Minding the forum gap
 

Randy,

I've had an odd experience a couple of times here in the way that the moderation rules play out. You have a large number of regional sub-forums but it doesn't appear that they are nearly as visible to the bulk of FTers as the primary forums related to miles and points, travel and dining etc.

It seems that whenever a thread poses a question or makes note of a particular region, the moderators move the thread to that regions forum. This happened to me most recently a couple of days ago when I posted a question about Dolphin Encounters in the Florida Keys in the TravelBuzz forum. The moderators saw the post and moved it to the Florida forum.

Technically, it seems like a good decision, however, it really doesn't look like people visit that forum much. The chance of me getting an answer to a question are substantially lower in that forum than they would be in TravelBuzz and this isn't speculation. A day later, out of frustration, I posted the same question again in TravelBuzz but I left out my interest in the Florida Keys. I had substantially more page views and quite a few more responses that were helpful to me. I suspect I would have had more if I felt comfortable answering the people who asked (in the thread) whether I was interested in a particular geographic region. My suspicion (uncomfirmed from the moderators at this point) is that the thread might have been moved again.

I had a similar incident a while ago in the AAdvantage forum. I found news about a capsule hotel at LHR that looked like it would be perfect for other people who (like me) often spend a night near/at LHR between connecting flights to the states. I posted it in the AAdvantage forum and it was swiftly moved to the London forum. The entire intent of the post was to offer information to AA flyers.

As it stands, I don't know who actually looks at the regional forums. I'm sure that it is substantially fewer people that would've been able to answer my Dolphin question or would've been interested in my Capsule Hotel post.

It seems that there is a 'forum gap.' The presence of regional forums seems to pull posts from more appropriate/useful places. I don't know whether there is a way to address this in the moderation rules but I wanted to bring it to your attention.

Thank you.

I second that this problem seems to exist. I personally think that moving threads out of high-visibility forums to low-visibility forums should be done with great care for precisely the reasons that whirledtraveler mentions.

Let me have a few words on this....

Thanks. I just want to mention that I have no problem with the moderators. It appears that they acted according the policies I've seen mentioned. It's the policy that I wonder about.

It's also not a current issue for me. I've found the information I've needed elsewhere. I mentioned here only because I can imagine I'm not the only person who's run into this.

I guess the thing that I wonder about is the purpose of the smaller locale-specific forums. I can imagine a person going to the Florida forum, for instance, if they are planning a trip to Florida, but if the purpose of a post is to get information about Florida, chances are, the people who've been and are most likely to be able to help are not readers. Their stay is in the past. I suppose some people who love the place, may check back in, but that group of members who've been there and gone on to other things probably won't.

The same holds true for a mid-itinerary stay night stay in London. Who would go to the London forum for information on a connection-stay when there are so many other forums here with readers who likely have better information?

I suspect that this might be the reason why the regional forums are underutilized relative to the airline and hotel forums.

Anyway, I've said my piece. Hope it helps. Thanks.

I stopped looking at Travel Buzz when it became primarily a survey question forum which, it was explained to me over numerous threads in the Talk Board forum, was done to increase the readership/membership of FT. This is something obviously of great interest to the new owners but not especially to me.

Now I look only at the regional forums where I have knowledge or interest and, if I think I can be helpful, comment there. So this is at least one member who will see things in the allegedly under-utilized regional forums but NOT in TravelBuzz.

Careful or this will set an FT-wide precedent which would mean more off topic threads on the airline FFP forums, which were, after all, created to discuss the airline and/or it's FFP, not capsule hotels near LHR.

I don't mind wandering through the Europe forums to check out OTP hotel or general tourism info threads. I rarely if ever went there before but I have started using these destination forums to get feedback more lately, which others may be doing also.

Just my two Canadian cents. :)

Sums up my thoughts exactly. So-called under-utilized forums will not remain so when topical threads are moved there with care and consistency. The regional forums seem to be growing steadily in popularity.

Per what I mentioned about moving appropriate threads with care could entail that moderators leave redirects with fairly long expiration dates ... several months or so, perhaps.

Maybe I am odd man out, but I only go to a very few forums. I would never find anything in the regional sites...I have never been there, didn't know they exist and will never go there.

I do not think that it is good moderation to move posts. I understand some forums are more organized than others, but I only have a limited amount of time to scan my few forums.

Just my thoughts

FYI, I just went looking for the regional forums... If they are so important, why don't they appear under the main Flyer Talk Forums heading? I had to go looking.

Personally, I only look at 2 regional areas - New England (because I live there) and Hawai'i (because I hope to soon :D). I may occasionally look at some others - but only if the "last post" title catches my eye.

If something is moved from TravelBuzz (or similar) to something like "midwest", "Europe", "Canada" or some other regional area, I would never go looking for it!

I agree. We are already getting posts in the airline forums asking questions about hotels, public transportation, weather, museums, entertainment, etc. in every city that is served by that particular airline. Our moderators politely move these posts to the correct forum.

What the OP doesn't realize is that the reason why more people visit the AA forum than the London or Florida forum is that this is primarily a website dedicated to the interests of Frequent Flyers. It therefore attracts people whose primary interest is in flying, so that necessarily more people visit the airline forums. All that is necessary to get them to stop visiting the airline forums is to fill them up with miscellaneous non-airline posts.

If your questions on non-airline topics are not getting sufficiently answered in the correct forums, well, this is not the only website on the internet. The other forums are there for your convenience, but if you aren't happy with the experience, try googling your question on dolphins and you will get your answers.

Agreed. And I certainly hope that messages asking about AA's services at particular airports (e.g. "Where is the Admiral's Club at JFK?") will not get moved to regional forums.

Incidentally, in my hometown forum there appears to be at least one regular poster who is not a frequent flyer--at least I can't find any posts by them on any airline forum. I wonder why anyone would be on FT if not a frequent flyer.

I agree. There is room in the airline forums for all questions relevant to that airline. But in the AA forum alone we have had the following threads in the last 2 days:
Which hotel card to choose? (Nothing to do with AA).
Traveling with pet turtle on QF.
Wants help finding a condo in NYC
And this is with our current rules. I fear that the OP's proposal would turn the airline forums into a giant garbage heap. The turtle guy at least had a question about flying (maybe).
We also get a lot of questions that involve AA only tangentially, but those are OK (like where to store your luggage at ORD). But once the question leaves the airport, I would like to see it in another, more appropriate forum.

Two of the more prolific "great question" posters appear to be on extended summer vacations. Hope you'll take a second look at Travel Buzz and come back and contribute.

Agreed again.

I don't know the specific posts you mentioned but I suspect a lot of people view the AA forum as their "home base" and there is perhaps a tendency towards "one stop shopping" especially when dealing with posters whom you already know.

There are a ton of them in OMNI.My flying happens in batches -- 50-75 segments one year, nothing the next. But I'm a hotel guy every week.

If it wasn't for FT, I'd still be sitting in the back of the plane and staying at the Hotel DeGink with my door bolted and cringing under the bed. :)