What motivates you to serve FlyerTalk?

For those who haven't historically participated in Talkboard discussions, what has interested you this year?

I've tried numerous times to be on Talkboard. Flyertalk is a focal point of my life, right now I consider it to be as important to me as law school or work. People here are my friends and the information I gain here is invaluable. I have a place I can speak and a place where I can listen to others. I consider myself a natural leader and I would love a chance to speak for others and to help contribute to this site that has given me so much. Giving back so to speak.

Plus, who can resist that flashy tagline under their handle?

Why I am I running or in my case, running for re-election?

I ran for TalkBoard 2 years ago because I thought I could "do some good" and to give something back* to the community which has helped me** in an incredible way since I joined in 2004 and I'd like to continue to help. Have I done a good job? Have I pi$$ed people off? I can only let the members decide on both tho when I comes to pi$$ing people off, if I have done that, I'd like it to be a good thing as sometimes you have to do that in order to get your point across-whether it be in the private TalkBoard forum, the TalkBoard, public forum or any other forum, I will argue the issue and point out things which I disagree with and/or need to be changed (tho I will never attack a member for their point of view-the point of view, yes but never the member)

*give something back more than Tootsie-Pops�

**and kept me in the will with goalie-parents by having them ride in the pointy end of the plane

Hi Everyone!

I chose to run for a few reasons!

- Sense of community FT builds. While each forum has its own personality/character, we come together as enthusiasts, experienced and/or new travelers; many have something to offer. I'd like to help continue build the community where we share crazy, normal, mundane, experiences, as well as provide advice to others. I'd like to return the favor of vast amounts of info jive received here to others!

- I love having the opportunity to be here! No matter where I am in the world (USA, UK, Germany, Afghanistan, or points in between), its always nice to come to FT to contribute or read what others are talking about!

- I believe in truth in advertising (honesty, knowing where accurate info comes from) and being willing to own mistakes. Regardless of divergent opinions, I'm happy to consider others' perspectives.

Thanks for your time!

robin

I'm running because Flyertalk is the place where I got my miles/points game started. If I hadn't stumbled on it, I doubt I'd be where I would be now and I feel it's only fair to give back and help Flyertalk get more people interested in miles and points and to show them what they're missing.

Miles and points I can say is a super steep learning curve and there's much that can be done on Flyertalk to alleviate that.

I was not aware in the past that this was such a possibility.

Now that I am, and have some free time, I would like to dedicate this free time to help participating into something I have always benefited from.

Its good to have a fresh perspective, and this is certainly something that I would bring.

FlyerTalk has brought tremendous knowledge to me, and I have tried to give back in one way -- as a moderator -- for many years. Talkboard is just another way to contribute to the governance of a website that means a lot to me.

Bruce

Masochism.

Also because I have a lot of experience on FlyerTalk and on the TalkBoard and think posters deserve to have TB members who are transparent in their views and their thoughts on matters that affect them by actively participating in TB Topics threads.

Also because I think posters are well served by having someone who is cynical about how FlyerTalk is moderated on the TalkBoard (although of course that's just tilting at windmills most of the time).

But mostly masochism.

I'm running as a candidate who is grateful for all the knowledge and experience I've gained from reading this forum and am eager for an opportunity to give back and to make this great place even better.

I'm running for TalkBoard to improve FT and to bring a new perspective to the elected leadership.

I've been a member of FT since 2002--right around this time of year. I had just run the NYC Marathon and while on what is commonly known as "runner's high" I came up with my nic and joined FT. I had been posting for a couple of years on another much smaller forum but it was suggested to me that the format and diversity of the much larger FlyerTalk would suit me very well.

Having 10+years in this forum doesn't make me better than anyone else, but it does give me experience that many may not have. I am no elitist and I try to leave my ego at the door, but sadly so many do not share those sentiments and I hope I can help change that attitude by example. But I joined this online community at a time when exhibiting just a bit more class, style and grace were some of the ingredients that enabled one to become accepted. It was also at a time when one could still afford to actually BUY an airline ticket. When having 25,000 miles meant one could actually use them to fly somewhere. When there were six majors not just three. And when everything wasn't always about fraud or "for security reasons" (we were certainly already on our way to being like that however).

