SkiAdcock

My understanding is that for someone to get 'banned' from FT, they have to have violated FT TOS on multiple occasions with warnings, 1week & then lengthier suspensions before an ultimate ban. Methinks anyone who violates TOS that many times is probably shooting himself in the foot.

Cheers.

sbm12

And if you believe that the rules here are consistently and evenly enforced I've got a bridge to sell you.

ma91pmh

Yeah I guess in the same way that Chinese dissidents shoot themselves in the foot by making a stand for freedom of speech. I guess that makes them look bad and China look good?

SkiAdcock

You're seriously comparing someone getting banned from a travel IBB to a Chinese dissident?

Getting back to MP & on-topic

I do find it a bit funny when some of the MPers say to me that they come to FT because it has more info, but they like the social aspect of MP more. Me thinks Randy et al will need to do a bit more work before they sell FT 2.0 in the future.

Cheers.

ma91pmh

Yes I knew that was a bit far, but I was struggling to find a tamer analogy. The principal is the same, just on vastly different scale I accept

onthego15

The equivalent to My FlyerTalk is "Watched Threads". It works pretty much the same.
I spend far more time on Milepoint than on FlyerTalk. I find it much friendlier and easier to navigate.
I'm glad that both exist because each meet different needs for me.

LearningToFly

MP is more useful for Americans from the USA. Under another username, I'm Gold there, for what it means. But paying for what is called a Premium membership was my own mistake: what I bought was mostly designed for Americans from the USA (not for Canadians as an example).

On the other side, the tone is more friendly on MP, and flaming is not part of the culture. Plus it's easier to find some help there than it is here. Good luck on FT if you ask a question, especially if you're not a frantic poster. On FT you can often find without asking though, which is more difficult on MP due to the slowly buiding content.

Somebody previously wrote that things, among which corporate things (and I woud add charity work), are not always clear on MP. I agree with that.

MSPeconomist

I'm Gold and an Original Member on MP. I also participate in sqtalk and travelingbetter. I avoid TripAdvisor.

Randy Petersen

Randy Petersen

freeloader:
Interesting perspective here and thought I'd provide a little other perspective for you as I note you likely were not around during the early days of FlyerTalk (freeloader). I tend to try and use facts so you might find this really interesting, I know I do.

I noticed you think that the use of "TOBB" is sort of childish. Actually, that term has long been a part of how FlyerTalkers describe "other bulletin boards". In this post from 2002 (nine years before Milepoint) you see a FlyerTalk member using that term to describe another bulletin board. So while FlyerTalk really did not invent the term, its long been a term that FlyerTalkers use ... not really just Milepoint. So maybe not so childish?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/commu...k-copycat.html
(post #4)

One of the things I noticed when glancing at this (thanks to the member who sent me along a note re: the perspective) is how time has a way of changing perspectives. Here's a number of quotes from members on this thread about Milepoint, which in general terms describe it as a ghost town, moribund, etc.

I think we're all fortunate that a similar perspective was not part of FlyerTalk in its early days. Here's why. Below is a link to FlyerTalk and its forums in mid-2001, nearly six years after FlyerTalk started and nearly three full years after a major re-launch.
(the original FlyerTalk and building of topic and members started in late 1995. Here's a reference to FlyerTalk is 1996:
http://web.archive.org/web/199611070....webflyer.com/
"If you don't need help but would rather see what other people are saying about either your favorite program, or a program you know nothing about, you'll have to visit @flyertalk to find out what is being said. This is the only place on the internet where flyers are talking to flyers."

So, whether you count FlyerTalk from a relaunch in 1998 or its origins in 1995, by 2001 it was fairly mature, right? Well, let's take a look. We can't change the past on the Internet and below is a link to the Wayback Machine from April 2001 and it lists all the forums for FlyerTalk and their posts numbers. Milepoint is far less old (two years) than this FlyerTalk reference point (3-6 years old).

