Originally Posted by Jenbel

Here's my problem with mega threads.

(I'm going to reference it with a thread which neatly shows the problem. This is not meant to be a dig at the forum mods, it's just one thread which I am aware of which shows one of the issues with hotel mega-threads).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/hilto...a-rosales.html

This is a hotel thread about a hotel which hasn't been stayed in much. The thread commenced in 2003. Between 2003 - 2009, there were five posts in the thread, all of which asked questions about the property, and all of which went unanswered. As a public service (and it was entirely fortuitous I found this, I did a search for Bogota across FT and noticed there was a thread about the hotel I had stayed in), I posted a review of the hotel in 2009. So we've had 6 years of a thread ostensibly about a hotel, but in which there was no concrete information provided to those seeking information.

But of course, because there is a mega-thread, then everyone assumes that there will be information on the property in the thread, so unless they are particularly interested in it, they don't bother to read the thread and contribute answers to the questions. Then we get a bit of interest in it following my review, a few folks stay there, or admit to staying there, but by June, this year, we are back to having questions go unanswered again.

I would guess, on most forums, a thread with 0 replies would have some folks looking to see if they they could help out in some way. But a question in a mega-thread which goes unanswered is lost for ever... you have to be interested in the property to notice that someone needs help.

At the other end of the scale, the popular or well known hotels can spawn threads which are hundreds of posts long. If I'm looking for information on a particular aspect of a hotel (and not just a general review), I really don't want to read through hundreds of posts which are unrelated to my query. I'm almost forced to ask the question, which may have been asked before, because the information is not that easily found in a mega-thread. And of course, if no-one answers... I'm stuffed because the question might go easily unnoticed, or lost in the deluge.

Mega-threads can be great for storing information of a general nature about a particular property. But they are often not so great when it comes to being able to find very particular information, or sometimes get a question asked and answered. And that goes back to - what is the function of FT?

Originally Posted by Canarsie

As one of the forum moderators of the Hilton forum where that thread resides, I just researched your question — and no, I do not take what you posted as a “dig” at all. I am always open to constructive feedback.

I did a search for “Bogota” in the Hilton HHonors forum, and all I found was that one thread with content posted 13 times to it overall, including your trip report. Should that thread be split up right now into multiple threads?

Typically, the way the Hilton HHonors forum is set up is that each Hilton HHonors property — with the exception of threads with minimal content, such as with the example above — have a minimum of two threads, each with a different purpose: a main general thread for questions and answers, and a “trip reports and reviews” thread so that FlyerTalk members may instantly get the “Trip Advisor light” experience without wandering through the clutter of questions and comments not related to the experiences of FlyerTalk members.

Some threads, such as certain Hawai’i property threads, have multiple threads assigned to more specific topics because they are rather lengthy. It is all in the name of assisting FlyerTalk members with finding the information they need as quickly and as easily as possible.

Finally — and I have done this many times in the past — if FlyerTalk members contact me about certain content in an existing thread that should be a separate thread in and of itself, I am usually more than happy to split out that content into its own thread. Some FlyerTalk members will even suggest a title for that new thread, and I usually oblige with that suggestion unchanged.

As I posted earlier......which means that by working together, we can help improve the searching of information and data on FlyerTalk as much as possible within the limitations of the technology that currently powers FlyerTalk.