Omni
Jun 16, 2005 | 7:13 am
#2
In Memoriam, FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: Southern California
Programs: DL: 3.8 MM, Marriott: Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 24,575
Originally Posted by Aileron
What is OMNI and why can't I get in there?
Originally Posted by Randy Petersen
While I'm a little disappointed in the level of some of the comments previously on this thread, it's certainly our hope that in the long term, these changes will upgrade the caliber of members who are contributing to FlyerTalk.
Let's go back if you don't mind. When FlyerTalk was started on May 5, 1998, the only forums available to members were about the topic of frequent flyer miles and points. There were no forums about "travel," "politics," or even about "Women Travelers." Amazingly, there were no complaints about this as those who flocked to FlyerTalk were truly interested in their frequent flyer miles and points. Not seeing anything but these topics was never a factor in the early success of this community and it worked. Today we have nearly 4.3 million posts and there are a large number of members still posting from those original days. Along the way, these original members loved the other members they met here and gradually over time came to enjoy other points of view about "travel," "politics," or even about "Women Travelers." So, we added these topics for their benefit since it seemed that FlyerTalk had become a real community.
But we found that some of these new forums were making the attention of a different sort of member on FlyerTalk. In OMNI, some members were getting heated up over the topics of politics, religion and yes, same sex marriage and using FlyerTalk to re-register new names solely for the purpose of flaming others for their opinions. And while we had added OMNI at the request of members, we and many of the Original Members never wanted it to be taken for granted. As well, we have had members join FlyerTalk solely for the use of the OMNI forum because of the quite intelligent and passionate discussions that go on there. As for The Coupon Connection, well, we enjoy the idea that our community can seek to share with others, various benefits and gifts of travel, that only came after many years in which members got to know each other. Prior to today, we now have members coming to FlyerTalk with hands out, wanting and hoping that they can snag a freebie from members with too many club passes and too many upgrades to use. Inherently there is nothing wrong with that, except that original members contributed for years before that forum was introduced. As well, some members spend 90 percent of their time on FlyerTalk in The Coupon Connection trying to snag giveaways and then resell them on eBay. We have monitored many members in the past whose sole purpose it seems is to profit from the kindness of this community. For some of you - there is nothing wrong with that. for me - there's everything wrong. As for S.P.A.M., well when some high profile offers such as free iPods and other items became well known, new members flocked there to get in line for the giveaways. Frankly, we've found that many of them don't even know or care what FlyerTalk is all about.
Bottom line, the small changes we have made to FlyerTalk are made to honor and respect the principles for which the Web site was founded. That is to learn and share as much information about the topic of miles and points as you possible can. Along with that comes the same for the topic of travel. Once you fully become engaged in this community, certain benefits and privileges will appear to you, among them are access to OMNI, The Coupon Connection and S.P.A.M. At the risk of sounding exclusionary, we want each and every new member to want to participate on FlyerTalk on our terms: to talk about miles and points.
To clarify my beginning sentence: statements from members such as "Makes be wonder what these powers-that-be were drinking, smoking and/or shooting when they came up with this unnounced change;"Wow!! Flyertalk has turned into a secret society whose rules, actions, and behavior are know only a select few. Best of all, even they don't know the rules, actions and behavior!;" "Here's another useless post to get my numbers up. What kind of dictatorship is this?." were never part of the dialog coming from our original members. Instead, they are of this nature: "Normally, I spend about $350 for a r/t TLV-MXP flight in Coach. In November, I will be taking that flight for free. Well, not exactly that flight. I will be flying TLV-FLL-MXP and visiting my mother in Florida. Also, one slight change -- I won't be in Coach, I will be in Business. This was only made possible by information I learned here on FlyerTalk and, yes, I am very grateful to Randy for that. But I am more appreciative of FlyerTalk having introduced me to many very interesting people;" "As we say over in the US forum, Ill chiame in here. Flyer Talk has been very worthwhile for the l4pi family and my company. At one point this last spring, I went back and looked at the impact of FT. In 2003, I earned over 150,000 points and miles above and beyond what I would have earned with out the knowledge gained on FT. The breakout is almost a 100,000 miles on US and over 30,000 in Marriott alone, not counting DL, HH *wood and others. In order to help others with answers in the forums, I have learned more about the programs than I ever would have with out FT. I have saved my company well over $5,000 this year alone based upon the information learned in these forums. The value of this knowledge as been simply invaluable;" "Before Flyertalk I loved airlines and miles and points. And I thought I was quite an expert, doing pretty well for myself. But I was strictly a United guy. I was upgraded most of the time (though I didn't even know mileage upgrades were confirmable at booking) and I'd redeemed points with little difficulty for business and first class travel across the Pacific. But Flyertalk broadened my horizons. Instead of having real miles in only one program, I have meaningful balances in a full dozen. Booking my honeymoon trip on points was a real eye-opener for me. First I booked 2 first class awards on Air Tahiti Nui and Qantas (LAX-PPT-AKL-SYD/MEL-SYD) using 290k AA miles. I haven't set foot on AA metal for a revenue flight in 13 years, and not a single one of the miles in my account comes from flying American. Thanks go to Flyertalk!"
