in this forum, there are less than 7 threads with posts from last 24 hours.

why is that, is it because there are now less bonus mileage? less flyertalker flying? watching Iraq thing on TV?

Well, I count 10 threads with posts from 3/19. Maybe the moderators have finally got it through our heads as to what kinds of topics should be on Buzz.

I see many factors contributing to the (temporary?) decline of flyertalk...

1) Flying has been signficantly down recently due to economy, airlines survival uncertainty, and war concern.
2) ... which is related to my first point... with the survival of frequent flyer programs in question, earning non-flying miles becomes a foolish thing to do.
3) The 1000-fold increase in the no. of moderators simply elminates a lot of civil discussion. (Base on recent history, even this thread may be killed soon!)
4) The site has been unreliable of late.

Now if they can teach the moderators on the airline and hotel forums, we'd be in business. Those forums are supposed to be discussions of their respective FF/ hotel points programs. At any given moment, it seems that at least half the threads have nothing to do with those programs. Look at any airline forum: Seat pitch? Fares? Company financial news & policy changes unrelated to FF programs? How do I kill a few hours on a layover? Button sightings? Armrests? And the hotel forums are even worse. Which hotel when I'm in ...? Trip reports? Tipping? Please!

The main points of all these threads are completely unrelated FF/hotel points programs, yet the moderators continue to allow them to clutter up the boards.

These threads have value, but they don't belong in FT Miles. They should either be moved, or the focus of the forums should be changed.

For the record, I don't agree with the DH rule in the American League either.

Because MilesBuzz used to mean "Discussion of the latest frequent flyer program buzz..." which meant many of the most conversation-provoking topics appeared here.

It now appears to mean "miles and points related posts that do not have an appropriate other category in which to post," so there's just not much that fits here anymore.

who has any interest in collecting miles when the airlines and hotels yank the rug out from under you by changing their rules after you've earned the miles and when its increasingly unlikely (due to bankruptcy) that you'll ever get to use your awards.

I don't think that it's FT specific as I have noticed a decline in activity over the last few days on all internet forums that I particpate in. It feels a bit like the whole world is holding its breath.

SAS forum where I mostly participate has been very buzy(according to normal SAS forum days) the last couple of days.

Everyone's in front of the TV watching the news?

TV's behind me with the Iraq coverage blaring. I'm having to seriously multi task to keep up with the news, my job and, most importantly, the happenings on FT!! I agree with the earlier post that fewer people are traveling and those that are are turned off or depressed with the state of the airlines and/or their FF programs.

In case any of you are interested in the actual facts: our average daily posts are contnuing to rise. There is statistically no drop in the number of average posts. As noted, it is just that more members are learning to post in correct forums rather than dump everything in MilesBuzz! I'd say that's a plus.

As for other comments - moderators do not end civil discussion, they volunteer to prevent uncivil action. They are all and have been regular members of FlyerTalk before volunteering. If anything, moderator actions should be viewed as a standard of accepted behavior on FlyerTalk.

As someone who has been around a medium amount of time, I see no significant evidence that the moderators are over-moderating.

I also disagree with the earlier author who feels that the "X mileage program" topic should be tightly restricted to posts about X's mileage program. What happens to X in general affects their mileage program; there again, I think the moderators have it right.

Well, I'm one of those offenders that posts trip reports in the hotel forums and asks for advice as well. I do think about it before I hit that Submit button and realize it's not what these forums are supposed to be about.

However, I've got Hilton points (used for illustrative purposes) that I have earned through stays, credit cards and promos after reading this site. Now I want to use them. Who better to ask for advice than people similar to me who have gone through what I have gone through to earn the stay or flight, and can provide me relevant feedback on how to enjoy using those miles or points. I've tried posting in those new "FT Travel" forums and frankly they're ghost towns most of the time.

After thinking about it, I've decided that discussion of using points and miles is every bit as important as earning points or miles. Even in Randy's own magazine there are sections on how to wisely use your points and miles afterall.

I have tried to reduce the amount of "where should I go on vacation" type of questions. I used to ask some like that but it has been quite some time back I believe. I now go to www.fodors.com/forums to ask very specific travel questions. I've found that forum to contain more knowledgeable travel and tourist advice than what this site contains. That's what they're about over there and not the focus of this site. I have found, however, that those few times when someone asks about using points or miles, they usually don't get flamed into oblivion and even I can usually answer their question.

Another reason for fewer posts might be that some organizations are blocking flyertalk. My wife works at the Veterans Administration in San Francisco and they have just started to block flyertalk from all on-site computers. Has anyone else been blocked? I can't imagine anybody having any reason to want to block a site like flyertalk.

You are kidding right?

If I had a boss paying me by the hour/week I would have been sacked about 3 years ago.

My guess is that folks messing with FT on the boss's time worldwide comes to a $$$ figure of lost productivity greater than the gross national product of Spain!

Hands up those who spend a few hours a week on FT using company computer and line access whilst allegedly getting paid to do WORK?! (Well I suspect there will not be a huge response to this 'poll' for obvious reasons. )



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~ Glen ~

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