I think I can address this and thanks as always for the note and the question.

Some background in two areas. For almost as long as FlyerTalk has been around, it has been a sort of an incubator for services for the traveler. FlyerTalk provided the attention and traction that allowed these various entities to blossom. Among those are SeatGuru, ExpertFlyer, KVS and others. So indeed there is a history of adoption of even commercial interests among our members and our history. But let's take a look at the difference of what commercial messages are. I think the practice on FlyerTalk is that we have little problem with commercial interests that can be of direct benefit to our members. BUT, we do not want any commercial messages that are here as an advertisement. In the examples above, the founders of SeatGuru, ExpertFlyer and even KVS have been active as general members as well, not totally here to sell something. We look for engagement in the community and while I would be the first to understand that is a fine line, at least we have the best interests of our members in mind. And while I think personally these types of Websites and services could be handled and managed better, there is no denying they have been useful to some of our members. And again, engagement in the community.

As to your question about AutoSlash, actually there is a very good story behind that which I happened upon when researching an answer for you. The founders of this new Website have been extremely above board in regard to FlyerTalk. In fact, they contacted our Moderator corps on May 29 with a post and questions. They wanted to alert the Moderators as to what they were thinking but also get a formal review if doing so would violate the commercial messages rules. As you can see by the thread you mention, they did not post that until more than a week later when the feedback from the Moderators indicated much of the same as I have alluded to above -- that others have come before with similar commercial interests and have been allowed to participate and engage the membership. But what I like most about AutoSlash, is that they actually approached FlyerTalk in advance to get a ruling and feedback BEFORE starting their thread and announcing their new Website. Most do not, so high marks for AutoSlash so far.

As for others being shot down for posting to promote new sites, that is highly likely that they had no plans for engaging or being part of the community. When asked, I always tell potential Websites to simply become members of FlyerTalk and make a reputation for being a helpful member first well before trying to simply enroll to pitch something. In the case of AutoSlash, I noticed that the member starting and announcing this new service has more than 6,000 posts as a member and in fact actually even has run for the TalkBoard as a candidate in the past. I think that's an indication of what is positive about this particular new Website as opposed to others.

Anyway, hope this answers your interest and if not, let me know where I might offer any additional insight.

Any thanks for your constant support of FlyerTalk.

Randy