kokonutz

Of course I am comfortable with that. Because it is happening anyway, except there is this weird wink-wink, nod-nod, phenomenon going on with blogs (as well as 'seminars-DOs').

It's like, 'hey we're not REALLY spamming and trying to drum up commercial business for our blogs and other business ventures and at the same time attempting to create a brand! We are simply members of the community who provide a valuable resource for free...hey why are you criticizing my business...you SHOULD be thanking me for my business....HEY! TOS VIOLATION, TOS VIOLATION!'

My point is: let's call a spade a spade, and start talking about spades rather than pretending they are spatulous devices for abrading the surface of the soil.

I LOVE it when blogs come on FT to defend their actions against criticism just as I love it when airlines and hotel miles and point providers come on FT to defend their latest devaluation, or brag about their latest bonus scheme.

It creates a free market of ideas and discussion, where the spammers and those who try to sell devaluations as 'enhancements' get called out for it, and where those who provide good value get praised for it.

And that is what FlyerTalk should be.

Kagehitokiri

for "april fools jokes" like this >
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/milea...lable-may.html

if everything is in one forum, people who dont want to read it never have to

lin821

Are you sure?

Kagehitokiri

yes im sure. forums may still be able to be "masked" upon request as well, so they dont show up when logged in.

philemer

I would vote NO if I had a vote. Too small a subject matter. Would not generate enough posts. JMHO.

Prospero

Since we already have a hundred odd forums provided for the purpose of discussing topical points and travel related issues, I'm not getting the purpose of this proposal. Surely if the burning issues of the day are being raised off site by blog writers, it is already receiving wholesome coverage elsewhere on FT.

kokonutz

- Which points and miles blogs have the best information?
- Which points and miles blogs engage in comment censorship and what sort?
- Which points and miles blogs push their affiliate cards in lieu of better offers from non-affiliates?
- Which points and miles blogs have the best cabin and food porn shots?
- Which points and miles blogs should I follow if I care about BlueBird developments?
- Which points and miles blogs post fare mistakes and 'tricks', often ruining them?
- Which points and miles blogs follow UA/AA/DL/BA/etc?
- Etc.
- Etc.

Prospero

I can see how this could be beneficial to blog writers - i'm just not seeing where it adds value to FlyerTalk, nor why such feedback warrants a dedicated forum.

FWIW, the last time I looked at the Blogstand forum over on Milepoint it was in a moribund state, which leads me to question whether demand for such a forum here can be sustained.

Kagehitokiri

there is also the element of bringing people from blogs to FT

threads here are better than moderated comments on blogs
could be forum for FT hosted blogs, and IB owned blogs

threads here that link blog in opening post could usually go to new blog forum
an example of one possible exception might be breaking news in a specific forum (how often?)

could also move all discussions of "deal spoiling" there, besides mileage run (mileage run discussion)

there may be threads in new manufactured and ultimate rewards forums that fit blog forum

kokonutz

Are there any forums over on Milepoint which are NOT in a moribund state!? @:-)

tom911

Here's one:
http://milepoint.com/forums/forums/community-center.37/

Over 51,000 posts in the thread at the top there and a lot of names you'll recognize from FT that have gravitated there. Over 100,000 members now.

I have posted in the past in some of the threads in the master blog forum there (used to be a combination of blogs and news items, but the volume of blogs just bumped everything off the page). There wasn't much interest in discussing the blogs there. You really won't know if a blog forum will take off on FT until you start one and see what level of participation you get. Milepoint lists all the blogs they're associated with and links. I take it that FT will not be handling blogs in that way, correct? No master list of daily blogs with links to them? It would be a very different type of blog forum than Milepoint so you might get more interest.

Look at the senior forum when it was started on FT. It didn't have a lot of activity and was closed. Go ahead and start a blog forum and if it has the same level of activity as the senior forum you can close it down, too, using the same criteria that was applied to the senior forum.

LIH Prem

I think Sharon just called all the travel bloggers tools.

-David

kokonutz

Ugh. Started a thread in MB with a specific question about blogs (having nothing to do with 'which one is most useful'), and that thread got the MegaThread treatment, thrown into the mega 'Which blog is most useful' thread on MilesBuzz where it was promptly lost and buried.

This is a GREAT example of why this forum is needed: mega-threading is a terrible, terrible way to deal with such a popular issue.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...r-blog-57.html

lin821

I doubt new fora are the answer to no Magathread treatment. Otherwise we would have like thousands, if not million, forums on FT right now.

FWIW, I don't think the questions you raised are milesbuzzing to start with.

Here's the forum description for MilesBuzz!:

kokonutz

Touche!



Fair enough. All the more reason this new forum is needed...