Oh boy, this is a tough one.

Not sure where we to stand in this issue.

On one hand, we have the sanctity of the SPAM forum , where only discuss points, miles, other types of loyalty currency. Which as of late, they have dried out, and the fact that iDine has its own forum, has decreased the amount of posts that could certainly fit into that category

jsm and I have discussed this issue before, allowing the posting of freebies in the forum, because of the lack of traffic, and the fact that many of us don't really frequent the above mentioned sites that offer this type of threads. I always thought it was nice that someone gave us a heads up when a bargain was out there.

But now, we have the ipod, gmail and the flat screen threads. I have personally dedicated some time and effort to the gmail thread, trying to organize it, and the fact that is a free service (invitation only), thought it was a good thing for the community. I am not so sure about the ipod and flat screen ones.

These threads have attracted many newcomers to FT.Whether this is good or bad I have no idea, all we can hope is that every member that joins FT, be for an ipod or asking how the AA Gold Status challenge works, becomes a member and contributes to this community.

The ipod thread, needless to say is getting out of control, and I might have to do something about it. Not sure, but enforcing rules in this type of thread is somewhat difficult.

The 100 post limit in SPAM, I am not sure which way I would go, who knows, we might be turning away the next Flyertalk Evangelist because he couldn't sign up for an ipod

This is probably the longest post of my life

I agree. An alternative may be that someone with less than 100 posts can post to an open thread but cannot start a new thread of their own.

bhatnasx; I should apologize if it seemed like I was accusing you in any way-- I'm definitely not. I hate when people use 20/20 hindsight to claim "I knew this would happen!" I didn't see it turning out this way at all-- no one did, I would say. I did post early-on that all multi-layer marketing schemes have one thing in common; the ones at the beginning make out and a very large number of people end up disappointed. That will, inevitably be the case here, but then again the ones who got in at the beginning deserve to get "theirs," IMHO. BTW, I 'aint no moderator nor do I have particularly good judgment-- so don't go by my lack of objection!

I do have a lot of concern about all the newly registered members. Most are teenagers and, actually, I hope they just say "no free ipod, no interest" and don't migrate to other areas of FT... I dunno', that's just my personal prejudice I guess. Reading their posts makes me very skeptical that any of them would ever contribute positively to FT.

That kind of defeats the purpose, I think.

Yeah it does, I fully agree. I'm just trying to see we do not make sure we don't turn away someone who CAN (and I know this is a stretch) become a productive FT member.

I agree there has to be some way to prevent this from becoming another fatwallet. I'm not sure this is it. How about... someone with less than 100 posts can only post to open threads - ONCE. Would that help?

But I would be supportive your suggestion since right now, it looks to be the best solution.

Interesting predicament

The answer seems to be clear and simple to me:

�Conga� lines should be allowed in the S.P.A.M. forum for offers where everyone can benefit, such as referrals for joining MyPoints.

Pyramid schemes should be absolutely prohibited from being posted anywhere on FlyerTalk. In pyramid schemes, only a few FlyerTalk members stand to benefit, and that is simply not within the spirit upon which FlyerTalk was founded and presently continues.

Am I wrong?

That might be the best solution. The logic is flawless and it is completely in line with the community's philosophy and purpose.
^

Agree completely, but in all honesty, when I saw the ipod thread, I thought one was going to get one referral, and then it was on their own to get the other four.

But you are right

I agree 100%. I posted very early-on in that thread the following:

And while I was, apparently, dead wrong about the company itself, I stand by the pyramid/MLM objection that Canarsie put so succinctly and concisely. FT should aim to foster good will, MLM's do just the opposite.

No worries! I just kind of wanted to nip it in the bud in case anyone else felt like doing a personal attack - I did not feel you were attacking me at all.

I would also like to add that I agree with Canarsie - please close the thread if need be, for example, if this becomes a rule on FT.

Editted to add - the reason I started this thread in the ORP forum is because I hoped to take ownership of a little problem that I created - my apologies to all, especially the Mods & Randy.

Exactly. ^

I am now the proud owner of [email protected] with a free 1 Gig mailbox due to this Beta test invite. The number of folks on that conga with a dozen or so posts is amazing.

Agree entirely with bhatnasx original post.

No thank you.

Chuck
aka cblaisd
Moderator, Coupon Connection

Oops my was slightly misplaced

I agree. The problem with pyramids is that someone along the way always gets gypped. No sense living in denile on this, right?

Thank you for causing everyone to desert this thread, skofarrell.