Randy,

Please revisit the on going issue of Omni. I was asked to refer to this thread for a option. I agree with the suggestions from cblaisd and jfe in the first two posts. Omni is becoming a cesspool again, specifically with political topics. It would be nice to consider that all members conduct themselves as adults and certainly with civility but that is simply not the case. I believe this thread, posts 1 and 2, is a great method of instilling civility for Omni.

As the saying goes, "A few bad apples spoil the bunch." This is certainly the case.

Best regards,

RobotDoctor

I think OMNI was functional enough before and I don't see how or why much would haved changed from before. If personal name-calling/personal attacks are dealt with, the rest will sort itself out naturally. I think the thread the above poster referred to here has some good suggestions.

Perhaps an OMNI sub-forum for politics -- including where religion and other things cross into the (quasi-)political realm -- that was patrolled for personal attacks would help address any outstanding concerns and let the lively discussions continue with a bit more substance and some flare (from time to time)?

I wholeheartedly agree. I've been saying the same thing for a long time.

A link to my opinion on the above referenced thread..

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showp...03&postcount=8

The time has come to either ban political, religious, and ideological discussions from Omni AND open a forum for those topics only which are moderated only for personal attacks. Give Omni a moderator or 2 to make sure forbidden subjects, plus other TOS violations, don't happen.

Most other large boards have such areas and they are very successful. Too many people want to do nothing all day except argue politics and disrupt conversations.

Why not just split of the political (and related) discussion into a separate forum? Wouldn't that work?

Didn't we just say that?

Did my link not forward to the thread both of you referred to?

That is exactly the thread I linked to, courtesy of you.

I like the idea. I may or may not participate in a New OMNI (tm) where political/religious discussions are absent, but I think it addresses a critical issue that I think has been the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room for the past few years.

Mike

Good grief, if I could only read. ---> RobotDoctor

However, you should not be surprised about my reading deficiency GUW.

I honestly didn't even realize that OMNI was heading to Cesspool-Ville again. (I hope that's not a parallel to the theory "that there's always that one friend that nobody likes... and if you don't know who it is, it's you.")

I guess my lesson in learning how to ignore some folks two years ago has paid off.

With that said, I do see value in OMNI as much as I see the headache. Hopefully the good apples and the positive values outrank the bad ones and the negatives.

Mod...

Can we move this thread to OMNI, we seem to have gotten off track.

What is that "critical issue" which you think has been the proverbial 800-pound gorilla in the room for the past few years?

For me the critical issue is that FT TOS violations relating to personal attacks/personal animosity don't persist. But that issue is certainly not restricted to just OMNI, for I see plenty of such persist even in certain miles & points forums on this board too. [And most of that seems to have little or nothing to do with OMNI.] I otherwise like that FTers have a place on FT to discuss (or read) about things other than points and miles -- including politics and religion -- even if people are not in universal agreement.

First of all, my reply is trying to address your issues and to do so, I will have to use you as an example. no offense meant, but you posted the topic and you addressed it to me for an answer.

I'm a little confused to begin with. Your premise seems to be: "It would be nice to consider that all members conduct themselves as adults and certainly with civility but that is simply not the case." Correct? The reason I am confused is that it seems to be coming from the very same member who posted this "Omni Forum. I think Omni sucks. That's all, it does. It is not what it once was and some of the people there are narrow minded f...... A.......!" in the CommunityBuzz! forum just days ago which is described as "The official get-together page for the FlyerTalk community..."

Honestly, I'm not so sure i'd describe this post of yours in Community (which BTW was closed because it was not relevant to the forum in which it was posted) as conduct of an adult and certainly not one of civility. Beyond the content of your post, was it necessary to use this: "f...... A......."?

As well, I happened to look at your last 25 posts on FlyerTalk: OMNI: 18; ORP: 4 (this thread); CommunityBuzz!: 3 (all related the your above post there). Might your problem with OMNI be that you are spending too much time there?

OK, I'm done picking on you with some facts relevant to your request. So, let's look at OMNI. OMNI is one of the busiest forums on FlyerTalk and yet I really don't see an overwhelming outcry for what you are talking about here. Sure, there are some uncivil members who get carried away with the topics of drugs, sex and rock-n-roll � oh wait, that's another forum I was thinking about, I meant the topic of religion and politics. But frankly those are topical and typical at virtually all other forums as well, FlyerTalk is really not an exception. What I liked, actually loved is the level-headed comment by chex above. The exchanges I've seen among members are basically a small well-defined group. They will never change their opinion and some are willing to lose their posting privileges for the sake of the last word. But FlyerTalk has available for some time, a tool for you to enjoy OMNI at the level in which you wish to engage other members - the Ignore User tool. When someone complains about another user, I have come to default with the understanding that typically they want to engage with that member, no matter the outcome. Should you have used this tool with a small group of members you have had differences with, it's likely this conversation would not have come up.

But you are right, there are some members that need to be addressed. And we have plans for that. In the new version of FlyerTalk which will soon be coming up, it may be difficult for some members to engage with others to the degree in which i think you are referring. It is likely that Rule 28 will become a reality in a technical sense and a group of our members who have given up FlyerTalk for OMNI will be limited to only 3 posts a day in that forum, something we' like to do now but just don't have the capability to do. As a moderator, I really hate to have to monitor and read everything posted in that forum and frankly can't, which is why I rely so much on the Report Posts feature. Based on the volume of posts in that forum on a daily basis, there's really nothing wrong with OMNI and while I respect that your intent seems to be to rid OMNI of the topics of political and ideological discussions, there are some very smart and influential members on FlyerTalk who have provided many a member with a thoughtful discussion in this area I personally think the membership at large would be harmed if your suggestions were followed.

Use the tools provided for you and maybe spend less time in OMNI than your current stats seem to indicate and maybe OMNI will seem a bit different to you - just like our good friend chex says above.

And again, i had no malice in using your own words and activity on FlyerTalk to support a few points.

Thanks for allowing me to exchange a few of my thoughts on this matter.