Others I am sure have asked Randy's thoughts on this at gatherings he has attended. I certainly did at some length when I had dinner with him here in Sydney last month.

I can only repeat what he said then, and that is he is very comfortable with how the FT board system works right now. He said it is a unmatched "listening post and pulse" for his core business (he has more than 30 staff) and was surprised at the general decorum and input level and wide range of opinions and nationalities of those using it, most especially compared to other internet chat fora on travel.

Many of the points DOC raises were discussed. Randy may of course shoot me down in flames here, but my take was that he was very comfortable with the way things are NOW. He did in fact mention a figure he was spending on an updated, faster and more efficient and feature packed board he is soon to install. It was not chicken feed and he was keen to go ahead. Running this board costs him a pretty sizeable figure each year, even taking off the moderate income from the banner ads. He mentioned it was money he was absolutely delighted to spend.

The speed and effectiveness with which the army of "stinging soldier ants" swarmed and repeatedly bit that "MileageGod69" idiot recently possibly indicates those on these boards can be relied on to "moderate" most outburts pretty quickly, and VERY effectively. That person went away pronto. The FT staff took a long time to act, and those of US here were the "police" in that instance. Not a few of us, but many dozens of us.

This board allows Randy "instant" feedback on things he may wish a prompt answer on from regular fliers. Like some others here I imagine, I received in the past 24 hours an email from David Field, the Aviation reporter for "USA Today" re the differences between airline business/first seats, asking if my comments on the board could be quoted. Randy raised this thread in "The Buzz" and the immediate input he received was clearly useful to "USA Today". I doubt any other avenue for fast, first hand input would be available to any newspaper, anywhere.

Randy did say the sheer volume of people using his boards is a tremendous “people meter” to draw upon for advice he may be asked to offer or proffer. In effect we are a plugged in, instantly contactable, educated and unpaid “staff” of several 1000 experts on their own areas of travel! He said many of his feature stories in “Inside Flyer” have emerged from FT threads, so we as a group are a prime resource for leads and info of new deals, promos, loopholes etc that otherwise he’d not be aware of. We teach HIM thing each and every time he scans the boards he commented.

Randy also said that FT is an essential “training ground” for any new staffers he engages. He commented ALL his staff are trained in multi tasking in all the other areas of his Flyer based businesses. He insists they spend a day or two in solid on line “lurking around the boards”, for them to better understand WHO his business is aimed at, what we seem to want and what we seem to dislike most etc. I can see on that basis FT does make a very useful and “real time" resource to be hosting.

In the "big picture" of Randy's business operation FT is a small sideshow I gather. We ourselves in the main possibly over-rate our influence and importance at times! In fact it costs quite a deal of money to run and maintain. But is a very important resource all the same that cross feeds live data to many of his core businesses.

I was fully expecting to be greeted at dinner by the odor of "Barbecued Ozstamps" based on the whooping of a small band of Indians on FT lately. I was half expecting to be banned for life from FT, invoiced a buck for every post I’d made, having my passport confiscated etc, but no such thing. I gather Randy especially values the input from those regulars OUTSIDE the USA as he often is speaking to operators and airlines not based in the USA – such as his meeting with the Flyer program people at Qantas for instance here earlier in that day. They listen as he KNOWS what the score is.

I am sure Randy appreciates that all people are different and have different styles and ideas and seemed quite comfortable with FT as it stands. He commented on the incredibly high education and presentation level of those who use his boards. I think he is was pretty proud of that, and mentioned what an absolute unregulated, foul mouthed mess some other travel boards have become.

Outside of deliberate and repeated profanity or real froot loop trolls like the “MileageGod69" types, it was my distinct understanding he personally does not have a problem with healthy interchange of ideas and views on his boards. He seems pleased that no official moderators have ever needed be appointed as the boards tend to find healthy balance in self regulation most of the time.

Randy mentioned he set up his “Flyer” empire about 15 years ago on a shoestring of a few $1000, and it has grown and been constantly fine tuned from there. I really have a lot of admiration for someone able to do that, and yet still be so enthusiastic about what he does, that he willingly went on the “Latin Pass” run via ten or whatever Latin countries in paid coach tickets, to get his million points! I really appreciate the superb resource Randy has offered us in hosting Flyer Talk.

I personally have learnt a huge amount from it in the 4 months I have been around here. I also did not want to be overstepping the line from his standpoint with very frequent posting, and introducing often controversial points of view, and raised these very issues specifically with him, as he after all is the one who sets the rules and pays the bills. He had hours of opportunity to take that conversation wherever he wished. Randy simply laughed and said he was absolutely comfortable with it how it stood, and would be comfortable with the input from a "dozen more Ozstamps" if they discovered his boards. (Loud groan from many in the peanut gallery here!) The wider the mix of postings and opinions and nationalities, the more representative and useful the board was to his organization AND to other board users was how I recall him responding.

He did say he really enjoys the FT gatherings he has managed to attend, and really believes there are some superb individuals who are regulars, and mentioned many warmly by name who he feels are fine people he has been delighted to meet and to know.

A lovely guy. Many of you know this from long association, and I suspect some have not yet had the opportunity to meet Randy Petersen. Try and do so if he attends any FT gathering you can make it to! Some of us are urging him to attend the "Altier" FT weekend in Dusseldorf Nov 10/13. As many as 50 FT'ers from all over the globe are flying in for that one. Watch Bernie's thread for constant updates on that in "FlyerTalk Community" Forum!


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~ Glen ~



[This message has been edited by ozstamps (edited 10-10-2000).]