Dear Mr. Petersen:

This thread http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/005695.html
was initially posted at the NW Forum, was moved to the Mileage Run forum and moved yet again to the Travel Buzz forum. While I personally don't care where it is posted, I would like to bring something to your attention. When one visits a particular forum and a certain thread is moved by a moderator, the thread shows "closed" and most of the time the moderator will say something to the effect of " this thread has been moved to xyx forum". I have brought this up in the Suggestion Forum and would like to bring it to your attention: Why not teach all the moderators when they move a thread to a different forum to provide a link to the forum the thread is being moved to. Maybe I'm anal .
In any case, thanks for a great web site.


------------------

As one of those moderators who had simply too much time on his hands and thus moved a thread just for kicks, I'll try to answer your question...

Although I agree that it would be very nice to be able to put a link in the thread to the new location of the discussion, the process that would require makes it too time consuming given the number of threads that generally require moderator attention.

In order to include a link, we would have to take the following steps:

* Close/Move the thread
* Visit the new forum to find the thread
* Copy the new thread URL
* Go back to the old forum
* Reopen the thread
* Post the Move notice
* Close the thread again

Alternatively, we are able to:

* Post that the thread is being moved
* Move the thread

Significant difference in the amount of time this takes. As we are all volunteers, and really do have other things going on in our lives, the suggestion, although well-intended and highly desirable, is not terribly practical.

I'll second dmfriedman's posting. The process is complex and time consuming to truly create a "paper trail". This is exaggerated by slow system response time when you are moving threads. I've waited up to two minutes for the server to respond to a command request.



------------------
Craig6z
Buzz & United Moderator
[email protected]

I honestly do not think the request by the wide chair is unreasonable. In fact, I believe it is an excellent suggestion.

If I were appointed as a moderator, I would provide a link to the threads which I have moved.

Whenever I post information that refers to another post in another thread, I always try to provide the link for the convenience of whomever reads my post. Unlike providing a link to a newly-posted thread, the links I provide sometimes require some serious research, especially if those links are to older threads. Sometimes I refer to multiple threads in a single post. It is time-consuming to post links to other threads in a post, but if helps simplify using FlyerTalk for fellow members, then it is well worth it.

If I understand correctly, the purpose of moderators is to help make FlyerTalk as user-friendly as possible, which includes (but is not limited to) keeping the number of threads to a minimum by eliminating duplicate threads, assisting FlyerTalkers who need assistance, and closing and/or moving threads whose topics are not pertinent to the forum in which they currently exist.

If a moderator feels that he or she does not have enough time to ensure making FlyerTalk as user-friendly as possible, that moderator should either:

• request that one or more moderators be assigned to assist that moderator in a particular forum, or
• resign as moderator.

This is in no way a criticism of moderators who do not have enough time. After all, moderators are also FlyerTalkers who travel, and that should be understood. Rather, this is expounding upon a suggestion to facilitate the ease of use of FlyerTalk to as many members as possible.

For the record, I have never had any issues or problems with any FlyerTalk moderator in any particular forum, nor am I for or against moderators. However, for the most part, I feel that moderators do a good job overall.

I guess I have the technical question as to whether or not there is a UBB configuration that can help. I recall on another UBB-based board (version 5.x, not sure eactly which version) that when a post was moved form one forum to another, the link in the original forum took you directly to the post in the new forum, not to a local copy of it that stopped being updated when the post was moved.

Does anyone technical know this answer?

With two windows open you can accomplish posting the link in about 8 seconds. I don't see how this is such a burden for mods.



------------------
-alan in sitges, home of Si-Do

This is actually not true. As observed above, a moderator needs to first move/lock a thread in order to create the new thread. Then they need to reopen the thread to enter the new URL and then reclose the thread.

And as Craig notes, an open/close/move can take a couple minutes at each step.

That's not to take a position on whether it should be done -- rather to share some about the process and what it takes to accomplish. This can take ~ 5 or 6 minutes per thread rather than the referenced 8 seconds.

Personally, and we all have our own styles on this, what I generally do is link to THE FORUM where a post has been moved. THAT I can do in under a minute by grabbing a direct link to the forum.

As a moderator I do believe I'm here to help, and I help as much as I can, but I live in a world of constraints and opportunity costs. An extra 4 minutes moving a thread means 4 minutes that I'm not helping a newbie or answering a complex upgrade question or doing my actual job. Multiply 4 minutes times the number of off-topic threads in MilesBuzz and you'll see the complexity that I face.

Now, if folks would stay on topic (miles and points!) and wouldn't flame each other there would be fewer threads at issue - which means less of a concern, and also less moderator time taken up. Then maybe we'd all post links to moved threads!

vBulletin Version 2.3.0 as used to host PPRuNe has this capability. The thread is shown as "Moved" but clicking the link takes you to the thread in its new location.

Personally, I think it would be very convenient to have a link to the moved topic. Even more convenient would be for the link to the closed topic to automatically update to the new topic.

As moderators, we read through tons of topics a day - although I tend to think that I'd be reading them whether or not I'm a moderator. Please realize that this feature would also be helpful for us to navigate more easily around the wealth of information that is FlyerTalk.

All that said, it definitely would be tedious for us to move/find link/open/post/close threads instead of just moving with a note as to the new forum.

In my case, I think I've only moved 1 or 2 topics (thanks to everyone who posts on the US board) so it really wouldn't be a big deal for me to go through all this the couple times I will need to.

My thoughts then turn to moderators who frequently move topics to help readers filter information more easily. If I happened to be on one of those forums, then I wouldn't dream of adding in a link to each moved topic. We're volunteers don't forget.

So in conclusion - I really think that we should look to technology for a solution. As moderators, we deal with the board on a day to day basis on the front-end. Therefore I'd say that its up to the staff @ FT to upgrade/change the software to facilitate this feature. Just remember that it sure isn't going to happen over night.

That's just my 2 cents.

-Chris

Its clear we have to upgrade the UBB software that this site uses... but, since it costs $$$ we need to finance it. Thats why we need the PREMIUM MEMBERSHIP OPTION, so that we can all get the new UBB software we want.