Closed threads
 

I know that some people won´t agree with me but other will and I just have to say my opinion after seeing that another thread was closed thread on the LH board. And I hope that the LH board will not look like the *-A board soon...

Take the BA board as an example...so many threads which went off-topic but these are sometimes the most interesting ones.

We do need moderators but only in the background and not as "Oberlehrer".
The *-A and LH board were doing perfect without any moderation but now it gets sometimes really annoying to see these closed threads.

Tim2008, I don't understand why you refer to the thread in the Star-forum ( http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum82/HTML/001288.html ) and start the same again. The mentioned thread clearly suggests to bring this discussion to Randy's attention. Randy established the rules for the moderators. The discussion in this forum leads again to nothing and may have the same end as the Star thread.

Have to agree with Tim2008.

The closed thread here was closed without any warning.

It was all in very light hearted fun, no personal attacks, and I too was interested to read about the DUS currywurst and maybe would hooked up with emailman and Gaucho in July. A few posts in a long thread about (German) food is hardly anarchy or revolution?

If such posts goes on too long MY OPINION is the moderator might perhaps gently post:

"Folks - can we please stay thread on-topic which is xxxxxxxxxxxx"

As it was I was interested to ask something about the Bogner shirts in First and the thread is now closed. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

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~ Glen ~

Come and visit the most ** FRIENDLY FORUM ** on FlyerTalk. No flame wars, no personal abuse, no substance abuse. Not much of anything really!

Every moderator has his own view on closing/moving threads of course. Patron seems to have a rather strict view on posts going off-topic. Others wouldn't be so strict. But it's clearly within Patrons opinion on which posts he will act and which ones he will let slip through. And that's absolutely O.K. IMO.

The moderators are required to have a look onto threads that are or going off-topic and should act before too many posts are made within this thread. So closing an off-topic thread early is a good move IMO.

[This message has been edited by ralfkrippner (edited 02-27-2003).]

Overzealous.

Tim, I agree. I contributed so much to the Currywurst thread and I was disappointed that it was closed down.

I would like to see the LH forum going the way of the AC forum: threads about AC and everything related to Canada. IMO the LH forum should be about LH, NG, OS and everything related to Germany, Austria etc.

I never saw the neccesity for a moderator for our forum in the first place... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Really? Why not limit Flyertalk to 1 board only that contains airlines and the remaining topics about the world???

as much as i am concerned, i never saw the necessity for anything like the currywurst thread for this forum in the first, second and third place ! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

A few more threads like this one and the LH board will soon resemble the Delta board a month ago.

As much as I respect Patron's highly qualified contributions and moderatorship, I personally favour a slightly more laisser faire approach. The BA board is a great example for how information and a good sense of humour can go hand in hand (Just remember the "Fish" thread).

The LH forum being a predominatly German board, let's not give more fuel for the claims that Germans lack a sense of humour.

Just my two pence.

... claims that Germans lack a sense of humour

well, our moderator is a proud Austrian. (Patron, I hope that you don't mind that I still consider Vienna to be Austria ...), and not many german speaking Europeans have, in general, the eloquence and charme that is typical of our (swiss) eastern neighbours, even more if they are in and from Vienna!

Have a great Thursday evening Opernball tonight, Patron.

Anybody that says Patron does not have a sense of humor obviously does not know him in person. Also, implying that he has ever acted as an "Oberlehrer" is an absolute "Frechheit".

Viel Spass heute Abend, Patron!! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

Without knowing Patron personally, I didn'T want to suggest that he had no sense of humour. My remarks were related to this discussion as a whole.

Very curiously the AC forum has NO moderators, and yet some smaller forums have FOUR. There are entire threads in AC that are Canadacentric but have NOTHING to do with Air Canada many times. But the regulars seem to enjoy them greatly.

Well slightly off-topic threads are still OK on the UA board, despite 4 moderators. You fluent German speakers may get a smile out of this mangled mess of your language:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum50/HTML/018040.html

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



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~ Glen ~

Come and visit the most ** FRIENDLY FORUM ** on FlyerTalk. No flame wars, no personal abuse, no substance abuse. Not much of anything really!

I quit reading the BA board, as the board just sounds like an in joke party among half a dozen friends at a late evening get together.

Glen... when was the last time you flew LH? I mean seriously, you know I consider you to be one of my Doodes, but... this time I dont really know what you are talking about. Im against moderation in OMNI, but, here on the LH forum the moderation has been impeccable.

I guess a discussion like this here will have some influence on Patron and everything will balance out a bit. Please remember that this moderator job is newly assigned and we have a board here that doesn't have any experience with moderation. So not an easy job...

