Organization of Airline Programs
 

I was poking around in "Airline Programs" today and noticed something that looked a bit strange to me, and perhaps to others....

In addition to the myriad airline-specific forums, there are also "Airlines of India", "Hawaii-Based Airlines", and the "Other x FFP"s. Is there a reason(s) why:

• "Airlines of India" is not called "India-Based Airlines" to match Hawaii?
• "Hawaii-Based Airlines" is not called "Airlines of Hawaii" to match India?
• Why those two are not down toward the bottom of the page where the other location-specific forums are?

You raise an interesting point, a timely one as Talkboard is considering Airlines of Russia. We could begin with the locale as has been done in the Hawaii example: India based airlines; Russia based airlines.

Airlines of India has been renamed India based airlines.

The new Russia and CIS based airlines also follows this format, thanks to your comment:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/russi...-airlines-703/

I have an objection. As an Airlines of India regular, I strongly prefer the AoI name to "India Based Airlines."

Perhaps we should have an "Airlines of Hawaii" forum and an "Airlines of Russia and the CIS" forum. ^

But if I am not mistaken, "Hawaii", unlike India or Russia, is not a country by itself. ;)

Sorry for my ignorance, but other than the words "of" and "based", what's the difference?

The forum just moved from the top of the list to in the middle. Forum regulars are used to just opening up FT and clicking the link. Now we have to go digging through forums about random, unimportant (:p) airlines like Iberia and JAL. That's the selfish reason.

Then, the fact that we're very used to calling it the AoI forum. IBA doesn't quite have the same ring, ya know?

I can dig up plenty of other reasons. Many are shallow, but all are valid - after all, the purpose of TB is to improve the user experience for the members. We, the regulars of the AoI forum, are requesting that the forum's name not be changed. I trust that this will be taken into account :)

Hawaii is not a country. I am entirely unsure why this is relevant. After all, right now there is an India based airlines forum, and a Hawaii-based Airlines forum (note capitalization and punctuation).

Unlike India, Hawaii is not a country by itself. That has absolutely no effect on the titling of forums.

Maybe I got it wrong but I believe both the Russia and India based airline fora are taking the ""country-specific" approach. That's the relevance I see in the new titles. In your suggestion of a "Airlines of Hawaii" would have been inconsistent with that idea and logic.

Maybe our Community Director can chime in and tell us how and why she chose the wording/rewording of these country-based fora.

I just don't get what you mean.

There is currently a forum titled "Hawaii-based Airlines"
I fail to understand what the difference between that and "Airlines of Hawaii" is, other than the fact that it would allow consistency and still allow AoI forum regulars to keep our beloved name.

I have to agree. The syntax of 'AoI' somehow to me was a reflection of that forum and content. :) It has to my mind a special ring to it, just as that board has always been a little 'unique' and its own little world here on FT. (Or that could just be my fondness for the country itself and for the forum speaking!)

I support Airlines of India instead of India-based airlines. As previously hightlighted, Hawaii is not a separate country unlike India or Russia.

+1 on this too. It was much better when it was Airlines of India.

I too vote for Airlines of India.

As Mrs Slocombe* would say, I am quite unanimous in my indifference to the name of the forum. The content is what floats my boat. :)





*Ref: "Are You Being Served?". ;)

I strongly support AoI. Why change something that's not broken and that we'd actually gotten used to? There are surely better & more important things for forum administrators to do than go about changing names in the name of standardization..?

<sarcasm>

Oh, I see... standardization for the sake of organization is WAY worse than non-standardization for the sake of... an easy acronym?

</sarcasm>

:confused:

I think that in this case, standardization for the sake of organization is worse than non-standardization for the sake of convenience, familiarity, sense of community, more majestic sounding name, and easy acronym that's at the top of the list.

Convenience - I'm not seeing this - With either name, use MyFlyerTalk and bookmark the forum - convenient either way.

Familiarity - The posts inside the forum have not changed, only the name - the forum should still be "familiar" to regulars and visitors alike. And if anyone is having trouble getting "familiar" with where to find the forum, suggest MyFlyerTalk to them also.

Sense of Community - I don't see this either - The sense of community should come from the posts inside, not just the name.

More majestic sounding name - What exactly constitutes a majestic vs. non-majestic name? Where's the line between the two? I see two different three-letter acronyms - AoI, or IbA. Why is one majestic and the other not?

Easy acronym at the top of the list - Okay, I'll give you this one. ;)

Are you a frequent reader and/or poster of Airlines of India?

Just curious.

