This seems like a reasonable method at least for a start. Although, I'm not sure it will do much good, at least everyone will feel better about it.

Hi Raffles: I think a big part of the problem is that MR Deals pages are public. Compound the problem with people's tendency to over-embellish the subject line, and you can see that any info posted here is easy prey for millions of Google searchers. And when even FT'ers slip, what incentives do those strangers have in guarding our info?

So the lesson would seem to be, don't post. But that defeats an important purpose of a community like this, which is to share and learn from one another.

A good if partial solution to the problem would be to restrict such forums to members who must be logged in.

In the meantime, a good compromise is to post, but with an eye towards thwarting casual Googlers. Don't be too specific, but consider providing more info to those who request by PM. Remind everyone, in posts as well as PM's, to follow the same principles.

Agreed on all accounts. I took this advice to heart earlier today when I found many fares WAS-Europe for >$400. The people that read and contribute to these forums should be able to find the fare I referenced, but those with a tendency to call PL or airlines (hopefully) won't.

Or maybe we need a hidden "Level 2" like on other bulletiin boards.

I say OMNI: MR :)

While discussing this we should take into account that information does not only leak from FT to other sites but also comes in from other sites.
I for myself transfered information from another comparably small forum to FT when I've seen that it also made it to third party sites. I got loads of good and bad feedback. My rationale was to spread the word on FT while it lasted to allow FT to profit from the deal.

I just wanted to point this out as it wasn't brought up from my point of view.

I don't post often, because I don't often have much to add to the discussion, so I have been here for a while without many posts. I know the rules, I am on the lookout for MR fares, and I will be very happy to share with the class when I do find one. I think that a logged in requirement is a logical one,but the X posts and X time philosophy justs makes me need to add a bunch of posts without much merit (that I have avoided to this point, even though it means I do not have access to OMNI) to get to the level that grants me access.

First off, Thanks RafflesLongHaul for your history of amazign fairs, and Joker545 for the most recent one (JFK-ORD-MAD-AMS and return for ~360, leaving Nov 15th).

Joker545, I like your approach of only giving 'teaser' information in the post, and using modesty in posting the deals. people can do the research they need on the board to find the exact flights needed, or they can PM you if they don't get it. When people PM you, you can make an educated guess as to whether the person is trust worthly, and offer to share the information if they promise to also only share the information privately.

Its not going to make the fares last forever. But it might keep them around for a few hours or days longer, enabling the true flyer talk addicts to take fuller advantage of them.

I think that strikes the balance of benefiting personally from the fares, but also benefitting the board, which in the end is what its all about.

-T

Look, FT is no different than the real world. We all want our friends to be discreet when we share personal information, but we all know people who are gossips. Asking them to change and hold things in confidence is a largely pointless exercise.

So... my personal feelings are that when people post mistake fares, if they don't want the information shared outside FT, maybe they could say "Fare XXX - please do NOT cross-post to other forums."

Whether it would work or not is anybody's guess. Because asking somebody not to do something "wrong" doesn't have much effect if they don't see it as wrong. But I'm really sorry when FT members feel like sharing information was a "bad experience" -- it only makes them less likely to share information in the future.

FT is so big, so well-known, and in the google X-hairs of so many people that merely posting something at FT will get it found and circulated. The only way to thwart the google-bots is not cram your posts with too many details and keywords.

I would vote for something like this.

When is such a vote going to be held? Wasn't this voted on the other day?

I have been looking at the FT forums for years to get good ideas and ways to save on airfare; and I have always found the forums useful and very helpful. What you guys are suggesting about hiding and making information a secret goes against the idea of what FT stands for. I know a lot of others might not agree with what I am saying but the reality is that when the info gets to FT its already public knowledge and the airlines will find out the "tricks" and shut them down. You have to realize that FT is also monitored by airline personnel so regardless of what attempts to make "tricks" a secret and form some sort of a secret society within FT will ultimately fail. I know we would all like the tricks to last longer then they sometimes do but realize that when using them we are already getting over! My advice is just jump on the deals and "tricks" for as long as you can and enjoy the ride, as these "tricks," are an added bonus and not a priviledge!!

Let me mention one other possible benefit of Obfuscation. It wont keep the strategy secret forever, but it WILL give the dedicated few a running head start. someone itching for a cheap flight or MR is going to give the thread the time of day and spend time connecting the dots, where-as the lurkers/airlines might just go for the low-hanging fruit and ignore the thread, giving the 'fanatics' a few extra hours of deal making.

I cant argue with you about that, but the whole idea of flyertalk is for frequent flyers to get together to share information. Making information secret is not the answer. I saw a post earlier today where a person blatantly talked about taking the info and posting it on slick deals....now thats just an insult to everything we are here trying to do so I understand why there are a lot of people upset about the situation but again I will say that the information here on flyertalk should be general information that can be shared with fellow frequent flyers.

I don't know how the problem can be resolved honestly, but I don't agree with the whole secret society type of deal. It totally sucks when a person comes in here and messes it up for everyone by posting information somewhere else, but I still feel that information should be shared...