Dear friends on Flyertalk,

I have just tendered my resignation as a member of the TalkBoard (as well as my other formal positions here).

As some have heard, Randy Petersen is getting back into the travel community space, I've decided to put my energies and online attentions to joining in building his new community.

But my post here isn't about that effort, and it's not my intention to advertise for it here. It's just to share with you why I've decided it's time for me to step down.

I've been a moderator for 8 years, a senior moderator since the beginning of that program, a TalkBoard member for 7 and TalkBoard President for the past 5. It was a difficult decision because of what Flyertalk has meant to me, and continues to mean to me, but I'm excited by the prospect of joining Randy's new site.

I've appreciated the opportunity to work with all of you, to serve this community, and to learn a tremendous amount along the way. But with a limited amount of time I don't think I would do the TalkBoard any good, nor the members as their elected representative.

I do still hope to remain a member of Flyertalk because people still ask questions that I can answer, and it's really always been about making the travel experience better.

Fortunately, I leave with no doubt that there are others in the community who can step into my place. In fact, there is a process in place both for replacing me on the TalkBoard and for the transition in TalkBoard leadership.

Whether here on Flyertalk, or on Randy's new Milepoint site, or at DOs or by email, I look forward to keeping in touch with you all.

And thank you for allowing me to represent you for the past 7 years. I truly appreciate it.

Best,
Gary

Gary, it is no secret that I opposed your re-election to TB solely because I oppose anyone serving a third consecutive term, but I do respect your decision to step down now. It is unquestionably the honorable thing to do.

Randy's new site will be in competition to FlyerTalk and while many (myself included) hope to post on both of them it will be a conflict of interests to represent them both.

Thank you for your years of dedicated service & leadership to FlyerTalk, Gary. You'll be missed - best wishes.

Good luck Gary and thanks for everything all these years.

I look forward to the new site and seeing you there!

Thanks for all your hard work Gary. ^

Thanks for everything Gary. Very much looking forward to the new site. In my opinion, there can't be enough frequent flyer/travel sites!

Gary, your commitment to FT and its members through everything you've done over the past many years has been truly remarkable. Thank you for everything you've done to make FT stronger and our travel lives so much richer.

Cheers! ^

Gary, thank you for your tireless efforts over the years. I wish you the best and look forward to checking out Randy's new site. Take good care.

gigi

Gary, I enjoyed working with you when I was on TB - I think the continuity you've provided has been very valuable and I'll always be grateful to you that you accepted and published the motion to withdraw the MTW motion for reasons that should best remain private.

Thanks for your efforts

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Gary thanks for everything, especially your almost single handed beating of UA to the point that we all got those extra miles

Thanks, gleff. I owe you a personal debt by introducing me to FT (via a mutual friend) and I look forward to your (and Randy's) future ventures. Best of luck!

What's this about a new site? What's the URL?

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; U; CPU OS 4_2_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8C148 Safari/6533.18.5)

Try www.google.com.

Thanks Gary. I look forward to seeing your new activities.

I got my answer. Thanks to those who PM'd me with the information.