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Travel News Forum: close, re-purpose or merge with TravelBuzz?

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Old Feb 3, 2016, 1:55 pm
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Should the Travel News forum remain open as its own standalone forum?

Here is the Travel News forum. Should it remain open; or should it be closed? Please post objective reasons for either position below.

Keep the Travel News Forum Open

It provides a place where only news linked to other sources can be posted.

Travel News serves a different function than other forums. It is for news articles that can be quickly perused & not buried in other forums. TravelBuzz, for example, has topics such as 'should the spouse get the upgrade' & discussions re: that. Travel News has links to articles of interest that may or may not get commentary, but does get a lot of views so obviously of interest to FTers. Just as some will read articles in the NYTimes, Wall Street Journal, USAToday because the articles are of interest but not comment. That doesn't mean the articles have no value. They're easier to find in Travel News.

Close/Merge the Travel News Forum

It is redundant; and discussions posted in it are best served when residing in other forums on FlyerTalk — such as TravelBuzz, for example.

It is obsolete due to improved technology which has emerged over the years, allowing news pertaining to travel to be easily obtained elsewhere.

It is not at all clear what types of posts belong in it.

Travel News made a lot more sense before FT had a forum for any and every thing travel related. But now FT does and Travel News is out of step with how FlyerTalk is currently organized.
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Old May 17, 2015, 3:16 pm
  #61  
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Originally Posted by exilencfc
Me! I am none of those things. Not that my contribution was over helpful. Soooo...

Travel news doesn't seem to be all that useful in that most of the threads started there get locked or redirected. But if it was closed most of the threads that start/exist within it would start/exist within Travelbuzz instead.
Travelbuzz already has a lot of active threads and a lot of stuff getting re-directed and it would be very untidy if the stuff from Travel news was added. Therefore I am inclined to the view that Travel news should continue, if only to keep the rest of FT, and most especially Travelbuzz, tidier.

I also think that if any forums are going to be closed it should be the budget airline forums.
Good! Someone else! But you see, TravelBuzz wouldn't be that much more "untidy."

I guess it all comes down to, Do you want a big pile of poo and a modest size pile of poo, or do you just want one bigger pile of poo, and avoid the second pile altogether. I'd rather just clean up poo once, even if the initial mess is a big bigger. A timely comment, after yesterday's "two poo" dogwalk.
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Old May 17, 2015, 3:30 pm
  #62  
 
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
Good! Someone else! But you see, TravelBuzz wouldn't be that much more "untidy."

I guess it all comes down to, Do you want a big pile of poo and a modest size pile of poo, or do you just want one bigger pile of poo, and avoid the second pile altogether. I'd rather just clean up poo once, even if the initial mess is a big bigger. A timely comment, after yesterday's "two poo" dogwalk.
Get a cat, they bury their own poo.

Unfortunately I don't think self-moderation by posters is a likely prospect.

I do see your point, I suppose it would come down to how many threads were involved. If the number of threads being moved/locked in Travelbuzz was to double that would cause a lot of hassle (knee deep in poo so to speak). But if it was only an extra 1/2 threads a day it wouldn't be a an issue (sort of like the footpath I walk along to get to work which some antisocial git has occasionally left dog poo on).
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Old May 17, 2015, 6:29 pm
  #63  
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Originally Posted by goalie
The way you titled this thread should give you the answer
I truly don't understand this implication nor comment. Again, please enlighten me! By PM if you don't feel comfortable doing it directly here.

Again, my entire motivation is tidying up the forums by eliminating a redundant one.
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Old May 17, 2015, 7:15 pm
  #64  
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Originally Posted by exilencfc
I also think that if any forums are going to be closed it should be the budget airline forums.
Amen!

PS feel free to add such thoughts on the thread on the subject which is here.
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Old May 17, 2015, 7:29 pm
  #65  
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Originally Posted by tcook052
Amen!

