[BeckyBoop]

One thing i love about the current forum is its very simple and easy to read and doesnt stretch the whole width of the screen xx

[bjornstrom]

I’d love to get involved in this. I’ve worked as a vBulletin developer and administrator since 2003 and i’m involved in other travel related sites.

Please contact me using my profile details if you are interested. I happen to be in London on friday.

[MartynSinclair]

The USP of the BT Forum is:

1. ease of use

2. whilst the circulation is wide the contributors have remained a fairly tight knitted bunch, sometimes lively and in the main pretty well behaved

3. the Forum has characters, which I think enhances its use.

4. Subjects covered are wide, even if on occasion product biased

5. Its has a very homely feel

6. I hope that new Forum, however constructed will keep the qualities of the existing Forum and NOT create large unfriendly beast

7. If BT would like any help / input from me, I would be more than happy to give as much time as needed.

One poster did recently comment that the Forum provided them with as much “fun” as Facebook, which was interesting to read, whilst the other extreme is a poster who feels that it is purely for an exchange of business travel related information and ideas.

I sit in between to the extent that I hope “new Forum” (oh no, I can see the heading another “N F”) manages to keep its idiosyncrasies, whist at the same time enhancing the benefit and format.

Thanks for continuing to support this Forum BT.

[Abidjan]

As a fairly long-time reader of BT, but a recent website visitor (and now resident), I’m excited to hear of the increased interest and plans for the next evolution of the site. You do a great job, and I expect nothing less with this project.

[LuganoPirate]

I enjoy the forum as is, and I hope access will be a simple matter like it is now.

I do feel that new topics should only be started by people who have posted say 10 times. This will keep out those one time posts trying to get some free publicity.

[PatJordan]

A very interesting thread.

I have enjoyed taking part in debates, the very useful travel tips on the forum, and as many others have said, the ease of use.

LP makes a good point about one time posts.

Martyn has summarised it very well, and with his blessing, I’d like to associate myself with his comments.

Many thanks BT for providing this useful and enjoyable forum.

Pat

[LuganoPirate]

I too think Martyn has summarised it well but I’d like to emphasise point 6, to keep the quality of the existing forum etc. I think this is important and I wonder BT if you have asked yourselves why contributors post comments here and not to flyer talk or Pprune, though I’m sure many do contribute to both. What makes this forum so unique?

From my point of view I find BT forum easier and more friendly and while sometimes biased towards BA I suppose that’s normal being a UK based publication. As someone mentioned we are reasonably well behaved, certainly knowledgable and many of us are eager to give advice to others and share money saving tips amongst us.

There is definitely a warm cozy feel to the whole thing. I hope that doesn’t get forgotten.

[LuganoPirate]

Oh, and an app would be nice as well!

[MartynSinclair]

The other point to bear in mind is unlike Flyer Talk and Prune, the Forum has added exposure with the Business Traveler Magazine.

I don’t understand the software requirements to run the forum, but the problems of late seem to fall in to the following categories:

a. Spam postings

b. whether product bias or not can we use the term postings being have been maneuvered up on down the boards

c. Some lively chatter and a few toys and handbags being thrown around

d. multiple handles, why this is a problem I don’t know

e. the relevance of certain threads, which seem to re appear to fuel an already overheated fire

f. a badly needs retrieval system for old posts needing to be referenced

g. Some posters prefer anonymity whilst others prefer handles and some objecting

Apart from the above, everything else works just fine.

I think we should be privileged to PERHAPS have among us

** a chairman of a Airline

**a mega wealthy pop star

**a pensioner collecting Tesco’s points to fly F

**a city PA who gives the impression of naivety,

**a high flyer flitting between paradise and Heathrow

**, Cabin Crew & Pilots

**students wanting to publish surveys,

**even a binman (presumably not in real life)

** an old bottle of sparkling wine ( I will be more polite once the LCY-JFK sale fares are published)

**an expat, sandal wearing, small car driving poster who would happily put a message in the old bottle of plonk and let it drift out to see

or we could be a group of unemployed saddos – DOES IT REALLY MATTER??

None of the issues need anything more than a tweak and some sort of system to bring people back in check.

Best idea so far is to put a limit if when people can post – other than that BT, please do involve us, after all, the BT team do reap benefit from us here……………………….

[IanFromHKG]

Here are some suggestions:

A mobile-friendly sister site (no sidebar advertisements, limited javascript etc) regardless of whether there is an app

Private messaging

A calendar function so people could post their own travel plans (I would love to meet some of my fellow posters!), forum-poster-meetings etc

Easier use of bold, italic etc in entries

Personal profiles

Some clear rules for the forum, particularly around the subject of personal abuse (which has become all too prevalent, sadly) and a function permitting breaches of forum rules to be flagged directly to a moderator for review

An ability to jump straight to related forum threads from on-line articles of the magazine

Better organisation of thread groups (most of the new threads I have created seem to end up under “Miscellaneous” because there isn’t a better home) and specific thread groups for alliances

Perhaps a standard template for flight reviews? Even if only a list of topics that should be addressed, it would be better than the current system where some reviews are so lacking in information as to be useless (recent examples include “Again one of the best across the pond”; and “Dreading the Saturday night flight as being the start of a very long week, I was quite pleasantly surprised when I checked in and was bumped up from Premium Economy to Upper Class. At least now, I had the opportunity to catch a few hours rest; what a difference!! Thanks!”, neither of which actually tell you anything about the flight other than that it was a positive experience)

Thanks for looking at this BT, I look forward to all the improvements, whatever they might be!

[Abidjan]

LuganoPirate is right to describe this place as warm and cozy. I agree. I love Flyertalk, in it’s all it’s glorious unwieldiness. However, I don’t want BT to become Flyertalk.

[LuganoPirate]

I would also like to see a calendar function as Ian suggests. Some of my fellow posters seem to be interesting characters!

[LuganoPirate]

At the risk of being made to walk my own gangplank, how about the following.

This is the BT forum, why not make a charge of £10 p.a. to all non subscribers of the magazine. That should keep out quite a few spoof advertisers and multi handle posters.

[NTarrant]

I agree LP, those that don’t subscribe to the magazine should subscribe to the website, except a limited amount.

[DisgustedofSwieqi]

I would also back a subscription.

Also, how about making the print subscription available in Malta? I don’t like the digital version very much.

[Author]

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