I noticed a few times that some members here are reacting very personal offensive or aggressive on some of the threads here (I don't mean only my own threads btw). What sense does that make?
flyertalk would be so much nicer if members just react on each other in a friendly manner, respecting each other. That's what lacking sometimes and that makes it much less attractive to be an active member here.

I agree with you completely.

This aggressive behaviour only serves to get people offside and push them toward other forums such as milepoint and Australian Frequent Flyer and away from flyertalk.

There is plenty of room here for everyone and after all isn't the purpose of FT to help each other?

I hear there is another copy cat site that caters to the hug fest crowd

This is in the grey area of Communitybuzz! so we're going to allow it just now and see what develops.

Jenbel & chrissxb
Co-moderators, Communitybuzz!

Flyertalk has changed over the years. There are several forums I don't even look at anymore for exactly the reasons you state, there are members who just have no respect for anybody and have to argue and name call and all the rest of the stuff that goes with it.

Not all the change has been for the better. It is no where near as friendly of a place as it use to be, there are just too many people ready to attack every post you make should you dare disagree with them. Part of that is the fact it's grown and there are considerably more people around, and part of it is it's allowed to go on.

I have thought the same thing over the past few years, that's one reason I don't participate as much as I used to.

It mirrors the development of the internet, don't you think? Well over a decade ago, the internet used to be a pioneering place for social networking through chat programs like ICQ. You really felt part of something big and new, it was exciting and everyone used to help each other. Now it's gone mainstream - well, you get all the negative aspects of humanity and general vitriol, too. Flyertalk only reflects this trend.

Maybe the moderators here should be more strict?

You do know that if you think somebody is being rude or otherwise annoying you always have the option to select the yield sign with the ! mark, right? That alerts the moderators to pay attention to a particular thread.

Not sure why people can't stop thinking that just because they're behind a keyboard and monitor there aren't human beings on the other side? As far as being "nice" to each other. i'm with others - my participation in certain forums is almost non-existent only because there are some people who are just downright nasty. Life's too short. Just skip the thread/post where it's antagonizing you.

thought discussion of moderation was a big no no

It certainly is, so I'd be grateful if we didn't go down that route much more. Besides... moderation is a bit of a cop out - we are all ultimately responsible for our own behaviour on FT, and moderation should be the line of last resort, not the first response. A community which sets its own standards of acceptability for levels of friendliness (or lack thereof) will work much better than one where it is imposed.

The discussion of specific moderator actions is not allowed, but the general discussion of moderation does not seem to be prohibited by the terms and conditions.


There is also the option to take it up a level with a message to Carol if you don't agree with the decision of a moderator after hitting the triangle.

flyingdutchman, it is true, there are a few folks who can't help themselves to be what I call incessantly and frivolously antagonistic - they want to be combative for its own sake. If you try to respond to them publicly they will continue to post and post responses until they "win". Don't waste your time with these folks, reasoned discussion and give and take isn't what they are really after. They are a priori determined not to be persuaded by any of your arguments anyway.

They are not the majority by any means, but sometimes their astronomically high post count may make them seem so. That tells you something about their personalities.

I particularly recall how much more amicable a place this was when only people who spelled it behavior were posters. Once behaviour arrived (which by the way, FT recognizes as misspelled), it all went down the loo.

FT is like society. You'll get friendly people, crabby/mean people, self-inflated people, argumentative people, super-talkative people, gracious people, and helpful/informative people.

Each of us can only be responsible for our own behavior, and hopefully most of us fall into the friendly/gracious/helpful/informative category.

But not all will. In those instances you can do a # of things: put the individual on your ignore list, discuss the topic & ignore the jibes re: of whether the other person does or not, report bad post, PM the mod of the forum or contact the Community Director. You can also feel sorry for the person that something in their life makes them crabby or mean or self-important & argumentative, and be glad it's not you.

Also, since FT is comprised of people from around the world, realize that what one might interpret as agressive or mean is not meant that way, but might be part of a particular culture's method of communicating. Heck, even in the US someone from NYC is probably a tad more 'direct' than someone from the South (realize that's stereotyping, but is being used for example purposes only).

And - FT does have TOS. Someone can disagree w/ you on a topic, but if they make a personal attack that violates TOS & they can be subject to suspensions, etc.

Enjoy FT, and don't be afraid to go into forums. Remember they need friendly civilized folk to post

Cheers.