PS feel free to add such thoughts on the thread on the subject which is here.
Yes, please, so the thread can gain "real momentum."
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Old May 17, 2015, 8:39 pm
  #66  
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
Goalie, as an "outsider" and not knowing what unspoken dynamic is going on here (and it is pretty clear that something is going on), and as he who started a post on getting rid or changing TN a while back, I must be missing something on "the thread title should give you the answer."

TN, overall, is just a receptacle for re-directs and padlocks. It did get a bit better after my earlier inquiry/suggestion, but now it (without running bundles of stat diagnostics) appears near back to where it was.

As a user (without any hidden TB personal agenda), TN is a waste of time. I keep it on "My FT" for the once in a blue eclipsed moon story I may find of interest, but I'd prefer it to be in Travel Buzz.

Has anyone posting to this thread besides yours truly not been a FT "insider," i.e., never on the TB, never a moderator, never a SFOR (special friend of Randy)?

Listen to a loyal user of FT without an agenda. Frankly, most of the users (remember what you're here for) are using TN only to have their threads redirected or locked.

Actually, I do have an agenda. It is to save myself a couple of clicks a day.
I'm on the same page as you.

Any utility that TN had for me is more or less gone now, so it may as well go away as we know it.

I was also never a fan of separating out "budget" carriers from the other airline forum groupings either and would be welcoming those mergers too.
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Old May 18, 2015, 10:04 am
  #67  
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Originally Posted by Eastbay1K
Originally Posted by goalie
The way you titled this thread should give you the answer
Goalie, as an "outsider" and not knowing what unspoken dynamic is going on here (and it is pretty clear that something is going on), and as he who started a post on getting rid or changing TN a while back, I must be missing something on "the thread title should give you the answer."

TN, overall, is just a receptacle for re-directs and padlocks. It did get a bit better after my earlier inquiry/suggestion, but now it (without running bundles of stat diagnostics) appears near back to where it was.

As a user (without any hidden TB personal agenda), TN is a waste of time. I keep it on "My FT" for the once in a blue eclipsed moon story I may find of interest, but I'd prefer it to be in Travel Buzz.

Has anyone posting to this thread besides yours truly not been a FT "insider," i.e., never on the TB, never a moderator, never a SFOR (special friend of Randy)?

Listen to a loyal user of FT without an agenda. Frankly, most of the users (remember what you're here for) are using TN only to have their threads redirected or locked.

Actually, I do have an agenda. It is to save myself a couple of clicks a day.
Travel News for you as a user may be a waste of time but for others it may not be and I respect both views but if it is a waste of time for a user/users, then simply put, don't read the forum and as to "most of the users are using TN only to have their threads redirected or locked"-do you speak for them?

Originally Posted by kokonutz
Originally Posted by goalie
The way you titled this thread should give you the answer
I truly don't understand this implication nor comment. Again, please enlighten me! By PM if you don't feel comfortable doing it directly here.

Again, my entire motivation is tidying up the forums by eliminating a redundant one.
Let me put it this way-which sounds better for a thread title-

"Travel News. This time let's put it out of its misery." or "Is it time to close the Travel News forum? To me it's the latter as simply put, the former implies that one wants the forum closed as opposed to asking the question. One may "want" something but imho, there's a right way to ask (n.b. ask) as opposed to saying/implying/stating that it's time to close it
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Old May 18, 2015, 10:11 am
  #68  
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Let me throw this thought out there...

Here is the forum name and its description:
Travel News
Link to and discuss the latest travel news articles. it's all the news (for travelers) that's fit to read.
Let us assume that we all agree that news about specific airlines, lodging companies and other entities which already have a specific forum on FlyerTalk belongs in those forums and should be posted there.

