Open forum …. any suggestions for tweaking the site?

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• flyforfun says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:08

  I would have some sort of sidebar link/page/forum where people can post what they want. I’m sick of the current threads being hijacked by someone with something off topic or relevant only to their situation. You then have to scroll down through reams of irrelevant posts not related to the topics being discussed. I know it’s only a 2 man band, but maybe like FT you can appoint moderators who can police this and move non relevant posts to another page.

  • wellknown VIP says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:27

    OT – I have 3 Chihuahuas.
    I’d like to fly them first class with me to Australia.
    Can I use 241 vouchers for my dogs?
    We’re planning a road trip across the Great Victoria Desert.

    • Duncan says:

      1 Jan1 January 08:36

      Brilliant!

      To be fair I’m guilty of this. I know you can email Raffles, but often a question can be answered by the community and he does enough.

      I’m not sure what else you could implement for this purpose. A forum would probably be overkill, and inevitable wouldn’t get the same readership as the comments of the articles.

      Perhaps a Q&A format where most recent unanswered questions appear in the sidebar for all to see, and those questions are a sort of one-line article with comments themselves?

      Sounds like a major job to implement though.

  • Anon says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:28

    O/T : Just kidding…

    Been thinking about this, if a forum is a no go, how about a new sticky post each Monday for off topics for that week??

    Also having the ability to see who replied to your comments would be good. (probs need a login/cookie?)

    I’ll try a think of more through the day.

    Sent on Android, turned landscape, zoomed in for tired eyes, via processing a hangover & little sleep.

    HNY 😉

  • Trevor says:

    1 Jan1 January 15:06

    I don’t blame Rob for not wanting a forum, and I too hate all the OT stuff. Agree that a separate Q&A section may not get the readership, but at least it will stop the deterioration of the posts’ comments. At the end of the day there are forums like Flyertalk to post queries and if this site gets too big/busy, it will turn into another “flyertalk” which is what is appealing about this site – it’s not. I know tempting to get a quick-fix in the comments, but it’s gonna largely be by lazy readers who can’t be bothered to search for answers elsewhere. I say moderate the site by simply deleting those posts – they ruin the comments and this isn’t a forum.

• Karen says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:27

  Happy New Year all!

  The article format and emails work great for me. Having a FAQ section would definitely be beneficial. I was made aware of the website by a helpful Customer Service Rep at AMEX when I first took out a BA Card.

• PJK says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:30

  I love the site Rob, have been reading for 3/4 years now. My main source of info is the daily emails so I too sometimes miss the breaking news items during the day… I would appreciate a “lower bar” to trigger an extraordinary email – if there’s loyalty news happening I’d appreciated an extra message.

  One other element which comes to mind is something which used to be very helpful and which I know changed with the switch to another comment system provider. It wad great when you’d commented on a post and were then able to request to receive comment updates by email afterwards. Since the loss of this function I’ve felt much less connected to the world of HfP and the level of my involvement has been lower. I know the website is still there and I can visit and read and comment all I like, but time pressures for those of us who work mean that the emails are the greatest source of info and an interesting post might have fascinating and relevant comments but most of these are missed by me and I’m sure many others.

  I’m not sure whether there’s anything you can change about this, but thought it best to offer my thoughts to your open forum.

  Keep up the great work Anika & Rob, and Happy New Year!

  • Boi says:

    1 Jan1 January 08:40

    Agree with this, I also liked the ability to follow a thread.

    I know people don’t like OTs but I actually LOVE them, to me they are often a source of breaking news that I might have missed-ps don’t kill them altogether. Maybe find a home for them?

    Happy new year to all

    • Tony says:

      1 Jan1 January 09:09

      Agree, would be nice to have features that PJK refers to. I discussion forum was something I was going to propose, but a Q&A would probably work as well provided it was easy to navigate/searchable.

