Rampant Rudeness & Hostility
 

I am relatively new to FT and am getting really annoyed at the rudeness of so many users. I created a new thread to ask a simple question (in the United section - "What is UGS"), and as usual was treated to replies telling me that someone has asked that question before and that I should have done a search to answer my question before posting a new topic.

First of all, I am not an idiot. I did do a search but did not find my question answered; thus I posted my question to the board. Secondly, if you don't want to answer or read my question, then don't. One doesn't need to take the time to tell me what an ignorant timewaster I am.

Sorry to rant, but what is the point of this hostility? And what do you think, is it just something I'm finding on the United board or is this everywhere?

l

What is your suggestion?

I'm sorry the OP's experience was less than pleasant. The United forum is one of the most active and dynamic on FT; for those of us who frequent it, it is challenging to keep up with the numerous posts there on a regular basis. I think this fact, coupled with the fact that there are a large number of regular posters there, makes us a bit hyper-sensitive to new threads that cover questions or topics that have been discussed in great detail in the past, only to resurface days/weeks/months later. Thanks to the volunteer moderators, things keep flowing, but to me (speaking as a FT member), repeat posts add to clutter and take away from the FT experience.

FT member GoingAway did provide a response to the OP that doing a search revealed a number of threads that clearly (to me) answered the nature and definition of United Global Services (UGS), so I found the claim that the OP did a search but didn't find the answers a bit puzzling.

Perhaps a thicker skin, maybe?

It may be that those members are under a lot of stress given the touch-and-go outlook for that airline and it's almost world record for bankruptcy.

It is the busiest airline forum on FlyerTalk as that may well have contributed as well.

Here's some advice to all members - the reason we have volunteer moderators on FlyerTalk is to provide personal help for things just like this. I feel comfortable in saying that asking a moderator this question would have gotten a complete and friendly reply. That's what they are there for - to help members with basic questions such as this and to direct them to areas of help.

Welcome and please let us know how we may be of ANY assistance to you.

As one of the moderators in the United forum, I welcome emails or personal messages with questions about the airline. As Randy stated, any of the forum moderators would be happy to assist a poster with a general or esoteric question.

Searching on Flyertalk is sometimes an art, and without filtering may result in unsatisfactory results for a newbie.

Uh...don't let this incident scare you away. Rude people are a fact of life, and are encountered everywhere. Most of the folks here are great and very helpful. I find all kinds of good info on FT.

Some of the sarcasm you encounter may actually be "friendly", you just have to get to know the posters since a lot of the meaning is hard to convey via e-mail type messaging.

Cheers,

M8

You didn't provide a link to the thread in question, and I'm not going to go search for it ( ;) ).... But why do you assume that a suggestion to "do a search" is necessarily rude and hostile? Some actually find the suggestion helpful. Maybe you're reading more into this than is actually there. @:-)

I disagree, the majority of people find it rude and unhelpful, especially since these "tips" usually come from the same people over and over again.

Sadly, just like in "real life" Flyertalk has a couple of fairly rude and bitter people who would rather use their time to post "do a search" everywhere instead of actually helping the poor poster... Given the amount of complaints I've seen in the past weeks I think the OP really is onto something.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I went and found the "What is UGS?" thread started by the OP. Here it is, so people can draw their own conclusions about the presence or absence of "rampant rudeness and hostility" in it. I will make no editorial comment:

What is UGS?

Posts 3, 7 & 9 were outright rude. If you dispute that, I cannot fathom what you would consider rude!

I made, and make, no editorial comment. ;)

I dispute it. Post 7 was actually helpful, as the poster did a search and delivered three relevant search results to the OP.

I consider posts with a lot of bolding and caps and describing others' posts as "crap" rude.

Also, a lot depends on the tone - if someone only posts "Do a f-ing search" without adding anything else, of course that is rude. But, for instance, UpgradeMe does remind users to use the search, but at the same time, he usually posts like four or five relevant results (so he actually does the work for the OP), which should actually help the person who asked.

<shrug>
 

Those responses seem pretty tame, IMO.

Hey, it's not as if those posters are spewing hatred and lies.