<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Randy Petersen:

For those that portray OMNI to be a social club, sorry to dissapoint you. The only purpose to changing the way that members can post in OMNI is to filter out spammers and those that spoof other members with instantly created memberships to flame others. It also, as noted elsewhere, allows us to suspend a member solely in the OMNI forum in more real time if their behavior warrants such. We've found that some members are mild-mannered when it comes to information of miles and points but then flame out in OMNI over a topic of renown. Balancing the two types of topics (miles and points vs. today religion topics and the politics of the California recall) require us to be reasonable and above all understanding. Reminds me of people I know that are among the best in the world in every day life but if they get around alcohol they become a whole other person. This approach is to keep some away from the alcohol and let them live on as great contributors to FlyerTalk on topics we love to hear most about - miles, points and travel.

Some suggestions from members we passed on: never reopening OMNI and charging members money to post in OMNI or requiring members who post in OMNI to have a 'legit' email address, not one from yahoo or hotmail, etc. What say you about our choice to allow members to continue to enjoy OMNI? I am personally convinced the changes are for the right reasons - the members themselves and their right against posting harassment.</font>