<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NJDavid:
...As a slightly more exclusive community of verified participants, Flyertalk or a similar site could have been a place with dignity and sophistication – a real voice for the frequent traveler, communicating with the sell side of the industry with a strong and respected voice. Instead, it is a place that is replete with fake IDs, where it’s just as likely that the guy you’re chatting with is either a real million miler or a high school kid with an imagination. As such, no one in the travel industry takes it as seriously as they could. That’s not meant to be an insult – it’s just the facts and a shame...</font>
Very well said and very sad. When I started posting on FT a few years ago, the DL forum was a place of great knowledge and resources. It is now a place that is filled with people who defend DL to know end, are not interested in helping increasing ones accumulation of miles, and whose sole purpose seems to be to disrupt and discredit the bbs. This has happened in the past, and will happen again unless some type of process is put in place to curb such behavior. Banning people is not enough, positive verification of some type is required. Otherwise, FT will stay what it is now, a public form with no respect from those who matter the most.