"Is there something wrong with that www.flyertalk.com place?"
 

I work in the Trade Show exhibit industry which is, as you might guess, very travel dependent. One of the roles I play, in my little corner of the world, is that of an exhibitor consultant/trainer/public speaker, for both public and private companies, large and small, as well as for every major conference in my industry. Oh yeah and for the government--I always keep forgetting the government (would that they could just reciprocate). http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif These audiences sometimes number in the hundreds, several times a week.

While my contracts usually discourage (read prohibit) me from plugging myself or my own company during my presentations, there is nothing that prohibits me from plugging my favorite websites. So, for the past few years I have plugged away, shamelessly referring any and all travel, mile or point related questions to www.flyertalk.com There is a powerful but Quiet www.flyertalker who can personally attest to my reckless abandon in advertising this flyertalk.com place.

I also have busines cards (some of you may have one) to pass out while I travel. They read:

Punki
ITINERANT
Seattle, Washington, 98108 U.S.A.
[email protected]
flyertalk.com

So I very frequently get e-mails from folks who attend my seminars, get my card, etc., that say, "Good job. Thanks for that flyertalk.com site. Wonderful information! Great people! Very Funny Place."

I the past few weeks, however, I have received e-mails saying, "Does flyertalk.com have some serious techincal problems? I posted twice on that flyertalk.com site, but when I went back to check the responses the post had disappeared. That flyertalk.com seems unstable, do you know any other frequent flyer sites?"

The new FlyerTalk philosophy is obviously very confusing and offputting to new posters. Even Hunki who has posted for almost a year now, asked me yesterday what was happening to flyer talk posts, when he couldn't find a thread which had interested him.

I don't know how to respond to these inquiries because I actually don't understand the new philosophy, but I do know that whatever it is, it seems to be driving new (and even some not so new) posters away.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to explain the new (and very frustrating) philosphy and/or goal to the general FlyerTalk membership and elicit ideas on how it might be achieved without as big a downside as the current approach apparently has.

There are a lot of really smart thinkers out here in ordinary old FlyerTalk land. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif



[This message has been edited by Punki (edited 03-18-2002).]

Holy Cow! I just figured out what they meant.

As of this moment over 65 threads and over 1,500 posts have mysteriously been moved into limbo?

Even I am confused now. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

Punki, you raise a serious issue, and I hope you get answers to your questions.

But I would also like to point out how great Flyertalk has been in the last couple of weeks.

It seems (with the possible exception of Tarom http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ) that when I go to an airline forum, I read discussions about that airline! And each time I visit the Hilton forum, they're actually discussing Hilton! Miles Buzz has talked about...MILES! The Flyertalk Community forum has had discussions about the people that post here.

All on our own, Flyertalkers have found a balance between posting news items in the respective airline threads (see Delta thread on dropping commissions for agents for an example), and just general news reports of interest - posted in the "in the news" section.

And (oh my, cats and dogs together in public!) in the Continental forum, there is a peace movement going on, and people from both the "less filling" and "taste's great" sides have joined forces to create a first class upgrade notification service to benefit each other.

I'm not sure who I am applauding right now, and if it is because of people's actions or people's inactions, but I am giving Flyertalk a standing ovation...and I don't think I'm alone.

There are still lots of people here I don't like, and I suspect that there are lots who don't like me. But whatever the peacekeeping measures have been, they've been a huge success IMHO.

Thank you Randy and staff and moderators!!!

[This message has been edited by NJDavid (edited 03-19-2002).]

I don't know if I would call any of the recent developments on FT a "philosophy."

Rather, it seems like an effort to make sure that threads are placed in the forums where they belong, and that the focus remains on Miles & Points (in the relevant forums, obviously ones like OMNI and Community have their own dynamic).

As FT has grown, it has become harder to navigate. This cannot be helped (unless membership becomes closed), and it requires more active management of post placement.

If some find it offputing to have their off topic posts moved to the appropriate forum, I'm not sure I would find that to be a problem with FT to be honest.

Not being qualified to speak to the technical problems you've mentioned, there's not much I can say, but I have noticed some additional down time in the last few weeks. And I am certain that Randy and the very capable folks at WF are doing all they can to fix those.

Maybe you could elaborate a bit more on what you perceive the new philosophy to be, and the problems it has brought? I certainly would like to know more, as I'm sure would others.

Regards,

Sebastien

I have no idea, Sebastian, what the new philosophy might be, or even if there is one. I am simply reporting the facts as they are related to me by people who attend my classes. It is an important issue to me because the sites I refer, reflect upon me as a speaker.

