Live chat with Randy?
 

Live chat with Randy?

Whats your take on the live chat on 9/26? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Very bizarre...
Nothing added up.. but it could have been a technical issue...
We will see.

RANDY?? YOU THERE?

very disappointed and the room was a bit disoriented?
i left early.....what was that all about?

Well it was extremely "atypical," to say the least! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

I've had numerous past chats with Randy, in person, by email, and so forth, as well participated in other previous FT and Talk City live chats - and this was "uncharacteristic" of the earlier conversations! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

One might say that it was an "entertaining" hour or so - particularly relative to the 20 minute wait beforehand! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

"Til next time when it'll surely be back up to snuff! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

And details to hopefully follow soon as well! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Was the first time on there, joining later in the hour, based on an e-mail received earlier in the day, stating that Randy was asking for input on some "new mileage ideas", Password: "pr**** **t. And hey, when Randy calls, you follow! But with the best of my intentions I felt completely disoriented and confused.
I am wondering if even that e-mail was authentic http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

I was 35,000 feet above the Pacific, but I also got the email, as clearly did at least 100 others, so does not sound like that was the issue here! Sounds like a funny night. Did anyone get the thrust of what the secret mileage kinda deal was he outlined in email?

Was pretty poor timing for those outside of North American time zones.

Dorian



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Dorian's Star Alliance RTW Price Chart: http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm
Blondebomber's Star Alliance Comparison Chart: http://members.home.net/deercroft/starall00.html

Because of my late work hours, I miss the chats. Any chance we could convince Randy to
hold another chat on a Sat. or Sun., at a time that might also let more of the rest of
the world join in?????

bj-21.

It is seeming more and more likely it wasn't Randy...but an imposter.

Dorian



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Dorian's Star Alliance RTW Price Chart: http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm
Blondebomber's Star Alliance Comparison Chart: http://members.home.net/deercroft/starall00.html

A pretty unsatisfying mishmosh down in the Use Yr Miles pit. I don't know Randy, but those who do seem to indicate that this was an atypical performance for him. Questions two:

1. Did anyone try to "ignore this user" on ranflyer?

2. Who stayed to the bitter (or sweet) end?

It was confusing, and seemed like a large number for a focus group (over 130 people???)

I'm wondering if the password got passed around?

Also, Dorian and others make a good point: maybe have a mid-day chat session for those outside the U-S to take part. It also would be helpful for me in NJ since I normally sleep at the times of the LIVE CHAT forums.

I received the invite with 2 different e-mail addresses, one of which I've never posted on the board (but which I have used for some FT get-togethers). I don't think the invite list was very "exclusive"...

I concurr with the disappointing performance and will be curious to learn if it really was Randy....I doubt it.

As for the invites, I took a quick look at the 125+ attendees and could only recognize about 25% of the usernames. Guess that is what happens when miles are dangled in front of people.

I also got the email inviting me to this chat session.... So, if it wasnt Randy, then who is getting our emails..... what happened to data privacy ?? Of course, in theory somebody could have looked into the profile of many of us that list an email and create a list manually, but that somehow doesnt sound right.

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Gaucho100K


[This message has been edited by Gaucho100K (edited 09-27-2000).]

My feeling was that someone played a joke on us. I laughed at myself and quit early in the chat.

If the e-mail was a fake, how did them set up a private chat room ?

Okay, that is a really good point! It would be pretty hard to set up a new forum!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Dorian



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Dorian's Star Alliance RTW Price Chart: http://www.informationlab.com/rtw.htm
Blondebomber's Star Alliance Comparison Chart: http://members.home.net/deercroft/starall00.html

It was more of a quick survey than a focus group. Maybe some airline asked Randy for some quick data.

Jay

Very frustrating event. Started quite late, too many participants, and the topic was about using FF miles for private jets. From the first question, it was obvious that most of the participants were not interested. At that point, it would have been good if Randy, or whomever was running the show, had said that all of the questions after that would deal with the private jet option and those of us who were not interested could go on and leave and we'd get our miles for participating and then he'd run through the remaining questions with those who would want to fly on private jets.

