Hello Randy,

What is the point of having the separate Travel and Dining sections if 50% of FT’ers use them and the other 50% post questions in the Travelbuzz forum?

What direction is Flyertalk intending to take, a single forum for travel questions not related to points/miles or separate forums specific to geography?

Posting, inquiring minds would like to know,

Thanks,

Willie

This issue has been discussed in TalkBoard with no conclusion yet:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378892

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=379205

Excellent question.

This problem comes up a lot with people posting area-specific questions in Travel Buzz vs. the region/city forums. I really like the separate city/region forums, but it is frustrating to see a thread on Tokyo, for instance, get great results in Travel Buzz and not much in the Asia Forum. There's a question in the Canada forum about where in Canada to see the Northern Lights that I don't think has gotten any response. I know it would get quite a bit in Travel Buzz or even Omni. Keeping things orderly is a great goal, but it, unfortunately, doesn't always work real well as a lot of people seem to only visit a few forums.

I think Robb might have suggested something similar, but I would not mind it if someone were to post a LocalTalk-specific question in TravelBuzz, it could reside there for a few days to get responses, but eventually, it would be moved to the appropriate LocalTalk selection by a moderator. That way, if someone does a search (assuming the feature comes back), the user would be pointed to the appropriate forum and, should they decide to resurrect the thread and add onto it, the discussion would be held in the proper forum.

I think this would reduce clutter in TravelBuzz, encourage users to use LocalTalk more, reduce the instances of duplicate threads, and assist in people being able to search and find threads effectively.

I do want to say that I hope richard does not think I am complaining about his moderation; I think he does a good job and I thank him for volunteering.

Agree, but if things were more orderly, perhaps they would visit more forums?

Can you imagine a bookstore where the staff just shelved new books wherever was easiest and most convenient for them and, in their minds, for the clients? That would probably be the main center display aisles in the entrance area of the bookstore, where there is the most traffic.

I suppose this is nice if you just want to run in and see what the latest book titles are, but it doesn't help much if you have a specific subject in mind and would like to browse through several related titles in that section of the bookstore ... Maybe you'll find some older titles of books on your subject there, but the newer ones will all be at the front of the store crammed in with every other subject.

It's frustrating - I read the specific forums on the Travel boards, but I have mostly given up on the TravelBuzz forum: it has become what MilesBuzz used to be like.

My idea (as FlyinHawaiian also suggests) might be to allow a "misposted" thread to remain in TravelBuzz for 24-48 hours, allowing it to garner some attention and hopefully some replies, then move it to the appropriate forum with a "transfer" note/link in Buzz.

This might take care of the posts from posters who aren't familiar with the specific travel forums or who feel they need more exposure quickly for an "urgent" question. However, it obviously won't take care of posts from posters who are too lazy to post in the appropriate forum.

To say that people tend to post to TravelBuzz because that's where the most traffic is may be true, but it seems to me to be self-defeating: if people aren't encouraged to post their questions and replies elsewhere in the appropriate forums, those forums will remain unvisited and underused ... what a waste.

Agree with you Blair. I'm not suggesting we get rid of the specific forums, but something such as robb's idea seems a good compromise. I do see the problem a bit differently though - too often people put the thread in the correct spot, but people don't look at the specific forums to give them a response. That doesn't do much to keep folks around.

Absolutely, I agree - it is the chicken or the egg enigma.

But if the specific forums are going to survive and perhaps even thrive, their nurturing has to start somewhere. There seems to be a core of regular, helpful posters in many of the specific forums (e.g. Paris or California or New York) who are a great wealth of local information ... it's a shame that their eagerness to help other FTers out is often wasted because the traffic just doesn't make it their way.

Perhaps there could be a "read-only" section at the top of the Travel board (even above TravelBuzz) just listing the threads started over, say, the last 12-24 hours in the specific travel forums - the forum in which the thread was posted will be highlighted, and you could click on the thread title and that would take you directly to the thread and its forum ...

FT is way too segmented already.

I think the real problem that Bibi is touching on above is that our wonderful, cluttered, messy bookstore appears at times to have been designed by an insane person (no offense, Randy, I don't mean you!). Imagine a bookstore with the following sections:

- Do-It Yourself Eye Surgery For Bassett Hounds
- Great Recipes of Monstserrat
- History of Soft Drink Manufacturers
- Dead Languages
- Woodcarving

...all placed at the back of the store, up a creaking staircase, in the dark.

Then another section:

- Any Interesting Book

...placed up front, right by the door.

Where are you going to look most of the time?

I know it isn't a very accurate example, but I think it's enough to demonstrate the, um, odd segmentation of the forums and choices for LocalTalk/Travel & Dining forums. Cuba? Antarctica? Orlando? Toronto? Nothing against those places but I think BKK might be just one example of something more useful but that gets lumped into Asia or TravelBuzz.

It would be great if there were a Google-esque way to categorize random posts based on location or other topics and display/sort them that way. But as there isn't, maybe a better solution is to right now prune about 50% of the forums that don't earn their keep and start watching TravelBuzz, etc., for signs of what does need to be created (if any). Then any forum that doesn't get x posts per week gets deleted.

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Hello Randy,

What is the point of having the separate Travel and Dining sections if 50% of FT’ers use them and the other 50% post questions in the Travelbuzz forum?

What direction is Flyertalk intending to take, a single forum for travel questions not related to points/miles or separate forums specific to geography?

Posting, inquiring minds would like to know,

Thanks,

Willie

Hmmmm. This post sounds familiar....

Hi - this is my AFAIR first post re non-travel related topic, but this is very much related to what I've been thinking lately.

I try to help as much as possible - i.e., when I'm not on the road with only limited internet access and when I have some info - with the questions in the Tokyo forum (and sometimes Asia and other fora) as this is where I live and I got great replies/feedback to the questions I posted elsewhere.

I also try to comply as much as possible to the board structure, general travel questions to TravelBuzz and area-specific questions to each area's forum. I've had a few questions remained unanswered probably because most people do not read the area-specific fora. But then, do I want to repost it to TravelBuzz? Although I'm sure more people would see it and therefore I could get more replies, I consider it would be against the rule so I don't.

I too would very much appreciate an improvement on this issue, some of the suggetions are great, as perhaps the info I'm posting/getting on area-specific boards will be seen by more people. Thank you for all your efforts.

. . . Or the DiningBuzz forum.


In reponse to similar questions in other forums (one thread entitled "Close DiningBuzz?"), a comment was made in December (I believe) and a similar one a month or so later that the Talkboard was discussing the matter in order to make a recommendation.

Bookstores have new release sections.

BTW, has anyone ever heard any feedback on my original idea? I was told the talkboard was considering it, but haven't heard one word since then, nor has town hall been updated in years.

Indeed, though it is a highly selective and usually fairly limited display - usually just the titles the vendors deem "buzzworthy."

It is not a catch-all for every new release shipped into the bookstore each day.