaurant, I'm going to write it up in prose in a trip report and then not spend the energy to rate it in Flyertalk Reviews. Too many competing interests for the same information, only so much effort per poster.

Additionally there are more "review" type websites out there for travel related items than I can count. Zagats is a good place to start for restaurant info.

FT should stick to its core competency, which is travel *discussion*, not rating travel services.

Martinis at 8

Great ideas and concepts don't always translate into the realm of the practical. This appears to be one of those cases. And some times not so excellent ideas to translate into the realm of the practical.

I find the dialog on this topic very interesting. Nobody has been giving that forum a second thought, so someone mentions that it should probably be shut down, then comes the rally that it should stay and now be "pushed". Go figure.

Why was it not being championed right after it was first created? In other words, "where were you when they started this gig?"

M8

tazi

Yes, go figure. A discussion of what can and should be done with the forum from both points of view.

magiciansampras

It is an interesting case. We have a forum with no demand or need. It'll be interesting to see what happens!

John at Webflyer

Flyertalk Reviews is not a forum. It's not part of the forum software. It is a part of the site.

Football Fan

This is what I currently get when I try to open it:

Warning: main(HTML/BBCodeParser.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /inc/html_formatting.php on line 3

Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required 'HTML/BBCodeParser.php' (include_path='.:/usr/local/lib/php:/home/site/flyertalk.com/reviews/inc:
/home/site/flyertalk.com/reviews/inc') in /home/site/flyertalk.com/www/reviews/inc/html_formatting.php on line 3

Edit: I think it is because I am using web2.flyertalk.com at the moment.