axostech

Can we create a sub-thread called "Fare Gone" and move all of the dead/expired fares there so this list is actually what is available? Also any way we could group this by alliance/airline for easy checking.

In real life I look for:

AA, Still Available or DL Still Available.. All the Air-Timbuktu just adds noise..

-AT

chuckd

The first part I agree with, but that is what mileage run discussion is for. The second part means you just need to improve your skim/scan abilities.
I doubt there is enough volume to warrant entire subthreads anyway. Then those who want to see everything would have to click many different links just to see what is now on one page. Also, is this thread you mis posted not more of the 'noise' you despise?

hw711

No point in creating all those sub forums if people keep on posting in the wrong one.

cruisr

I actually always wondered why there was not a sub thread for Fare Gone also. I would like to see one.

iwillflytheworld

Since you are relatively new, you may not know that these kind of proposals can be implemented by the member-elected talkboard, and they should be posted to the talkboard forum.

lucky9876coins

I don't think it makes much sense. There aren't usually that many great deals, and if there is one (ie mistake fare), they are usually near the top of the forum with 10,000 posts.

seoulmanjr

I don't think the volume in this forum justifies that. We've already split off a MR Discussion forum to keep this forum devoted exclusively to fares/deals (i.e., not threads like this). I certainly don't want to see any really great opportunities buried in some subthread.

Stick around FT a while longer than 1-2 months and see how things go before looking to change it. I think you'll find this forum works pretty well.

peace,
~Ben~

PDXUAFAN

Some Air Timbuktus redeem or qualify for several alliances so your second motion doesn't work

itsme

What great (or not so great) opportunities might you miss if "Fare Gone" threads were moved off the "active" MR forum? I don't see any negatives to the OP's suggestion that they be moved, the only thing I wonder if where would they go. (And the OP did not say he "despised" anything, he only suggested a way to improve the MR forum.)

wharvey

One negative is that subforum topics can show as the most recent thread on the parent forum... when you see the list of threads and most recent post. It is one reason I am against sub-forums.

VPescado

Disclaimer: I am a moderator in the MR forum. My thoughts below are presented as a member and not a moderator, but were not formed in a vacuum. That is to say that my experience as a moderator in that forum has provided me with some insight that has shaped my opinions.

My personal view on this:

I'm against it for the following reasons . . .

1) There are some inherent problems with subforums (e.g. the issue of how the software displays the most recent post).

2) It would increase the workload for the mods for not a lot of benefit. This may sound self serving, but while the mods are spending time with extra housekeeping shores, they are not using that time to fix bigger issues. Keep in mind that some of the best moderation that occurs involves a lot of diplomacy and is not visible to most members. And that the amount of work involved in moving threads to the correct forum (including this thread) already sucks up a large percentage of the time that the MR mods spend in the forum.

3) Rather than creating a new sub forum, it would probably be tidier to simply move the FARE GONE threads into the discussion forum. (which I'd still be against for the reasons stated in 2).

4) There are other things that would improve the readability of the MR Deals far more than this would (e.g. having mods tweak thread titles to fit a standard format so they can be easily scanned).

Just my USD 0.02

axostech

First of all Thanks! for the forum..
I run a business process automation company and so seeing the holes in the nets is my job, and that doesn't take 1-3 months (addressing the previous posts).

Time is money, so my question Ben is how do you find "Show me all of the Mileage runs for American Airlines that are still available and have a relatively low cost per mile.." in under 30 seconds? Because honestly that is what every user needs..



Actually a parrellel thread might be nice for historical viewing etc and would elimitinate the "Latest in Fare Gone is on top issue"..

In the world where Google can map the freckles on my dogs arse, it should be VERY easy to find "Which AA Mileage Runs are affordable and intersect with TPA"..

I would be more than willing to offer some of my companies time/development resources, otherwise I'll have to create my own tool, and that won't have the market surface of flyertalk and will consequently not help as many "newbs"..

What can we do to get this, along with Topic based alerts (if a topic contains a certin string: "AA" and "TPA" or "LAX" for example)? because that could be handy in about a billion cases.. Also, just a techie question, are all the posts available as an XML/RSS feed or anything?

-Dave

Jenbel

That's a fair POV. Unfortunately, your solution values Moderator's time as less important than your own - so to solve some of your own time issues, you are expecting others spending more time to do things that will make things easier for you.

Now, undoubtedly, there is already a lot of that goes on already on FT (Mods moving threads around to find the correct forum, removing dups, tidying up threads to remove duplicate posts, amending titles etc). At the same time, there is a diminishing return where the time that mods spend doing such tasks provide less and less benefit to the membership at large. This, for me is on the cusp of what is reasonable or what is not reasonable. As an occasional MR user, it doesn't take any large amount of time to scan the titles to see if there is anything I find 'interesting'. I don't think it would greatly reduce the amount of time I spend by having the fare gone threads moved off elsewhere. YMMV. I'll keep monitoring the thread to see what others think, but personally, I'd be looking for stronger arguments to take this into a private TB discussion than 'It would save me time'.

axostech

Quite to the contrary, I asked for access to all of the new posts and I will programmaticly do my own filtering.. But thanks for reading the whole message..

Why fight obvious usefulness? It's like arguing constantly about how much effort a microwave oven would take to make, and not calculating the time/energy cost benefits to the millions of consumers.. I would prefer to access the data stream of messages and create a filtering tool that the rest of the world could use..

Imagine if Microsoft had thought "Right Clicking" is just too much trouble.. or if Google was upset at the first person that suggested they "index" websites.. It can only increase the "dip" for the competition and drive this board into longer dominance..

-Dave

Jenbel

You have access to all the new posts. You have access to the new posts -they are in MR. You want someone to make your life easier for you by removing the ones you are less interested in (the Fare Gone ones). It seems like a no-brainer to you. I explain why it isn't a no-brainer to me. You tell me I haven't read your posts.

It would appear (although you do start to go into what I mentally term techno geek waffle) that you've actually changed what you want. Unfortunately, I don't speak techno geek waffle, so I can only respond to the ideas I do understand - as I did to the one in your first post.

The problem is, you have to explain to people like me (well actually me and 8 others) what you are talking about. In fairness, that isn't working too well so far. Now I'm willing to concede, that although I am reasonably computer literate, I'm a biologist, not an IT person. So when you can explain it to me in a way I'm able to understand, I'll be able to decide if I like what you are suggesting or not. Until that time, I won't agree with something I don't understand. And unfortunately for you, I'm one of the 9 people you need to convince. Some of them are much more technically literate than me and may have a better idea of what you are suggesting. But that's only some of them.

BTW, I suggest you search out some of the previous discussions on the MR forum. Not everyone is interested in cost per mile. Different airlines have different metrics by which miles and status are awarded. Please don't go around saying things like every user has the same need. I'm not interested in cost per mile for my main airline. Now tier point per £ would be a different story