What if the name and description of the forum was this:
General Travel News
Link to and discuss the latest news articles pertaining to travel in general. it's all the news (for travelers) that's fit to read.
While this is not perfect, what I am attempting to do is give the Travel News forum a more distinct purpose which clearly differentiates it from the TravelBuzz forum — or any other forum on FlyerTalk, for that matter — and perhaps help mitigate the number of topics which belong elsewhere on FlyerTalk while encouraging more news topics to be posted there.

If you have a better title and description, by all means please post it.
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Old May 18, 2015, 10:25 am
  #69  
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Travel News. This time let's put it out of its misery.

That's pretty much what the "Read this first" thread in the forum says
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Old May 18, 2015, 11:04 am
  #70  
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Originally Posted by Canarsie
Let me throw this thought out there...

Here is the forum name and its description:Let us assume that we all agree that news about specific airlines, lodging companies and other entities which already have a specific forum on FlyerTalk belongs in those forums and should be posted there.

What if the name and description of the forum was this:While this is not perfect, what I am attempting to do is give the Travel News forum a more distinct purpose which clearly differentiates it from the TravelBuzz forum — or any other forum on FlyerTalk, for that matter — and perhaps help mitigate the number of topics which belong elsewhere on FlyerTalk while encouraging more news topics to be posted there.

If you have a better title and description, by all means please post it.
I would suggest deleting the second sentence of the forum description. It says nothing and the "all the news that's fit to read" little joke seems tired and might not be understood by foreign readers.

The "Read This First" statement could stress that airline/hotel/destination specific news should be discussed in the relevant fora in those sections.
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Old May 18, 2015, 11:06 am
  #71  
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Travel News. This time let's put it out of its misery.

Agree with both points, and will work on thread to make clearer
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Old May 18, 2015, 11:31 am
  #72  
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Sticky: PLEASE READ FIRST! Welcome to Travel News: Where and how to post...

This has about as much utility for most IBB posters as the T&C for every online software update/purchase, etc. Except here you don't even need to check off a box before reading the "contract."

Unless there is something much more clear in the forum title (i.e., General Travel News - For All The News That Doesn't Otherwise Have A Forum Home ...) nothing is going to change.
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Old May 18, 2015, 12:06 pm
  #73  
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Originally Posted by goalie
Travel News for you as a user may be a waste of time but for others it may not be and I respect both views but if it is a waste of time for a user/users, then simply put, don't read the forum

Let me put it this way-which sounds better for a thread title-

"Travel News. This time let's put it out of its misery." or "Is it time to close the Travel News forum? To me it's the latter as simply put, the former implies that one wants the forum closed as opposed to asking the question. One may "want" something but imho, there's a right way to ask (n.b. ask) as opposed to saying/implying/stating that it's time to close it
Agree.

Originally Posted by Canarsie
Let me throw this thought out there...

Here is the forum name and its description:Let us assume that we all agree that news about specific airlines, lodging companies and other entities which already have a specific forum on FlyerTalk belongs in those forums and should be posted there.

What if the name and description of the forum was this:While this is not perfect, what I am attempting to do is give the Travel News forum a more distinct purpose which clearly differentiates it from the TravelBuzz forum — or any other forum on FlyerTalk, for that matter — and perhaps help mitigate the number of topics which belong elsewhere on FlyerTalk while encouraging more news topics to be posted there.
Works for me.

Originally Posted by cblaisd
That's pretty much what the "Read this first" thread in the forum says
Yes, but depending on how some people access FT they'll see the 1-line forum description first & then decide whether to enter the forum/might not see it in the read it first depending on how they access FT.

Cheers.
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Old May 18, 2015, 2:28 pm
  #74  
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Originally Posted by SkiAdcock
Yes, but depending on how some people access FT they'll see the 1-line forum description first & then decide whether to enter the forum/might not see it in the read it first depending on how they access FT.
Concur completely, and would be delighted to see a forum description change to something along the lines suggested above.
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Old May 18, 2015, 8:08 pm
  #75  
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For those that are complaining about the failure to close forums and referring to the Budget forums, you'll be happy to read this:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...-respecti.html
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