I am on the total opposite end of the spectrum on this issue. I believe that this forum is just fine the way it is. The posts here are perfectly relevant for what I'm looking for and I believe that (other than an occasional misplaced post which could happen in any forum) most posts are relevant

Miles is the first category of boards, and within that group, MilesBuzz is the first and (except for Omni) the most general. That's way lots of stuff ends up here.

If you want the non-miles stuff off this board, all you have to do is move the TravelBuzz into this board grouping, and list it first.

Most of the unrelated topics should be in OMNI.

[This message has been edited by afang (edited 12-20-2001).]

Until the TalkBoard codifies posting criteria for each board, Buzz will have posts that subjectively could be elsewhere. Since September 11th, Moderator1 and I agreed that posts related to mileage issues and aviation would be generally acceptable.

With the enormous number of daily postings in Buzz it is impossible for me to review every new thread (Moderator1 is not actively moderating at this specific time due to personal commitments). Some new topics will get through that individual FT members may believe belong elsewhere. If you have a specific case you wish to point out, my suggestion is to send me an email with a hyperlink to the thread, and I will investigate.

I'm not shy about moving things, but I don't want FT Buzz to be overly structured either. In the interim, I encourage everyone to bug the Talk Board about getting something in writing.

As long as the heading makes it clear what it's about, and it has something to do with travel or miles, then I think it's fine here. I don't get to some of the other boards that often, so for example when Atlanta/New York tickets were on sale for $30 each way, I never would have seen it if it wasn't here.

While I think moderation is a good thing, I think it's best in moderation.

If the topic is clear, and it's a close fit, then who cares, just don't read it if you are not interested in it.

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Thanks very much Craig! We truly appreciate your fine efforts on our behalf. You, the Moderator, IMHO, are a perfect picture of Moderation!

Have a great holiday all!

Frankly, how many posts are there related to mileage programs but not a SPECIFIC mileage program? I think we need a forum for general topics related to the flying and travel experience and historically this has been it. OMNI continues to be for unrelated topics.

And just how do I bug the Talk Board? I've tried to find out how, but the Talk Board doesn't make it easy with their Private Forum.

Please see the thread I started in Only Randy Petersen, where we are discussing my proposal to redesign FT and why I feel it needs to be done:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum97/HTML/000612.html

brucemcal,

Any of us on the Talkboard can always be privately e mailed.

Dan

IMO this forum is a complete mess. General Traveltalk was 'spread out' over an entire board of its own because of the high volume of traffic. People keep posting virtually any flying related topic here because they are lazy or uninformed.

Dorian

Dorian, people post on this board (and on the much-missed General TravelTalk board) because that's where the traffic is.

It doesn't do good to have 40 other boards if hardly anyone uses them.

It's the network effect, and it's the reason why eBay has an unassailable lead in on line auctions, because the value of a forum increases as the square of the number of participants.

I think FT needs to be designed to be all on one page. You could fold the little-used airline FF programs onto another page, and put all the relevant forums on the home page for FlyerTalk. If a forum isn't getting enough traffic, fold it in to other forums.

You are right that once a forum gets too busy it can be split, but it should never be split more than once, then some time should go by to see how it is working. It should never be split up into a lot of forums at once because chances are that none of those forums will reach critical mass to be meaningful.

I've said it once, and I'll repeat it again: never blame a consumer for not frequenting your business (or a part thereof) or avoiding your products, even if every expert agrees that it's of great quality. Rather rethink your marketing and packaging.

IMHO this Forum is just Fine the way it is. This may be news to you but because you don't like something does not make others lazy and/or uninformed...

JS and others. TravelBuzz exists on one of the "other forums". These area seem to get 1/2 the attention. I believe a large number of FT users have not ventured into these yet!