Some of the smaller fora here are very different in feel than the larger ones, and have a greater sense of community. (There are larger ones which also have a sense of community, but which I feel to shut out others if they are not part of the clique or the established group. However AoI has always seemed to be especially warm and welcoming to newcomers)

That isn't an argument for retaining one name over another, but rather just an explanation of why at least a few may feel more passionate about the name of the forum.

Very well said exbayern. I couldn't have put it better.

+1 Well said.

+2 exbayern clearly understands our forum dynamic well.

Hi,

I've been a long time lurker of the AoI forum - I live in Germany, but I travel back to India often, and therefore I follow the forum a lot.

It is a very welcoming place, with a very good sense of community. I have always thought that the name helped foster that community - AoI has a very beautiful ring to it that just makes people feel welcome.

I can't say that same thing about the new name.

I request that the TalkBoard changes it back.

P.S (what exactly is the TalkBoard) :confused: I gather that they have the power to change it back, but I have never heard it before lallyr linked me to this thread.

No, I'm not, obviously... but if the forum's moderator (who I assume is a frequent reader/poster in the forum) is supportive of the name change and has specifically stated that it will not change back, why is that not good enough?

Why is that not good enough? Babu is a very nice forum moderator from what I've seen, but he is only one person, with his own personal preferences.

You can see clearly on this thread that lots of people (like me and PVDtoDEL, exbayern, zoonil, lallyr, Hyderago, Simz, snod08) all are not liking this change.

I don't know what this TalkBoard is, but I think that they should think about what the posters want - after all, the posters is what makes forum money from advertising and such.

We like it as AoI, and TalkBoard should change it back. If Moderator has power, then he should change it back. Leaving it like this I am not liking at all.

Are we demanding? Are we boycotting? All we are saying is that we preferred the old name. It had a better ring to it.

FT is a place where people can share their opinions which is what we are doing. It is not a society where a King rules so if the mod has said he is happy with the name he is not a king with final ruling powers. With all due respect your tone is not appreciated.

Let everyone have their opinion and then leave it up to the people that run this place.

Maybe we should demand if they are having such mean attitude and tone.

I make enough salary - I can set up a forum on airlinesofindiaforum.com or something - maybe some of you can help with English on site so it looks nice?

If these people will be so mean and disregard us like this, we should go somewhere else.

With all due respect bollyfan, I don't think this will be necessary. In the past, the administration of FlyerTalk has been very helpful, and I think they will be this time too. After all, we are happy in the AoI forum - no need for something drastic like this.

I just hope they will listen to us.

ok PVDtoDEL. You are posting a lot more than me, so obviously your opinion is having more importance.

Maybe I am jumping too far ahead (there is some such phrase in English, for
ज़्यादा गुस्सा).

The point is that these people should be respecting our opinion and not just doing their own thing. I am not seeing anybody supporting this name change except for that mean lo2e. So then why is it happening?

Regards,
Radhika

Post count doesn't mean much - it just means that I have wasted more time on the computer in front of FT than you have ;)

ज़्यादा गुस्सा would be translated by me as "overreacting," and yes, I think you are overreacting. I liked the old name quite a bit, and I really hope they change it, but I don't think it is necessary to get riled up the way you are.

Cheers,
Rohit

It would be nice if they changed it but realistically I don't think it would happen as to FT the overall symmetry is more important. I can see where they are coming from so I guess its not likely to change.

However we should respect that everyone has their opinion and this is the right forum to express it. Which is what everyone has done politely.

Radhika don't worry about some people on FT. They normally get this way once they have a badge below their name. Gives them some sort of FT superpower which us without tags don't have. Best to ignore them. ;)

I don't know about that - I can't think of a reason why TB/Carol/anyone else would have a problem with naming the forums Airlines of ____ instead of ____-based Airlines, assuming that they are all symmetrical and organized. Perhaps they naturally prefer the latter option, but we, the actual posters on the forum, clearly prefer the name AoI better...

Perhaps you're unaware what "Ambassador" on FlyerTalk means. I don't have any "superpower", I'm merely someone that has volunteered to help with the upkeep of one forum (in my case, the New England forum). I can't edit anyone's posts (that's for a moderator), I have no control over what the Talkboard does, I am merely a member that cares about all of FT in general, and specializes in one forum in particular. If you want to become an ambassador yourself, all you have to do is ask the Community Director to become one. All I did was ask to be of help to the community. No need to pass an exam or be anything but a member who cares.

