Canarsie

I do not know if this would help, but you can configure FlyerTalk to where the most recent content in a thread comes first, as first posted here.

For those FlyerTalk members who are interested — and if this configuration ultimately results in the easier reading of such threads — here is what you do:

1. Choose MyFlyerTalk, but you must be logged into FlyerTalk first.
2. On the left side under Settings & Options, choose Edit Options.
3. Scroll down to Thread Display Options.
4. Under Thread Display Mode, choose Linear – Newest First.
5. Scroll to the bottom and click on the Save Changes button.

Voilà — the newest information in the thread will always come first, and yet the older information is still optionally accessible.

Dovster

IB's profits, IMHO, should be of absolutely no concern at all to TalkBoard. It is there to represent the members' interests.

Carol, of course, is an employee of IB and should, indeed, consider what is best for it.

Moderators who judge a $5 yearly gift card as fair and adequate compensation for their time and effort should also go with what is best for IB. Those who believe that they are worth considerably more should put the members' wishes ahead of the owners' desires.

essxjay

Gordon Cooper: You boys know what makes this bird go up? FUNDING makes this bird go up.
Gus Grissom: He's right. No bucks, no Buck Rogers.

Dovster

Funding is important, but there would have been no reason to send an empty space ship up.

seanthepilot

I have all but stopped participating in the forums that are Mega Thread crazy.

I see the problem as a reactive one to overzealous use of the 'alert a moderator' button. I have often wondered if policy is being swayed by those that alert posts as needing action. What started out as a good way to organize info, short term, turned out to be an organizational policy taken to the "N"th degree.

In the old world, a question that was asked 100 times would be bluntly shunned with a demand that the OP do a search, the quick replies would answer the question and the thread would fade away. The Master Thread would seem to work better when the information did not continue into infinity. But, adding year after year does not help the search for information. Other bulletin board models running decades will have similar organizational issues.

Certain topic need to have a master thread. Once that constitute a discussion, or contain massive nuggets of information. But, to have this year's birthday thread mixed with last years, or to have all comments concerning a certain topic merged into one thread without considering why it wasn't posted there by the OP in the first place is frustrating.

Some Mega Threads are needed. I agree to this point.

When the first page of a forum is full of the same 10 mega threads, it leaves me with a very bland taste. How does that result in a better Flyertalk. I know for sure, it take a lot of moderator work. I appreciate the work our volunteers do. But, is it work that takes the best use of their time into consideration?

RichMSN

David Letterman: Them bats is smart, they use radar.

Oh, I thought the topic was "irrelevant pieces of dialogue for $100."

KathyWdrf

I was also going to point out that you can view threads in reverse order, and frankly, I'm shocked that so many long-time FlyerTalk members didn't seem to know this.

Also, you don't even need to look at threads (whether Mega or otherwise) in reverse order if you don't want to. You can simply dip into the last few pages, which is extremely easy to do by clicking on page numbers (or "last").

Honestly, avoiding long threads for certain reasons smacks of laziness or ignorance or both.

On the other hand, in some cases, long threads consist mostly of whining and/or repetition of the same information; for example, threads about a new promo. These threads do indeed often become boring and ultimately not worth reading much of (after all, the T&Cs of the offer are usually readily available online somewhere and answer most or all questions). So I can certainly see avoiding reading these types of threads, except for perhaps a page or two.

But avoiding a "master thread" on a hotel -- why??? I typically at least check out the last few pages on it; more, if there is enough recent info in it.

Ancien Maestro

Master thread info gets outdated.. Threads are enormous, as such, that Moderators can't keep up maintaining current information all the time..

Perhaps a master thread format can be developed to ensure information contained in Master Threads stay relevant and up to date..

GUWonder

Not a fan of all of them. Increasingly this approach ends up burying substantial recent developments, such as more recent, customer-unfriendly changes in an airline and/or hotel's practices that are far removed from prior practices.