      Keep up the great work and Best Wishes for 2017

    • Liz says:

      1 Jan1 January 12:41

      I agree I love the OT comments – you learn a lot from them however regular questions like the upgrade and downgrade of the BAPP and rules on the 241 voucher should be referred to a FAQ section. I love the 3 posts per day format and the ads are not intrusive. Would like more info and tips on other airlines such as Singapore Airlines and the Kris Flyer scheme. Keep up the great work and Happy New Year to everyone! :

  • Roger I says:

    1 Jan1 January 09:05

    As a satisfied and happy e-mail subscriber, PJK’s comment on e-mail comment updates is the only major improvement necessary. 🙂

    Suggestions of serious coverage for other airlines or alliances must be out without considerable investment in time and money. AF/KL? Nah! Trying to give the terminal Flying Blue scheme would really incur diminishing returns. Avios is what Rob does best and it is difficult to see how any other scheme would offer the acquired knowledge we all benefit from with Avios.

    Q&A? Yes. Restrict OT comments to an OT page (or Q&A): Yes.

    Thank you, Rob, for continuing help and advice. 🙂

    • Rob says:

      1 Jan1 January 10:52

      AF / KLM is an issue because outside our little metropolitan elite London bubble people do tend to use it for long haul 🙂

      • xcalx says:

        2 Jan2 January 08:31

        Really, KLM link AMS from most local airports making them the choice of many non Avios collectors. I was shocked at a local gathering as to how many people used KLM from LBA via AMS to worldwide destinations. Since this I have checked out AF/KLM award flights and the monthly deals can be very good value point wise.

        • xcalx says:

          2 Jan2 January 08:43

          Sorry, Just read “DO tend to use” Thought it read don’t use

  • Alex W says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:20

    +1

• Else says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:37

  Q & A is a great idea. I’m new to Avios and often have questions that don’t ‘fit’ anywhere and I’m reluctant to post where a question doesn’t ‘belong’ as I agree it can be annoying to people reading a thread about something else.

  • the real harry says:

    1 Jan1 January 09:10

    better to assume that intelligent people can cope with uncertainty, are flexible in their thinking and appreciate useful information wherever they see it

    that they can assimilate many different strands and take out what can positively help them

    that a thousand brains at better than one

    OK I know I’m on a losing wicket here

    • Genghis says:

      1 Jan1 January 09:23

      I certainly appreciate your OTs Harry. Often (though not always) gems of info. 🙂

    • Cate says:

      1 Jan1 January 10:38

      +1 (not about the lost wicket 🙂 )

    • Brian says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:36

      As Rob has said in response to another comment, OTs are a source of material even for him. I simply can’t see the issue with OTs – almost always they are prefaced by ‘OT:’, so if you find such things annoying, you simply don’t have to read it!

    • Anon says:

      1 Jan1 January 11:49

      +1 Agreed, Genghis & The Real Harry are my fav posters, their persence (often via “irrelevant” O/Ts) makes it feel more of a sense of a friendly community on here, I therefore check the sites many times a day, they are also likely to contribute with some gems of info that would of never have otherwise learnt.

      • Louise says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:56

        Ditto, like the OTs!

        • the pitch says:

          1 Jan1 January 12:27

          +1

        • Peter K says:

          1 Jan1 January 15:47

          +1

• the real harry says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:39

  I would make it a rule that there’s always a Bits article amongst the 3.

  One thing that gets my goat is nobs moaning about off-topic posts, so this deftly sidesteps the nobbish objections: you just have to remember where to stick it. Clue: Bits = invitation to stick O/T gems

• Our_Kid says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:40

  The daily articles work really well Rob and the IHG double points special was great – drove me to the desktop site all the time. Maybe some more specials like that?

  Big ask though is do the right thing and stay out of the Daily Mail :-))

  Happy New Year

• Duncan says:

  1 Jan1 January 08:40

  Some great suggestions on here already. For a selfish perspective EU flights relevant to those in the regions would be wonderful, especially since the free domestic leg on RFS redemptions. Obviously this would not be BA, but that’s fine.

  In any case, you do a great job and helped me get in to this hobby even to the point of answering emails. I have no idea how you find the time!

  Happy New Year everyone! 🙂

• Sue says:

  1 Jan1 January 09:09

  Just a quick and small point……..when I open the email your content appears half way down the page and not at the top. I have to scroll down to start reading it rather than being able to start reading from the top straight away. It was confusing to start with as I though there was actually no content at all until I realised it started much further down the page.

  Hope this is helpful …….great content generally and I usually find something which interests me.

  • Rob says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:53

    Odd …. works fine for me whether I read it in Yahoo or via my iPhone. I know Outlook 2003 has issues.

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