Some thoughts. Forgive me if I ramble (I'm between conference calls and I feel my brain starting to become jelly as it is):
I love OMNI and loved it more when it was one forum with entry requirements. I do not understand why post counts still do not increment there when there are no special requirements for posting there anymore. IIRC, this was one argument *against* post counts when they were taken away in the dark of night months ago.
I do not get the feeling that OMNI existence, organization, or requirements are within the purview of the TB at this time, although Randy forwarding this question tells me he may be open to TB having a role in the future.
I used to participate in the "PR" threads in the old OMNI, but didn't bother much to go into the PR forum until recently. Now, I am checking both equally and, frankly, I find the "non-PR" OMNI to be a bit lacking. But I still check both and participate in both.
My interest in FT was driven by my move to a travel job about 9 years ago. I was a member of FT using my first and last name as a User Name. Five years ago I decided a bit more anonymity was probably desirable and I gave up my start date (1999) and post count at that point, although I still got into OMNI before the most recent requirements were put in place in 2004.
Over the last year I shared some very personal feelings in OMNI, including a week last month where I, in the end, had to put one of my pets to sleep. It was reassuring to me that OMNI was a semi-hidden nook of the Internet. I am not happy at all with the change to make OMNI public and opening it up to the Google-bots. But this is outside of my sphere of influence as a general member, and I fear it would be as a TalkBoard Member, as well.
I am still a regular reader and poster (when I have something to say) in my points and miles forums and they are what brought me here. But OMNI and TravelBuzz and some of the community forums -- that's what keeps me coming back day after day after day. While I respect those that do not post in or read OMNI, I would fight tooth-and-nail with anyone who thinks that shuttering OMNI is in the best interests of me or of FT. Here's a suggestion to those who don't like OMNI and stay away from it: Keep on keeping on.