The problem of trolls and posters using multiple handles as well as the inability to actually ban a person needs to be considered at this time. I know the ethos of FT has been free to everyone, but would a $1 one time charge to activate a user name really be that big of an issue.

If you were to charge $1 to activate a user name, you could then verify the posters name, and zip code, and perhaps phone number depending on your credit card processor. This would greatly lesson the ability of rogue posters to join FT.

Just a suggestion, but I think most of us would be glad to pay a one time $1 fee. I mention $1 as perhaps this would cover your cost involved with the credit card processing et all. Of course, anyone could still read FT, they just could not post unless they had paid the one time fee.

I agree that we have to do something to get rid of multiple IP trolls. What about a permanent, not free, email???

I don't think I, as a newbie, would ever have started to post (or stayed lurking around for some time)if the site would have asked for my credit-card-number to become a poster.

I am not sure I would have joined either back then if a credit card was needed. However, it is not right to compare how the bbs was then and how it is now. The old days were much easier to manage and the bbs was much smaller. The DL forum has become a real mess with FF and a few other posters. To the point that we would be better off with less posters in return for barring the bad ones.

Me neither - however, a 1 month free trial membership wouldn't be a bad idea and then a dollar after that - but then again, i wouldn't want to see this become a pay subscription site if that was at all possible - just my opinion...

One month free defeats the entire point of user verification. Then the trolls would just change user names each month. It would be a one time $1 fee, for the sole purpose of proving your name is correct and only one of you is posting.

How does this make it a paid site, it is not monthly, it is one time.

This issue has been around on Flyertalk for a long time...since the first few months of the board. It is about the most divisive one we�ve had.

We have had people having entire conversations with themselves under alternate ID�s, people pretending to be entire families harassing airline employees, Trolls, multiple posters, etc. We have also had (and still have) �class clowns� that are seemingly above the rules. People have been �timed out� for infractions, people have been banned for infractions. Bans have been lifted.

This specific issue has even precipitated the formation of alternate internet mileage bulletin boards. But then this issue�s divisiveness for all intents and purposes brought down those boards (although shells of their initial promise still exist) and some integrity-free personal associations that went with them.

Personally for me, this one issue has changed me from a dedicated fan and supporter of Flyertalk (we used to be called �evangelists�) to an occasional user of my forums of interest, totally uninterested in the political forums and issues like Talkboard, community, moderation, etc.

As a slightly more exclusive community of verified participants, Flyertalk or a similar site could have been a place with dignity and sophistication � a real voice for the frequent traveler, communicating with the sell side of the industry with a strong and respected voice. Instead, it is a place that is replete with fake IDs, where it�s just as likely that the guy you�re chatting with is either a real million miler or a high school kid with an imagination. As such, no one in the travel industry takes it as seriously as they could. That�s not meant to be an insult � it�s just the facts and a shame.

This is what Flyertalk is. Don�t waste your breath and/or time on what it could be or can be, or get sucked into the endless circular debates of who would or would not have been here if, if, if.

Don�t try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.

Very well said and very sad. When I started posting on FT a few years ago, the DL forum was a place of great knowledge and resources. It is now a place that is filled with people who defend DL to know end, are not interested in helping increasing ones accumulation of miles, and whose sole purpose seems to be to disrupt and discredit the bbs. This has happened in the past, and will happen again unless some type of process is put in place to curb such behavior. Banning people is not enough, positive verification of some type is required. Otherwise, FT will stay what it is now, a public form with no respect from those who matter the most.

One problem would be that it would alienate many foreign posters as many foreign cc's verification is done differently.

It would actually benefit the foriegn trolls, as many foreign verifcation systems only check the surname and not postal code phone number and so forth.

Many of the airline employees who, understandably, need to maintain anonimity would be put off signing up if they had to provide any info that could be used to indentify them.

------------------
Gaza's oneworld & Star Alliance Round the World Information Pages - www.rtw-info.co.uk

This is a valid concern, and I believe that it is something that could be worked out. Airlines would not have access to such info unless a crime was commited that warrented a court order.

Trolls are annoying but to be honest Flyertalk seems reasonably troll free compared to most other Internet boards. We have a fair amount of members that are able to detect trolls and with our moderators most problems are solved pretty fast. I don't think the trouble and cost of a verification system would be justified just because of a couple of trolls.

The DL board has been plagued with Trolls to the point it has become nothing more then battles lately.

All the verifcation systems I have done for boards this size, the $1 to $3 verfication fee covers the cost.

I agree. Whats more important... quantity of members or quality of members...?