BTW, since I wrote this, I have basically come to understand that the In The News forum is another community kind of forum.

You see debate, perspective, etc. on a variety of issues in there, and it's a little more OMNI-like than I think many would care to admit, but with a decidedly different (and absolutely more mature) tone.

However, also with that understanding came the realization that it's okay to have multiple social kinds of forums. AOL certainly has more than one chat room, and it's only natural that we should have more than one kind ourselves. Different people are just going to settle into different groups where the discussion strikes them as the type where they can really participate.

In fact, if we had multiple OMNI's rather than just the one (Silly OMNI, Political OMNI, News OMNI, etc.), we might not be in the mess we're in today.

So, sorry to ramble, but if I were to make changes to my proposals above, I'd have to say it would be these:

1. Absolutely keep Itineraries, but move it to Travel.

2. Absolutely keep In the News, but move it to the community section of Travel.

I might also add a suggestion I made somewhere else (not sure off the top of my head), and it's still not fleshed out, but I think a phenomenal forum for FlyerTalk would be a Help Me! forum. It would be used for any question on any FlyerTalk topic that you need an urgent answer to.

I think that there are dozens of FlyerTalkers who would love to spend their days answering questions in there, and a TalkTeam volunteer could move the topics (after a suitable time) to the proper forum for future searchers.

Like, I said, we'd really have to think about how it would work (could/should you cross-post? how long until you move it? do you post as you move it, so it bumps to the top of the home forum? do we need one for FTMiles and one for FTTravel? etc.), but I think if we figured it out, it would be one of the most widely read forums and a great way for FlyerTalkers to help other FlyerTalkers.

Oooh! What if posters put their questions in a regular forum and were allowed to post a link in the Help Me! forum (it could be post-only, no replies, like OMNI was for a brief while)? Like I said, just an idea, and I'm sure that we could figure out something.