I've probably posted less than 100 times in Omni out of my 5500 total Flyertalk posts. So I won't miss it like oxygen like some here might. However I believe it did (does) have true value to our community. Moreover, I am sure that some innocent and helpful OMNI discussions will now move to other forums. I'm sure we all know that Flyertalk is a Community. That has an awful lot of value on the Internet these days. And more than most global internet communities, many of us actually meet in the real world. That has even more value because it carries a measure of trust.

So when a member of our Community has a question, he/she can ask that question here and get great answers from trusted people. Mostly these questions are of a direct travel nature. But sometimes they don't fit in one of the travel forums. I had such a question recently that I posted in Omni. I'm a new habitant in France and I asked for help in buying a car here. I got connected with a Flyertalker of some good repute who is working on helping me. Where else on the Internet could I get that? Flyertalk is my online community and I trust many of the people here. So next time I have such a question (if Omni is gone for good), I might ask on Travelbuzz and hope a moderator doesn't pounce on me for being off-topic.

Another way of looking at it is that the Internet is like a flowing stream. You can place rocks in the stream to block the water, but the water always finds a way through. If you put enough rocks in to stop all the water, you will find that leads to more dire consequences later.

I think Flyertalk has done a great job with Omni. Perhaps it could do better by shutting people off more regularly if they are mean, but shutting down the whole thing doesn't help us in the long run. It actually hurts us as a Community.