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Proposal/suggestion/question/debate: Should Travel News be eliminated/refocused?

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Proposal/suggestion/question/debate: Should Travel News be eliminated/refocused?

 
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Old Dec 28, 2011, 6:48 pm
  #31  
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Originally Posted by tom911
Originally Posted by Ancien Maestro
Is there a News travel tracker that could automatically feed into the forum, and corresponding comments made in accordance to each article?
Like a dedicated google news feed? I'd be interested in the forum moderator's take on that. It would become a very busy forum overnight compared to what it is now.
THAT is a brilliant idea! ^
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Old Dec 28, 2011, 9:40 pm
  #32  
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Originally Posted by goalie
THAT is a brilliant idea! ^
asteriks* - It would put tcook052 out of a job..

The benefits are that FTers would never miss out on a mainline news story that is relevant to the day..

and would put FT on the map in terms of up to date relevance..
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Old Dec 29, 2011, 9:22 am
  #33  
 
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It all depends how much news one wants here and how it is (or is not) curated.

Frequent Business Traveler just added a travel news section and there are literally hundreds if not thousands of news releases some days. Most don´t merit a mention but a few do and are relevant for both FBT and possibly for FT.

If FT wanted, we could help out here perhaps.
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Old Jan 28, 2013, 7:58 pm
  #34  
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I'm going to revive this to see if this has any traction. The forum has most of its topics either moved or locked.

The past two days consist of nothing more than 1 locked topic and two moved topics. The pattern is chronic.

I ask the TB to consider moving the content of this forum to Travel Buzz and tossing the forum.
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Old Jul 31, 2013, 7:34 pm
  #35  
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I am getting to the bottom of my 'to do' list and this issue is next up.

This forum mostly causes confusion and mis-posting.

I'm probably going to make a motion to close it in the private TB forum pretty soon.
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 9:32 am
  #36  
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I have been watching the Travel News forum for a couple of weeks since my to-do tickler popped up when I was in Alaska. 75% of posts get re-directed and the rest probably ought of been or at least could have been, if not to TravelBuzz! then to some other more appropriate forum.

If you bother to look back, it has been that way since I started this thread over a year and a half ago.

As someone who is always anxious to give new forums a shot, I believe it is critical that we be willing to act when a forum has failed to serve a legitimate purpose for FlyerTalkers, as this one has.
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 9:37 am
  #37  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
If you bother to look back, it has been that way since I started this thread over a year and a half ago.
Um, are you secretly my alter ego? Look at the OP.

The forum is a waste of time, both to go view (for users), and for moderator resources.
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 12:47 pm
  #38  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
I have been watching the Travel News forum for a couple of weeks since my to-do tickler popped up when I was in Alaska. 75% of posts get re-directed and the rest probably ought of been or at least could have been, if not to TravelBuzz! then to some other more appropriate forum.

If you bother to look back, it has been that way since I started this thread over a year and a half ago.

As someone who is always anxious to give new forums a shot, I believe it is critical that we be willing to act when a forum has failed to serve a legitimate purpose for FlyerTalkers, as this one has.
I have to agree with Kokonutz. I fail to see what useful purpose Travel News serves. It seems to be a content-free forum. I endorse closing the forum.
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 1:05 pm
  #39  
 
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At this point, I tend to agree that it serves no purpose. If the content isn´t related enough to a topic-specific forum here in FT (be it Hilton or AA or Delta or oneworld - or even TravelBuzz for general items), then the news probably isn´t relevant to FT.
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 1:30 pm
  #40  
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I confess that I don't understand the rancor over this....

Travel News is probably one of the most clearly focused forums on FT:

Discussion of general travel news stories (with a link to that story) that are not specific to any particular hotel, destination, or airline.

It seems to me that is pretty easy to understand and keeps the airline, hotel, and destination stories where people would expect to find them.

In the days of yore, it functioned for a handful as little more than a sometimes post-padding clipping service. (I think that such would now be much worse with all the bloggers looking for venues to post their "news.")

There are several interesting stories that are having interesting discussions in the last few weeks:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-airports.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ide-787-a.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-good-bad.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...silk-road.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...cker-dies.html

Etc.

Yes, a number of threads get closed (when there is already an ongoing discussion in the correct hotel/airline/destination forum - but that keeps discussion in one place. There is nothing worse on an informational venue than having information in multiple places) and other threads get sent to the correct forum (but always with a 30-day re-direct to allow folks to be referred there). But I'd also note that 20% of the last 100 threads in Travel Buzz have been moved or closed. Does that mean that that forum should be closed? No, it means the mods there are doing an excellent job of keeping the FT information repository most helpfully organized. ^

I don't strongly care one way or another. If the TB wants to recommend closure for some reason (although it seems that there are other things at play here. So be it), okay. If it wants to turn it into a "clipping service" that's its prerogative to recommend too. Or all these stories could be folded into Travel Buzz -- and then many of them would, given the excellence of the mods there in doing their jobs of keeping things well and tightly organized, also get moved to more appropriate forums.

