The Talkboard requests your input....
 

It's been noticed and commented on that sometimes things posted in this forum don't get a lot of attention. Sort of like being put on a low shelf in the grocery store..your issues may not be getting the optimal viewership.

First of all, do you feel that its an issue?

If so, what do you think could be done about it?

... disband the forum and post everything in travelbuzz?

... combine this forum with some of the other specialty forums like Travel with children, religious travelers, etc to give it some extra volume power?

... something else brilliant that I haven't thought of?

Please post your opinion, or feel free to send a PM to myself or any other member of talkboard should you care to share your feelings on a less public venue.

I like having a seperate forum, but it doesn't get much traffic. I'm not sure what is best to do, but I'll think about it.

There is a difference between forums based on special interests (eg: Religious Travel or Women's Travel) and those based on special needs (this forum, Travel with Children, the proposed Travel with Pets).

Those based on special interests have absolutely nothing in common with each other or with special needs forums.

The special needs forums do have a bit in common. An airline or hotel which has demonstrated its willingness to help people who have one particular need is more likely to do the same with others with different types of needs.

So, yes, combining special needs forums is a good idea but don't include special interests forums in that package.

The Women's Forum is doing well enough to stay on its own, as is the GLBT Forum. The remaining special interest forum is the Religious Travel Forum. I suggest that TB do what it originally intended to do -- give it a full year trial, see what kind of activity it has had, and then either keep it or transfer all of its threads to CommunityBuzz.

As of right now, oddly enough, it is running about 50% behind the schedule that some TB members had hoped for as far as threads are concerned but at twice the rate that was hoped for in regards to posts.

I'm torn.

I think there are several distinct groups of users for this forum. One is (for lack of a better word) newbies (at disability) who are looking for information. The existence of this forum, with some dedicated readers who have the needed information, means they're more likely to get useful answers than they would in an airline-specific forum.

Another group is the experienced disabled travelers. Here the situation is almost the reverse - if a question is asked about a particular airline's policy or practice in some extremely subtle area, the people who either know the answer or are in a position to influence that policy or practice are probably not reading this forum, they're in the airline-specific forum.

I wish there was a responsible way to cross-post - kind of like tagging a post with multiple items.

Originally posted by Katja

I wish there was a responsible way to cross-post - kind of like tagging a post with multiple items.

I could envision a scenario in which cross-posting would be reasonable. Recently, there have been threads on this forum re: Virgin and United which, IMHO could have been appropriate topics for those airline forums and this forum. General issues re: Disability Travel should continue to be posted here. However, when airline-specific issues arise, than I could see the case for cross-posting.

Well, I have a strange issue with this forum - for some reason it defaults to showing only the last day's threads. All other fora on Flyertalk show the last 10 days.

If this is happening to everyone it may account in part for the "smallness" of this forum.

I agree that cross-posting is needed with the airline specific forum, when an airline specific thread comes up. Perhaps the moderator could post a summary to the appropriate forum with a link to the thread here? Better, is there any way in the software for one thread to be in 2 fora?

Audrey

I'd prefer to keep it. It is certainly low traffic, but it is a specific location to look for disability-related issues.

One solution, since part of the low traffic is perhaps people not knowing where to look - perhaps an identifier on the FT home page specifically identifying all special interest fora, with permanent links so those that aren't familiar are presented with some visibility. LEave the special topic/interest fora where they are, but flag to targeted links.

Audrey - maybe it's just your setup. I don't check this forum very often, but my default for this forum is "past month" - all other forums are "last 10 days".

Those that check this forum have a special interest in issues that deal with disabilities. I for one am glad it is small. I also agree with the cross-posting option - when necessary.

Actually, it's not my settings - all other fora come up with 10 days but this one with one day.

However, today this forum came up "last month". I guess the FlyerTalk gods heard me!

Audrey

So maybe the answer should be keep the Disability Forum as is, but allow (or not frown on) reasonable crossposting?

This thread would seem to be a good example of one which could be cross-posted in TravelBuzz and Disability Travel.

Yes, I was looking at that earlier today - logistically, how would crossposting work? Just post a link to the thread as its own topic? In this case, the OP is getting a lot of good responses; readers of this forum wouldn't necessarily keep up with responses as they occur.

Do what you did this time. Put up a link on the home page, "The Talkboard requests your input" whenever there is something here of interest to the rest of us.

Given the sensitive nature of some people's disabilities and the insensitive nature of some FTers, I think it is good that this is a separate forum for the disabled, even if it is not well-travelled. I don't have a problem with cross-posting as long the OP of a particular thread doesn't mind.

Steve

That's a good point. I do agree with it.