The point being that none of us early members ever complained or observed that FlyerTalk was a ghost town, moribund, etc. even at average ge of four with less content than Milepoint has at age two. I think that most were very happy having a place to exchange information with others, just as some are happy at Milepoint today. The only purpose of this info is to at least help you put things in perspective and appreciate that there are many frequent flyers out there who still need resources and we'd all be better citizens if we continue to try and help any and all of them ... without the need to disparage others. Being a FlyerTalker should mean pride in what we are doing, not at the expense of putting down others. Let's really create threads that help the traveler with information they need to be better travelers. And actually encourage others to do well at building additional resources. You see, the legacy of FlyerTalk is to always be a good citizen. For instance, in the thread above that references TOBB in 2002, you'll see in this post from then:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/1768660-post6.html
that I was referenced as posting them some support and wishing them good luck. That freeloader is the legacy of FlyerTalk and hopefully now that you have a chance to see and understand a bit more of the roots of FlyerTalk, you'll appreciate why being a good citizen for all travelers is the very best thing to be.

Appreciate the time to help you with this and here's to nothing less than continued great support of FlyerTalk.

Below is the comparison referenced above. I think you'll see that overall Milepoint is actually doing quite well for itself in helping travelers and like others, we wish them well. Now back to helping continue building FlyerTalk.

http://web.archive.org/web/200106031...m/boardsfr.htm

FlyerTalk at 3-6 years old | Milepoint at just over two years old

FlyerBuzz: 51,145 posts | General Miles & Points: 25,721 posts
General Travel: 36,407 posts | General Travel: 55,683 posts
Alaska Airlines: 1,125 posts | Alaska Airlines: 2,202 posts
American Airlines: 24,697 posts | American Airlines: 31,628 posts
British Airlines: 5,630 posts | British Airlines: 5,306 posts
Delta Air Lines: 22,569 posts | Delta Air Lines: 35,517 posts
Lufthansa Airlines: 3,519 posts | Lufthansa Airlines: 4,013 posts
Singapore Airlines: 1,092 posts | Singapore Airlines: 2,316 posts
Southwest Airlines: 729 posts | Southwest Airlines: 1,209 posts
US Airways: 6,875 posts | US Airways: 8,298 posts
UA/CO: 78,744 posts | UA/CO: 293,910 posts
Best Western: 84 posts | Best Western: 250 posts
Hilton: 11,114 posts | Hilton: 8,428 posts
Hyatt: 2,319 posts | Hyatt: 8,351posts
Inter-Continental: 364 posts | Inter-Continental: 7,019 posts
Marriott: 4,835 posts | Marriott: 2,915 posts
Starwood: 10,914 posts | Starwood: 11,007 posts
Mileage Run: 2,886 posts | Mileage Run: 8,810 posts

ma91pmh

Randy - nice post, but kind of ignores the fact that Milepoint offers very little of what FT doesn't already have. Back in 2001 or 1998 or whenever when it was all virgin territory sure there was land to be claimed. But today, FlyerTalk is, for better or worse, king.

Now sure I wish the funky website of MP was used here, I wish the approach to moderation (or lack thereof) was here, but those absences are dwarfed by Milepoints real absence which is content. And not just that the content is not there but just waiting to be developed - it's over here.

kokonutz

This thread is suddenly very depressing to me.

LearningToFly

Try to remember that Life is good...

Jaimito Cartero

Randy, I'd say comparing post counts is a red herring. Many people on MP had made thousands of posts in a short amount of time to get Gold status. I hate this type of post runup, as it does nothing for the average user on a forum.

This goes on at FT too, of course. Perhaps it's all about huge post counts to bring in more advertising bucks, or show who is more active. From my perspective, it's about original and useful content.

I hope MP gets stronger with original content, and not just all these blogger threads.

freeloader

I appreciate the context provided, heck if it wasn't for you setting up FT I would have never had the multiple "once in a lifetime" trips I've enjoyed. I'll always be grateful.

To add clarity to my OP - I'm glad you were able to benefit from FT as I did. I didn't mean to disaparge MP either; but I had always been curious why you wanted to clone what you already had. Regardless, all the best, and nothing but respect, but comparing the Internet now vs 15 years ago is a tough starting point