Randy Petersen

This question was submitted by ScottC:
Please state your views on the "Omni forum", whether you feel it is a valuable part of the board, or just a place to have some fun.

Please also state your views for Omni in the future and whether there should be a limitation on the ratio of miles/points posts to Omni posts or a limitation on the scope of the discussion (like banning politics or religion).

Mary2e

Easy one... I've been stating my opinion for years. Some might say a little too loudly. If ORP were still around, I could link to it

Omni is a valuable part of FT. It's a place to let off steam and to meet your friends outside the boundry of the main forums. It also keeps those main forums clean. I have made more friends and gotten out of more jams (legal,mostly) than I care to admit. I've freely offered assistance and I've requested it. I've never been given bad advice by anyone. I've also celebrated births, weddings, mourned deaths, and listened when someone was down and needed a sounding board. In other words, Omni represents our lives outside of the main course of our day.

BUT, Omni has been broken to a certain extent. As is the rest of this country, the political divisiveness has extended to it. Some people simply cannot have a conversation without trying to sway it toward their favorite party or candidate.

I really think the only solution is to do what other major boards have done. Ban all political & religious topics. Appoint a moderator to enforce a slightly looser TOS and apply those TOS evenly.

If Randy feels a separate Politics/Religion board would serve a purpose, then it should be made a subforum of Non-political/religious Omni. Leave it unmoderated and let them have at it . People fighting is not what FT is about, and quite frankly, Randy's resources shouldn't be used to moderate it.

Raising the limits for access or instituting a ratio of posts to access will only serve to encourage people to pollute the main boards with nonsense just to get access.

opus17

OMNI is awesome.

We could use a few more threads saying "Macaca", but otherwise, it is perfect.

Radioman

Hi
Well I wonder if Jenbel paid Scott to ask the Question this time round . We had this question in 2005 elections from Jenbel, it seems we are seeing some of the same types of questions yet again, I don’t mind them but there is a trend appearing that certain issues/views will be on the top of folks lists each year has anyone else noticed this?

Anyway Omni is a strange place full of strange views, ideas, and discussions and dare I say people

I have ventured into this World Called Omni , I was very tempted to look around for someone to hold my hand as it was a scary place but once I started digging deeper I found people who were very passionate about their views (these are views outside of the normal travel type stuff we see in other forums), some very interesting debates, some very heated debates and some debates that I for one thought were on the edge of being well OTT.

Omni exists and you either love, hate it or totally impartial to it. I am in the impartial side of things. I have posted in Omni a few times but am not a hardened Omni regular.

As for limitations of the forum, well if its doing well then there is no need to limit it but I am sure the moderators of the forum have one of the toughest jobs around.

Regards

empedocles

The positives in OMNI far outweigh the negatives. Due to the sheer volume of members, the FlyerTalk community has people knowledgeable in just about everything. That has been proven time after time via OMNI. One can read a thread asking about legal advice, then read a thread about smoking a brisket, then read a thread analyzing this weekend's NFL games, then read a thread about the Pope. And all of this is on one forum: OMNI. For many members, OMNI has become the place to turn to first to solicit consumer product advice, or advice on colleges, or advice on vehicles.

With all of the good, OMNI does have a dark side: politics and religion. Some individuals just cannot seem to resist a good fight over either of these two subjects.

So what to do? We could close OMNI, ban politics and religion (either to a separate forum or entirely), crack down on the troublemakers, or maintain the status quo.

I do not support shutting down OMNI (again). I personally believe that the serious, interesting, silly, or helpful threads trump the vitriol. I am pretty neutral between the other three options, although maintaining OMNI as-is would be more palatable if additional members would learn how to use the Ignore feature...

ingy

I have only visited Omni once or twice. It appears to be a fun online meeting place and should remain part of FlyerTalk.

Dovster

I see no conflict between Omni being "a place to have some fun" and it being "a valuable part of the board."

Being fun, in itself, makes it a valuable part of the board.

There are many threads on Omni which I don't bother with as they appear to be dealing with boring (to me) subjects. It certainly does not hurt me that they are there.

I do get annoyed when threads are hijacked by people with a particular agenda. Hey -- on Omni you can start a discussion about Harry Potter and somebody will soon compare Lord Voldemort to some politician he dislikes.

For all of that, I do enjoy going there and am glad it exists.

Should you get post credits for Omni? Probably not, but I personally consider the number of posts someone has made as being so unimportant that it doesn't matter to me in the least.

RichMSN

OMNI is a great board and the continued hand-wringing and questions over it is, in my opinion, quite overblown.

OMNI is the place where I feel I learn the most about my fellow FT members. It's also where I know I can get expert advice about any OT topic. FT members are, in general, pretty smart people, afterall.

The forum should stay just as it is and the moderation should continue just as it is. Almost non-existent.

bhatnasx

I feel that its both - a place to have fun & a valuable part of the board. It's not a forum I read or participate in very often at all - however, I appreciate that its there and I know just how much it means to many of our members, so, even though I personally don't use it or go into it often, I think its a good thing for FlyerTalk.

