Moderator Movement of Threads
 

I'm not sure this is the right place (if not, a moderator will undoubtedly move this http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif), but I think it would be appropriate to have a discussion area for feedback on whether moderators are correctly exercising their judgment/discretion, particularly in moving threads.

For example, the thread, "Federal Frequent Fliers May Be Freed to Keep Miles" was recently moved from "MilesBuzz" to "In the News" by a moderator. While from a technical standpoint it does refer to a newspaper article covering proposed legislation, the substance of the discussion is about the proposed legislation, not the newspaper article.

Further, the substance of the proposed legislation is of major importance to many on this board.

I don't know about the rest of the folks, but I personally seldom look at "News" anymore. For some time now that forum seems to have deteriorated into some sort of a clipping service serviced (in the main) by one individual, and the posts are (to me) usually trivial or of little interest in general. Note, for instance, how often either no response is generated, or the response is posted by the same individual who posted the topic. I suspect most FlyerTalkers would not have learned of this proposed legislation had the only mention been in the "News" forum.

I would submit that this thread is indeed "Discussion of the latest frequent flyer buzz..." and thus was properly situated in MilesBuzz.

Now, let me also say that I realize these are judgment calls, and reasonable persons may reasonably differ on some of these calls. I sugest this type of forum/discussion only to assist the moderators in "calibrating" or fine-tuning their exercise of discretion. And finally, I certainly do appreciate the introduction of moderators. They are needed (in my opinion), unfortunately, and they do good work. I'm simply trying to make some constructive suggestions here.

This is probably as good a place as any.

I believe what really needs to happen is the TalkBoard. A general oversight is likely better than thousands of people commenting.

Dorian



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Doesn't moving a thread break links made to it in other posts? That can't be good...

With the one exceeption of the "deteriorated" comment, I agree with all three of the above posts! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

On further consideration, I should have said "evolved". http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif BTW, doc, thanks for noticing, and posting, the article that began the thread.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif And Counsellor, as you might imagine, I would always rather that you plainly speak your mind! After all, how can I improve if I'm not constructively criticized? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif


BTW, please also see:

What is BUZZworthy?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum1/HTML/004894.html


moderators and thread movement and ext links

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum97/HTML/000478.html

I always read "The News" and find it most informative and appreciate the work the FT'ers who contribute, put into it. Guess we all read and enjoy and CONTRIBUTE different things? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I too find In The News to be quite valuable. I don't think there's a better clipping service at any price on the web for a topic as specific as ours is.

As for the moderators, I can tell you now that as long as I'm involved with FT i will fight against forums that want to dicuss whether moderators are using good judgement in moving threads. I thought I made it very cleear that the next few weeks would be the development cycle of this program and we'd learn from the feedback - which is highly appreciated. But to form a long term forum for discussion of such will do everything to undermine their efforts. Ultimately the TalkBoard will moderate the moderators and i think we leave that to them. In essense they become elected officials which will hopefully and truly represent the communities efforts. It's all new, so let's not worry that everything may not be perfect yet. and at the end of the day......it's always judgement.

I understand that things are evolving. In the spirit of helping them evolve, my 2¢ worth is to move a thread only if it's blatantly, obviously in a really wrong place and there is an equally blatant, obvious right place. That doesn't happen much.

Otherwise, even if a thread is not in the optimal forum, people will have seen it where it is, posted in it where it is, bookmarked it where it is, and expect to keep finding it where it is. As a compromise, perhaps a short "please see that over there" thread could be placed in the more appropriate forum, to prevent parallel discussions with no or little cross-fertilization.

Thanks very much Randy, and I also agree with Efrem here! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Regarding my earlier BUZZ thread,

"Federal Frequent Fliers May Be Freed to Keep Miles"

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum...ML/002839.html

that was moved to nFT "NEWS," there are now two other nearly identical threads running simultaneously in the "BUZZ"! So, are they listening to what "we" collectively might want? Perhaps so! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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Just trying to help Dan off the hook! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Anything new here? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

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Just bringing this forward for eventual future consideration since the new TB is now "whole" again, at last! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Alas, a kinda' ruling:

"I think we've got enough on this topic - thanks all. Here's still our POV - MilesBuzz is for exactly what it says "Discussion of the latest frequent flyer program buzz... " Things about security, etc. belong in TravelBuzz! Now, i fully understand that there may be a post over there that hasn't been answered, but once members really commit themselves to posting in the correct area, then those threads will have all the very same activity that they have in MilesBuzz!, just with much better attention. Folks, we're only talking about one click difference for all this and we get a much cleaner and better board. All this fuss for one click. Now, we are trying to move threads over there, but understand that board is on a different platform and we can't easily transfer the threads, so if you start something on MilesBuzz! and it dissapears, we can't guarantee we'll get it in the right place right away. Same for any replies to that same post. If you want your words to live on and get the answers and attention they deserve - post in the right place to begin with. Forget where someone else posts, read the forum description and post correctly. If all else fails, that why you can contact a Moderator to ask first. Just like good sportsman - they ask permission first to hunt on private property.
Can this work? Gee, imagine where FlyerTalk would be today if we had not broken our forums by program name many years back. Could you imagine what American, United and Continental might look like along with Cathay Pacific and SAS if they were all in the same forum. Try finding the information pertinent to you. We grow this board by some 20,000 posts a week, proper posting is about handling that continued growth, not about your distain for one more click today. Thanks for understanding this and i look forward to seeing posts in their proper place."

Randy


http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum.../004894-3.html

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Thnaks for commenting and attempting to clarify the issue(s)! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I found the moving of threads very disconcerting today.

I have said this before: the design of FT is very flawed. The most common forums need to be in the most commonly viewed forums page. The rest can be moved elsewhere.

There are way too many pages for people to search through.

MILESBUZZ and TRAVELBUZZ can be seaparate, but if you expect them to be popular, why not move them to the "main" page, the one listing the airline programs, MILEBUZZ, etc.?

This is good design -- working *with* human behavior instead of against it.

I would agree. It seems to be arbitrary and capricious, with no underlying rationale.