In retrospect, I could kick myself for wasting an hour on this "chat", since I should have been preparing for meetings today, instead of stupidly watching a blur on the screen.

I agree with most of the other posts on here. It was my first time being invited to participate in a forum like this and it made for a frustrating experience.

I did want to point out that I have never posted an e-mail address on my profile, and my invite e-mail was sent to an address that was only provided upon registration for Flyertalk. If it wasn't Randy himself, I'd sure like to know how else they accessed my address.

[This message has been edited by CA Platinum (edited 09-27-2000).]

Same here. It was my first time on live chat, and the experience was def confusing as well as frustrating at times. I believed it had to be either Randy or someone from webflyer who set this up, how else do he/she got all our info?? And, will there be a report/summary of the results??

i don't believe everyone was promised miles, only that some miles would be given out in some form. That was my reading of the email.

cesgo:

As for the email, RichG, Catman and Myself were wondering the same thing last night during the chat.

I pulled some email from randy and other people at flyertalk that I;ve received and compared the routing info and headers, and I'm convinced the email was sent from Inside Flyer. All the IP addresses and software is correct.

I concur with most everyone's opinion that if it wasn't Randy, how did they get our emails (a rogue employee comes to mind as a possibility) and how could the special room be set up?

During the chat, I made the point that this "focus group" fell far afield of any legitimate approach to such an endeavor and any research quality was so biased as to be worthless. I received a private message from RanFlyer saying that he was trying to get a rough cut of responses to structure more research. I pointed out that the fact that it was 25 minutes late starting and was so unstructured resulted in a noticable group dynamic that would certainly contribute bias to any responses/results. The answer I received was that bias can be useful ( or some such) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif and that he only had a few more questions that "they" wanted answers for. When I asked who "they" were, I received no more answers.

Not being privy to his motivations, if indeed they were HIS motivations, I do not want to be critical of the general concept. However, as an owner of a marketing research firm, I would certainly hesitate to attach any confidence to any analysis of responses.

An amusing thought (and not just my own) is that the whole exercise was intended to demonstrate to someone the degree of response he could generate on short notice and thereby demonstrate the potential of such a group in terms of [marketing, sale, etc.].

There were so many people in the room, I had to leave for a while because I was getting carsick trying to read that fast!

I would also like to add that some participants were calling for Randy to have "chat police" throw out the users in the room who were instigating and perpetuating questions as to whether it was Randy or not. In all fairness, the bizarre set of circumstances leading up to the chat, the fact that the user Randy was in the room under had been created the same day, and the fact that he didn't respond to repeated requests to confirm his identity in some way contributed to those who were suspicious and I personally feel the suspicion was warranted.

Just my two cents worth... an interesting hour.

I wasn't invited. But I never am. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Does anyone else find it interesting that no "official" from Flyertalk has posted whether or not this was actually Randy Peterson?

I would appreciate a public post on this thread to that effect.

What do others think?

Boy, talk about feeling left out! I got the notice yesterday afternoon, but had to be late getting on board. When I did, I had no clue what the password was. I finally gave up. Sounds like I didn't miss a whole lot.

My take on the exercise last night is that it was scripted and condicted by a "Randy Peterson bot." There was no greeting, no informal chat at the beginning, and the questions spit out on the screen as thugh they had all been entered in advance and timed to come out at certain intervals in the chat.

Also, even though the session started 15 minutes late, there was no acknowledgement of that, no informal "sorry I'm late folks, my flight came in later than expected" or anything like that. Not only very un-Randy like, but very un-human like.

i got the email on two different addresses as well. one which is not listed on my FT registartion. i didnt attend the chat but i would be interested to know if it was "legit" or not?? does raise some questions about the privacy of our data though http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

i got the email on two different addresses as well. one which is not listed on my FT registartion. i didnt attend the chat but i would be interested to know if it was "legit" or not?? does raise some questions about the privacy of our data though http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Isn't that something like flying on a private jet?

