CX Talk...
 

If someone were to bring CX talk back online, how many would be interested?

Unlikely. Guy Betsy seems to have too much fun here.;)

I mean no offense to FlyerTalk, but I really want a site that is completely dedicated to HKIA, CX, and KA. I may not seem active, but I am a constant lurker, reading up on many old threads, and I realy want to bring back a site completely dedicated to the CX/KA airlines, but I hope that someone else out there also shares my passion so that it won't be me talking to myself! :D

I agree with CXfan - why would I go anywhere else but FT?

The other sites don't get the eyeballs / responses that FT does.

Yes, FT is making somebody (IB) money, but it is also providing a service and community that I have received a lot of value from (especially when it is questions around something like CX, which is not my primary airline).

I cant see why not. The Singapore Airlines equivalent does well. - http://www.sqtalk.com/

If you get enough people i will host if for you if you like? I have a webserver that isnt doing much at the moment. I would like to see a site like this going.

Cathaytalk was hacked back then and all datas were lost. It has been almost three years since the site was last functioning. Unless someone is willing to invest with their personal expense, I don't see it happening again.

I could possibly try to bring it back, but perhaps with some cost cutting measures? (Not vBulletin, maybe some advertisements like FT)? Would that be a no-no?

I'm confused. What could / would CX Talk offer that cannot be done here?

I don't see this being possible.
It's not like the CX forum has a very large amount of followers.
And what about some of us, that fly some long-haul CX but credit to AAdvantage?
I can probably name out a couple of AAer that fly alot of CX, myself included.

That being said, the CX forum probably could have more info on KA for example.
And that stupid 77W instead of 773 question we get on long-haul US flights, this question seems to be asked every 2 wks!

The key difference between here and the old CathayTalk was that this forum is, on the whole, populated by a more mature type of person, and by those who actually do travel extensively (or have done so in the past). CathayTalk was populated largely by (apparently) teenage spotters the highlight of whose year might be one flight on CX, and the rest of whose time was spent trying to second guess CX's management on every aspect of running an airline whilst having absolutely no clue whatsoever. Insofar as CathayTalk had competition it came from airliners.net, not from FT.

Seems like duplication of effort and splitting of userbase and knowledge is not a good thing.

It seems also that old regulars here who flew a lot no longer fly as much, probably due to job/lifestyle changes. This forum, some 5 years ago, was populated by a bunch of serious diamonds and alas they don't fly CX as much anymore. This has been FT's (and our) loss. Veterans that immediately come to mind are GB and Christep.

I'm not sure if it is because they don't fly much anymore or that FT has changed and the oldies have been turned off by the current bunch of FTers. I still remember when FT was a small friendly bunch of people who freely posted without worrying about being flamed all the time! :(

You are spending too much time on the BA Board. Although the QF and CX boards are smaller and have less characters with eccentricities, they also tend to be more constructive and friendlier, in just the way you describe.

Christep is still around, saw a new post from him yesterday, I think.

I'm still around but I'm basically not flying at the moment, hence I don't have much to say in this or the OW forum because my knowledge is way out of date. I still chip into the HK forum quite a bit for the benefit of inbound travellers though.

I'm trying to remember who else that were CX Diamonds that have since slowed down, maybe it's before my time.

Not so much for the CX forum, I will agree with this on the AA forum, newbies and sometimes even regulars really get flamed there.
Travel/Security forum is no better unfortunately :(

+1

Seriously as the time has progressed, I'm getting more and more weary of reading through the threads of the CX board here. I used to post more often here in the past compared to now. Problems such as same posters needing to start repetitive threads for the very same topic that he/she had already initiated in the past, posters needing to start a new thread for every single question related to his/her upcoming same trip instead of putting all of them in one thread, the need for some people to start a new thread for uneccesary topics such a 5-10 minute schedule change in the timetable, people starting OT threads such as what to do in NYC, what to do in Toronto - topics that not only are completely unrelated to discussions about CX, but topics that have a separate forum to be discussed in and people still have the gall to start them here. :rolleyes: and most importantly people too lazy to read through the FAQs and/or make good use of the search function by polluting the boards with the same questions asked over and over again tend to plague the CX board more often than some of the other airline forums (also here in FT) that I also regularly participate from my observations.

