My thoughts for the 2012 Talkboard
 

This year has been a banner year for FlyerTalk. Randy left us in good shape and we have continued to experience stunning growth over the past 12 months. Why? I really don’t know, other than the Google search engine loves us and delivers a lot of newcomers to our doors. Clearly, we are doing a lot of things right.

As proud as I am of FlyerTalk, I know that we can continue to improve. It’s a competitive world, there are alternative websites, and many of us use social media. I see a lot of discussion and event organization that used to occur here moving to Facebook. How should we evolve to better fill that need? How do we remain vibrant in this rapidly changing Internet world? What new technologies or structures in the board should we be asking Internet Brands to add in order to keep members coming back to us? These are the questions we need to answer.

Here is my challenge to members of the TalkBoard: I would like to see recommendations for how to take FlyerTalk to the next level. How do we turn a newcomer who finds us thru Google search into a contributing member? Is it important to retain a sense of community? If so, how do we best do that with such a large community?

I’ve given away luggage tags to members on six continents this year. People care about being a FlyerTalker. As many of us have experienced over the years, FlyerTalk is an emotional connection. Is there anything we can do systemically to help foster that? Is it important to keep FlyerTalk in the press? Should TB develop a database of those willing to field press queries and their field of expertise? What about bloggers? We only have THE GATE. Should we ask IB to expand their platform to host blogs? If so, what content is sought?

These are a few examples of where I believe the TalkBoard can serve me and this community as we move forward.

Unfortunately however, I continue to see a misguided focus on perceived ills of the past. This is my second request. Give it up, folks. History cannot be rewritten. It’s almost 2012. Take where we are today and suggest ways to continue to improve.

In the end, all suggestions are made to me as the Community Director and I make the decision as to implementation. I am passionate about having good health on the board and to facilitating its continued growth. To this end, I’ve tried to give a sense of the areas in which TalkBoard can help. Let me also talk about some suggestions that are never going to happen. These changes would throw us into acrimony and disharmony – and I simply will not allow that to happen. Under my watch:

1. The Moderator private forum is never going to be open for public reading.
2. Public discussion of individual discipline is not going to occur.
3. Public discussion of individual moderator action is not going to occur.
4. TalkBoard is not going to become the overlord of moderators.


There is enormous sophistication in the moderator process. Just because individuals here are unfamiliar with it does not mean it doesn’t exist. We have:

1. Carefully chosen moderators. There is a systematic process for how we identify a new moderator that begins with identifying active members in the forum where help is needed, and determining if the person models the behavior we want for moderators;
2. Training protocol for new moderators;
3. Assignment of a seasoned moderator to lead the trainee thru a training period;
4. Good practices document for moderators;
5. Good practices document for senior moderators;
6. Document templates for using PMs to calm a forum;
7. Formal system for review of appeals and masks;
8. Formal system for review of moderators;
9. Annual rotation of senior moderators;
10. A voluntary annual workshop where we spend a day together reviewing the practices above and sharing best practices across the forum.

Do I plan to release any of these documents? No, I do not. Do people in this forum get to discuss them? No. Randy considered the ever-increasing sophistication of the moderation system one of his great accomplishments on FlyerTalk, and so do I.

There has been a tremendous level of introspection within the moderator group that has resulted in a high baseline for what it does. This group is continuously growing and evolving its practices and raising its standards. In everything we do, we strive for a common understanding of the FlyerTalk TOS which members agree to abide by on signing up for FlyerTalk. As has been the case from the beginning, forums can and should have their own personality, but there is a common understanding of acceptable behavior across all of them.

Bottom line, folks, simply because individual frustrations occur within a group of 80-plus volunteers does not mean the structure is broken.

Is it useful to see thoughts on mega-threads? Absolutely. In fact, I’ve begun active discussion with moderators as a group and as individuals on this topic. And I learned that a forum pointed out as having unwieldy mega threads began a significant effort one year ago to turn that around.

Is it useful to determine that moderators have and can open threads to discuss forum structure? Sure. Does TalkBoard get to impose that requirement on moderators? No. There are forums where it suits the members well and others where it would simply revert to bashing the moderators about specific historical actions -- just as we’ve seen here in recent weeks.

