Dear Randy,

It is clear to me, and perhaps to most members, that it will never be possible to make everyone happy regarding having/not having an OMNI-like forum. And, I appreciate that you didn’t start this Board to become the playground monitor, so this entire OMNI distraction, and the spillover to other forums, must be a tad frustrating.

Why not let somebody sponsor a "lounge" offsite? There could be some kind of disclaimer such as: "Flyertalk is about points and miles, but for everything else you can retire into the lounge--accessed at www.flyinglounge.com, which is brought to you by members so and so. While your Flyertalk user name and password remain valid, Flyertalk has no official association or sponsorship of this site. Much like a back booth in a bar, you are free to discuss just about anything, just don’t carry on your disputes, if any, back here on Flyertalk."

This way, the inmates get to run their own private asylum without tainting the mission of Flyertalk. You would be taking part of your BB private, so to speak.

I know that someone(s) will point out the downside(s); one just doesn’t come to mind right now.

Sincerely, your cyber-pal, Jailer