When I first came here in Dec 2003 after lurking for so many years prior to that, the board was filled with quality, mature posters that really made the forum a joy to read and participate in which in many ways have also helped me learn many things I previously was not too knowledgeable on. This pleasure continued into 2005 and carried over to CathayTalk in 2005-2006. Since then many of those valuable contributors have limited presence or are no longer around simply because they no longer fly CX and/or are fed up with the annoying and/or juvenile antics that have often been the norm here nowadays. Granted there are still a few knowledgeable regular posters in this board (but very little and not much), but the overall quality witnessed these days is nowhere close to where it once were and boy how I miss those days.

Sorry for the rant, but am completely frustrated at what I'm seeing these days.

I probably don't feel quite as strongly, but you make a fair point.

I would be interested if there's a CXtalk, Just like SQtalk.

Completely agreed! I think we should just focus on this forum instead of starting a new one (or revive an old one). It's also likely that people would cross-post between the two forums for the same question.

I can understand what you are trying to say, but please don't target on specific age group. I myself had been a teenager untill less than a year ago, and hopefully I've not been behaving in the way you described above.

I agree with your thoughts.

And I would actually support CX talk if it was started again!

I can definitely understand Christep's viewpoint here.
I would say in general that frequent flying is a hobby or a practice mostly done by age 25+.
For instance, I still consider myself as a teenager in some ways as I'm still in my early 20's and I'm very happy that I've had the opportunity to be a very young OW Emerald that not many people would have an opportunity for.
That being said, I recognize that I particpate in adult style forum and I should represent myself in such way.

Therefore, CXtalk never gave me the same attractors as FT have due to different crowds.

I definitely with you here as well Rejuvenated. The frustration have definitely have built over the years since I've been a contributor to this forum. Over the last year, I definitely have seen some repetitive topics which kept being asked was causing some annoyance. We also saw some threads which were more prediction/airliners.net style thread which I didn't see being very helpful in this forum.

Hopefully we can see some change soon but I'm not hopeful :(

I wish we could have more moderators here which would keep things more in check and help raise the quality of the forum.

There's another one on training at the moment who will move here in due course.

The one big difference between CathayTalk and here was that there was a mixture of Cathay passengers and staff over at the former. There were also more asian based and asian speaking members. Whilst the CX forum here serves CX flyers, and Asiamiles and MPC members, a good number of members who come to the CX forum are first time / irregular flyers, but are US based who are redeeming award space and want to ask questions. Over at CathayTalk, these are the minority.

When I was invited by CX to the "Light Up the Sky" event in HK last December, I met some of the CX team members responsible for social networking and they have personally asked me to restart CathayTalk as they felt that CX members and passengers need something more.

The biggest issue I am facing is manpower. When the old CT was formed, there were a few (then)ex-FTers who wanted to help out in creating a new social forum. That was when there was a mutiny here on FlyerTalk in the days leading to the mass walkout. Some went over to CT, some just left and didn't post on either forum anymore.

CT had then two administrators and about at least 15 moderators. The hosting site was through a fellow FTer who offered free hosting through his company. CT existed from 2005-2008. At one time, CT was running and similar topics posted on both CT and FT. But then one day, everything stopped and disappeared. The rumour was that CT was hacked. But I suspect the hosting company was sold without CT's knowledge and that the internet forum running the forums failed to notify CT when they didn't know who we were. The 'mystery' was never solved or resolved.

At that time, valuable information from the CT FAQ were virtually irreplaceable and it was just too hard to start from scratch. CT didn't have the enthusiasm it did when it first started, and many members just could not be bothered to post in two forums when I asked if anyone was interested in a new CT. The other administrator faded away and then reluctantly, I had to lay CT to rest.

If I can find some interested parties, in helping out 'man' and administer the forum site, CT may rise again like a phoenix.

:)

As a twice a week longhaul regular flyer with CX, I would love to help.

To a large extent, I agree with christep that a large number who participate in CX discussion boards are those that behave in that "teenage spotter" types. They are not necessarily "all" teenagers in age as they can easily be full grown adults with mindsets that are not matured. While at the same time there could easily be teenage posters who post like 25+ year old adults and you never know they are teenagers unless you ask privately for their age or they voluntarily give out that information. But however I believe, that "teenage spotter" type of behaviour was not only largely limited to CathayTalk, but has often been the case with the CX board here as well especially ever since CathayTalk became defunct. Hence my comment about 'juvenile antics' on my previous post.

Regardless whether or not there is a need for another board or not isn't my main concern. But rather will this and those problems voiced out earlier be kept to a minimum - whether it be here or on another board. And thus far these problems aren't showing any signs of slowing down.