Given the history of the genesis of this forum at the dawn of time, it very well could (and perhaps should) have been decided then that discussions of general travel news stories should be in Travel Buzz rather than in what amounted to a personal fiefdom. If the TB decides its time to do recommend to do so again (since the rather particular and idiosyncratic reasons for the creation of the forum in the first place years ago have long since been gone), I would certainly understand. But the mere fact that threads get moved to more appropriate forums, given the organizational growth of FT, is not a reason enough all by itself, imo

Last edited by cblaisd; Aug 1, 2013 at 1:42 pm
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 1:54 pm
  #41  
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
Um, are you secretly my alter ego? Look at the OP.

The forum is a waste of time, both to go view (for users), and for moderator resources.
Sorry.

I have been cross-posting the same things in this forum as the private TB forum, where i DID start a thread over a year and a half ago.
Originally Posted by cblaisd
I confess that I don't understand the rancor over this....

Travel News is probably one of the most clearly focused forums on FT:

Discussion of general travel news stories (with a link to that story) that are not specific to any particular hotel, destination, or airline.

It seems to me that is pretty easy to understand and keeps the airline, hotel, and destination stories where people would expect to find them.

In the days of yore, it functioned for a handful as little more than a sometimes post-padding clipping service. (I think that such would now be much worse with all the bloggers looking for venues to post their "news.")

There are several interesting stories that are having interesting discussions in the last few weeks:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-airports.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...ide-787-a.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...-good-bad.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...silk-road.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...cker-dies.html

Etc.

Yes, a number of threads get closed (when there is already an ongoing discussion in the correct hotel/airline/destination forum - but that keeps discussion in one place. There is nothing worse on an informational venue than having information in multiple places) and other threads get sent to the correct forum (but always with a 30-day re-direct to allow folks to be referred there). But I'd also note that 20% of the last 100 threads in Travel Buzz have been moved or closed. Does that mean that that forum should be closed? No, it means the mods there are doing an excellent job of keeping the FT information repository most helpfully organized. ^

I don't strongly care one way or another. If the TB wants to recommend closure for some reason (although it seems that there are other things at play here. So be it), okay. If it wants to turn it into a "clipping service" that's its prerogative to recommend too. Or all these stories could be folded into Travel Buzz -- and then many of them would, given the excellence of the mods there in doing their jobs of keeping things well and tightly organized, also get moved to more appropriate forums.

Given the history of the genesis of this forum at the dawn of time, it very well could (and perhaps should) have been decided then that discussions of general travel news stories should be in Travel Buzz rather than in what amounted to a personal fiefdom. If the TB decides its time to do recommend to do so again (since the rather particular and idiosyncratic reasons for the creation of the forum in the first place years ago have long since been gone), I would certainly understand. But the mere fact that threads get moved to more appropriate forums, given the organizational growth of FT, is not a reason enough all by itself, imo
The only things at play here as far as I am concerned is exactly what you said: there should not be 2 places for the same post on FT. Right now any all of those 5 'active' threads could just as easily have been started and reside in TravelBuzz! or some other forum on FT.

Which probably explains why it is such a moribund forum once one gets past all the locked and redirected threads.

To me, this is a no-brainer of a clean up of a forum that has outlived its usefulness.

Last edited by kokonutz; Aug 1, 2013 at 2:04 pm
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Old Aug 1, 2013, 2:30 pm
  #42  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
Sorry.

I have been cross-posting the same things in this forum as the private TB forum, where i DID start a thread over a year and a half ago.

The only things at play here as far as I am concerned is exactly what you said: there should not be 2 places for the same post on FT. Right now any all of those 5 'active' threads could just as easily have been started and reside in TravelBuzz! or some other forum on FT.

Which probably explains why it is such a moribund forum once one gets past all the locked and redirected threads.

To me, this is a no-brainer of a clean up of a forum that has outlived its usefulness.
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Old Sep 3, 2013, 9:00 am
  #43  
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Now that August is over I think it's time to officially run this up the flag pole.
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Old Sep 3, 2013, 9:46 am
  #44  
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Originally Posted by kokonutz
Now that August is over I think it's time to officially run this up the flag pole.
Well, you're a Talkboard member. DO SOMETHING!
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Old Sep 3, 2013, 10:14 am
  #45  
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
Well, you're a Talkboard member. DO SOMETHING!
I did! Here is my post from the private TB forum this morning:

Originally Posted by kokonutz
All those numbers demonstrate is that 1) this forum has been around for a long time, 2) a couple of posters used to post hundreds of stories a week there and 3) that there used to be far fewer specialized forums on FT than there are now.

And ,with due respect, old threads on that forum are as relevant as last week's newspaper.

FT has evolved. Diligent moderation of the Travel News forum has already amply demonstrated that nearly every story posted there has a more appropriate home elsewhere on FT.

Rather than looking at generic historic metrics that tell us little about what is actually posted in that forum these days, I encourage everyone here to look at the actual threads year to date that are posted there and moved or locked as well as the relatively few that stand (and could find a better home elsewhere on FT). There are only 5 pages so it won't take long.


I move that the Travel News Forum be closed and that any current and relevant threads in that forum be moved to an appropriate other FT forum.
Now it remains to be seen if any other TB member will second the motion, and if so whether enough TB members will vote for it to close it.

I'm not holding my breath, frankly. It's harder to close a forum on FT than it is to balance the federal budget.
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