I do believe there should be some sort of ratio of miles/points to Omni posts. There's the philosophy on FlyerTalk that is "I came for the points & miles and stayed for the community" - and I think its great. However, I do believe that in order to be a productive member of this community, one's posts can be rants and arguments in Omni, but a mixture of the community of FlyerTalk and the community of Omni. This board's purpose is miles and points - not "so, seriously, how WILL the segway bubble end? No, really?" (a real topic on the top of the Omni page at the time that I am posting this). However, the poster that posted that (and I don't mean to pick on anyone) is a member who is self described as "DL PM, .5MM; F9 Ascent; Marriott Platinum Premier" with over 2000 posts under his belt - so, this poster has an interest in travel and an interest in Omni. A poster who only posts in Omni, doesn't really belong on FlyerTalk, IMHO.

In terms of limiting politics or religion, I don't think it should be banned. As long as its discussed in a civil manner, it shouldn't be limited - it should only be limited when it can't be discussed with civility.

kokonutz

If OMNI went away so would I.

And before you current TB members or Randy get any bright ideas about that being a great way to be rid of me, I think a lot of other great folks would leave, too.

The thing is, people DO come for the points and miles and stay for the community. Because while points and miles and travel are important to all of us (and that's why we are here in the first place), it is not the ONLY thing that is important to us. We all - well, we most - have full and even interesting lives, thoughts, opinions and insight into all kinds of things.

Frankly if all I could talk about here for the past 8 years was points, miles and travel I would have grown bored and moved on just like so many other former posters who have earned their PhD in points, miles and travel.

Have you ever gone to a Do and been with someone who ONLY wants to talk points and miles? I mean, it's fun and interesting for a while, especially when you are learning or teaching something new. But it gets old being the sole topic of conversation. Now that you are talking to this person doncha want to hear about their job? Their views on politics, love, God, sex, alcohol and macaca? I sure do. And that's what OMNI allows.

And if you ARE one of those folks (ANOTHER group I have just managed to alienate) who ONLY wants to talk about points and miles, you STILL gotta love OMNI because it keeps all that other stuff all in one place that you can avoid. ^

RichMSN

Preach on, brutha.

I'm another one that would check in once a week or so if it was all about points and miles. Ask questions, get info, answer questions, and disappear for another week or so.

TravelBuzz, Travel Technology, TS&S, and OMNI (and I'm looking to expand this list if there are any good suggestions) are the reasons I come back many, many times a day (jeez, it sounds like I have no life). And when I'm here, I check in to see if there's anything new or any questions in the points and miles forums for the programs I care about and have knowledge in.

Points and miles brought us. The community is why we keep coming back.

Spiff

I think it is both. You need a place to have a little fun as well as somewhere you can debate the issues that aren't quite right for the public forum. It gives you a forum and a certain amount of freedom to express your opinion.

I don't think there are too many Omni-only FlyerTalkers who aren't here for some aspect of travel that it is too distracting. I occasionally manage to have a bit of fun myself in Omni.

Omni has a minimum post count/time online for access. I think there could be a stepped approach to access. At a certain level, perhaps 90 days as a FlyerTalker and 90 posts, one could have read-only access to OMNI and then at the 180 days/180 posts, one would receive posting privileges in Omni.

This will allow the users to learn about how things operate in the community before fully participating. This type of approach would be appealing to all users. The newer members wouldn't feel shut out of Omni for so long yet the more expererienced users wouldn't become frustrated as new members find their way around, posting a lot of questions about Omni.

hfly

Omni is much more positive than negative and it would seem to me that many that have called for its destruction are either strict Stalinists (Nyet, FT should only be about points and miles) or those that have been like children playing with sticks and then start crying when they are poked in the eye. Omni plays a valuable role at FT and quite often there is important information to be found there that would be difficult or timeconsuming to source anywhere else. I believe that setting the posting limits did away with 90% of the "problems" and that the other 10% is the price we pay for its usefulness.

wharvey

I believe that OMNI has a valuable role on FT.

It is a great place for the greater community to come together. I have been amazed at what gets asked and how quickly it gets answered.

Of course, when people ask for medical and legal advice of strangers I get worried...

However, there are too many members who make no contribution to forums other than OMNI... I believe that OMNI should be an "award" for contribution to miles and points. I would actually look at who is not contributing to the greater board and possibly "ban" them from OMNI.

There are also a few people who take pride in bringing threads down... you can count on certain people bringing Bush, Clinton, and gays into every discussion. There needs to be some stronger moderation of that forum to stop that.

I think OMNI has its place... but it should not be the main reason people visit FLYERtalk.com.

William

Jenbel

I don't think I could afford to The question I asked last year was about whether the candidates would have voted to retain it IIRC. But still about OMNI

It can be valuable. There are people I 'talk' to who I could only have met on OMNI, as we have no mutual airline boards in common. I learn more there about viewpoints from around the world, than on any other board... certainly my education in US politics is nearing completion

It can also be annoying, bad tempered and just plain OTT. There are definite drawbacks to it as well - but for all of those, I do continue to visit.