I'd never mind my friend Doc quoting me.

I'm aslo glad you resurrected this thread.
I think I missed this thread when it was originally started. I don't remember why, I
don't think I was away on vacation, I probably just saw the topic and decided not to read it.

I wish I had read it at that time, as some sound advice is contained here.

A couple of people talked about reading flyertalk selectively. Thats exactly what I do. I generally read CO,NW,HP,HILTON,STARWOOD forums. Those are the airlines/hotels I use. I havent flown US in over 6 years, I have zero interest in their FF program, so I dont read it.
I scan the Buzz/Community/General/News/Trip reports for topics that pertain to me.
I also look at who started the topic. Frankly there are people on FT I don't like or don't like what they post. I'm sure there are just as many FT'ers that feel that way about me. This is fine, nobody has to read anything they don't want to.