ZenFlyer

One of the first times I looked at FlyerTalk, I saw a series of posts by someone with the title "Ambassador." I assumed from this word that the individual was some kind of moderator or volunteer designated by FT to help new members navigate or answer questions on a specific topic. When the so-called Ambassador went on to post a rather sarcastic rant, it gave me pause about FlyerTalk altogether. Ditto for several posts by people with the title "Evangelist." I did eventually stick around long enough to figure out the meaning of the titles, but I wonder how many other people might not?

I'd be happy with no titles at all, though I do find it useful to have a rough idea whether a comment is being posted by a relative newbie or a relative old-timer. However, that information is also (currently) readily available by looking at post count. It seems a bit redundant to have both.

That said, if titles are to be retained, then I strongly urge picking titles that make it more clear that the "status" is something that is accorded to any regular old member, and that it is based simply on the number (and not necessarily the quality) of postings. The "Silver Member", "Gold Member", etc. idea that someone posted above might work. Or perhaps some series of icons -- e.g., 1 star, 2 stars, 3 stars, to indicate relative quantity of postings.

Alternatively -- and again, assuming titles/status are to be retained -- I would find it much more useful if this were some kind of qualitative, rather than quantitative measure. Another IB forum that I frequent, Slow Travel, has a designation like this -- "Hero", I think -- that is given to people who spend a lot of time answering questions with detailed and helpful advice. I think those are selected by individual forum moderators. Another forum (can't recall which one) allows users to nominate other users as being particularly helpful; once a certain number of recommendations are received, the user automatically gets some kind of "guru" or star designation. I realize this may be impractical -- I can only imagine the amount of discussion and controversy would be generated by establishing the correct criteria -- but it is the only circumstance under which I would find these titles to be useful at all.

Thanks for soliciting input.

SkiAdcock

BTW - we are indeed looking for input re: names of intermediate titles. So if others have some, please post and thanks for those who have taken our request seriously & suggested some.

Cheers.

nsx

I was thinking the same thing recently. Something like:

1-100 New member
100-999 Member
1000-4999 1K Silver Member
5000-9999 5K Gold Member
10000-19999 10K Platinum Member
25000-49999 25K Uranium Member
50000-up 50K Plutonium Member

This has the advantages of revealing the post count thresholds for each level and warning readers that some posts may be radioactive.

reft

If a change must be made:There may be an argument against using airline-like status names, i.e. Gold, as a user may have them already in their profile, and it could be confusing.

kokonutz

That's a good point. Thanks for making it.

jackal

Ditto to Koko's post just above--that's a good point.

I like the word "Contributor," and the fact that it comes at the same time as OMNI and CC access is a nice touch.

I don't like the term "FlyerTalk Evangelist" (evangelism connotes spreading the word about FT elsewhere, and nothing about posting a lot has any relation to evangelism), and "A FlyerTalk Posting Legend" is totally 1990s cheesy. I'd also like to have another break between 10K and 40K, maybe at 20K.

kokonutz

Evangelist is even more dumb when you consider that anyone who spends that much time posting here is definitely NOT getting out enough, much less spreading the word.

I don't know where the current titles or cut-offs come from. I suspect they were simply implemented after a half a bottle of tequila late one night.

I do think it would be nice if there was some actual cleverness to them. Or at least rhyme or reason.

reft

I would refer this to the subgroup of FT members who actually are Evangelists and Legends, and see what they have for an opinion as to what they want to be called. They've posted enough to deserve that. There's something for tradition, and yet, there's sometimes when tradition gets ground under the heel of progress. And in the end, you won't satisfy everyone.

If there's a report available to the powers that be, describing the numbers in each bucket, proposed or current, it may be useful in knowing how many in each there are and use that information to decide how many breaks are needed.


For top title, take the current top 100 users by post count, and create a title. That will anchor the top end and allow it to be scarce, but still have room to grow into something over the next few years.

nsx

Very creative, reft!

Keep the new ideas coming!

jackal

I'm an Evangelist (as are Koko and SkiAdcock--and nsx, for that matter, although his title isn't showing), and while I like that I earned the title, I don't like the title itself. You're not saying my opinion doesn't count, are you?

reft

More suggesting a separate discussion mostly among the Evangelli to determine a new title, rather than letting the rest of us unwashed commoners tag you with another unwanted title. I don't disagree "Evangelist" may be a little overripe, but it's not my title to play with.

Was Apple that started the title in business, with Guy Kawasaki?

RichMSN

Everyone is on equal footing to discuss the Evangelist title as everyone (eventually) could get to 10K posts. I think polling the existing Evangelists is restricting the discussion too much.

reft

But by then, the title will get changed again

More in the vein of making sure they are involved.

But hey, I'm not one, it'll take a few years, and I'm in no rush. (Unless it comes with free bags, priority boarding and choice of any seat in the cabin. Or, Kryptonium Medallion.)

tcook052

I would argue the opposite, that the higher the post count the more social FTers are likely to become and opt to take that to the next level by attending FT Do's and meeting other members and getting out more.

Heck I even know one couple who met at a Do and after he popped the question onboard a plane she shockingly said yes! I have a few other similiar stories but I won't bore you with 'em.

LHR/MEL/Europe FF

I don't usually make an appearance on these threads, but having been around for a while, post count generally means little to me on it's own.

I tend to look for membership date, combined with post count.

why? because mostly (not by any means always) an experienced member has been around for a while and knows what they are talking about and may be able to offer a perspective on a deal/mileage run/program change that a newer member might not.

secondly, I look for post count to be somewhere within a reasonable range of posts-to-membership-date ratio.

too many posts and not enough membership time... then what have you actually been contributing? just post after post of 'lol' or '^' or some friendly banter with your friends.

ever since there was that thread where you had to complete the next word in a sentence (or something like that) then really post count means nothing. was there not also some competition by randy where each post got you an entry? I think I saw some people's post count go up by over a thousand in a very short time.

anyway.. just my two cents (and another post count for me )