It does not matter which forum it is, no public whining about unfairness/moderation. And rather than making it OMNI specific, make it FT wide.

The first strike could be a short duration as a warning, but once one has received the warning it should be the individual's responsibility to act accordingly and face a much bigger timeout in the future. And whining about moderation should result in two strikes.

^ ^ ^

Good work!

I only occasionally dropped by there in the last few months as it was becoming all bitterly fought politics. It wasn't the OMNI of old at all, and we're much better off without it!

There is one other forum that seems to be all bitterly fought politics that I hope soon sees the chopping block. This one.

Another one bites the dust. :td: :td:

While not a regular poster to Omni (just once in a while when I 'gently' tormented those Red Sox fans :o ), I am saddened by it journey into the far reaches of cyberspace.

Randy warned us a while back when Omni was closed for a while. Sadly, the few who abused Omni, closed it for the rest of us. I enjoyed reading selected topics in Omni just before bed. It reminded me of the troubles that I don't have.

With Omni's closure, I would certainly hope that some Omni regulars will add their knowledge of miles, points, and etc ;) to various topics on Flyertalk. You may even want to come to chat one evening. We're a nice bunch. :o

Some random thoughts:

I'll miss OMNI, but it was never the reason I joined FT. I went from Gold to Plat in AA in 12 months as a direct result of the board.

I do more effective milage runs, I'm more on top of programs and a better consumer all around as a direct result of it .

I can't help but wonder what % of posts were OMNI and will it's demise make log on faster, and of course crashes fewer.

Some posters I'll miss, I'm sure some I won't. Some, I'm sure we'll never hear from again.

Intriguing idea of banning religion and politics, I'm sure we'd find some other way to screw it up though.

Lastly, a great reminder of the difference between a privilege and a right.

Thanks Randy for sticking with it this long.

Until then: Gays, Democrats, Republicans, Illegal immigrants, SSM, Religions other than mine, Kerry, Bush, pro war, anti war, supreme court, EU, terrorists, sexual innuendos! Let's get a good linking on web searchers for one last time!! :p

I tried to log onto OMNI today for my weekly or so drop-in and felt disapointment that it is gone. Frankly, it is what has kept me tied into FT on a weekly basis when things are quiet re: my programs. I suspect that I will either have to adopt another random forum (Women's forum again?) or I will fall away from FT altogether...

To that extent, OMNI will be missed, not just by those who used it, but by the whole community if folks stop stopping by regularly because it is gone...

Having said that, IJAFIBB. Life goes on!

Travel Technology?

OMNI was a fine repository for all things that were goofy, unique, and interesting (except for all the political junk :td: ). Hopefully it will come back in a revised form.

I guess I need to follow techgirl's advice and find some "human" friends :eek:

Perhaps one thing that we all are overlooking here is that we, as individuals, have a choice to view a topic or not. We can choose to engage in discussion or not. To have everything policed without the ideal of accepting personal responsibility is naive, IMHO. I do support banning political and religious topics and/or opinion/innuendo. However, how much policing must we have here in FlyerTalk. First Omni, then ORP, then where else? How do we know that some troll will not make an innuendo of ill subject on a thread discussing a new policy regarding renting from Hertz pertaining to the Infinity G35?

It appears to me that 1) People should ignore issues that they do not want to discuss or find offensive, and 2) report any personal attack using the report a post feature.

I, for one, fully support FlyerTalk with Omni w/o Political and Religious content. There are other forums that we can get our daily fix of these issues.

I have no idea what boilermaker and techgirl are talking about here. :confused:

:D

Again, as a relatively new participant, I would LOVE to see a few recent examples of the types of posts that got OMNI in such hot water. We're adults...we can handle most of the things that I've seen.

I have enjoyed OMNI because I think that the demographic that Flyertalk attracts is a good one...we're (I suspect) a little older (and wiser??), and at least somewhat successful, or we wouldn't be flying all over kingdom come.

^

I'm sad to see OMNI go as it allowed me to establish friendships with FT-ers whose main airlines aren't ones I fly and vice versa, and so wouldn't otherwise have had much of an opportunity to virtually meet. Until recently, I could go there to have a bit of fun, but recently its seemed like its been politics, politics, politics and bitterness and negativity on 95 % of the threads. As a non US based poster, frankly its been very dull too as most of it wasn't that relevant, and I just didn't care and couldn't contribute to the current stuff.

But I will miss the opportunity to say hello to people from very different backgrounds in a more casual and relaxed atmosphere (mostly :) ). And I think those who always complained about OMNI's presence never really understood that aspect :(

So I think in the long term its a loss.

And finally thanks to Sean and Jesus and Scott for persevering with the moderation in the face of criticism for every action they appeared to take. It was appreciated, even if the appreciation wasn't alway as vocal as the detractors.

Too bad. For everyone involved...

Have I missed something? I've had little reason to post to Omni of late because every other thread seemed to be about the upcoming US election (big thanks to those of you who tried so hard to keep it alive with threads about things that actually matter though). Sadly, the place seemed very much to reflect US society where a very vocal minority seem to think that which member of the Skull and Bones Club they vote for will actually make a difference to their lives.

We're a little bit more cynical here in old Europe (the last real activists here were the youth of France who made their feelings crystal clear when their parents almost voted an ***hole into power a few years back) which is why I've recently been finding Omni an ammusing nightly distraction before I decide what DVD I want to watch and what wine to drink(currently debating whether to drink to Omni's demise with a Pinotage or perhaps a nice bottle of Boli and a Toblerone).

Anyway, as I can be bothered to get to some point tonight, it is this: Tonight, I log onto FT and find that Omni has gone because you were all being bloody serious.

Wiser words are rarely spoken. Pass the beer.....

(perhaps, what we really need is a "Travel With Beer" Forum. I will put that one to the first TB member I lift a beer with in the non-electron world.

That strikes me as the not-quite-as-profane-as-reality longhand for IJAFIBB
:p -- thus wiser words have never been spoken (in the long form).