I have been slow to respond to this survey as this is indeed a very serious question that required deep thought. Having an official EK lurker here has many potential ramifications to what is my favorite forum on Flyertalk. The posters here tend to be fairly small in number and somewhat tightly knit compared to most of the other fora. The group is, in my own opinion, diverse and filled with extremely knowledgable flyers who tend toward being even tempered, fun (and champagne) loving, and sometimes fiercely loyal to the Emirates brand. With that said here is my input:
Q1: Yes, with some qualifications
Q2: I would very much like to see an official lurker who is empowered by Emirates to answer tough and sometimes complicated policy questions regarding their company's operations as well as to help explain the details in new policy rollouts. I do not believe this forum would be a good location for EK to help sort out individual flyer's issues but rather to qualify policy and exceptions in broad strokes. A lurker could potentially bring information to the table that would be useful for all of us in the forum but I also understand the hesiation of some who feel they might only regurgitate the website language and be a mouthpiece for the company. For this reason, I think that Emirates would need to understand that we are a very serious group of individuals who have a very high level of understanding about their company policies, hard and soft product. If Emirates feels they can add to our knowlege base and be willing to not sculpt threads to fit their own PR goals, then I would gladly welcome them into this space.
Q3: Best resources for me have been Flyertalk, EK website, EK mobile app, an occasional google search and Experflyer in that order. I am also a believer that social media is not useful to me when I am searching for serious answers.
Other notes:
I understand fully the fear that some here have that a lurker could change the feel of this forum and that people wouldn't want to give enough personal information to be identified by the company for fear of retribution, etc. I believe Emirates knows quite well who their good customers are and will continue to reward and respect them. However, I think having a specific location for them to act would be beneficial to everyone. It has been mentioned before but I definitely agree that having a sticky such as "Ask the EK Lurker" would define everyone's spaces and allow for free speech elsewhere while still gaining the potential benefits of their knowledge and connection to the company. I applaud Emirates in considering spending the resources to help the members of the Flyertalk community. I just hope that if it happens it is set up in a way which offers every one of us something without taking anything away. This is a big task but I believe our mods our up to meet the challenge!