Originally Posted by JMR
Let's now laser in on the subject that has been avoided - what is the point of having a mileage run forum where people are discouraged from posting mileage run ideas? And even more specifically, should posters who do share details be barred from the MR community?
I have to say, I'm surprised to see such vehement opposition to the sharing of information in a forum supposedly dedicated to the sharing of information. The first time I ever noticed it was in a specific, recent thread--before that I have NEVER seen anybody publicly called upon to edit information OUT of their posts. Indeed, much more common was the call for MORE information, not less.
Now it appears there are people who have decided that we here are directly responsible for loopholes being closed by our behaviour, and so the less information posted the better. In that spirit I offer you this hypothetical:
"I found a fare today for $138. Up to 25,000 miles available. PM for details. Nobody post any further details as the airline might find it and shut it down."
It's a slippery slope, people, and I really am amazed to see people so stridently calling for a policy change. On the one hand, it does seem that common sense should win out, and really crazy stuff should be kept quiet. On the other hand, that is in
direct conflict with the idea that this is a forum where
everybody can benefit from the sharing of information.
Until very recently, it was not uncommon at all to see routing rules cut and pasted in to a discussion about a good MR fare, including from some of the most prolific and knowledgeable posters here. If that is no longer what people wish to have happen, fine, but it's quite a shift in philosophy.
A related point: this has been one of the best/worst years ever for deals. Going back through Fiji, Watertown/Lebanon, the European deals, Portland, the deal from the US to India...and then of course the hotel deals, it seems like I can't remember any year with the sheer quantity of different screwups that have occurred this year. It's somewhat disingenuous to believe that more attention won't be paid to preventing these mistakes from happening in the future, as a) more mistakes have attracted attention and b) people have taken them to the logical extreme and beyond.
I hope I have a high enough post count to be "allowed" to say this.