So you think that those who disagree with Randy don't respect him???

Well, yes. In the case where he accepted a 5-4 decision by TalkBoard it was to overturn a policy which he had instituted.

And while I was not referring to the recent motions to establish a Travel Products and Choice Privileges forum, it should be noted that TalkBoard passed both of these after Randy urged them not to establish any new forums before setting up formal criteria.

Despite his own opposition to having new forums established before then, he accepted TalkBoard's recommendations and both forums are now active.

Well, let's see... on this matter:

• There's the ORP thread
  
• The public discussion in this thread
  
• The private discussion in a similar thread in the TalkBoard forum
  
• Numerous "protest" threads in Omni
  
• And PMs, email, and other means of private communication

Now on top of that what is a poll beyond just badgering the hell out of someone who has already made a decision on a relatively trivial topic?

Huh? How is this topic "trivial" compared to the other things that TB investigates? This is trivial but smilies are of critical importance? LOL.

I think it will be interesting to compare the results of this motion with the results of the last TB's motion on this issue.

In any case, as I said before, if folks think that it's rude to express disagreement then we ought to call FT the rudest place on Earth, since people come here to have healthy disagreements about everything from the best seat on a 767 to what compensation is 'owed' when a headset in business class is inop to the 'primary job' of a flight attendant to the best use of 50,000 Starwood points to the mental capacity of the man in charge of the TSA .

But I maintain that to intellignetly disagree and provide alternate perspectives is neither rude nor badgering. OFTMFD.

As for whether this is the place to draw the line, I guess I (obviously) don't see that distinction. Different posters care about different things on FT. What may be a trivial matter to one poster may be perceived as a 'colossal blunder' by another poster. So long as the TB exists (and it does indeed exist at the pleasure of Randy) all posters deserve to have their voices heard and their perspectives represented.

This is not the same thing. Different motion altogether. Like I said, people could be for posts counting but not for asking Randy to change his mind.

Punki seemed to be addressing more than just TB members and I find her statement to be rather insulting and presumptuous.

Amen, brother! I can't believe some here would want to squash disagreement in the name of not being "presumptuous."

I like number 3. Eliminating the titles removes most of the motivation for post padding. Number 2 will incite riots between moderators and post padders. Number 1 (the current policy) could remain or change back after we see how well getting rid of titles works.

Can I point out something, though? It doesn't seem to me that the not having posts count strategy has done anything to curb the games. @:-)

On my OMNI front page I see 7 game threads with recent posts. Oops.

1. The ORP thread has been locked for a week.
2. Only 9 people (plus Randy) can see what is in the private TB Forum or express their opinions there.
3. The poll is non-existent and will not become a reality unless Randy wants it to.
4. As far as all those PMs and e-mails are concerned, let me quote something from a bit earlier in this thread:

Now, as you know, I have been against counting Omni posts all along -- and still feel that way. In other words, I was against counting them before Randy announced that he is, too, and I have not changed my mind.

If you will scroll back a bit, you will see a question put to you by Kokonutz: "But to be clear, you are not voting on this issue based on the merits of the question of whether you think OMNI votes ought to count or not based on what you see to be the best interests of Flyertalk, but rather on the basis of not wanting to be 'rude' to Randy?"

Your reply was succinct: "Incorrect."

When TalkBoard held a vote last April on my motion to stop counting Omni posts, you were one of the four members to oppose it. (Indeed, had you voted in favor, the motion would have passed.)

What -- other than not wanting to appear "rude" to Randy -- has happened to change your mind about Omni post counts?

Again, IMHO: They are being posted on to prove a point.

OK so what is the litmus test then, a week? A month? If we still see OMNI games in a year will that be sufficient to conclude that this measure has failed to stop OMNI games?

I think that there's nothing wrong with Randy's decision on this relatively trivial matter. The guy is capable of making decisions on his own without being publicly badgered about such matters.

The only 4 options we have when voting are yes, no, abstain, and not voting. I may have voted yes on Omni post counts counting towards a post count total, but that doesn't mean that I felt (or feel) so strongly about the matter that I am going to harass our host to change his mind about it.

So just so we're clear, you are for OMNI posts counting, but just don't care much about it (it is trivial) and certainly not enough to bother Randy with. Yes?

I know you like to argue, but I don't have a lot of passion on this subject.

I'm totally OK with OMNI posts not counting.

And I'd like to bring thread rating and reputation back.