I agree with ya, BJ. I think this is a great place for information. But, as mentioned, the signal/noise ratio is declining, ala myspace. What some of us ae talking about is captured brilliantly here . You receive attacks; I receive attacks; we let those roll off...so I'm not concerned about that. I get answers, give answers; you do the same.

Not a clique- just a higher S/N ration.

(And I don't find all your posts annoying )

Cheers.

Nor I yours!

I have suggested to Moderators, and now suggest to Randy, that AA forum be allowed to create a restricted-access subforum where experienced posters can be allowed to play under a looser set of rules (maybe not no rules at all, but like we had on the main AA forum up until a couple of weeks ago, or perhaps even looser). This proposed forum would have a gatekeeper restriction like Coupon Connection or Omni, which would keep out the casual newbies who tend to post without thinking. The forum would also contain clear labeling that the rules are somewhat looser than in the other forii, so please don't enter if your feelings are easily bruised. Any member who met the post count requirement could read and post in either the main AA forum or the subforum. If they had a low tolerance for silly newbies, they could just skip the main forum and click directly into the subforum.

This idea seems to me to capture both worlds and satisfy both camps. Randy would be pleased, as silly newbies would be treated with dignity and respect out in the main AA forum. The veteran posters who prefer the way things used to be would be happy, as there would be a place where it still is that way. The only losers would be the serious newbies, as they would have to put in some effort to "earn their stripes" and gain admittance. But they have to do that now before participating in Coupon Connection and Omni, and it doesn't seem to be holding them back.

I respectfully submit this suggestion as one way to resolve the current discontent, maintain and increase Flyertalk membership and activity, and put the most smiles on the most faces possible.

Yours for an even bigger and better Flyertalk.

Almost sounds like a nice band-aid for the here and now, but I see limited utility -- and more of the recent same -- resulting from such a structure as proposed above. It won't intrinsically address the issues that existed before and won't do much to address the issues that exist going forward. Or is this a suggestion for just an AA Fourm Lounge, akin to the one found in the Delta forum and elsewhere, but as a place for the "same old, same old" to continue, but with a hurdle to enter? I can't say that such a structure would solve past issues or future ones either.

One of the main purposes for The Delta Forum Lounge Thread � Everybody is Welcome! is to re-direct the majority of the humor and off-topic discussion that became prevalent throughout the Delta forum and channel it into that thread.

As a result, since that thread was launched, most of the rest of the threads in the Delta forum have focused primarily on miles, points, travel, and virtually anything else that pertains to Delta Air Lines. Therefore, as of now, that thread has been successful in achieving its purpose.

Whether or not a Lounge thread in the American AAdvantage forum would be successful is something which I simply do not know...

But the DL Lounge does not play a role as a den for malice directed at other FTers, right? I would hope an AA Lounge would not become such a den either.

I concur, and lend my support to OP's sentiment.

You are correct. It does not.

Additionally, there should not be any thread or forum that �plays a role as a den for malice directed at other FlyerTalk members� anywhere on FlyerTalk.

Finally, new FlyerTalk members are just as valuable as veteran FlyerTalk members. While they may ask questions at first, many of them eventually become valuable contributors with useful information and offer good advice.

Of course, everything I have posted here is my own personal opinion.

Why did some moderator delete my thread in the AA Forum where I asked the very simple question -- Why has JonNYC been suspended?

These moderators are out of control.

All suspensions should be 100% transparent. We should not have to wonder what happened to long-time members.

If this were my site, I'd get rid of every moderator and invest in web technology that allows the community to self moderate. ie. ignore, members voting on deleting egregious posts.

Hmm, no. This is not preschool where every child is told he can become President.

The value in Flyertalk is the information. Information from experienced and frequent travelers. The new poster who joins FlyerTalk to complain that he cannot redeem his OnePass miles in BusinessFirst to Paris during July is not just as valuable as JonNYC who some moderator just suspended.

Well, just like your post now, the thread was in violation of TOS because we're not allowed to discuss moderator actions. Like it or not, those were the TOS you agree to when you registered. Whether I agree.... or disagree... with you doesn't matter in this case.

I would suggest you edit your post.

To be fair, there have been some very notable "new" posters, including rosj, Starwood Lurker, ezmonee , and YourAAdvantageVoice, to name a few.

The issues that would be addressed are these:
1. Newbies would have a place to post their questions. Those who wanted to could go there and answer them.
2. People who think that many newbie questions are a waste of time, space on the front page, and bandwidth would not have to wade through all of the silly newbie posts.

Heck, I can even see holding to the same standards of friendliness in the "power-users" forum as in the main forum, as the main source of temptation would be removed. Personally, I would like it to be a little more relaxed, but it would be a lot better to have it under the same kindler, gentler rules (but with restricted access) than not to have it at all.

This was not a suggestion for a Delta Lounge thread. That might be something that we would make the AA forum better, but I don't think it does anything much to solve the issue at hand.

I'm really looking for a creative solution that makes everyone (or most folks) happy (or at least happier). Even if this is just a band-aid, band-aids do stop the bleeding.

Thank you for illustrating my point, IceTrojan. That is exactly what I meant � and I am certain that there are many more FlyerTalk members who contributed valuable information and advice when they were first new members.

Of course there have been, but I think we would agree that they are in the minority. There are a lot more newbies like the one discussed in the first post of the thread that Techgirl linked in post 15 here than the ones you cited. We all wish that it was the other way around, but it just isn't.

There are great newbies and really annoying newbies, and quite a few that I would put in the category of trying to do it the right way. We have all put in our share of time with the third category, trying to show them how. I cannot ever remember a post on the AA forum or any other forum by a newbie asking for help in learning how to do their research that got even one answer that was not totally respectful and helpful.

I hold out little hope for the truly annoying newbies. In the short time that we have been conducting the AA forum under the new, kindler, gentler rules, none have shown the slightest interest in doing any research or learning any information other than the answer to whatever question is in the forefront of their cerebrum at that moment.