Originally Posted by tom911

What happens when the thread contains discussion of multiple parking lots at the same airport, both independent and nationally affiliated. Where does it go?

Originally Posted by Canarsie

The S.P.A.M. forum was initially created as Sites with Points and Alternative Miles for loyalty programs other than for travel purposes. MyPoints is one example.

I believe that frequent parking loyalty programs deserve a forum on FlyerTalk every bit as much as for frequent travel programs for airlines, hotels and rental cars.

Originally Posted by hhoope01

I do believe they like to see the following questions answered:

The following are qualitative criteria that the TalkBoard believes are useful to consider when evaluating proposals to create, close, split, or move forums. Whenever a forum change is discussed on the TalkBoard Topics, the TalkBoard encourages posters to fully address these criteria in addition to any other reasons supporting or opposing the change.

1. Will the forum be (or is it now) beneficial to FlyerTalk? Given there are a number of existing threads spread throughout various FT forums, there does seem to be both an interest in this topic and at least some desire to discuss it. Canarsie has stated within this specifc thread that there are at least "490 discussions about parking throughout FlyerTalk, with a minimum of 153 discussions about parking in the TravelBuzz! forum alone and at least 11 more discussions in the S.P.A.M. forum".

2. Will the new forum benefit a relationship with FlyerTalk? E.g., does the forum provide value for FT members, such as a friendly ear highly placed in the company? Given there are quite a few existing threads already within FT, it looks like there is already a perceived benefit.

3. Is FT the best place to discuss this subject? To quote Canarsie again "...because parking at an airport is part of travel — speaking for myself, of course — and there are frequent parking loyalty programs which not only offer points, but some even offer bonus airline frequent flier miles. Miles and points has always been the core discussion and raison d’être of FlyerTalk.

Based on this line of reasoning, discussion dedicated to frequent parking loyalty programs deserves its own forum on FlyerTalk — but that is merely my conclusion."

Where would there be a better place to discuss this topic?


4. Is there a passionate following? This is essential in order to provide dedicated expert helpers to get questions answered. I"m not an expert on who is passionate or not, I would say that 490 existing threads shows at least some "base" of interest in this topic. And given travel points/miles is core to FT's mission, this would seem a very good fit.


5. Is a critical mass of posts and readers anticipated or existing? We need adequate traffic to keep everyone visiting frequently. One living forum is more valuable than two mostly dead ones. While the aforementioned 490 threads may be spread over more than a decade of posting, it does show a potential "base" of posting traffic.

6. Is this the best place on FlyerTalk for this subject? This is the classification issue. The answer depends primarily on achieving and maintaining critical mass. It also depends on whether or where the discussion might (or does) occur in the absence of the forum. As stated above, this pertains to travel points/miles and thus should be considered core to FT's mission. It might be worth looking at the dates around those 490 threads to see when they occured, how much discussion went on, and possibly to see if there has been an increase in discussions over the last few years, versus 10 years ago. That might show an increasing desire and posting base for this topic.

7. For proposals to split a forum, is the split expected to improve the signal to noise ratio? Why? While this proposal doesn't really suggest a forum split, it does suggest a topic "consolidation". The fact that there are probably discussions about Freq. Parking programs spread throughout various geographic forums, TravelBuzz!, S.P.A.M., and probably MilesBuzz! as well, can make it very difficult to find all discussions around the various Frequent Parking programs. One would have to search through all those forums to find the information. Having it in one place provides a single location for all that information, thus making searches much easier and more likely to successfully find it.

As I stated earlier, I'm not necessarily for or against this, but I think there is at least some potential merrit to a Freq. Parking forum. And thus it is definitely worth discussing.

Originally Posted by hhoope01

I would think it would be treated like all other forums are today. If the topic moves away from the Freq. Stay program and more to a specific airport parking discussion it would be moved to the appropriate regional forum. Just like today if a topic in the AA forum ends up being specific to the DFW airport, it will get moved to the Texas forum. And just like today in all the existing forums, if a topic moves to a specific program, it would be moved out of the region's forum and into the appropriate mile/points program.

Originally Posted by nsx

That reason makes sense. Still, MyPoints has to be much more popular than the largest frequent parking program.

Also, restaurants are related to travel and their programs don't have their own forum home.

Maybe we should expand the official charter of S.P.A.M.?

Originally Posted by Canarsie

What can I do to help members of the TalkBoard consider creating a motion pertaining to this discussion?

Originally Posted by jackal

For broader discussion, modifying the charter of the S.P.A.M. forum as was suggested earlier is the likely best option to pursue. While parking is indeed a travel-related subject, I don't believe the potential volume is nearly enough to warrant a dedicated spot.

Originally Posted by lo2e

^ I think this is a great idea and would certainly provide a gauge for exactly how much traffic a dedicated forum might garner. If parking program (not location-specific parking) discussion takes over SPAM, I think that would be the appropriate time to create a separate forum.

Originally Posted by nsx

Maybe it's time to rename S.P.A.M. (which is, let's face it, a goofy name) to "Odds and Ends: Small programs, deals, and freebies"

Originally Posted by nsx

Maybe it's time to rename S.P.A.M. (which is, let's face it, a goofy name) to "Odds and Ends: Small programs, deals, and freebies"

Originally Posted by hhoope01

... park-n-fly's...

Originally Posted by hhoope01

So if someone were wanting to ask a question about an airport parking awards program (i.e. park-n-fly's frequent parker program) which spans many different airports/cities, where would one post questions? MilesBuzz? TravelBuzz? Somewhere else?

Originally Posted by MSPeconomist

IIRC there are also some fairly recent frequent airport spender programs that give points for spending at airport retail outlets (merchandise as well as F&B) in a number of airports. These programs might fit into the same category as airport frequent parker programs that span a number of airports.