[canucklad]

I’ve been contemplating today’s closure of a topic and as a consequence of my mental deliberations id like to share an idea for the new site…..

A naughty step !! ……..

Sadly, since we can’t have an actual step, maybe we can use an icon of a step. To be used when any of us regress into a less than mature adult state of mind… : )

[PatJordan]

canucklad, what about a dunce’s hat??

[MrMichael]

Canucklad – PatJordan, awesome idea. Amongst colleagues at work we have a sort of intranet type forum where we can let of steam….banter…ask…complain etc etc. Some time ago was agreed that if ten users thought a post was out of order……a vote would then take place. If they were voted out of order they have to put twenty five pounds in to a special account kept for the purpose that is then distributed to a voted for charity at end of each year. Last year (early this year) Cancer Research were £425 richer and one of my colleagues £375 poorer. I figure if we had such a system on here I may have got away with it……just……although others may judge differently.

[canucklad]

Well Pat, with some of the shenanigans that occur on the forum a dunces hat would have to come in many guises…..

You could start at the rank of corporal dunce for minor idiocy, and then ascend up through the ranks until you become a right proper Rear Admiral Dunce ……

That way, all of our mighty egos can be massaged accordingly…. : )

Edit…MrMichael great idea about the charity, but could we convince the good people at Waterside to re-desiignate their company as a charitable organization : )

[PatJordan]

canucklad,what about adding stripes to the Dunce’s hat?

The more stripes, the greater idiocy…..and maybe some form of gold braid for the really top ranks!

[AllOverTheGaff]

My ten penneth.

I’ve been on a variety of forums since the late 1990’s with a good ole 56K modem and Freeserve as my ISP. The only ones I’ve stuck with have been un-moderated ones, and I’ve lurked on a couple where the mods lose all sense of reality and have their pet posters and pet topics. It’s all rather sad…..

An example of “over moderation” (IMO) was the closing of the thread about BA and their seat selection being closed today. Was it closed because it wasn’t relevant to a Business Traveler forum, or because one of the contributors spat his / her dummy out and made a lot of noise? I don’t really like that it was closed as I don’t particularly care for moderated forums, but that thread IS relevant on a forum like this, it is worthy of discussion because it has been reported to the airline and they’ve chosen to remove a benefit by stealth. Some people might not know about it if they’ve not been online for a while. In all honestly, I could care less as I never choose that particular seat, but am intrigued as to whether or not the airline fixes the issue or “comes clean” that it has been removed as a benefit for Silver card holders.

These boards are designed for one thing and one thing only – discussion with a common thread of business travel. Sure there are spats of poor behaviour, but this is part of life. Bad language on this site is very rare and for the most part people are discussing the subject matter in hand. The only improvements I think are necessary are the abilities to add pictures to posts reviewing flights/seats/planes/lounges and the ability to pick and choose which topics you wish to be inboxed about – that way no one can really bitch about “I don’t want to read anymore of this nonsense”, a simple “unsubscribe from this thread” is within the users grasp.

There are a lot of topics on here I don’t much care to participate in – so I don’t. There are many things said which I don’t particularly agree with, but I don’t see the need to ask a moderator/run to teacher bleating because it doesn’t conform with my opinion.

So, I’d like to request very careful moderation, I think you’re as likely to turn people off as retain them – and those you do retain might not have the chutzpah to be able to debate properly without some level of hysteria.

Won’t somebody think of the children? ©Rev Lovejoy’s wife.

Rgds.
AOTG.

[SimonS1]

I don’t think any benefits have been ‘removed by stealth’. It has been reported elsewhere that Amadeus have found a fix which is being tested.

[AllOverTheGaff]

SimonS1 – 28/04/2016 21:46 BST
I don’t think any benefits have been ‘removed by stealth’. It has been reported elsewhere that Amadeus have found a fix which is being tested.

The comment wasn’t made as a statement in fact.

[handbag]

canucklad
A suggestion for the new forum.
Is it possible to send out invitations via BT created user names to the social media teams of the companies that are most popularly discussed on the forum?

This may be helpful, but the adverse side to it, is that staff that regularly post may not feel comfortable doing so. You may therefore no longer get a true perspective of what is happening , but a generic response.

Like the thumbs up and down for agreeing or disagreeing and a red flag for a problem.

[FDOS_UK]

SimonS1 – 28/04/2016 21:46 BST

Sorry for the thread drift, but until the fix is in place and the benefit is restored, it is clear that the benefit was removed by stealth (even if this was not intended – lack of intent does not alter the de facto outcome.)

After three months of being unable to fix the problem (which is a lifetime in IT terms), a reasonable view is ‘I’ll believe it, when I see it’, so I tend to follow what AOTG means.

I don’t like upvoting and downvoting buttons, which can often be used to punish posters, unfairly, but an ignore user button would be excellent, as would a report button.

I also empathise with AOTG’s comments on moderated fora and favouritism – there is a risk of creating an anodyne site.

[Tom Otley]

I don’t think there’s any risk of that.

[SimonS1]

Me neither.

I would have thought a bigger risk was that by the time the new forum gets going the footfall will be relatively limited. After all a good percentage of threads seem to feature the same handful of posters and end up going down the ‘BA IT/Lounges/Cabins/Food etc are so mediocre’ line.

[canucklad]

Morning Handbag
You’ve convinced me that it is a bad idea inviting representatives from the social media teams of the most popular, (better word would probably be frequently) mentioned airlines on this forum.
Your, and indeed your colleagues contributions are definitely, in my opinion anyway valued far more , and more accurate and realistic than I suspect someone who’d be obliged to tow the company line….

By the way, Doff my cap to Etihad , demonstrating on another topic on the forum how positive intervention should work.

Also agree with the sentiment about over moderation. Personally I think the spats that occasionally appear between certain posters can sometimes be illuminating, but in general terms, I find quite comical, how people can get so vexed about issues, that in the real world , bigger picture are actually so trivial it should remind us all , that we are indeed the privileged selected few that can get riled by BA changing its champagne in the Concorde lounge

[FDOS_UK]

SimonS1 – 29/04/2016 08:45 BST

You will always get an over representation of BA on here, because it is a large airline based in the UK. Some of the ludicrous travel site awards can only be attributed to that – BA best First class, anyone?

Even if BA was a lot more efficient/customer focused that it is, this over representation would generate a lot of ‘bad xxxx’ stories, because as a large body of research shows, people are many times more likely to share a poor experience, than a good one. This is an immutable fact.

[SimonS1]

@Canucklad – yes a fair point. We are the privileged few. Sad thing is many business travellers play the role so well that they end up getting lost in their own sense of self-importance. You see these types everywhere, on forums, in lounges, at the gate etc.

@FDOS – of course, however I don’t think it is a genuine over representation, just the same old people trotting out the same old criticisms. A bit like the old VK/Becky Boop days but in reverse. Really the forum needs to do something to attract new blood so discussions are not dominated by the same old faces.

Actually if you look at the flight reviews side only 14 of the last 50 reviews (28%) concern BA, so there is clearly a nucleus of people for whom BA is not the be all and end all of the travel world.

[Author]

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