HansGolden

About the only people that make their first thread in the Mileage Run Deals do so erroneously. None of the above should be posted in the MR Deals forum and many should not be posted in MR Discussion.

First thread: Has nothing to do with MRs, rather a question about hidden city ticketing.
Second thread: A general question about mileage accrual
Third thread: A request for a volunteer TA to construct an MR (against rules of MR Deals and MR Discussion forum)
Fourth thread: Blog advertisement

You're seriously using these threads as examples of newbies contributing helpful, properly categorized information to FT?? If these newbies hadn't seen the MR Deals forum, there would have been a higher chance they would have posted in the correct forum!

Invariably the crap that I have to skip thru in MR Deals are threads started by new posters:
joe57777 (2 posts) - Airlines Vouchers - "Hello to everyone! I am new to this site and I want to ask anyone if they know where I can buy airline vouchers and or frequent flyer miles?"
flymanbeast (200 posts) - Need to go to russia for cheap - "I need to go to krasandor in russia to meet a friend(female (: ) . Is there anyway to get cheaper prices then now by stalking it? its 600$ right now from spain.Would it be cheaper to take from countries around spain?"
inglis (8 posts) - looking for cheap flight from vancouver to sydney - "I am looking for cheap flights from vancouver,canada to sydney (Australia) . leaving last week of june and returning early August. Any suggestions on buying?"

I think with tcook onboard the MR mod team*, those kinds of posts are getting cleaned up more quickly and don't end up on my RSS feed (which is absurdly behind the times--any vbulletin tweaks that could make those things more real-time?). Last time we had this discussion, I posted a list of newbie irrelevant threads as long as my arm that had been posted to MR Deals in the last 3 days.

I'm still waiting for a single example of a person's first post being a killer MR Deal. Ok, the bar is too high. Let's just say, an <4 cpm MR. Ok, still too high: how about just a fare (rather than a request for one to be found) in the MR Deals forum at all?

(I thought I'd better read my own first FT posts for perspective. It's quite amusing, actually! For the record here's my first post. I must admit while I had good knowledge in some areas, I was quite moronic in others! )

* Not at all pointing fingers at other MR mods. I know the rush of unsustainable energy that often accompanies a new role! Furthermore, more mods means quicker spam cleanup all around, doesn't matter who the most recent addition was.

bhatnasx

Right or wrong - and I think I could argue that MR Discussion has become the defacto place for anything that has to with how to book any kind of trip & that it's not really, and hasn't been for quite some time, true mileage run discussions - it's been booking and rules discussion because there's no other place to have that) - folks are writing there & mods aren't moving things...and I also am guessing that other members, who are answering the questions aren't RBPing it.

That said, one of my first posts in the MR Forum (which I used to moderate many moons ago), was about booking a mileage run through priceline's bidding site (which we all know doesn't actually earn miles)

Still...doesn't change my mind on this...I can't tell you how many people I've either met on a plane or met at a cocktail party or whereever that I've suggested they check out the Mileage Run forum on FlyerTalk - and if I'm doing, I'm sure countless others are as well...I've got 6 referrals on my statistics page...no idea who they are...but I'm sure the main reason they joined & put me as the one who referred them to FT was because I suggested they look into the MR forum.

Sorry...just don't see it & will vote against this motion if it goes to vote.

HansGolden

That's a different reason than the sentence Sharon asked you on to provide proof of:
For the record, I believe the first paragraph of yours that I quoted in this post is a legit reason. I often link to MR Deals threads on Facebook, which brings new folks to FT (though I'm not aware of a single person that stayed to become an FT member; they've all just booked the deal and never visited again, to my knowledge). (Often in the heat of a mistake fare, my friends are better served by getting the raw FT feed than trying to get info through me via FB comments.) However, the heat of a mistake fare would not be nearly as hot if MR Deals required registration.

Despite agreeing there are certain disadvantages to requiring registration, I believe the benefits outweigh the downsides.

As in every area of life, power is preceded by knowledge and responsibility. (Spiderman's uncle had it right.) The reason FD gurus don't hand $300 RTWs to newbies is that they don't have the depth of knowledge to not kill it. They may be ever so well-meaning (or ever so selfish), but their lack of knowledge alone disqualifies them. The same goes for eye-popping double-dipping tricks and promo stacking (of the sort that allowed me to pick up 1mm DL miles at under 2/10 CPM a few weeks ago). To me, these kinds of restrictions are not being cold and hostile to beginners, it's simply for their own good and the sustainability of the community as a whole. I'm a relative newcomer to FT (signed up in 2009) and I've scaled the ladder by hard work, being helpful to others, and building relationships (despite having never been at one of the magical DOs yet!). I've found folks to be very helpful (and that includes the people that get the worst rap for being the most secretive) if I put real effort into finding deals and being helpful to them in return (or rather to start with). There is a clear hierarchy of secrecy: Step by step FT/blog posts with screenshots, abbreviation-dense FT posts, coded FT posts (Trick it), private lists and forums, and finally one-on-one sharing based upon trusted relationships. All these levels are interdependent. The existence of each level depends on the levels on either side of the continuum. The fact that you may find yourself at a certain level does not mean rejection by the more secret levels; I've found the process of moving up the levels of secrecy to be a very egalitarian meritocracy. Furthermore, my experience with the people at the top of the hierarchy of secrecy is that they're glad to help newbies on the newbie level of help. (There are simply different appropriate venues for different types of deals.) As a person builds their basic travel knowledge, they automatically move up the scale. If they're friendly, they may receive a few boosts along the way. (I'm very, very loyal to two FT members that gave me two key boosts along the way. I still watch out for MRs or deals for their specific travel habits and send them their way.)

Obviously FT (IMHO) can never attain the highest levels of that hierarchy of secrecy. However, it can make itself more relevant and central to the travel world by vertically integrating its way up that secrecy ladder in small steps. Requiring registration is a step in the right direction. Having 180/180 requirements would be another. Even OPs having thread-level control over their threads as being Google, registered user, 90/90, 180/180, or FT Evangelist, I believe would have some merit.

No matter what FT does, those further levels of secrecy will exist because they are inherently necessary for the sustainability of the community. FT's choice is whether it wants to be a part of that or whether they want to let the ad revenue and page views and expert community members go elsewhere.