For three years I have been including this site in almost all of my seminar handouts and presentations and have referred literally thousands of people to www.flyertalk.com for all kinds of travel related questions. Until very recently I have received only very positive comments about the site from those people.

In the past few weeks, however, the comments I have received indicate that the site is no longer intiuitive and that people (both new and not so new) are becoming confused by lost posts, and an inability to find the right spot to post.

My presumtion is that those posts were in Miles Buzz, as it is at the top of the first page and seems like a logical place for newbies to look for General Travel type questions. I imagine that they read an interesting post or post a question and then when they come back, the post is gone. My fear is that when that happens to most newbies they will just go away and not come back to FlyerTalk at all. I know that is what I would do if this happened to me once or twice on a new site.

I have seen a couple of posts that imply that newbies and oldies should be looking at Travel Buzz instead of Miles Buzz for general travel questions, but I am afraid that isn't going to happen. It is simply not an intuitive step and one that people who come to FlyerTalk because they are really interested in miles are going to take and it is, I do believe, the boundless lust for miles that drives FlyerTalk. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Personally, for reasons that are not obvious to me, I've found FT to be particularly refreshing of late. I have not noticed any of the anomalies that Punki's seminar attendees seem to be experiencing. In fact, I have found the navigation, performance and reliability to be vastly improved.



[This message has been edited by transpac (edited 03-19-2002).]

NJDavid, maybe you want to remove the inflammatory statement from your profile before you go blowing sunshine all over the place.

Didn't a time out teach you anything?


Dorian

You'll find many, if not all of the missing threads on the Island of Misfit Posts:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forumcgi/fo...ads&number=134

The only problem is, you need to be a moderator or an administrator to post in that forum...which is sad, since there are many interesting threads there that I would never have seen were they not collected there.

I guess we're not allowed to pick through the garbage http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Sorry -- I thought this was the Inn Points forum, where everyone is gay and happy. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif


[This message has been edited by SMessier (edited 03-19-2002).]

too funny!

I would like to suggest a solution that worked well on the old vegas.com boards (which also used UBB). When a moderator finds a thread that is OK except for being in the wrong forum, copy it to the proper place, add one post to the old copy linking to the new, then lock--[b]instead of[b]--deleting the old one. That way, someone who goes looking for it where it was can actually find it without having to guess where it might have gone...

I am sorry that flyertalk.com is not up to the standards of recommending to other people. And I will take total and complete responsibility for that. I'll take the bad along with the good. For me, I still have no problem recommending the board for content - there is no better on the face of the Interenet. Since you have all said it's my board, I'll take this news under advisement and assume it doesn't need discussion since it is my fault and only I can repair or restore FlyerTalk to it's former glory days. So excuse me while i try my best to make this work. As for the philosophy - it's the zen of miles and points. Realizing that perhaps it is sometimes the people changing that make FlyerTalk look different, rather than FlyerTalk changing. When i look back to the PIP - do you realize that the exact same forums exist here today on Miles as back then - i don't think OMNI was a big topic, that General TravelTalk was even a concept and all the posts dealt with miles and points. So, on miles, have we really changed, or have the people changed?

I'm going to go to work to try my personal best to make each member proud to recommend FlyerTalk. As for the missing threads, many have been moved to their rightful place within minutes. Others linger for a day or two or three because other members are taking up my time with items that can't wait. Remember - even the one man back still can't play a complete concerto........ Let me get caught up on that, however...honestly, while you cite the missing posts, let's see, there are 19 threads in limbo - 7 of them were taken off the Tarom Board. I'm sorry if anyone missed the glam things but they now have a more proper home. Of the remining 11, seven of them have zero or one post because we tried to get them before being seen too much and only 4 had a regular number of posts ans they will appear in their proper place - probably in TravelBuzz! again, as soon as the members allow me the time. While it may seem strange, I really don't see "Survey: Who's your daddy? " in the Miles area nor do I see "Will the hotel/car rental/cruise industry follow the airlines down to zero commission" as belonging in MilesBuzz! Maybe it's me or maybe I've just been on FlyerTalk way too long to not understand what the topic of miles and points pertains to. Maybe I'm old-fashioned but since you all have reminded me that this is my board - hey, that's the way it's going to be. It may not work for some of you - but my instinct tells me it works for more often than against me. So, let me work on these missing threads and making the board proud again.