FlightNurse

This is not happening, infact I have seen people post a question in which was answered two posting above their post. I'm for everybody getting a long, but the problem I see as I posted are the newbies coming onto FT and not reading the thread before asking a question which has been answered a couple of dozen of times. I'm a firm beleive that people should educate themselves in this game before jumping in.. Currently there is person who went out and bought a large quanity of VGC and doesn't know what to with them.. Now if this peson has read the thread in which he posted his questions he would find the answer to his question.

FlightNurse

I disagree here, I used the circle and arrow blog to get the basic understanding of what I was getting into, I used FT to hone my skills. Before I went out and got into this game I used the blog to answer my question, and I still read the threads all the way through and some twice. This MS game is all about YMMV, and you wont know what will work in your area unless you get away from your computer and pound the pavement in your city. Most of the newbie's don't want to do this, they wont the answer.. Then when it doesn't work they come back and complain that you gave them fault info..

Mary2e

I agree with this, and to take it one step further, close the forum down entirely.

I read it for kicks when I have time, and the posters there have become pretty snarky, and most of the good information has gone underground and into private groups.

The members who frequent MS generally do not post elsewhere unless they need to know something, and unfortunately, some of them bring their snark to the other fora.

I just read an article in last months' Money Magazine and it discussed MS and two of our members was quoted about it. Luckily, and I really mean that, they didn't mention FT, but their blog.

Essentially, is this type of behavior something we want around FT? A few have become contributing members to other fora besides MS, but it's a very small number. Most of them are here/in it to make money or get a free trip somewhere.

CMK10

I cannot agree with this and I don't think there will be much support to close down MS entirely. I think you're overgeneralizing the people who post in MS, especially as you contradict yourself by saying they don't post elsewhere but they also post their snark elsewhere.

I also think you're underestimating the amount who post in other forums and frankly, is there a requirement that posters have to post all over FT? I know a lot of members, valuable ones, who stick to mainly one forum. People are coming to MS to learn and others to help people learn. And what's wrong with wanting to get a free trip somewhere? Isn't that why the vast majority of us came to FT in the first place?

Mary2e

Please reread what I said about posting elsewhere. I think you missed some words

As well, I stated my opinion. I don't want to get into an argument with a TB member over doing so. That defeats the purpose of this forum.

silver6054

I would have thought that by posting one's opinion, you might expect some discussion of that opinion. But as I mainly hang out in the MS forum, that's probably just my learned snarkiness!

But, I would guess that all over FT, there are individuals who visit just one forum. If I'm only in one frequent flier program, or only one airline makes sense given my geography, I'm presumably not expected to view and post in other forums or penalized for not doing so.

SkiAdcock

Again speaking only for myself as a TB member, I am not supportive of restricting the MS forum, am not supportive of shutting down the MS forum, am not supportive of creating a beginner & advanced MS sub-forum (because people will always miscategorize themselves) & am not supportive of moving MS back into MilesBuzz. I think that pretty much covers it for me.

Nor do I think FTers should be required to post in multiple forums, although if they have info that would be helpful in more than one forum it would be great if they did. I just had an old-timer tell me last week that I don't contribute to FT much because I spend the majority of the time in the one hotel & airline program that are my primary programs & that he contributes in multiple forums. Obviously he didn't really check my posting history or he would see that I do post in other forums, but I thought it was a bit strange that my worth/contributions was being determined by how many forums in which I post. I also figured that since I've been on FT for 12 years, served on TB for 4 years, have organized many Dos in 12 years, & have close to 40K posts I'm pretty secure in my contributing to FT

Cheers.

Mary2e

I'm not saying that anyone should be required to post in more than one forum. I'm responding to the snarkiness mentioned in the OP. I noticed it as well, and the snark has started to migrate to other fora in the form of wanting info fed, and then getting an attitude when they don't like the answer because all they did was collect all these points and miles and sometimes find themselves unable to use them because they did no research before getting them.

As well, I've seen to many opinions turn into arguments in TB threads and I endeavor to post my opinion and leave it at that.

deant

Then why does CC have people banned for "living" in CC? Maybe that should be revisited.

nsx

I would like to see a discussion of the pros and cons of establishing an Advanced MS forum with limited access, leaving the current MS forum accessible to beginners and anyone who doesn't want his or her head to explode reading the forum.

SkiAdcock

My initial reaction to this is there are more cons than pros.

Who determines who is advanced & who is a beginner? People will mis-characterize themselves. Analogy, a lot of folk who have flown for years & think they're savvy on their programs join FT & then discover they're not as savvy as they think, but if you asked them prior to joining FT or ask their friends & relatives, they'd say Joe/Janet Doe is extremely savvy. So self-choosing a level might not work.

Certainly the mods don't have time to vet everyone & my guess is they don't want to add that responsibility to their current one. I PM'd one yest re: MS & he spent 3 hours yesterday on MS moderation duties. That's already a big time commitment, & certainly larger than forums that are moderated that get lighter traffic.

Why should this forum have a limited access requirement, when other than CC (where actual items of value are traded) & Omni none of the other forums have limited access requirements including MileageRun?

So far some of the calls for limiting access are:

* FTers can be snarky - well, implementing restricted access won't change that

* Beginners kill the deals - implementing restricted access doesn't mean deals won't get shut down. People can find out about deals from sites like FT, bloggers, CNN, USA Today, etc - and people who supposedly are spoon-feeding the beginners will have access to the advanced forum & so can still share the info.

* Beginners ask questions & don't read everything before asking - well, that happens in a lot of forums & is not unique to MS. I get that it can be irritating, but one isn't required to respond if one reads a beginner's post & finds it irritating.

Cheers.

nsx

Merely to reduce the chance that a newbie to MS would post there. As if the content alone didn't scare him or her off.

Majuki

I've posted about this earlier in the thread, but CC and OMNI don't advance the theme of FlyerTalk, which is miles and points, travel, and related topics. CC exists solely as a medium of exchange for members but is not in direct support of FlyerTalk's main purpose. Imposing posting requirements on CC also cuts down on the likelihood of brokers or unsavory characters.

On the other hand, I see MS as definitely supporting of one of the primary reasons many come to FlyerTalk, and that reason is to earn miles and points. As the earnings style changes, MS - or at least employing some of the tips and tricks from that forum - will become even more relevant to FlyerTalk members.

wharvey

Don't count on that happening.

CMK10

After reading the first 15 posts in this thread (since moved to OMNI) I am convinced something has to be done about the MS Forum. When I heard "snark" I figured on the level of the DL/UA forums but this seems worse.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/omni/...mber-here.html