It seems to me that for many the definition of what should be in a particular forum can be summarized as "If it interests me, then it should be in the forum, otherwise it belongs somewhere else." My perception is that the forums were broken up because those in this camp were much more vocal than those of us in the "I'll just ignore threads that don't interest me" camp.

(It appears obvious to me that the request for info on a hotel in Dublin was made in "The Buzz" because that's where the action is, and where it's likely to get the best response. Who's going to go to the FlyerTalk Travel forum except someone who's going to ask a question? And then what do you have? A bunch of people asking each other unrelated questions, occaisionally having an answer for one another.

If I don't need the advice, it's not likely I'm going to go there, and probably very few else will either. [I'm certainly not going to hunt through forum after forum, in the slim chance that I might have something to offer, especially if I don't currently have a question. On the other hand, if I see a question in passing as I'm perusing The Buzz, I'll happily jump in if I feel I can assist.] So the forum dies a slow and painful death. And so do the rest of the highly specialized forums, until we're all back at The Buzz, arguing about what belongs and what doesn't.)

The problem for me, as with many others, is that I'm not about to check 60 different forums just because there might be something of interest. What is happening is that each forum is effectively being diluted. And now with "competition" from such boards moremiles.org, that dilution is becoming ever worse. (I'm reminded of a Monty Python skit that begins "And now the news for parrots.")

If I want to see everything or interest (and don't we all) more forums simply makes it harder to find. I thought the previous FlyerTalk structure was close to ideal. Now I have to check two different BBSs, one with 4 major forums, and untold specialty forums.

Frankly, I like the idea of the Buzz being a free for all. The only thing I would request would be better Subject lines. While I'm glad I checked the "Amazing Passengers" thread, I didn't know if it referred to Bill Clinton and Ken Starr having a cordial discussion in seats 1A and 1B or a guy who's been on David Letterman's Stupid Human Tricks 4 times. If it was entitled "Amazing Passengers - Random Acts of Kindness" I could most likely determine immediately if it was of interest to me.

Likewise on the vast array of threads entitled something like "Need advice." My initial reaction to such titles is "get a lawyer" and then to ignore them. If the thread said "How can I escalate a lost baggage claim" I might have something to offer. In short, if you're asking for help, make it easy for us to offer it. Don't offer riddles and 20 questions.

I think we could all take a lesson from Doc's Subject titles. And go easier on the on the specialization.
____________________________________________

While I'm on about it, how 'bout a "Free-for-all" forum, where anything goes and and the forum's description reads "Enter at your own risk." I venture to say that in short order it will out pace all others.

Allow for threads to be posted in the "specific" thread as well as Free-for-all, or if possible, simply have the thread pointer appear in both forums. It would be similar to "Today's Topics" except that you wouldn't miss posts from say 21:00 until 23:59, and if you were gone for a few days you could still get a summary of everything that happened in the last 72 hours or 5 days or 90 minutes or ...

Just thinking aloud. I could be wrong, and often am. But I feel pretty certain about this one. FlyerTalk's astounding success happened because of the huge wealth of valuable information in one place. If we keep making forums more and more specialized then pretty soon we'll be just like the rest of the internet, with a zillion disparate and isolated tidbits of information spread over a wide and unwieldy horizon. The only way to find a substantial cache of useful information will be to do a google search. Especially since the FT search will only allow you to search one forum at a time.

[This message has been edited by Ken hAAmer (edited 07-22-2001).]