As I remember, Lucky was always one of the most friendly and helpful FTers. Though I never attended, I remember him arranging a number of Captain Denny dinners. I think he might have been considered a FT star and believe he was even quoted in various media.

Where I would disagree with Randy is saying Lucky "found it easier (as has others) to use a blog as an instrument to help others with advice and information than the (at times) signal/noise ratio challenges of a long thread in a bulletin board format."

My belief is Lucky and others moved away from FT because they saw their blogs as a way to effectively monetize the profile and knowledge they built on FT.

They do that by getting commissions on driving readers to sign up for various credit cards. Everyone has to make a buck, so I don't fault them in turning their hard work into a successful business. They are hardly alone in marketing something for financial gain, and they seem to properly disclose that's what they are doing. However, Randy saying it was some type of philanthropic move is IMO 100% disingenuous.

The reason why Lucky chose to blog instead of participating at his past frequency here on FT is that he could make REAL money (nothing wrong with that btw). I am not buying the altruism non-sense. I could also argue that for all the time and years he put in here as a massive contributor, he has taken out equally much since he started full-time blogging. How many times does he lift content from other posters here on FT without their permission and then uses it to gin up traffic to his site? The answer is quite a bit more than he should have IMO.

And as far as transgressions go, it is one thing to book certain flights knowing that it may be easier to get VDB vouchers or vouchers for special meals not being catered. One is entirely within the rules of the airlines and the other being morally corrupt. But to reuse previously used vouchers (that were gained questionably no less) is outright fraud and I am certain that the vast majority of FT members do not engage in fraud against airlines. If they do, I am a participant in the wrong community.

This guy named MikeM on trip advisor changed his 2-star review to 5 stars. I find it weird for him to go from hating the resort to be like "this is so good and you should stay there". Yes they saw the review and addressed the problem by "explaining" everything that went wrong, but that doesn't fix the unacceptable service for the days before. I don't understand how you could go from hateing the resort in every way to recommending it.
Here is the new review:

Stunning property, excellent leadership from management
My wife and I are about to finish a weeklong stay at the new Waldorf Astoria Maldives Ithaafushi. I recommend that you strongly consider this resort if you are planning a stay in the Maldives.

First, the property itself is spectacular. The property itself is even better than it looks in the videos and pictures. The design and attention to detail is world class and exceeds the highest expectations. The ambition of this project is difficult to process at first becomes more and more apparent with more time on the island. The villas are brilliant - they have spared no expense on the design and construction, and the attention to detail is remarkable. Even the smart features of the room control (which always seem to be like more of a bother than anything else) added value to our stay.

Guests have certain expectations about service and staff interactions at a resort like this, and frankly our expectations were not met during the first half of our stay. I find discussing issues with management to be a waste of time that usually yields nothing other than empty promises and apologies.

This was not the case here. The management team, in particular Simone C. and our concierge, Aida, stepped up and addressed each issue and then some. Last night at dinner it was immediately apparent that things had changed and after Simone introduced himself we understood why. The professionalism and competence of these two individuals completely altered our experience for the better in a way I did not think was possible. It is clear that the staff here is working very hard on delivering for guests. Work needs to be done and certain things, such as the transfer from MLE need to be materially improved, but expert leadership is in place and I expect that they will get there quickly.

The excursion team with Ocean is fantastic – do not hesitate to invest your time and money in activities managed by this company.
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Is there debate on the definition of "fraud", though?
Fraud: "wrongful or criminal deception intended to result in financial or personal gain."

I don't think there's a reasonable debate as to whether what Ben engaged in was fraud, or whether it is laughable for Randy to refer to it as an ordinary "indiscretion" in his drive-by post filled with fallacies, defending his own business partner.

But at this point I don't get why it is still a talking point. You can form an opinion about Ben (and his website) based upon his previous actions, but what is the point of continue to talk about it? Do you feel the guy is continuing to commit fraud? Are you upset that he was able to move on from the incident rather unscathed and continue to run a successful business? I would assume that most people are over what he did and the RS article. I just find it odd to try and revive the whole topic and attempt to vilify Randy for not further publicly addressing an issue that happened like eight years ago.

I *think* what people object to is Randy's 'whitewashing' of what Ben did.

Whether you consider Ben's activity to be fraud or not, it was more than an indiscretion. He crossed the line from 'gaming the system' and took it to a highly unethical (if not illegal) place.

He paid a price for that when he was caught.

IMHO, Randy has a soft spot for Ben not just because they are highly successful business partners....he has a soft spot for Ben because he likes him. A lot of us do.

But Ben did what he did and I agree that Randy's description of it is, to put it gently, overly generous.

We did not revive the topic. Someone posted about how "Lucky made a name for himself," and people disagreed. The subject died.
A week later, Randy revived it with a drive-by post that, at best, was disingenous. That post brought out fawning over Randy the Great. People are responding to Randy's revival of the topic that was snarky and dishonest. No one was looking to vilify Randy. Randy's post was the nasty one.
Certainly, the point isn't to call out Randy for what he did/didn't do 8 years ago...they are responding to his current lecture.
There's a difference between "dwelling" and "correcting misleading/false statements by Randy Petersen, who profits off of OMAAT, yet some people treat as some neutral moral arbiter from the heavens."

And working on his partner's credit cards telling us all about it...and pumping a dozen credit card affiliate links in the post. Starting out with the....IHG Rewards 125k Visa...

It never stops...

It's his own blog, he's justified to write about anything he wants with the readership he's built up himself, and he's not obligated to make sure every (or really, any) post is personally educational to yourself.

Some of the criticisms in this thread are justified, but this is... not.

I met Ben once at ORD during the DCA-PEK extravaganza in 2015. He couldn't have given fewer ..... when my friends and I mentioned we read the blog and liked it. Literally, he was the most unpersonable individual I've ever met. Doesn't make him bad, but I know for a fact I could never be his friend nor would I work for him.