robb, I most definitely share your concern about posting on this topic and that is exactly my point.

FlyerTalk has always been my favorite cyberspace specifically because it was populated by gracious, civilized, highly intelligent and sophisticated world travelers who drove the direction of the board by their very amazing wisdom, and sometimes craziness and spontaneity (witness the PIP which was once just a whacky glimmer in the eye of someone in The Buzz. I don't even remember who had that goofy idea in the beginning, but WOW do I ever remember where that idea went. It scares me that posters are now hesitant, even frightened, to say what they truly believe.

This site has changed my life much for the better both in terms of wonderful friendships earned, phenomenal experiences and the most delightful broadening of my almost crochety old mind. Trust me, 5 years ago the idea of hopping off to Singapore for a quick business meeting and the celebration of Hunki's big 60, would have been beyond my comprehension, whereas I now suffer the jetlag from that wonderful notion. My old friends actually believe that I may have gone mad these last few years, but, of course, my children think that we have become wonderful (maybe slightly nutty) old adventurers rather than stodgy old parents.

You are further absolutely right, however, that we must make every effort to try to go with the flow and I am most certainly trying to understand the logic behind these new policies and work with them to the best of my ability. It would, however, be much easier if I had an understanding of the reasoning and ultimate goals driving these decisions. They, at this point just seem rather random, frivolous and ............ I don't know what.

You are further right that if, in the end, the new policies do indeed help achieve the ultimate goal, then they will have proven successful and I will be wrong in my assessments (a not unheard of reality). I promise, however, never to say, "I told you so".

My only point in posting my experience is to help the powers that be at FlyerTalk understand that the new procedures and policies are cumbersome for ordinary posters like me and discourage the easily confused like me from posting. If, however, on the other hand, this new plan encourages thousands of other people to post more, and that is the ultimate goal, then it will have succeeded.

I apologize if my posting my opinion and experience is in any way counter productive to the new goals. That is most certainly not my intent. I just want FlyerTalk to remain the wonderful meeting place for the ultimately hip old and young world travelers that it has always been.