As I mentioned, the TalkBoard is accountable to me as the Community Director. I want to be clear about the recent topics of discussion which I consider irrelevant to the TalkBoard and which will be non-starters if they are to reach me. Please stop wasting your time on them. Instead, look forward. Focus on the key issues of broad interest to the members of this community and the ways in which we can further strengthen the health of the board and the experience of our members to keep them coming back.

It is my hope for the New Year that we can engage constructively and successfully on these challenging topics. If the TalkBoard can look forward as I’ve suggested, I’m confident that we have some great minds that can accomplish great things for the next generation of FlyerTalk.

SanDiego1K, thank you for your statement and for providing positive focus for the 2012 TalkBoard. ^

Agree w/ the above, especially about looking forward & continuing to take FT to the higher level.

I've got some ideas on the questions you pose, as well as have received some PMs re: ideas from members. Good stuff to discuss in '12.

Thanks for your thoughts for '12, and Happy Holidays!

Cheers.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts for the 2012 TalkBoard. As I guess a lot of your thoughts are in reaction to things that I have brought up, let me say a few things.

First of all, I like your ideas for focusing on some strategery.

As I think you know, I care a lot about this place. I am and will remain focused like a laser beam on any and all ideas to make FlyerTalk an even more awesome IBB. If you don't like the ideas that I or others on the TB come up with, well, you're the boss and we're just the recommenders.

lol, I don't think anyone ever seriously thought it would.

Yes it will, just not on FlyerTalk's open forums. It will (continue) to occur via email, PM, facebook, other IBBs and of course over beers at happy hours, etc.

Yes it will, just not on FlyerTalk's open forums. It will (continue) to occur via email, PM, facebook, other IBBs and of course over beers at happy hours, etc.

No, there is only one overlord here, M'overlord. But I note that you do not take better communication, coordination and collaboration off the table. Or do you? Rich had a great idea to bring the TB and the mods together at the next mod training session. That's a great start. There are lots more great ideas being generated in the threads in this forum to improve FlyerTalk. They are all-forward thinking and seek to make FT an even better place. Are you asking us to stop talking about all of those things?

I know that many moderators and posters view some proposals through an 'us-vs.-them' lens. That's unhelpful from both sides. But just because something has always been done a certain way does not necessarily make it the best way to do something. And the only way to figure out if it is or not is to talk about it.

You certainly have your hands full with this TB, that's for sure. But look at the passion that you see coming from the folks who have been elected to represent the posters to you. You've got a dedicated, caring bunch of folks here to give you feedback and suggestions.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. I care and I am focused on making FT a better place. There's only one way to get me to stop doing that....and you know where the 'ban for life' button is. ;)

^^

I thought you had more than two thumbs. Had I known you only had two, I'd never have voted for you. :D:p

Thank you, SanDiego1K, for picturing us a clear outlook for FT. ^ Hope the dust can be settled now. ;)

Why not start here?

I've been voicing this simple yet easy-to-use feature for years. I am a strong believer that it should be an easy task but enormous help to newbies to digest our huge FT data bank with informative and/or popular discussion threads.

When can we see a wiki-post feature enabled on FT, when Slickdeals and Fatwallet have been successfully using it for years?

{Quote reference to moderation posting removed during thread clean-up}

Something we're already discussing, so hang in there.

Cheers.

First of all, let me say that stratagery is not a word.

Secondly, I would credit the success of Flyertalk to the past masters of Flyertalk, many of whom are on the Talkboard or of course SD1K herself. So I'm not too worried. I would only input that we don't need to create New Coke. Keep regular Coke going, follow the formula, and enjoy the success.

^

As Sharon noted, some of this stuff is being discussed...and not to derail this thread, but there are some pros/cons to this - FW & SD aren't "discussion" fora - they're post a deal & maybe chat a little & update.

I can only see this being relevant for hotel amenity and discount code, car rental discount codes threads, and maybe program FAQs...I don't know that this technology would be beneficial in all threads. Just my 2 cents....

But again - probably discussion for another thread....

Wiki posts are simply a thread-level option. If unneeded/unused they remain collapsed between the first and third posts of a thread and most eyes simply whiz by the header in that case. As for usefulness, I foresee them being extremely suitable within most of the airline forums, easily half of the destination forums, and certainly in TS/S.

But yes, this particular idea is best left for separate thread. :)

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