bdschobel

Opinions are not equal and never will be. Let's take a really crazy example, merely to illuminate the point: If person A wants to burn your house down, and person B (you) doesn't, should each opinion get equal weight? Of course not.

This case isn't so different, although the stakes are much lower. Person A wants to keep his smoking forum. Person B (you) wants to take it away. Who should win here? Person A has something tangible to lose. You gain nothing by winning except a peculiar exercise of power over person A.

I rest my case.

Bruce

JDiver

Please: debate the post, not the members.

As the late Moderator magic111 used to say, "Play the ball, not the player".

JDiver, Moderator

blackjack-21

There are a few other "Special Interest Forums" on FT, so why not leave one that's already in that mixture, and does get some input, albeit not as much as some others, where it is, for those of us who do READ, if not post on it frequently. Questions asked about specific locations with smoking availability in hotels and airports usually has gotten some answers, and others post about their experiences in different places in the world.

A definite "leave it as it is", from me.

bj-21.

The_Bouncer

The FT Smoking Lounge is often the only source of information for travelling smokers.

Google "Hotel London smoking room" and you with get thousands of results showing hotels in London with non-smoking rooms.

The fact that the Smoking Lounge doesn't get many posts does not mean that it doesn't hold a lot of useful information.

What is it about people who want these things shut down? Why don't you want people to have access to useful information? If you don't like it, don't read it. For Pete's sake, live and let live.

JDiver

Speaking as a disinterested observer, it does appear some individuals advocate strongly for starting new fora - and others seem to have a personal interest I can't quite identify in shutting other fora down. Here, others get to weigh in about both issues.

bdschobel

Maybe the internet is getting full?

Bruce

mia

I think the explanation is here:

This is not merely opinion. tcook052 makes verifiable assertions that TalkBoard should be able to investigate and test to accept or reject.

Eastbay1K

Whether or not the votes were based on a BIATWC premise, they've "come enough" even if they "haven't come much" to make it worthwhile. It isn't like these posts have an arguably better home (i.e., the Travel News discussion). In fact, for better or worse, smoking posts in other fora frequently degenerated into something unpleasant. While the Smoking Section may ultimately die of lung cancer, it serves a discrete (as opposed to segregated ) purpose.

No sense of greater community will occur by having smoking issues interjected throughout the general FT abyss.

This veteran member occasionally peruses fora other than my "home" ones, but really, I generally don't cruise, smoke, travel with children, budget travel, nor fly on most of the FT airlines nor stay in most of the FT hotel chains, nor do I care about the bloggers. For my occasional inquiry or curiosity about things outside my comfort zone, I know how and where to wander.

SkiAdcock

That pretty much sums it up.

It's a niche forum, but one that serves a purpose & assists FTers that fit the niche, similar to travelers w/ disabilities, religious travelers, traveling w/ children, cruise, etc.

I can only speak for myself as a TB member, but I will be a no vote on closing the forum if it even gets to that stage.

Cheers.

goalie

This ^ and thank you ^

kipper

Compartmentalization isn't necessarily bad. I don't think concerns about Kimpton hotels and concerns about Hilton hotels should all be lumped into the same forum. In that case, compartmentalization is good.

I don't smoke. I don't care to read about smoking issues in a forum I visit. I like that I don't have to see any of it, because I don't go to the smoking forum.

CMK10

Looks like not a single other member has commented in favor of closing the Smoking Forum. That's enough for me to think we should keep it open at this time.

Dovster

On the other hand, I have never once visited either the Air Canada or the Manufactured Spending forums.

That seems like sufficient reason to me to shut them both down. Please do so.

tcook052

If either forum fell to 9 posts per month I'd be the first to lobby for their closure.

Dovster

I've already gone further than you have -- and did not need TalkBoard's assistance in doing so.

For all practical purposes, as far as I am concerned, neither of those two forums exist.

I use "My Flyer Talk" as my homepage for FT. I only see the latest posts for the several forums to which I have subscribed and any new posts on threads I have participated in. I do not see anything else.

I can, of course, see all forums and any threads if I want to. It would involve either doing a search or going to the main FT page, bit as I am rarely interested in Emirates program changes or staying in luxury hotels, I rarely (if ever) see those forums (without doubting for a moment that those forums serve a good purpose for their intended target groups).

Take a look at the thread on the Smokers Lounge Forum that I started about the Bucharest Airport on July 25. There has not been a single reply to it and, according to your value system, that makes it an utter failure.

I am not surprised, however, that there are no replies. I reported where in the airport you can smoke and there really is nothing to discuss about that. On the other hand, there have been 369 views of that thread in the very short time it has existed. That indicates to me that literally hundreds of FTers have sought out information about smoking in that airport.

I cannot, for the life of me, understand why you want to take this valuable resource away from them or, at the most, move it to another forum where it would be subjected to numerous off-topic posts about the dangers of smoking.