The new format isn't that difficult to use. I do check Travel and Airports every so often (probably more often than the average FT'er).

However, if people aren't interested in posting to a bulletin board with a certain setup, you can't force them to do so. You can force it after the fact (locking the thread and moving it to the correct location), but that discourages posting altogether, as we've seen today.

I know FT isn't a for-profit venture, but you should pretend like you're trying to make a profit by attracting as many customers as you can, given your "product" (a bulletin board).

In other words, what is the point of having a particular setup if no one likes it? This isn't an elementary school, where you have to be here and you have to follow the rules.

I really like FT, and I personally don't mind visiting the different boards. However, if "Buzz" traffic (Miles+Travel Buzz) drops by 90% just so some rules can be followed, what good does that really do?


Proposal

Create an additional forum above MilesBuzz (i.e., the first one, and make MilesBuzz the second). Call it "The Buzz" or something to that effect. Let people put anything in there that doesn't *obviously* belong in another forum.

If someone posts a topic "I love F100 middle seats" in Miles Buzz, move it to "The Buzz". But most people will put topics like that in "The Buzz" to begin with, because it's the first forum and has the most traffic.

Then, on the FlyerTalk Travel board, delete TravelBuzz, Hotels and Online Booking (all three are already buzz-y). Leave the other forums as they are very specific. Posting a question about B&B's in the B&B forum is at least as effective as posting a question about B&B's in The Buzz.

Under the old setup, General TravelTalk got more traffic than "The Buzz!", if I remember correctly. And General TravelTalk was the second forum! "The Buzz!" got some non-miles question because it was the first forum. So, putting the non-miles Buzz back here as the very first forum would, in my opinion, be even better than the old setup.

[This message has been edited by JS (edited 08-16-2001).]