ClueByFour

I'm not going to pile on--what's said has been said, and I agree in one form or another with most of what's been written.

I think one of the shortcomings of the current talkboard makeup and with some of this year's candidates is the tendency to treat one's membership on the Talkboard as an excuse to promote one's personal agenda about what Flyertalk should be. In this case, trying to make the Talkboard have moderator oversight is just another shining example.

I don't believe Randy intends for Flyertalk to be ruled by the tyranny of the majority (while I don't believe that the small percentage of members run on the "expand the talkboard to include moderation purview" represent a majority, it could hypothetically happen). He and the Internet Brands folks are not going to alter the Terms of Service to allow swearing, regular insults against other members, and off-topic posts even if the member-elected Talkboard were to vote to allow such. As an ancillary thing, I'd personally love to see Randy and the Internet Brands folks detailing exactly what they believe the Talkboard should be (a refresher of sorts) so that the membership might keep that in mind while reading candidates platforms and what is written in this forum. It would be, I believe, enlightening, especially in threads like this one.

I also believe that Randy was quite deliberate in making the Talkboard member-elected and the Moderators "management chosen." That system has worked well for many years and allowed FT to grow into the premier bulletin board for points and miles. As I mention in my platform--why mess with what works?