100% Backing
 

While I'll miss the OMNI Forum, it has become (in legal parlace) an "attractive nuisance". This condition requires either constant attention or removal. Unfortunately, I have to back the Board 100% on the removal. :(

Like the Ribwich, it was good while it lasted!

So you think that OMNI going away is no big deal? I was rather enjoying the discussions (as a rather new participant), and I certainly didn't see much of the personal attacking that Randy is referring to...

It was enjoyable.Hope to see Omni posters on other political talk boards(Lonely Planet?)

While I've made some of my FT friends through Omni, and will miss having a place to go to ask off-beat questions from a broad base of knolwedgable folks, closing Omni was the right decision at the right time. ^

Stimpy: I suppose your car shipping question could be asked in travelbuzz ... or even in the Europe forum.

Darn, now where will I get the trivia to be able to converse at cocktail parties? Maybe I better see if Goldpoints has any deals of magazine subscriptions.

Plus, for those of us who are always right about absolutely everything, we will miss the opportunity to impart our wisdom on the rest of y’all.

I disagree
 

Trust me, I share the frustration at the endless personal attacks resulting from ostensibly political discourse.

Nonetheless, I wish it were not closed. I really miss the non-sensical threads and creative threads and games that went on there. Omni got hijacked by a select few who never contributed anywhere else, and now it is closed. Too bad.

Agree.

Some folks forget the considerable slack that Randy has given OMNI in the past.

It was closed for a while as it got far too boisterous and crazy.

A very small number of FT'ers requested it be re-instated and promised to be good children if it was.

Moderators were appointed who had wide powers to ban actions, posts and posters they chose to - indeed for a while OMNI was the only forum a moderator could ban anyone from posting on.

Then an additional safeguard against political and other trolls - the 100 post minimum rule was introduced to hopefully keep out other than regular FT'ers who had added something to miles and points posts in the past.

It all failed.

OMNI had nothing to do with the core of FT which is miles and points, and no-one could argue that OMNI was not given plenty of chances to succeed if everyone played more or less by the rules.

:rolleyes: so why did you post there?

I will hate to see it go also, but given the circumstances, I can support Randy's action.

I have to agree with Mary though, it was a bit of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

But...

If it returns, perhaps as Mary suggeted, no POL discussions, No Religion, and I'll add, no SSM issues. All three of these were posted and abused ad nauseum.

I have conversed with some very interesting people there, met a few, and hope to meet a few more.

I'll ad, thanks to Randy for tolerating as long as he did.

and to the spoilers...... :p

I will miss OMNI. It's been an interesting virtual place to visit. The secret of keeping one's sanity is to remember OMNI is just a virtual water cooler.

Although there have been some annoying threads and opinions, I look at it as life. You can choose to participate or just ignore. And as much as there were annoying threads, I think there were a lot more threads where I learned something interesting and new.

Much appreciation to Randy for OMNI while it lasted. I sincerely hope it will return someday.

Perhaps OMNI could at least be replaced by a "Members Helping Members" forum or something. A place strictly for questions and offering assistance to the personal day-to-day non-travel activities of our members?

"My car radio just went out - Help!"
"Who knows a reliable plumber in Lompoc?"
"My teen got busted for drugs...need advise."
"My laptop has a file full of porn, how did that get there?"

Well...ahem...maybe not that last one, but I think you get my drift. :)

I hope to see Omni return as I find it a place I can go to get away from the travel/business related aspects of my profession. I usually browse Omni and on a second page, browse the travel related forums of FT. Sometimes, on a third page, I go to FT Chat. :D Instead of removing Omni, I would hope that taking away posting privileges to Omni would have been sufficient. In some cases, removing offending individuals from FT would have been great. There are many people that post in Omni that are great contributors in the travel forums of FT. I hope that Randy and the staff at the HoM will reinstitute Omni and deal with the few members that cause problems in Omni, as well as FT as a whole.

As an Omni poster who enjoyed the sometimes arcane topics and novel perspectives on everyday matters to be found there, I will miss Omni. I feel I learned a great deal there, though how much of that was actually useful, I can't quite say. ;)

I won't miss the politico-religious bickering, however. It had become rather unpleasant over the past year or so and would have continued to do so as the American political races heated up. However, it is regrettable that all Omni FTers were penalized for this, rather than only the responsible parties.

Perhaps this decision would be worth revisiting after a suitable post-election interval?

As the last moderator standing in OMNI I wish I had something meaningful to say in here (actually, I seldom do ;)), but closing it was a good move right now.


When I joined FT, I didn't know what OMNI was, but then I realized that it was a great place to have some fun.

Unfortunately, we had some people who have turned it, into a I have to be right, and I will say, and do whatever it takes to prove my point.

So, just like reputation, and thread ratings, there are those few that have to ruin the fun for everyone.

So, to those that were out there to ruin everybody's fun, I congratulate you, you won.

<sigh>

Well, at least this will give me time to write that Towne Suites report I've been meaning to do ;)

I find it amazing that some of the most critical members against Omni don't post there at all or very often. :confused: