~Matthew~

Exactly!! We are coming to a turning point for the legacy carriers as we once knew them. FlyerTalk needs to continue to serve as a community where we can share our experiences as the airlines go through these huge changes.

ozstamps

Stay focused on miles and points and travel and areas tightly related to it. And make it easier for new visitors to quickly find what they need.

Creating lots of new Forums just because someone suggests it is not always a good idea. IMHO. Whether they be politically correct or not.

"Forums for travellers wearing Stetson hats"

"Forum on good Mexican restaurants near Ulan Bator Airport Mongolia"

"Best Synagogues in Africa"

etc, etc .........



All are vaguely travel related but do NOT need a separate Forum, IMHO.

Clutters up FT and takes focus from where these questions ARE BETTER asked and answered. These kind of niche Forums do not get traffic, so do not get answers, and thus remain like wastelands.

New forums of similar relevance have appeared in recent times, and these questions can be readily answered in several existing Forums. The answers will be faster and more numerous, and assist the OP much better. Making for a better and faster FT experience for them. And more posts in total, as others will chime in with additions. Win, win, win.

Recent perfect example. I am flying shortly to BAKU, Azerbaijan on a weird kind of mileage run. I posted a thread in Travel Buzz titled: :

BAKU, Azerbaijan - anyone been there? Places to stay - things to do? Airport Lounges?

Guess what - despite probably 95% of FT'ers probably not knowing where Azerbaijan is located (much less Baku!) I had quick answers from a member born there. Another member was right there as he posted, and others had spent much time there.

They could respond re airport lounge access, things to do, places to stay etc. There is nowhere on the web where you can source such superb in-depth info so fast. Period. As long as you know WHERE on FT to ask the question.

Had I posted it in the seldom visited "Travel and Diving - Russia" forum (one or two threads a month average have been posted over 4½ years and geographically not really correct anyway) I'd still be waiting for the first answer I imagine.

Heck I am an old timer here, and can navigate around FT pretty well. But lets place ourselves in the shoes of a newbie to FT, who stumbles across it somehow. And wants to visit Azerbaijan. He'd often need to spend 10 minutes just deciding WHERE to look for the place to ask or research the question. And may get bored and wander off as it is all too hard to figger out.

Another example. There is a Forum called "Travel & Dining CUBA"

http://flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisp...c&daysprune=-1

Just 18 threads posted in about 5 years - or 3 or 4 threads a year. Most newbies going there will see no current threads. Waste of space having this Forum. IMHO.

There are 2 other Forums in same sub section:

"The Caribbean"

and another one called:

"Latin/Central America"

As an example Cuba probably should should be merged into one of the others. IMHO.

There is another Forum called "South America". And another called "Mexico". I'd personally merge all the 4 low traffic Forums of these 5 into one:

"Caribbean/Mexico/Central America"

Where the heck is "Latin" if not in Central America, South America or Mexico?!

To re-cap - less is more. IMHO.

VPescado

Define "future."

If you mean the next year, I would refer back to the points in my platform regarding transparency and consistancy.

If you mean the next decade, it will be managing growth: Staying relevent and avoiding decay.

If you mean the next century, it would be technological: moving on beyond the antique internet to whatever replaces it. I hope to live to see the day that I can look to my seat opponent on the Moon-Mars shuttle and after a discussion of maximizing miles and points, suggest that he try the FlyerTalk brain implant.

fredman

I echo OZSTAMPS - the most important thing Flyertalk can do it to concentrate on what it does best - discuss flying first and foremost, and let the other things like Hotels/Motels take care of themselves.

MY concern is that there are literally dozens of other websites that cover all aspects of travel - to a certain degree, they are 'jack-of-all-trade forums, master of none in particular', therefore there needs to be a website dedicated to one thing it can do better than the rest, so push the 'flying' perspective, expertise, what have you, don't wander into vanilla areas too deeply.

Shareholder

Management of growth. This confronts most modern communities, and in this FT is no different. However, we see this in two ways: the bredth of subjects covered by our fora [already addressed in another question], and the number of members active on FT [which I will address below].

The biggest problem I have with FT is speed. Growth brings this on, and I know capacity continues to be enhanced, but at times the site just crawls along. And even at the best of times, it takes several minutes to process a PM given the slowness of the process. [And I used high-speed cable internet, albeit with a Mac.] Being unversed in technology, I cannot answer or even posit a solution to this one, other than the hope that this has been resolved in the past and I am sure it can be now.

After speed, more members means more newbies. And more newbies means a healthy, vibrant and growing Community. But it also inevitably leads to the same questions being asked every couple of months, as a new media item about FT brings a new wave of members. I suppose as an old timer I must recognize the fact that this redundancy factor will be a fact of life. The best we oldies can do is remind newbies that FT is a huge archive of facts, and that a "Search" can often turn up the answers to questions already posed many times in the past. At the same time, I recognize the shortcomings of the "Search" mechanism on FT.

The final off shoot of this growth, and the lack of "searching", is the proliferation of multiple threads on the same subject. This particularly occurs in the hotel fora, and for my part life would be much easier were a better system of arranging "reviews" of properties arrived at. A "Search" under a city will often reveal dozens of threads which deal with the same thing: what's a given property, or hotel group's properties, like in that city. When doing my own research on such matters, I do find it time consuming to have to go to every link, when there might be a way of consolidating threads into a single thread.

I would propose that, in addition to TOS which all newbies are supposed to read when they sign up, there be another page that highlights some key operating practices that would make navigating and getting the most out of FT possible.

The bottom line is that FT must manage its growth carefully. We can always benefit from new members, and a growing Community. But it can alse be something that undermines the success of FT. We need more discussion about this important issue, both by the FT Board and the Community as a whole.

kokonutz

Trust. The sort of trust that comes from transparency and open representation.

And putting me in a position to take bribes for political favors. That is pretty important.

And my LH first class slippers that I am wearing, as I do on every single flight. Those are REALLY important.

Oooops. that is three. does this mean I am disqualified!?!?!!? ^

NOLAnwGOLD

An diverse free membership open to all. Having industry workers, customers, new to travel or veterns of travel, from all walks of life is vital to the success and future of FT.

CameraGuy

I would say that FT needs to deal with problem members with a firmer and more even hand.

Chronic moderator bashers need to be shown the door. The practice of 4th and 5th 30 day suspensions needs to stop.

peteropny

Consistent management of FT.

doc

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Aside from being sure that a few airlines here in the U.S. and abroad remain viable, ya' mean?

Put simply, it would be to maintain the high level of interest and energy contributors have demonstrated in the past, while still retaining the small, close knit community feel that makes FT the truly awesome place that it is.

By continuing to grow and expand the fora, along with the increasing membership, FT can continue to focus on miles and points. Yet it can also continue to provide a vibrant, captive BB for a huge, eclectic, one of a kind super community, by encoraging the free and open exchange of ideas inasmuch as is possible.

Effective, consistent "guidance" from it's caring long standing members, as well as from the appointed moderator volunteer corps, can insure this is the case.

Mark

FewMiles

I would say that the most important thing for FT is to encourage more participation from its visitors. I have forgotten the statistics that you have given us before about the number of unique visitors and about the ratio of lurkers to posters, but I remember that they were large numbers. I think it's important to get more people to join in the fun, as this will bring new perspectives to the discussion.

Like our vampire friends say ... fresh blood.

FewMiles..