Mr Zhu is amazed to see how much Flyertalk has stopped being a welcoming place for travelers to discuss the pros and cons of various travel loyalty programs.

It seems to MrZhu that the tone on this board, and not just this thread, has become very much a "if you don't agree with me than you are wrong!" atmosphere -- accusations are flying fast and furious from both sides: "Witch Hunt"? "Grow Up"? "unmitigated greed"? Is this really the trademark of a healthy community? Perhaps MrZhu has contributed to this toxic environment and he regrets that and apologizes.

While he understands that many people are fond of Starwood's paid company representatives on this board he thinks its sad that so many posters feel that their presence leads to a mentality that nothing critical of SPG can be said. He also thinks it would be helpful if Starwood's reps on this forum were to take some time to establish standards for responses -- while he appreciates they have developed a great level of familiarity with some on this board the reality is it is an open forum open to the internet and many people will come on here and take comments out of context. At the very least he suggests considering how some comments would sound if they came from a concierge to a guest in person. MrZhu suspect that more careful messaging and responses could have prevented much of this unfortunate dust-up. Alternatively they may wish to add a disclaimer to their signature that their posts and opinions are their own and not Starwood's as many posters on other forums (such as United) have done.

Perhaps if both sides took time to understand where the other side was coming from some more of the old flyer-talk spirit could be restored. Mr Zhu sincerely hopes that the economy just has people stressed out because he has been very shocked by comments from long time posters who historically have been quite civil resort to name calling.