In this, the Talkboard forum, I am merely a member representing my own opinion(s). You can feel free to respectfully agree or disagree with my opinions, as I have respectfully agreed or disagreed with all of the ones stated here. Not once have I said that anyone didn't have the right to express their opinion on the name of the forum, I just simply don't agree, based on my admittedly rather outside-looking-in view since I'm not a regular there. Ultimately it is not my decision nor yours to decide the name, it is up to the moderators, TalkBoard, and Community Director. I trust their judgment, and IMHO in the almost 11 years of time I have spent here on FlyerTalk, very few decisions have been made without careful thought and consideration for the betterment of FlyerTalk on the whole. Do I agree with every decision? Of course not. But I trust that the ones making them are at least trying to do the right thing in the global picture with the decision.

That said, I'm bowing out of the conversation so that those who do have the power to make such decisions can look through and decide what (if anything) to do. IMO we're all beating a dead horse on either side at this point. If I ruffled a few feathers by stating my opinion, then my apologies. But I stand behind my position and opinions as I'm sure you stand behind yours.

Perhaps however that is why some feathers appear to have been ruffled.

I am much more of a lurker than a poster in AoI, but over the years have learned a lot of information there and hopefully have also been able to share some information as well with others through my admittedly infrequent posts. I have also engaged in PMs with people along the way about a variety of topics, and feel part of the community even if I am not always a regular poster there.

My question to you was because you seemed to have a definite opinion on the subject, but I didn't have the sense that you really understood the nature of that particular forum.

I value the fact that FT even has a Talkboard, and that one can give input to Talkboard. The geographic fora were recently reordered, and our feedback was solicited for that change. I truly believe that we were heard, and our feedback was considered, and changes were made. Now some are asking for additional changes, and I believe that they too are being heard, even if it may not ultimately result in the change they desire.

Your intial question was certainly valid, but I also believe that the passion demostrated by several of the forum regulars was also valid, and perhaps an attempt to support the original name for the forum and why they wish for a return to that name.

I beg to disagree:

Does that sound like respectfully stating your opinion? To be honest, it is probably the rudest reply I have ever seen on the TB forums, usually one where courteous, free discourse is always encouraged (unless it involves mods of course ;)).


I agree. The CD, the TalkBoard, the mods, they all work very hard to improve FlyerTalk, for the betterment of the user experience.

Normally, when decisions are made about forum name changes, there is weeks and weeks of discussion beforehand, allowing for the best decision to be made with the input from TB members, the CD, Mods, and the users. In this case, I guess CD felt that this decision would be uncontroversial, just going ahead with the change without taking user input.

When it turned out that this was a controversial decision, we came here to this forum to voice our opinion. That's one of the great things about FlyerTalk - we can freely discuss an issue like this, which isn't possible on most boards.

While I'm not quite sure what the chances are of having it changed back, I hope that the CD, Talkboard, and all other relevant parties do give changing it back a chance.

Airlines of India was a much better name in my opinion.. ^

It's all in this 3-post sticky thread with details:

What is the TalkBoard and How are New Forums and Other Suggestions Considered?

That's not accurate. See the following recent examples:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...-vs-forum.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/talkb...t-program.html

If I am not mistaken, our Community Director made the change on April 4th, 2012 and has final say in this matter, not TalkBoard.

Maybe for those who feel so strongly about the new name for India-based Airlines Forum should communicate directly with Carol, our Community Director, and see if she would reconsider her way of standardizing location- and/or country-based fora?

BTW, I am truly baffled. Can the AoI camp explain to this "outsider" the differences between "Airlines of India Forum" and "India-based Airlines Forum", other than AoI can't be the acronym no more? And yes, per the alphabetical arrangement of Airline Programs on FT, India-based Airlines Forum is no longer the 4th forum from the top.

I do get the sense of community part in AoI but what exactly are changing other than a different name? It's not like we are calling this orange an apple from now on. Are the forum frequenters of AoI going to change the way they participate India-based Airlines Forum because of the name change? The AoI regulars do find and still frequent India-based Airlines, right? It's not like the airlines of India themselves had changed, unlike the recent merge of UA/CO where two groups of elites are forced to settle in the new United Mileage Plus (Consolidated) Forum under new FFP terms.

I don't have the answer but is India-based Airlines Forum any different since April 4th , 2012? :confused:

Fair point.

Indeed, the CD has the final say in every matter. I think that if TB recommended that the name be changed back, she would probably be fine with it though. I have written to her to better understand her position on this issue
Airlines of India is a name that has grown on the members of our forum over the years. It's a fitting name that stands for the content, the community, the people of our forum. Many of us have grown an attachment to the name.

India-based airlines just doesn't have the same ring to it.

It's just subjective preference I guess - but the point is that many members from our community like the name AoI better.

This is entirely our point. If it doesn't bother you which way it shows then let the people who frequent it have their say.

Its a discussion. Basically we liked it the old way (who frequent the forum) the ones who rarely even have any input it in like it the new way.