cactuspete said:

"...go take a look at one of the other FF boards, www.frequentflier.com . While there often is interesting information posted there, it becomes useless in a matter of hours because there is absolutely no organization to the board. Everything is posted in one forum.

...Perhaps the definition of Miles Buzz could be tweaked so that it was more of "FlyerTalk Buzz", which is how I always thought of it anyway."

CP, I think these are great comments/suggestions.

I hope people don't feel that I am or have been advocating anarchy and the absence of any structure.

In fact, I have said on a couple of occasions that establishing the “ideal” organization/structure for this community (as if such a Platonic ideal actually exists?) is probably more of an art than a science, something which inherently evolves based on trial and error.

I view what we’re going thru as part of that process. My only true frustration is with the suggestion that there’s something wrong with providing feedback/suggestions on how this is working and therefore the stifling of the discussion itself. This is done both directly and by some of the harsh/insulting/demeaning words that have been directed towards some of the posters who have challenged the current status quo.

CP, I also applaud your suggestion of expanding the definition of MilesBuzz to a more general Buzz…

Somewhat more controversially, perhaps, I would also encourage FT “management” to lighten up on overall topic enforcement, because the "market" seems to do a good job of taking care of itself here...but would ask moderators to edit offensive posts (even here, there probably will be some disagreement over the definition of "offensive"), and to otherwise help instill civility when the tone starts to disintegrate.

My presumption is that very few people really intend to be mean-spirited in their responses, and unintentionally lapse into something which is overly aggressive/hostile…to the extent I have done any of that I certainly apologize…I would think most of us would accept/welcome a response from a moderator, as an experienced independent observer, highlighting disturbing elements of a post and asking if the poster really meant to go that far, or advising that the way something was presented could be construed as a personal attack…?

[This message has been edited by nologic (edited 08-17-2001).]