njx9

Sure. And I don't want to make out like I'm blaming TB or 'hating' on them (y'all). But I wanted to explain to those asking why I didn't much think voting was important.

I don't disagree beyond what I said when the motions came up for discussion, and I get where you're coming from with respect to that specific issue. But I'd even bet that most of the people who logged in this month are under 180 total posts. Though, I'd probably grant that most of those who actually posted are over. Regardless, I don't think that changes the overall point much?

kokonutz

Well thank God for that, anyway.

Still...I find the discrepancies deeply disturbing.

I do hope you can find the time to go back and audit all of the results to ensure the 'correct' posters were reported as receiving the most votes, just to restore full faith in the past elections' legitimacy.

Ancien Maestro

Wouldn't Randy have spot checked the years in question.. a double check to the integrity is best done the year of.. in terms of process..

I do agree, its good to get it right if possible..

obscure2k

Time to move on. This is not a Gore v Bush issue. I found that "deeply disturbing." A TalkBoard election; not so much.

belfordrocks

+1 ^^

Eastbay1K

Not necessarily. I voted for at least one furriner, who did not win. He was not, however, from that strange continent with funny animals with pouches

I am optimistic, generally, that the Anglo-centric focus of the board, even though remaining in English, is changing - at least with respect to the various acceptance of new fora.

N830MH

Right. This is not politics on this forum. They have to do post in OMNI/PR.

BadgerBoi

Instead TB remains stacked with furriners from that strange country with funny men with guns

lin821

^

I can't agree more.

I have to honestly say I wouldn't be surprised at all if this motion came back to life again and served as the 1st motion for this new TB.

(underline mine)

No matter what first motivated you to starting looking at TB Topics Forum and/or voting, at least you took the initiative. This is one way of participating. If you want change and/or improvement, the fool-proof way to do so is, to the best of my knowledge, participate.

There are more than one way to participate and be engaged on FT. TB isn't the only forum/area to make things happen. TalkBoard has an important role on FT but TB doesn't and can't make all the big decisions. Don't let that stop you from giving back to FT though.

The key is get familiar with TalkBoard and try to not place unreasonable expectations on TB. Post away when what you want/like is under their purview. If you have great ideas to better FT that are non-TB-ish and want to be heard, I am sure Carol, our Community Director, will be all ears.

All I am saying is if you don't take action, nothing will ever happen. It's totally up to you. Vote, or not. Participate, or not.

exbayern

As someone pointed out however upthread, it can be spun both ways. The addition of some recent 'furrin' fora may be due to the fact that they were missing/needed and only now are the non-North American/non-UK fora catching up.

I was amazed for instance how long it took for FT to create an 'Airlines of India' forum. Until that time, the only place for comprehensive airline travel information was IndiaMike, which tends to have a different userbase and focus than FT.

I actually feel slightly guilty that we have derailed one thread from US-based to furrin talk, but it was one thread, and we aren't providing US-centric information which may mislead readers.

SanDiego1K

I, too, would like to see international representation on Talkboard. This might be the first year that we've had none. Last year, we started the year with one from the UK and one from Africa. But folks have to self identify to run for Talkboard. Sometimes the most capable people don't think of putting themselves forward. Sometimes they do and then it is up to the voters.

We've been very mindful about having international representation among the moderators. We want to be careful that they represent the international draw of the board. Over the last few years, we've dramatically increased the number of mods from outside the US. Today, we draw over 40% of our moderators from outside the US. We have moderators from Canada, Australia, Argentina, Singapore, Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden, and the UK.

We're also trying something new with a group of ambassadors. We've got three terrific Spanish speaking ambassadors for the LAN forum who can help with private queries.

exbayern

That is good (although I believe that at least one is an American living abroad).

Let me be clear that it has nothing to do with being anti-anything. But as an example, a new poster comes to FT and asks about airport security from SIN to LHR.

He receives responses telling him about TSA rules, which are actually quite different from some of the rules in the UK (and elsewhere) regarding his particular question. Even when corrected, posters continue to quote TSA and American experiences. Finally the new poster expresses confusion and frustration and leaves.

That isn't a very positive welcome to a new international member. Another thread going on right now about security at LHR detours into a discussion about TSA and American rules (which again, are different in this case) by the second or third post. No matter that several non-US posters try and explain that some rules differ around the world, the conversation continues to come back to TSA and American rules, even though the incident occured in the UK.

Those are two examples about very specific instances where detouring into US conversation are not helpful, and can confuse readers. I can think of many other threads in which I participate where the conversation is dominated by North American viewpoints, even if the subject matter was actually quite global.

I don't have a simple answer, because I also know that we tend to cluster in our geographic groups here. Long ago I broke away from M&M (although I do enjoy lurking there) But the BA crowd tends to frequent the BA/UK threads, just as some people tend to gather on Airlines of India, etc. I suppose that if I only flew LH/LX around Europe, I too might stick close to M&M rather than venture into the greater FT community.

RSVP

Congratulations to all that took the time to vote.

youreadyfreddie

Next year, my friend. Next year!

youreadyfreddie

Wait--are you saying that FTers are revolting?