Just curious, what effect has Coronavirus had on Flyertalk?

Has there been much less posting due to much less travel, so less questions and queries?
Or more posting due to more time available on the ground and in lockdown?
Have the mods had less or more work?

Traffic here on FT dropped because of the pandemic.

An FT site administrator in the know said this in a thread about two weeks ago:

So some of the effects of the pandemic: more/intrusive video ads in the threads for those who aren't FT members and/or aren't logged-in FT members; and now there are commercially "sponsored" threads tossed into the listing of the threads on the forums.

Adjustments in the face of a changed revenue picture for FT during this pandemic.

I suspect the biggest issue is revenue drop from credit card marketing - which is the number one money maker by far. I also think there are long term issues - users are aging and not being replaced by the younger crowd. E.g. my kids get info from social media and apps.

This has been an issue for forum owners worldwide as the convenience of social media gains a lot of traction. But in the end, I've found in my own personal experience and of those that peruse both forums and social media, that the quality of information is firmly in forums.

Yes, but these legacy BB-type forums with subject focuses tend to be most valuable because of the aging contributors whose accumulated knowledge and focus in the area have made the BB-type forums a rich place to get, mine and develop knowledge in the subject matter. These BBs' aging base and struggles with attracting a younger base has consequences for the longer-term utility of subject-matter-focused BB-type forums. But it's not easy to change the trend and develop and maintain an active and contributing younger base when trying to "wiki-ize" or "curate" at the expense of encouraging social exchanges among a fresher group that has way more options around for more penetrative online social engagement than was the case when FT was younger.

Abbreviations can have consequences.

There's a beverage called Corona which has suffered declines in sales because the name is too similar. It's exactly the same as your abbreviation.

There are towns called Corona (or with Corona as one word in the name), and they certainly wouldn't appreciate people abbreviating Coronavirus to just Corona either.

Thanks for your understanding.

In comparison with other online options, both social and otherwise...For me the pandemic has highlighted some of the negative aspects of FT that I think will continue to have an impact in this regard. For example (with one or two exceptions), most of the threads in the dedicated Coronavirus forum, and related threads elsewhere, have such a horrible signal-to-noise ratio that they're of little practical value...even as travel/travel planning, is rebounding for me. Typically I can find timely answers, topical discussion, and more current information on blogs, other websites, and some social media. And other factors as well.

Some of those bloggers and websites' authors have still been mining FT for information to use during this pandemic.

That FT "noise" is actually valuable for some of those "blogs, other websites, and some social media" that are covering travel during this pandemic. A lot of their operational model is tied to making the "signal" from the "noise" and packaging the "signal" for people who think there is a "horrible signal-to-noise ratio" here and elsewhere. I've noticed nothing new going on on FT during this pandemic that has altered this dynamic or the "signal-to-noise ratio".

I prefer the forum format because of the stricter standards on conduct, topic drift, no politics, etc. If the same standards were to be applied on a social media group, people who disagree would simply leave and form their own group on the same platform. On a forum such as this one, people can certainly try to start a competing forum, but they won't be successful as they wouldn't be on the same platform, and won't have the same reach, so they're "forced to behave" while they're here, if they want to continue using the forum as a resource for information.

If Flyertalk has slowed down they need to own up to their part of it too. I've never seen a travel forum where the editors push daily fear of travel and why it isn't safe for anyone.