Reply, part 1 (in case I have other thoughts later
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I'm not the only one who spends time on other forums - be they FT, aviation-related or other topics.
Since we're talking FT here, there are many things that come together to allow a community conversation to work: the participants, the management of topics/threads, the ability to find things and for me (and I'm sure others), the ability to have fun, help others and learn things.
We are all different ages, genders, come from different walks of life, have different educations and completely different skills sets - and face different challenges. Those are some of the basics. Add in those who drive by (are not regular participants here) and others who need help but can't explain their problem (language or communication barrier), and these are just some of the types of people who participate.
My observations include how people process information. This is really important. Some of us can find posts because we have an eidetic memory or we know how to use the right keywords with the right search mechanism.
As for threads, we have some decent master threads which often get ignored when people post asking for something. Is it because it's been months since someone posted in one of those threads? Is it because some people prefer to start new threads ( which will eventually get moved/merged to one that already exists?
Then there are ongoing topics like meals. We have meal threads for pretty much all the North American and International cabins/classes of service. But then a thread was started in the Now Times, asking if anyone is travelling? Some people posted their food photos there. I don't mind but I prefer to post my menus and meal photos in meal threads to allow for easier search and comparison.
I've always really liked the work @
Carfield has done on the CX forum over the years with the dedicated threads to Menus. See his OP in this thread.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/cath...us-2020-a.html As such, I then tried to so similar when I created some Menu and Meal threads on the NH and NZ forums.
On AC FT where there is more posting activity of meals, we could have new threads with posts from Jan 2020 (just as the Now Times were starting), or some other more recent time frame. e.g. from the AA forum
Coronavirus Reduced Inflight Food and Beverage Restrictions as of 03/2020 and changes
In the Wiki of the master meal threads, include links to all previous years.
Another example is threads started asking which is the Best seat on X aircraft... for couples, for people traveling with children, and so on. IIRC, UA, NH and many others have threads with titles like "Best Seat on X's B789", Best Seat on Y's A330. I'm not a fan of the endless parade of new threads started by people asking "which is the best seat for....", but I understand why they do get started. The problem is, all of those threads end up exactly the same - 10 people 15 different options and so it goes.
This is often why - admittedly sometimes for amusement and sometimes to make a point, I post in a thread including all previous existing threads on the same topic that I could find.
These are some of my thoughts for now.
Thank you.