The community of FT was such that people could ask and debate questions where real travelers would share or debate as well. It can be like that now in many areas, but to many people I talk to daily, a lot of this has eroded away. Sure, there were dweebs and trolls, but that's the internet. But most of the members had to have invested some time, energy and intelligence into this stuff to even bother to be on the forum and so one could more easily discern between reality and falseness. In other words, there was a bit more work, passion and learned knowledge that went into this and if someone outed a deal or made a huge blunder, the community let them know this was not cool. The poster could, however, show that he or she realized the mistake and learned from it and would be collectively welcomed back too. I mean, at least it seemed this way to me (having made my own many blunders over the years).

It's not always the job of the moderators to govern the community and those who just take the easier way through things never seem to get that. Not that simply signing up for a multitude of credit cards and then buying massive amounts of gift cards is a bad thing--I do the CC part quarterly and the GC part almost daily--but it takes a lot more wisdom and in-depth creativity to work through a collection of small promos, to put together trips, to read and understand mileage charts and to learn about and have a passion about the aircraft people fly. Having to do harder things to get award travel to work for a person makes that person more able to handle travel related issues and makes them appreciate it more.

From day one, my concentration was always about ways to earn miles I always dealt in issues like "How do you get your miles or points when promo X failed or didn't want to award them to you?" So I didn't get into things like mileage running, which often involved a job that forced one to travel a lot anyway, but it seemed to me that in my earlier years there were more flying enthusiasts with what appeared to be a long-time presence and reliability than onetime, one off posters that took jabs at one another and came and went each month on the forum. Things seemed to stick around a lot longer. Now things move quicker and deals change in a day sometimes. Now mileage running tricks and ideas are often over exposed and people don't respect the unspoken rules such as "do not call" and the like (there's a difference between calling a company about an �ber amount of lost miles in a botched promo, which could be okay to do, vs calling an airline about a mistake fare, which is not good to do, but some don't care).

FT is still a great community but things have changed and some seasoned members talk with me offline. We have met in person and some of us email or PM on a regular basis. One friend of mine who shares deals and miles promos with me saw that I was running for TalkBoard and said this: "I have all kinds of questions.....like, what plans do you have to bring the fun, humorous and more knowledgeable people back so that they replace many of the dumbos that we have now? Can we go back to code-speak that was more challenging than the circles and arrows currently in use? How do people feel about an IQ test as a membership requirement for FT?!"

On that note, I'd like to say that I am FULLY aware that all kinds of people share here and that there are many more opinions and styles than just my own. I know my stuff is not the best or the only way to do things, but for those who know me--and I am very easy to get to know and be friendly with--the goal is to work with real time stuff that works and gives good results. There's a way to accommodate many personalities if one works at it, and I am both well-suited and very willing to do that work! ...and to re-energize and revive some of the great FT stuff I saw when I first joined.

Again, I have made my mistakes, been shut down from this or been booted from that, and I have learned from these things. Now it's time for a guy like me to willingly give even more back to the community through TalkBoard.

That's why I'm doing this. Hope you like it.

MM

I'm running because I've been a member for some time now and feel I should contribute a little back for a while.

I am an admin and moderator on a couple of other international forums and have a good appreciation of how an internet community works.

Late to the party as I have been busy. I have been an active member of FT for over 4 years now and it is my home. You want to keep your house in order and I feel like I can give some of my time to give back for a couple years. I don't have any big agenda, when issues come up I'll just vote as I see in the best interest of FT.

Actually I would like to amend my answer...

The question was, "Why are you running?"

Um, because I'm Marathon Man!



Ok I had to

I’ve been on FlyerTalk for 8 years now and have seen it grow to the forum it is today. I feel like FlyerTalk is my home, and I believe I can make it a better place. With it being so large, it can feel overwhelming for new members (even when I started, it felt like that to me) and I want to make it a place where I can make new users feel at home. This forum can help many people make their lives easier and more enjoyable and I want to make that possible. Traveling touches all of our lives; be it from an occasional holiday trip to weekly work commutes. There are many tips/tricks out there available on FlyerTalk and I would love to see it more accessible to everyone.