vasantn

techgirl,I wanted to express my full support for you. I see nothing in this thread that you have posted that is inappropriate in the slightest. Possibly there is a hidden agenda at work here.

I also agree that referring to posters by their real-world names is totally inappropriate, unless the poster discloses it himself/herself in the signature, as I do.

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Vasant

studley

Wow. I kind of figured that this was going to be an extremely divisive thread, highly indicative of a lot of things. *sigh*

The "house" analogy posted earlier is spot on. And my personal thought is that we should act accordingly.

I hope we can also remember that our Moderators are volunteers here, and outside of Randy's gratitude (and ours, for those of us who appreciate them ), do not receive anything fiduciary in return for what they do and what they have to deal with. Please, let's respect them and the board.

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The perfect ladies' man is a perfect gentleman.

chexfan

The ability to sift through the riff-raff helps too.

Randy Petersen

Hey gang. There's more to this than meets most of your eyes. I'll stand up for techgirl here and her post. This would not be a discussion if not for the actions of a member who posted early on this thread. And I'll have to name names. Look closely at the post by couscous.

It reads "Couldn't agree m00re with you..." Now, you tell me what school education teaches people to spell the word 'more' as 'm00re'. To my knowledge, there's only one other member currently involved in these matters that has a '00' in their name. I read this as a purposeful dig to avek00. Now, if he were able to post, would it not seem reasonable for him to ask couscous what's up with the dig? And of course that would start a discussion on that whole matter once again and more than likely lead to a rasonable flame war. I don't believe couscous had any real reason to post this way other than the purpose of antagonizing the situation and put his/her nose into the issue that they believe some who were suspended got off too lightly. But he/she is not alone. There are other members who seem to delight in the subtle way in which they communicate. It is my belief that techgirl saw this as i did and was responding. She was subtly asking that the post be edited. Perhaps if I gave moderators additional tools she would have been able to approach the issue in another way, but I have yet to do this. So I'll take the whole blame here.

But, can any of you honestly name a reasonable explanation on why to spell the word 'more' with double zeroes in a manner similar to that of avek00? Moderators see far more of the field than most of you give them credit for. And the proof of that is how many of you caught this latest dig? I've left it up there as an example for you to see. I'll deal with this member later on.

Vaze

Although I'm no big fan of moderators, I think you guys generally do a good with very little thanks and even less pay . So thank you to all the moderators who take the time and trouble to try to make this place a reasonable one to visit

UALOneKPlus

hmmm, methinks techgirl should have moderated the California gubernatorial debate this week...

gleff

Or given how much California spends on healthcare, perhaps she should have thrown her hat into the gubernatorial ring herself?

whlinder

This place is such a freaking soap opera...

Duhey2

I myself am ashamed of what happened on the CO board. Instead of rallying together and letting CO know how we feel, our little corner of FT just about imploded.

It's almost like who's laughing now?

knowitall

Randy & all:

How about a BIG 30 to all of this?

Billiken

One of the first posts I read on FT early last year was a flame war. (Just dumb bad luck.)

This is a great community and a tremendous resource for anybody that travels.

Thanks to Randy and all the FT staff.

Punki

Techgirl writes:

and, sadly that is so true. I can remember when I frist came to FlyerTalk and it is true that when I first came to FlyerTalk it was a much more warm, enabling and welcoming place to be. I knew so very little about the ins and outs of frequent flying and everybody on the boards was so wonderful about helping me learn and make wise choices.

Now there are times when it feels like there is a pack of FlyerTalk attackers just waiting for someone to be "wrong" or make a mistake, so they can jump right in and point out how stupid or what an "idiot" and how wrong they are. It breaks my heart to see FlyerTalk descend to this level.

This all reminds me of conversations with my Father, shortly before his death. When I was a teenager, we learned that my Father had only a few years to live. In part, I am sure, because he wanted to prepare us for life without the guidance and support of a father, and in part because his sensitivity to his true values was heightened by the clear knowledge that his days were very numbered, he began to share his wisdom with us at every opportunity.

One of my most treasured memories is a conversation we had about the choices we had with our days. Dad told me that, while we will have rare days that are inherently tragic (marked perhaps by the unexpected death of a loved one) or days that are inherently joyful (for instance the day of the birth of a new child), on most days, how happy or how unhappy we will be is controlled solely by our own personal decisions about how we want to spend that day. He went on to say that whether you choose happiness or misery, you are stuck with your own choices and you are guaranteed that if make a bad choice (or a good choice for that matter), you won't get a rerun.

When we are little children and sometimes even during the trials and tribulations of our teenage years, we sometimes lash out when we are hurt or angry with even more hurt and anger, creating a vicious circle of misery; but as we grow older and develop greater maturity, we become more and more empowered to control our responses--do we decide to spread misery or do we decide to spread joy? When we see someone with a weakness, do we choose to do everything we can to empower them or do we attack them and........

And what??? Exactly what, I am wondering when I see attacks on FlyerTalk, is the goal? Do the attackers hope to destroy the other person, beat them down, make them miserable, drive them away from FlyerTalk altogether? Deriving pleasure from hurting others is dangersously close to torture and is an activity that is probably even more destructive to the psyche of the "attacker" than it is to that of the "attackee". Attacks offer unhappiness to all and they have no redeeming value.

How much better it is for everyone when we decide to be the one who always looks for an opportunity to spread some joy and help others when we see them in need, rather than to try to beat them down even further.

I love FlyerTalk and am thrilled with he wonderful assortment of friends whom I have met here over the years and continue to meet--two new ones in the past week.

I hope we can all focus on the truly unique and wonderful opportunity that Randy has provided us to enrich our lives with new friends from all around the world, and leave the pettiness, bickering and unpleasantness to other websites.

jefro

Back to Pre-School!!!!!!!!
Randy the baby sitter --- give us a break!
Some of our "best" comments come from
JON -- informative and intelligent.
NJDavid -- shares with us his contempt for what was a good airline

I think NJUPINTHEAIR was baiting --- but it would all wash out in time.

I believe your hand slapping is childish ---

Remember --- on the CO Board this was a big week with a "important" announcement concerning our Frequent Flier program ---
It was going to be heated -- and it was -- BUT that is why we have this board -- to get to the nitty gritty --- and at times it will get a little vocal --- so what??????????

Adults are able to see thru the maze!

If you wanted a gentile, soft spoken group YOU came to the wrong arena to make your money!
Lighten UP and RESTORE immediately (if they want to come back) the persons banned.
This board is the less for the loss!

couscous

Randy,

The reason why I spelled m00re the way I did was to rate the way this particular member you are referring to above was dealt with :
A DOUBLE ZERO. That is how I feel about the sanctions and the outcome of this situation. This particular member has directly insulted FT members, closed more threads than any other members in FT history, and is challenging your decision by posting (and insulting) right now on this board, under another name.
Now, you can make an example out of me but I have at least made contributions to this board rather than annoy people ($25/night deal at the W times square and others...).... Yours truly,
COUSCOUS

UALOneKPlus

I hope that the people banned don't view their punishment as anything punitive or as an indictment of their reputation.

This was an action to allow everyone to cool off and not further spiral down into more flame wars.

I have the highest regard for some of the people that were suspended, and can only hope that they will promptly return to Flyertalk to further their positive contributions in the forums.

It's very unfortunate that the flame wars occurred, and right now it's pointless to point fingers and point blame any further. We all know that people get passionate about topics that they care about, and sometimes passion translates into heated debate and even flame wars. It's unfortunate, but hopefully the cooling down period will help everyone once again gain the proper perspective to positively contribute.