And airline/hotel/service provider-friendly PR announcements supplied by company reps may not be handled in the same way despite the possibility that some of them could also get stuffed into megathreads or other topic-relevant threads opened prior to the PR announcement.

Most FTers aren't going to use the "more recent posts first" feature, so in essence that suggested workaround will only serve a very, very small minority of FTers.

Kagehitokiri

it seems to me that this is not a yes/no question.

overestimating TB?

AFAIK IB hasnt discussed anything or asked for suggestions.

chillinthemost

I'm guessing this is a hot button topic for you?

You want to go where?

Thank you Canarsie for your excellent advice about changing the order in which posts are presented. I have been on Flyertalk for years and not noticed this option.

It solves one of the major problems of mega-threads - when a significant event renders earlier information completely obsolete. For example: BA has completely revamped its Frequent Flyer program. Much of the information prior to the introduction of Avios is obsolete. A megathread which contains that information may have value from an historical perspective, but it can just serve to confuse a new visitor to the website. Good moderation can correct this, by letting the old thread die and beginning a new one, but it does take active thought by the moderators to allow this to happen.

A similar example in the Hilton Honors forum (although much less significant), but one I am aware of as it is a thread to which I contribute: The Hilton Properties in Mainz thread contains information from 2001. However, a renovation of one of the hotels that was completed in late 2010 has rendered much of the information, especially about the tiredness of the Hilton Mainz, obsolete.

It seems excessive to ask the moderator to prise out the obsolete information from this thread post by post, and it isn't always clear in all threads where and when a critical event occurs that makes information obsolete.

Any suggestions about how information which is rendered obsolete by a significant intervening event can be removed from a mega-thread beyond the idea of letting known obsolete megathreads die and be replaced with new ones?

travelkid

As a starter how about requesting mods to, with help of RBP alerts, insert bolded posts back in time with important changes, like remodelling of hotels, big FFP enhancements etc?

Kagehitokiri

i removed most of the posts i made in this forum that were dated after SanDiego1K's thread. the posts were not just in this thread, but one other thread as well.

also SanDiego1K did not specifically say to post about megathreads, rather than PMing as is standard operating procedure.

Canarsie

When I first became moderator of the Hilton HHonors forum, the single biggest concern from FlyerTalk members who frequent that forum was the proliferation of literally dozens and dozens of threads on a particular hotel or city.

What we have initially done in the Hilton HHonors forum is ensure that virtually every Hilton HHonors property has at least two threads: a general main thread, and a trip reports and reviews thread. This has worked quite well.

Paris was a prime example, with there being upwards of 200 threads to wade through upon searching regarding Paris — and that was when one searched only the titles of threads, not the content within all threads.

As a result, we have combined a lot of that information into consolidated threads. The complaints significantly decreased as a result.

Hawaii is another example. The problem, however, is that massive threads have formed as a result for certain Hilton HHonors properties. What we have attempted to do is have some properties have more than two threads — for example, one thread could be about the lounge at a particular Hilton HHonors property, or another could be about breakfast at a particular Hilton HHonors property, or a third could be a comparison between two Hilton HHonors properties. If FlyerTalk members have posted to those special threads at least 80 times or so, they do not get merged into the main thread.

Another policy we adopted in the Hilton HHonors forum is to not merge new threads immediately into the master threads. We give some time to allow certain topics to be discussed and — if the thread warrants it once it dies down — we will merge it into the master thread at a later date.

We are doing all we can in the Hilton HHonors forum to balance the ease of searching for information with the consolidation of that information, but we cannot do it alone. Your assistance is required, and there are the following options to let us know what you think:

• Comment threads on which you can post publicly in the Hilton HHonors forum
• Messages that you can send to us privately, or
• Use the Alert a Moderator button at the lower left corner of content posted in that thread to let us know what you recommend or suggest

We also ask that you be as specific as possible about what you are requesting or suggesting — for example, include a link to the thread in question — so that we may attend to your request as quickly and expeditiously as possible.