In response to those who asked what's going on?

Here's a copy of the e-mail received:

You are invited to participate in a special online focus group regarding special frequent flyer awards TONIGHT, September 26 at 9 p.m. EST (8 p.m. Central Time, 7 Mountain Time and 6 p.m. Pacific Coast Time). The live focus group will be hosted by me, Randy Petersen, and we will be
looking at your interest and responses to a new idea in awards from frequent
flyer programs. While I can't tell you the exact type of awards, they are airline in nature. We will be asking your opinions on alternative ways to use your miles for airline transportation to special destinations, the number of miles that are appropriate and how you in general view the idea of flying in a charter private jet for an award vs. a regularly scheduled
commercial flight.

I'm hoping you can join me tonight and contribute your thoughts and opinions. While it may be important to some of you, I will be giving away bonus frequent flyer miles from the ClickRewards program. The number of
miles and to whom hasn't been decided yet, but I'll be thinking of something
until the chat starts.

Now, if you are interested, it will be held in the "Live Chat" area of FlyerTalk. There has been a special room set up called "UseYourMiles" (it's
listed along with the normal chat room - TheBuzz) and to enter this private chat room, use this password - "privatejet".

Again, thanks for your time and I look forward to seeing some of you online
tonight.


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As a registered member of FlyerTalk, and as a frequent flyer interested in
awards and specials, we felt that this announcement would be of interest
to you. If you would not like to receive the occasional announcement about
FlyerTalk related events, just reply to this email with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in
the subject line. Thank you for your interest in our site and services.

I got the email at the address I used to sign up at FlyerTalk with, and I don't think it's in my profile, so I guess that's where it came from.

It was my first FT chat, I gather things aren't usually that crowded and haphazard?

BTW, just to comment, maybe I'm one of the few, but the prospect of free miles wasn't even a consideration for me - I love collecting them as much as anyone, but I'm just starting out and the mileage in my account is chicken feed compared to what I gather most of the FTers accumulate. I'm nowhere near Elite status and only about 2/3 of the way to the lowest level of RT ticket.

-"StageDoor"

I don't know if it was Randy, don't know how they determined who the "invitees" were, don't know if "he" will give miles and don't care. But I am still laughing!!! I wish there was some way we could be sure that Ual7 or something like that,would get his miles :-) I am a bit concerned how my email address was obtained. Selections obviously were not by the number of posts. I have recently posted on the AA forum, have the rest of you? I am trying to find some rhyme or reason to the selection process as I am pretty stingy handing out my address.

I had to work late, so couldn't make the chat, and it sounds like I didn't miss much. However, the e-mail address where I got my invitation was an old one that I no longer use for personal business. Hmmmm....

I also got the invitation via an old email address that is no longer in my profile.
Who ever RanFlyer was he or she stayed to chat in the "BUZZ" chat room for a while and mentioned a possible flyertalk get together in Colorado in May.

Jay

Did anyone, by chance, receive an email confirmation that indeed it was him from Randy himself or other webflyer folks, perhaps in response to an email query to him or them? Anything "official"? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

i left after 'ranflyer' quickly struck me as an imposter or a bot (many typos, refusal to acknowledge his identity), and after waiting a half hour for him/it to show (enjoyed the speculations that he was late because he was flying on united). my take is that the email did come from the right place (as boomer points out) but something was seriously wrong. i just can't understand why by now randy or someone official doesn't simply post information to put an end to all the speculation. that's the strangest part of all.

I was tempted but then realised it was way past my zzzzzzz time. Dorian has a valid comment. Does anyone have a headcount (if that's the right expression) of non US members.

Well, my decision to sleep at 3AM German time seems to have saved me from some confusion. But I feel sorry for those who participated, from what I hear...