Kokonutz, you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to Gary. The 4 or 5 good posts, though, make visiting the blog worthwhile since I'm indeed a DFW hub captive. He's kind of a microcosm for Boarding Area generally -- a few good posts but mostly not -- only I think it's fair to say that most Boarding Area bloggers beyond the ones cited by me and others above practically never have anything really good. And 60 bloggers! No wonder there's so much, um, stuff to shovel through before you find the pony.

The Gate does this as well, but to be fair so does the Flyertalk newsletter. Not really familiar with the topic, but once someone posts on a forum like Flyertalk is there a copyright? Can a blog just copy and paste the content and then slap ads around it?

Definitely kosher for the FT newsletter:
And also:
And when The Gate was a FT-run operation it would have been included in that as well.

Beyond that, it is a question of fair use and what that means in the context of how much is copied and the purpose of such copying. Good luck getting a consistent answer on that front.

Looks like The Gate has some competition. What a great way to welcome all the new Nightline TV show visitors! ^

Gah! You beat me to it!

My problem with Thread Tripping is that there is nothing unique about it. No job, per say. No writing. No angle. Just..."hey, look what I found" - and yes, I know the authors background, and I know thats why he got accepted as a BA blogger.

Ps, OMAATs "cum post" easily the most unprofessional front page BA blog I've seen yet.

Sometimes I think success is getting to Ben's head, so he feels that he can get away with posts like that. And he does get away with it, as his on-site comments would suggest

I agree. There use to be higher standards at BA. It use to be something worthwhile and have posts worth reading. I guess if you are in your twenties and a fan you see nothing wrong with a headline like that which is also sad.

Lucky is one of the best bloggers out there, as I think we all recognize, but that recent post easily qualifies as one of the worst I've seen in a good while. It manages to couple bruit ignorance with an astonishing degree of intellectual myopia. Latin is not exactly obscure, and "cum" isn't exactly an obscure word either. People graduate from college all the time knowing nothing, I suppose, and for them things like the plural of "alumnus" must be terra incognita indeed. How could anyone be so nerdy and weird as to know stuff like that? Why, I've never even met anyone like that!

I'm an optimist, though, and so maybe the next posts will be back to the usual standard. I sure hope so.

If you like his "style" of blogging, which you obviously do, then you would say he is one of the best bloggers. If you don't like his style then one would say he is not one of the best bloggers. In either case that headline is awful. I'm glad you are an optimist! I'm not when it comes to BA. I trust if it gets better someone will report it here. Until then I will just visit the 3 blogs I follow on BA by going directly to them.

It's possible to not be especially fond of a blogger's style but still recognize that he or she often posts original and relevant content. That may be enough to make their blog "one of the best" if by that we mean -- given the context of this thread -- the best 10% or 15% of BA blogs. I'd say that OMAAT is still in that group.

For me, occasional stylistic dislikes and substantive disagreements don't take away from the fundamental originality and worthwhileness of a blog. For example, Lucky's recent post "Why I Travel" was really good and the scores and scores of comments in response were sometimes even better.

But that having been said, I of course I have no use whatsoever for his travel "philosophy"; I like art, architecture and culture generally and am actually interested in history. Chasing after whooping cranes in South Texas and alligators (and even a crocodile!) in South Florida was a lot of fun, too. And have you ever taken one of those little 45-minute Maid of the Mist cruises under Niagara Falls? Or seen most of the world's Vermeers in one place? Or Michelangelo's David up really, really close? I can barely imagine focusing more on the airplane food on the way there, or on what kind of welcome gift or upgrade the hotel gave me.

So I'm still a fan. His stuff is frequently both original and compulsively readable, and I occasionally learn something interesting as well. I still laugh every time I think of his day-by-day reporting on his hunt for La Compagnie's inaugural flight. Plus, I might need an extra laugh or two more than some people.

Ignorance and myopia, sounds about right.

Goes back to what I initially said: he's not a traveler. He flies to fly, stays to stay, and nothing more. I can't imagine he has much time for reading...his whole life is transit; and when you don't leave the airport, or don't leave your hotel room, you're oblivious to what's going on outside your own head.

This isn't the first time he's done something like that.

I would disagree that he's the best, or even close at BA - whether going on writing ability or content. And if we're talking more than just the BA bloggers, he's not even on the radar, IMHO. But that's just my two cents, which isn't even worth that to OMAAT or BA! Obviously others like him a lot which is fine.

Having said that, I actually thought the cum post was funny. But then again I am practicing to be a dirty old man so my humor may not match everyone's

But would you agree that this is similar to looking for the tallest midget?

Also, points with a crew has taken a surprising lead in the race to become the most annoying blog. Author posts so many times a day...