Notice anything different in the tone and the message of these two different sets of comments from members?
We've made these changes not in the intent to harm any particular member or members on FlyerTalk, but to make sure that we are being true to the roots and purpose of FlyerTalk. FlyerTalk has grown far too much in the last year to let these things go unchecked.
And why no notice? Honestly, it was for a purpose. There was a very complementary article yesterday in The New York Times and we thought it would likely drive additional new interest to FlyerTalk. By getting these changes in to place when we did, these new members really won't know there is an OMNI, a Coupon Connection or a S.P.A.M. since they can't see them. Over time, as they contribute and benefit from FlyerTalk as tens of thousands of other members have, they will gain access to things they never knew existed and of course, that's the very cool thing - they will have accepted FlyerTalk and joined in just for what it appears to be - the best place in the world for information related to earning and using your frequent flyer miles and points.
For those of you that I have disappointed with these changes, I really am very sorry. If things such as freebies, topics of same sex marriage and conga lines are your primary interest, I would not hesitate to recommend far better Web sites for that than FlyerTalk. Having said that, if you are interested in what the merger of America West and US Airways will have on your frequent flyer miles will be or should you start to worry about Northwest Airlines or what is the best way to get upgraded on United or how you can convert unused miles into merchandise, then welcome to FlyerTalk - these and a few hundred thousands other topics await you. I've enjoyed them for seven years now and still consider myself a rookie on FlyerTalk.
I hope sharing this has helped.
Cheers,
Randy
P.S. As for the talk about useless posts and all that to pad your count. That is not a good way to go. We have more than 60 volunteers on FlyerTalk who are pretty good at spotting this type of post behavior and when we find that someone is doing this, we have the ability to manually reset your post count to zero. The best advice I can give you - become part of this community first and you really don't get there just by signing up.
As well, the only reason we don't publicly post the requirements for these forums is because most members won't know they exist (they can't see them) and to not try and tease other members with thresholds for them to post needlessly against.
Let's go back if you don't mind. When FlyerTalk was started on May 5, 1998, the only forums available to members were about the topic of frequent flyer miles and points. There were no forums about "travel," "politics," or even about "Women Travelers." Amazingly, there were no complaints about this as those who flocked to FlyerTalk were truly interested in their frequent flyer miles and points. Not seeing anything but these topics was never a factor in the early success of this community and it worked. Today we have nearly 4.3 million posts and there are a large number of members still posting from those original days. Along the way, these original members loved the other members they met here and gradually over time came to enjoy other points of view about "travel," "politics," or even about "Women Travelers." So, we added these topics for their benefit since it seemed that FlyerTalk had become a real community.
But we found that some of these new forums were making the attention of a different sort of member on FlyerTalk. In OMNI, some members were getting heated up over the topics of politics, religion and yes, same sex marriage and using FlyerTalk to re-register new names solely for the purpose of flaming others for their opinions. And while we had added OMNI at the request of members, we and many of the Original Members never wanted it to be taken for granted. As well, we have had members join FlyerTalk solely for the use of the OMNI forum because of the quite intelligent and passionate discussions that go on there. As for The Coupon Connection, well, we enjoy the idea that our community can seek to share with others, various benefits and gifts of travel, that only came after many years in which members got to know each other. Prior to today, we now have members coming to FlyerTalk with hands out, wanting and hoping that they can snag a freebie from members with too many club passes and too many upgrades to use. Inherently there is nothing wrong with that, except that original members contributed for years before that forum was introduced. As well, some members spend 90 percent of their time on FlyerTalk in The Coupon Connection trying to snag giveaways and then resell them on eBay. We have monitored many members in the past whose sole purpose it seems is to profit from the kindness of this community. For some of you - there is nothing wrong with that. for me - there's everything wrong. As for S.P.A.M., well when some high profile offers such as free iPods and other items became well known, new members flocked there to get in line for the giveaways. Frankly, we've found that many of them don't even know or care what FlyerTalk is all about.
Bottom line, the small changes we have made to FlyerTalk are made to honor and respect the principles for which the Web site was founded. That is to learn and share as much information about the topic of miles and points as you possible can. Along with that comes the same for the topic of travel. Once you fully become engaged in this community, certain benefits and privileges will appear to you, among them are access to OMNI, The Coupon Connection and S.P.A.M. At the risk of sounding exclusionary, we want each and every new member to want to participate on FlyerTalk on our terms: to talk about miles and points.