Anyhow: This board is owned and governed by Randy and he has set up some of the rules. And as he has decided that posts should stay on topic rather than be a "Stammtisch-Runde" we should keep to that. And I just think that it's the right way to do so. It's getting very hard to find anything again if the posts have non-specific headlines, are going off-topic and develop into a funny private discussion sometimes. Some jokes are O.K., but the funny posts without much reference to LH should be posted in OMNI and such boards IMO.

Please don't lets make to much a fuzz about all this. Wait and see. And help Patron with his job rather then only criticizing him.

As one of those guilty of taking the thread off topic, I understand the moderator's point of view.

Based on the topic, you would never be able to find the Currywurst discussion were someone to look for it.

It is a hard decision to know when something has gone too far astray.

I think most posters are not really critizing Patron, but making suggestions how the moderation could be even better.

agreed. I like the example, where the moderator first would post a "topic reminder" and ask people to start postic relevant info.

He can then still close the thread if he feels the comments have not swayed back in the right direction.

Isn't that because some members of the board turn immediately to Randy, as soon as someone voices a comment that stands in contradiction to the general view of the majority of board members - those who feel that SEN qualification is to high and the benefits are to low....
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif

Why did not all of those who now are complaining about the job PATRON does, not put forward their application in the first olace, wehn there was a request on Randy's behalf, or then again if they did so, why was PATRON choosen and not they. As some one pointed out - I believe Ralf Krippner, the board is Randy - i.e he is the host and lets us partake on his board, and he has made the decision that he sees PATRON as the right person to moderate and support the board, so let us support both of them - rather than just critizising - remeber we are guests IMHO.

Cheers

Thomas

First of all let me say this: I see the most important goal, that the opener of a thread receives a reliable answer. Before I do any action as a moderator, I think first what I can I do in favour for the opener of the thread and second what in favour for the spirit of FlyerTalk (eg ability to search in a timely manner, others do not get board).

As I foresaw, there are members who will blame me, that I closed this thread. Honestly speaking, if the same situation come to pass, I would do the same move again.

There are some members who accept this move, others argue, I made the wrong decision. curts contribution is quite helpful to discuss about the intention of the second group:

The topic of the thread in question was cutbacks in F and not about Currywurst places. I tried to explain, that we also have valuable (more silent) members who are interested to read, if LH did cutback in F. If these people see a new post since their last visit and look it up, they maybe are as annoyed to read about sausage sellers as others about closed threads.

Randy & his team decided that within FlyerTalk Miles (stick with FlyerTalk Miles for all your miles and points information) he offers a LH forum where the discussion regarding Lufthansa Miles & More takes place. Besides that, he introduced FlyerTalk Travel, FlyerTalk Dining, FlyerTalk Airports & FlyerTalk Archives with countless boards to the community. There must be reasons for that; maybe one, that a structure is very important and if we try to stick to that structure, the quality of discussion could improve.

Randy & his team sees three primary roles for moderators. They enforce the rules, provide first-level dispute resolution and guide posters towards good behaviour. Enforcing the rules is the obvious task, and moderators will be called upon to take real action, by closing threads, moving them, and even removing them altogether. More often, though, he hopes that moderators will be able to guide posters towards good behaviour.

I see two points in this statement:
1. our forum: LH forum is not a place defined by some contributors. It goes without saying that our ability to post here is purely at the will Randy and his team. He & his team have compiled guidelines and rules to help us get the most from our FlyerTalk experience.

2. Why do we have moderators? Randy & his team thought that FlyerTalk needs some help to keep things running smoothly. He looked for volunteers and asked – among others - to be a supporter of the current moderation criteria. I applied and was accepted. After a while, Randy and his crew can decide if it was worth establish moderation on the LH board at all or – more specifically - if I did more harm than good and he will replace me.

To conclude, as the LH forum is the wrong place for these issue, I close this thread and as LH738 suggests, I bring this discussion to Randy's attention.

Patron
LH TalkTeam Moderator

Yes, that is the point: search & find. If somebody searches for e.g. F-class amenities he will receive a lot of threads that have nothing to do with the search topic - but are about Currywurst, ... For people posting in a forum it is very easy to find "good" threads about e.g. F-Class amenities - but it's very hard for people who rarely read a forum or even have a look into a forum for the first time. It is expected that these people do a search first before asking a question. Unfortunately you get lost in many forums after a search where a lot of ("useless") threads show up.

I agree on that, too
And the LH board is becoming an example for the typical German behaviour...everything must be 100% correct and be controlled twice. No fun just working strictly on the rules.