Great, but...
 

I have read the comments (on 3 pages as of this writing) AND kudos for the great work done. I chime in on most of the comments and agree that a great board has gotten even better in many respects...but

In one respect, an critical one, I believe the board has become worse.

The area that is worse is response. Because there are four sections, divided into XX-ZZ number of categories, it now seems nearly impossible to get a reply to a question.

For a member to stumble onto to a question on one of the "location (city, state, country continent)" areas that he or she can assist with is multiple times less likely that before. Even if the number of topics is the same, the diverse locations possible to post a topic makes it much less likely for it to get the same attention that it received when there was 80-85% less places for the topic to be posted.

The number of possible places to post also makes the decision of where to post a bit more complicated. This is likely to get better but, as before, will never get full compliance.

An additional area of concern. If I want to know something about a specific chain hotel in a city, places to dine and things to do. Do I post three or four topics in different places? Can I hope for someone who has traveled, to say Canberra, Australia to find them all?

This works in reverse too. I would like to help those traveling to areas that I have material experience. Seattle, San Diego, Hawaii, Los Angeles and some of Australia. I can help with Hyatts, dining, and activities. How many places do I need to visit in this new format to insure that I can help as many people as possible?

ranles, I agree 100%. You make very good points. It's not that the amount of information has changed dramatically, it's the number of places of where to look for that info which has changed dramatically!

i miss general travel talk. perhaps i will find the other forums soon.

Easy to find at:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travelfr.shtml


with much past material focused within:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_fo rumcgi/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=TravelBuzz!&n umber=11&DaysPrune=5&LastLogin=


[This message has been edited by doc (edited 07-12-2001).]

I agree Ranles. Too fragmented. Too ambitious a leap from what we had to what we have now.

I too have trouble navigating BUT I believe that it is simply time until I get my new bearings and feel for nFT. I too believe this will be the same for many out there.

With the growth of FT over the past year, much due to the media, there will soon be many more here to fill in the information you look for.

With the addition of Moderators any time now, forums should be able to stay more on topic I believe.

Dorian

agree 100% too many places

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Viele Grüße

Oliver

I agree as well.
I was not a very curious user of the "old format" Forum, but when the new one was introduced, I visited - and posted to - so many different places and threads, I can't remember which ones.
Maybe I'm just old and senile? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I think there are many new features that have greatly enhanced FT, but I agree that there is very much ground to cover. I guess time will tell if we all get accustomed to the new format or if we need to suggest that the old format be reconsidered.

Given the amount of simultaneous changes the board(s) underwent, it's probably best to view the current situation as a shakedown cruise. IMHO, there's too much real estate to cover, and with all the new boards, some (natural) confusion over where to post.

Just a guess, but I would think that most board traffic will end of gravitating to the Miles Forum, which may end up making it difficult to get answers to location-type questions, particularly on a timely basis.

In another thread, someone suggested the creation of a "My FlyerTalk" homepage, where users could have quick hyperlinks to their favorite forums (I would provide the URL link but I forgot where I saw it!). I think this would a popular navigational tool for new and old users alike and could solve many of the problems some of us are facing with the FT's new breadth (although I am not such a big proponent of the mile wide and an inch deep approach). From my very limited non-technical experience with writing specs for websites I think it can be done, although I apologize if this would be a programming headache...

For a proposed "My FlyerTalk v1.0", I would suggest the following core features:

-Most Active Threads in the "Four FlyerTalks"
-My Favorite Forums (United, MilesBuzz, Starwood, etc)
-My Favorite All-Time Threads (Who We Are 1-9, etc)
-Threads Where I've Posted Most Recently
-Threads Where "My Favorite FTers" Have Posted Recently
-Community Favorite Threads
-Event Calendar (Both FT Community and Randy's appearances, etc)

Optional Features
-FF Miles Program Manager (license from third party)
-Airfare Tracker
-Booking Engine (Orbitz, Expedia, or Travelocity would PAY for this access)

To whomever suggested this, it is an amazing idea!

I'm off to go find the original thread.

P.S.- doc, can you edit the link in your post up above so we don't have to scroll left-right?

[This message has been edited by chexfan (edited 07-12-2001).]

I like the old system with a variant on the new colours. These colours suck, but so did the old ones - pale gray and pale blue are the way to go. All that has happened with this new system is that the smilies look like a kid painted them on with a worn out marker pen. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif I see NO other useful changes. Does anyone else?

And Doc's link above looks normal to me - suspect Chexfan is one of the brave 20% left using Netscape not Explorer? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I like the old system with a variant on the new colours. These colours suck, but so did the old ones - pale gray and pale blue are the way to go. All that has happened with this new system is that the smilies look like a kid painted them on with a worn out marker pen. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif I see NO other useful changes. Does anyone else?

And Doc's link above looks normal to me - suspect Chexfan is one of the brave 20% left using Netscape not Explorer? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

And things seem incredinly s--l--o--w now too. All days, at all times.