Jenbel

I'd have to say yes. Let's open bloggers to the same kind of scrutiny airline programmes, websites, TAs etc get. If one is consistently providing good information, it will get good feedback. If there are blogs out there who are simply regurgitating stuff from FT (and I suppose MP) or who are simply not that accurate, then it will get good feedback.

And in the process, users here may hear about blogs that can help them... I'm not really seeing a downside to this. Bloggers get upset with us because we are critical? Well, if you can't take the heat, don't go public. And if a blogger joins, they even get an automatic right of reply and get protected from personal attacks by the TOS.

oliver2002

As I mentioned before in the other TB thread I personally feel this section would be a great idea. There is an urge for FTers to comment on the latest travel blog entries out, but among peers and not in the comments section of the blog itself. I fail to see the sodom and gomorrah picture some are painting, people posting on FT are usually aware of the golden rule: talk about the topic, not the poster. If you set the stage and perhaps nudge some eager beavers in the right direction in the beginning I think things will fall in line. And of course bloggers will love the SEO payback since if there is a interesting topic they blogged about (in a positive or negative way) people will visit and try to read what the buzz is about

tom911

The blogs will most certainly get more hits, and more advertising and credit card revenue, from links developed from FT threads. You already see some bloggers here with the link to their blogs in their signature line, so the web sites are out there already on FT.

No reason FT and Internet Brands shouldn't benefit from some of that revenue, too, with more hits for FT in a dedicated blog forum.

gpapadop

The "hobby" has grown large enough that a dedicated forum is needed, the yelp of blogs

I am in total support of it! I know it will lead to less traffic/comments in my own blog but so be it. So what, I lose some cc affiliate link revenue

sbm12

Completely different beast. That is just an auto-populated via RSS feed of posts, not an actual discussion. Look at it as an SEO ploy, not a discussion forum. It almost starts to make sense. Almost.
Does this also mean that bloggers are now considered "official representatives" (or whatever the real term is) and as such have different rules applied to their membership??

FlyFasterFlyFarther

There are tons of arguments in this thread about how to theoretically treat a blog, what it means to be a blogger and a member of Flyertalk, who should be open to criticism, what sorts of discussion might ensue, and how folks don't like the way moderation is being done now of existing blog threads.

But when evaluating what is going to be good for Flyertalk, whether or not a forum should be created, it's probably best to actually look at Flyertalk and see how the subject matter is already being discussed. The best predictor of future performance....

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20535167-post2292.html

You're either voting for the current amount of complaining ("No") or an increase in the current sorts of discussions (complaining) relative to what is going on now ("Yes").

And TalkBoard members, at root, need to decide whether more is better for the Flyertalk community or not so good for the spirit here. That's what the vote is about, and how each member votes tells us a lot about what they're about as well as what Flyertalk will become.

kokonutz

You must really hate the Starwood forum then, huh. Just a bunch of cranks talking about the starwood preferred guest program and talking about the hotels, complaining about not getting upgrades, b!tching about devaluations.

And the United forum must he hell for you. Bunch of over-entitled million milers going on and on crying about losing the benefits they were promised, complaining about Smisek selling their upgrades to blue-cards.

All of FlyerTalk must be one big pile of 'just the same crap.'




Hate to cross-post, but you started it!

Jenbel

Personally I'd say no. Because they are individuals who are blogging, not a company etc so they could only be representing theirself. We read their blogs, very few are PPV and we are consumers, not customers who need customer service.

'Official representatives' work because they are here to (generally) represent the product that is being sold. With a blog, their readership is technically the product, and the buyer are the companies with affiliate links and the companies with advertising.

FlyFasterFlyFarther

Don't see how you can have it both ways, they are service providers or they aren't, commercializers of miles/points or they aren't.

tom911

Could some of those blogs be structured as corporations, though, for taxation and liability purposes? Sounds like a great topic for a new Blog forum. I don't know the answer myself and don't know if it's required to be disclosed publicly on a blog in the U.S. or U.K. for that matter.

kokonutz

Great question. But you mean we can discuss it on FlyerTalk IF there is a new blog forum.

If not I guess we can take the discussion...elsewhere....

tom911

Well, there is that megathread with over 2,300 posts in Mileage Buzz--could probably get it up to 5,000 posts in just a few weeks. Good luck, if you're a new member, though, finding out the most recent topics there. I'd be scared off if I started reading that thread and saw I only had 2,299 posts to go to catch up to the more-recent material. Having a Blog forum will help our new members easily find material, a challenge now when so many threads across all forums have become so unwieldly and cover so many different topics.

kokonutz

With a blog, just as with a newspaper, the content is the product.

That's why I thought blogs would fit best in the Travel News forum. But I negotiated against myself on that one since the folks who I thought would be swayed into favor of the forum by making it stand alone rather than being mixed in with other news sources still oppose my 'compromise' anyway. I do feel a bit like Obama in that sense, having been bait-and-switched on creating a compromise that is then opposed anyway. Frustrating.

Anyway, the point is to discuss the product, ie, the content of the blogs. In some cases, blog writers (whether in-house or freelance writers) include themselves in the blog posts. In those cases, the writer has made him or herself part of the content being sold and, it would seem, is thus certainly fair game for discussion. Just like it is fine to talk about Smisek when he puts himself on the pre-safety video videos.

travelsavant

I agree with Rich's comments & would support a subforum on Blogs under Travel Tools, as I would like a place to read & discuss some of the many travel related blogs. In regard to blogger-bashing, it's possible it may happen but it should not be a deterrent on new forum creation. Let's start on the assumption that we will behave responsibility; if & when bad behavior is exhibited, then take appropriate action.

saacman5033

I have to say I agree as well.

While I don't personally have a need for blogger discussions and hate moderating them, I do think there is sufficient interest to start a forum/subforum. The current practice of funneling discussion to MilesBuzz where we inevitably have to consolidate to mega-threads to keep clutter down is not ideal nor sustainable (and I say clutter because much of the blog discussion is not in line with the intent of MilesBuzz).