My opinion is that if a thread cannot be moved to another forum (e.g., Miles to Travel), it should not be closed.

What purpose is served by closing a thread? It doesn't save time for those who read only a few boards, because the locked thread is still there (until it gets overtaken by more recent threads).

Even on PlaneBusiness, which has some pretty hefty moderation, the moderators would never close a thread due to mis-placement. They always move the thread (actually a copy), or if there is already another thread on the appropriate board, they cut & paste the posts of the closed thread into the appropriately placed thread if the posts are worthwhile. That's no easy task, and they are volunteers as well!

I don't believe splitting up into four separate boards did any good at all. The only useful board outside of Miles & Points is TravelBuzz, which is basically the old General TravelTalk but without as much traffic. Many of the new boards have a handful of posts, most of which are "Wow, cool, a whole board just for ..."


BTW, I consider myself to be an organized person. Yet all my underwear and socks are in the same drawer. The time required to separate the two is not worth it, and there is a strong correlation between that and the new FT categorization!