magician:
it may or may not make any difference to your discussion, but there really is a fairly active dialogue between the Moderators and IB with regard to the technical issues on FlyerTalk. While it may be handled differently than in the past, there really is not much if anything missing.

For instance, in additional to the normal active dialogues for things such as this issue, in the Moderator forum, there are two ongoing threads for general tech issues and whether you accept it or not, the Mods have done an outstanding job of letting IB know exactly what doesn't work.

For instance, in the two active thread launched since IB took over tech for FlyerTalk, there are currently 965 posts back and forth between the Mods and IB regarding tech issues. These posts have been read 9,812 times by both sides, so there is plenty of interest and while you may not want to hear this, a balance of the 80+ Moderators does make for a pretty well-balanced view of tech things and really is not any different than a reflection of our general membership base.

So, to your point, there is plenty of dialogue already existing and it has helped tremendously, though as you point out, there is certainly some distance to go. As well, in the particular issue you have in front of you, I think IB has been active on the thread devoted to the topic. so it's not that they have hidden away. As to how they go about making their tech decisions differently than what the House of Miles did, you can ask those questions in the existing forums Tech issues and Suggestions and likely to get some sort of replies. I really don't remember that you thought there needed to be a direct forum for you to talk to or dialogue with the House of Miles staff when we handled tech, so I'm not understanding the newer need. Granted, I have some but not all of the same anguish re: tech issues as you and hope that they've now understood the importance of a good search solution and as well the uptime of FlyerTalk, and they are well aware of those topics in my personal exchange with them.

I do believe that there are currently enough of a channel for dialogue to IB and that a different approach will not lead to different results. Again, look at the above numbers, your voice and concerns about certain tech issues is well-represented by your volunteer Moderators and there are any number of them who have not been shy at all with their opinions and comments toward IB.