SkiAdcock

I have some thoughts I'd like to share both as a FTer and a TB member re: this topic, & it requires more than a couple of lines. I'm on massive deadline today for client projects & flying overseas in a few hours for a 9-day biz trip. If I have time after the projects are done this aft/enough time on the layover I'll post late today. If not then it will be tomorrow after I land & catch a nap.

BTW - can't speak for other TB members, but I'm reading comments in both threads re: the topic. This one just caught my eye.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/21409278-post84.html

Cheers.

Fredd

I've subscribed and contributed to the Travel News forum for almost as long as I've been a member of FT, so I for one would be sorry to see it removed.

I used to post news articles quite frequently. Not following every FT nuance closely, it took me awhile to deduce that the change in rules suddenly making a comment about the linked article mandatory is apparently due to concern about copyright lawsuits. It would have been helpful to see that spelled out at the top - it's not a secret, is it?

As for me, I especially enjoyed posting humorous and off-beat articles. If something funny happens on an obscure African airline, I for one am not going to see the link to that article if it's posted in the "Africa" or "Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs," at least not now that we've just returned from Africa and have unsubscribed to those forums.

IMHO an article about, say, "Ethiopian 787 catches fire at LHR [12 Jul 2013]," is worthy of placement in a travel news forum for the benefit of those who might be interested rather than simply being relegated to the "Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs" forum where not many may see it.

In addition, some news items are of interest at least to some FTers simply because they are in the news and a news forum is an appropriate place to post them, even if some cross-posting results in the short term.

If there's a major news item about, say, UA, FTers who might be interested but who don't subscribe to the UA forum will miss it.

I would like to see the "comment required" rule reviewed, and then either removed or clarified by explaining at the top why it's in place.

I actually would feel presumptious offering my comments on that Ethiopian fire at LHR in the link I gave as an example, but will do so if it's really required.

Agreed (and with Tom's comments in general) with the caveat that I still like seeing a central location for travel news, so I would far prefer one news sub-forum within Travel Buzz rather than diffusing it through FT.

ft101

I've said my piece in the other thread so won't repeat it here.

I urge you to vote to keep the forum.

Q Shoe Guy

Close the forum as discussion of many articles already takes place in other forums.

belfordrocks

+1

Most of the content in News could be absorbed into TravelBuzz or the appropriate airline/hotel forum. That way they also get traffic from interested parties who do not frequent the Newsstand forum, of which there must be a few.

kipper

With how busy TravelBuzz can be, I'd think you'd lose a lot of people who stop by Travel News on a regular basis, as if you go a day without stopping by TravelBuzz, you may have to go a few pages back to see what you missed.

What about a second motion, creating a Newsstand forum, going back to the old format or something resembling it? Would that be a solid compromise that might address all of the concerns?

kokonutz

As I have said, I am open to the notion. But you must do the amputation BEFORE you try to graft back on. Especially since the amputation might fail. @:-)

kipper

Perhaps you'd have some more willing to do the amputation if they knew there was going to be a graft as well. Isn't that similar to what happened with posts counting in OMNI-Lite and /PR, but not Games?

N830MH

I think it is excellent idea. They will close the Travel News forum. Those members who doesn't usually to post on Travel News very much. Instead, they will post in TravelBuzz, Airlines/Hotel forum or Travel Safety & Security forums as well.

dchristiva

Completely agree. ^

Disco Volante

I didn't know there was a Travel News forum.

SkiAdcock

My initial response to this is that I do think Travel News (TN) serves a purpose for FT. I also disagree that the threads in TN could just as easily reside in TravelBuzz (TB). When I look at the two forums, while both travel-related, they are different. TB posts are more asking for input or sharing experiences whereas TN are more latest travel-related news stories. I think where each resides & the existance of both is fine.

Given that TN is one of the most viewed forums on FT, it certainly doesn't meet the criteria to be shut down via a metrics perspective.

However, I am very disappointed to learn from other FTers that do or used to frequent the forum regularly that because threads are required to have posts in them discussing the topic, they get locked down or moved if that doesn't happen & that is one reason they no longer frequent the forum. (I don't have a problem w/ some threads being moved to the appropriate airline, hotel, car rental, etc, forum if the thread is specifically re: them.).

While I don't frequent TN as much as I did in the past (due to a limit on my time; not due to anything else), I enjoyed reading threads in the forum because often I wouldn't know of the topic. I didn't post in every thread, but any that I opened I opened because it was of interest.

Because I think TN serves a purpose I think it should remain open & that would be my initial vote. Having said that, I am not happy that somewhere along the way a requirement that a discussion must take place for a thread to remain open was implemented. I am aware of no other forum on FT that said requirement is in place & think it's misguided.

Yes the word discussion is in the forum description but I interpret that as a general guideline & one that could equally apply to all forums, but I didn't interpret it as a hard & fast rule - ie, either post or else. So my hope is that the mod (or mods of any forums for that matter) would take into consideration FTers input - and in this case the input is that a thread's ability to remain open is based solely on a response in the thread is not appropriate. Some have said that they don't want the forum to be a news clipping service - my own take is that I have no problem with that, if it means I get to see threads & news stories I wouldn't see on my own.

So, if I had some reassurance by those that matter, that the forum would allow threads to stay open/discussion is not required because that's how FTers want the forum to be, I would vote to keep it open. If I don't feel that assurance, then I'll vote to shut down the forum & if necessary (depending on how the vote goes), immediately propose a new forum for the same topic called Newstand with the specific remit that discussion is encouraged but not required & posting links only is ok.

Of course if we vote to close down Travel News & then immediately create Newstand, we're going to look like idiots because most don't know the back story, but so be it if that's what we have to do. I'm hoping we can get this sorted so that a new forum that's exactly the same doesn't have to replace a current forum, and that the current forum can go back to being what interested/drew FTers in the past.

Cheers.

tcook052

I see it differently then as to me many of the posted TN threads are more similar than dissimilar to TB topics regardless of how the discussion begins. I support the motion as made.

Doc Savage

This is exactly the problem. For some reason, a large number of threads are summarily moved or terminated with curt little comments.

Keep the forum, and let FT users determine how to use it.

Eastbay1K

The problems are that (1) most people don't use it at all, and (2) a smattering of the items posted are actually interesting and would be noticed in Travel Buzz.

The only reason I keep it in My FT at this point is for the entertainment value of the arrows and padlocks. I never post there because it even when something might be worthy of a post there, I'd have to perform an internal analysis of whether it conforms to the rules and whether it it is going to get an arrow or a padlock because of what might be either an esoteric or not-obvious reason to me. I already analyze things all day long for work (expect when I'm posting drivel like this on FT ) .