Spiff

Personally, I do like that suggestion. It's no fun cleaning up after some of these spammers.

How many posts (without padding ) before thread starting priviledges are granted?

Mary2e

I believe the forum I joined had a minimum of 10 before being able to start a new thread.

skAAtinsteph

I think this here is today's example what we are all talking about avoiding in the future!!!

Cholula

But one improvement we could make and that has been discussed elsewhere is not to allow the posting of URL's for the first dozen or so posts. This would cut back on spammers who hit several forums simultaneously with their first few posts and post URL's to whatever they are promoting.

And another thing that we should do is to require that new members have to re-type the random scrambled letters/numbers required by so many websites today. This prevents all but the most determined//sophisticated posting bot�s from registering.

techgirl

I think it would be a good help to understand what folks use TravelBuzz for.

I'll admit that I have it as one of my subscribed forums and occasionally it shows up in MyFlyerTalk with an interesting topic so I'll post - but I really have never understood exactly what goes there myself. It seems like historically I recall a lot of "survey" type threads like "what is your company's expense policy" and I have always thought of it as a place to go ask general questions about traveling that don't relate to a particular airline/hotel, a certain destination, or getting miles.

So... for those who regularly use TravelBuzz... what do YOU see it being? What is an example of a topic you would post there and why?

bhatnasx

C'mon - you know you love them!

I recently signed up at FatWallet.com - one of the things they have for new users is a pop up that appears for the users first 10 posts that basically talks about spamming (how if you post, you will be assessed a standard advertising fee of 1000.00 plus collection fees & legal fees involved & the type of content you put in your post as well as a link to the FW TOS. I think it's a great idea to do something of that nature as I believe it would significantly cut donw on spammers...

But that's slightly OT for this thread...

tazi

25 and I think this is an excellent idea. It will certainly put an end to those trying to sell crapola who spam a bunch of forums with links and move on to the next community.

GUWonder

I'd be hesitant to advocate a blanket elimination of newbies' thread-starting capabilities in Travelbuzz (or in other forums). A number of new members seeking out general travel help go there to get their answer. Also, a number of low-post count members have helped a lot of FTers get in on travel deals of which more/most of us would otherwise miss.

I think techgirl's earlier question about the purpose of Travelbuzz is fundamental to what should and should not be done.

My take:

1. a great number of these "travel surveys" in Travelbuzz don't seem to be helpful in improving the travel experience, nor in resolving a travel problem, nor in closing a gap in travel knowledge; and

2. a great number of these "travel surveys" seem more "communitybuzz"-like (i.e., tell me about yourself, your travel habits, experience and travel outlook) than Travelbuzz-like (i.e., general travel help/info and beneficial travel knowledge which doesn't have a place elsewhere)

I also think that banned members re-registering is part of the issue.

RichardInSF

I think GUWonder called it 112% correctly and even correctly gave the one sentence summary of what TravelBuzz is about: improving the travel experience, resolving a travel problem, or closing a gap in travel knowledge. I would add one additional restriction: covers an area or combination of areas broader than one of the specific geographical area forums.

TRRed

I don't have an opinion as to a particular number of threads, but I think an alternative criterion should be membership for a certain period of time (such as 6 mo. or 1 yr.). Some longer-term members may feel comfortable contributing comments only on a very limited subject and thus may not have many posts. For example, a member for the last three years who may have responded with info to every thread on North Dakota may not have 25 posts but I think that person should be allowed to post to TravelBuzz and similar fora. (ND is simply an example, I didn't count how may threads there actually were.)

A number of these "best of/worst of" lists have occurred in DiningBuzz over the years, though it seems like many more recently.

Rather than a new forum, is there a way to tie these into FlyerTalk Reviews, expanding that function to encompass "Best of/Worst of" lists? Having the ability to search geographically for those hotels, restaurants, etc. that people have strong feelings about is much more valuable to me as a traveller than a 5+ page thread which I have to read (or try searching) through if I want to find something in an area I'm travelling to.

tom911

Particularly when the poster will not identify his airline, or answer followup questions related to his survey topic. Here's a recent post in one of these survey threads:

"If I listed the Airline I was going on the editors of Flyer Talk would move the posting from this board to the specific Airline board and I would not get as many well thought out replies."

This doesn't facilitate the "sharing" of information that has made FT what it is. I wish those starting "generic airline" threads would be tasked to at least provide the name of the carrier they are flying, even if it means that it might get moved to an airline forum and out of Travel Buzz.

freeloader

Being very new to FT, i know my opinions don't carry much weight, but if you didn't allow new people to start threads many people would have missed out on the Thailand hotel deal (as that was that poster's first post) http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=631551

IMO, if people are joining the boards to spam, they'll spam the boards, whether they can start threads or not. I would have hated to have missed out on this deal. That's my 2 "schillings"

RichardInSF

So, Talkboard members, is this discussion going to lead to anything?

Signed,
Curious in Tokyo (at least until tomorrow)

Edited to add....things are getting really bad over there once again, does the absence of a reply to my question mean "no"? If so, it would be nice if someone at least said so I know I should ignore that forum from now on.

Signed,
Home again

magiciansampras

Agreed. Does the silence mean this is a "no" or what is going on here? Anyone? Bueller?


Signed,

Curious

Jenbel

My personal opinion is that there is a problem, but none of the changes which it has been suggested TB could make would be certain to resolve the situation.

Sorry