To clarify my beginning sentence: statements from members such as "Makes be wonder what these powers-that-be were drinking, smoking and/or shooting when they came up with this unnounced change;"Wow!! Flyertalk has turned into a secret society whose rules, actions, and behavior are know only a select few. Best of all, even they don't know the rules, actions and behavior!;" "Here's another useless post to get my numbers up. What kind of dictatorship is this?." were never part of the dialog coming from our original members. Instead, they are of this nature: "Normally, I spend about $350 for a r/t TLV-MXP flight in Coach. In November, I will be taking that flight for free. Well, not exactly that flight. I will be flying TLV-FLL-MXP and visiting my mother in Florida. Also, one slight change -- I won't be in Coach, I will be in Business. This was only made possible by information I learned here on FlyerTalk and, yes, I am very grateful to Randy for that. But I am more appreciative of FlyerTalk having introduced me to many very interesting people;" "As we say over in the US forum, Ill chiame in here. Flyer Talk has been very worthwhile for the l4pi family and my company. At one point this last spring, I went back and looked at the impact of FT. In 2003, I earned over 150,000 points and miles above and beyond what I would have earned with out the knowledge gained on FT. The breakout is almost a 100,000 miles on US and over 30,000 in Marriott alone, not counting DL, HH *wood and others. In order to help others with answers in the forums, I have learned more about the programs than I ever would have with out FT. I have saved my company well over $5,000 this year alone based upon the information learned in these forums. The value of this knowledge as been simply invaluable;" "Before Flyertalk I loved airlines and miles and points. And I thought I was quite an expert, doing pretty well for myself. But I was strictly a United guy. I was upgraded most of the time (though I didn't even know mileage upgrades were confirmable at booking) and I'd redeemed points with little difficulty for business and first class travel across the Pacific. But Flyertalk broadened my horizons. Instead of having real miles in only one program, I have meaningful balances in a full dozen. Booking my honeymoon trip on points was a real eye-opener for me. First I booked 2 first class awards on Air Tahiti Nui and Qantas (LAX-PPT-AKL-SYD/MEL-SYD) using 290k AA miles. I haven't set foot on AA metal for a revenue flight in 13 years, and not a single one of the miles in my account comes from flying American. Thanks go to Flyertalk!"
Notice anything different in the tone and the message of these two different sets of comments from members?
We've made these changes not in the intent to harm any particular member or members on FlyerTalk, but to make sure that we are being true to the roots and purpose of FlyerTalk. FlyerTalk has grown far too much in the last year to let these things go unchecked.
And why no notice? Honestly, it was for a purpose. There was a very complementary article yesterday in The New York Times and we thought it would likely drive additional new interest to FlyerTalk. By getting these changes in to place when we did, these new members really won't know there is an OMNI, a Coupon Connection or a S.P.A.M. since they can't see them. Over time, as they contribute and benefit from FlyerTalk as tens of thousands of other members have, they will gain access to things they never knew existed and of course, that's the very cool thing - they will have accepted FlyerTalk and joined in just for what it appears to be - the best place in the world for information related to earning and using your frequent flyer miles and points.
For those of you that I have disappointed with these changes, I really am very sorry. If things such as freebies, topics of same sex marriage and conga lines are your primary interest, I would not hesitate to recommend far better Web sites for that than FlyerTalk. Having said that, if you are interested in what the merger of America West and US Airways will have on your frequent flyer miles will be or should you start to worry about Northwest Airlines or what is the best way to get upgraded on United or how you can convert unused miles into merchandise, then welcome to FlyerTalk - these and a few hundred thousands other topics await you. I've enjoyed them for seven years now and still consider myself a rookie on FlyerTalk.
I hope sharing this has helped.
Cheers,
Randy
P.S. As for the talk about useless posts and all that to pad your count. That is not a good way to go. We have more than 60 volunteers on FlyerTalk who are pretty good at spotting this type of post behavior and when we find that someone is doing this, we have the ability to manually reset your post count to zero. The best advice I can give you - become part of this community first and you really don't get there just by signing up.
As well, the only reason we don't publicly post the requirements for these forums is because most members won't know they exist (they can't see them) and to not try and tease other members with thresholds for them to post needlessly against.
I'd suggest the discussion on this topic be on the "S.p.a.m 2" thread and not in this Forum. This Forum is to be used to report technical issues.
Thanks.
Last edited by Cholula; Jun 16, 2005 at 7:17 am
Jun 16, 2005 | 10:49 am
#3
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Southern California
Posts: 1,021
Originally Posted by Aileron
And why no notice? Honestly, it was for a purpose. There was a very complementary article yesterday in The New York Times and we thought it would likely drive additional new interest to FlyerTalk. By getting these changes in to place when we did, these new members really won't know there is an OMNI, a Coupon Connection or a S.P.A.M. since they can't see them. Over time, as they contribute and benefit from FlyerTalk as tens of thousands of other members have, they will gain access to things they never knew existed and of course, that's the very cool thing - they will have accepted FlyerTalk and joined in just for what it appears to be - the best place in the world for information related to earning and using your frequent flyer miles and points.