Open forum …. any suggestions for tweaking the site?

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• Corrine says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:07

  I’m loving the Q&A idea, yesterday I had an issue with Virgin changing my flight time(schedule change) having booked with miles, I just have to accept it. I can’t find anywhere to with any info on this topic and I’m sure someone on here would have an insight. So for me, and I guess many others, a Q&A section, forum or similar, would be fab 🙂

• Kinkell says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:10

  I’m a creature of habit, and don’t take too well to change. Leisurely late breakfast of tea, toast and HfP starts the day, by which time there is a raft of early morning comments-relevant, and a few OT queries- irrelevant, but I don’t mind them. In fact it’s great that so many of you pitch in to help out others, and it’s often these that give up a wee gem of a lightbulb moment that might be missed if posted separately elsewhere. However, it seems from suggestions that this might be an area most likely for development, and I could probably cope with that! . It’s a great site. I like it the way it is, so no creative ideas from me! .Many thanks. HNY to you all

  • GK says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:52

    Exactly the same experience here.. no changes to timings of posts please!

• Mikeact says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:10

  I’m not too sure I’m totally happy with posting generally. What I mean is the way anybody using any name can post. I feel you should formerly register before being able to post. For example I always post as Mikeact but I could post as anything else if I wanted to be totally obnoxious.

  • Alan says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:18

    I certainly wouldn’t have an issue with a login system although if you use a Gravatar then the icon will help make it more hassle for someone else to impersonate you.

  • David says:

    1 Jan1 January 12:41

    On a general point of principle, I oppose the need to register to post comments – for various reasons. Additionally, I think it would create a further barrier to active participation – i.e. restricting even further the percentage of readers who post comments. (Some of the best comments IMO come from people who only post when they have something to add or confirm).

    I agree however that an OPTIONAL way to ensure you know who you are talking (and that it is the same person who posted something else, etc) could be good for a variety of reasons.

  • Fenny says:

    1 Jan1 January 20:25

    I have probably over a dozen email addresses. If I really wanted to troll the comments, I’d just set up multiple accounts and post as different names. Registering doesn’t stop that.

    • Alan says:

      1 Jan1 January 21:10

      Although Rob would see that they’re all coming from the same IP address – you could switch VPN for each one but it would start to get a bit of hassle 😉

• Dave says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:13

  I love this site, it’s incredibly useful even now after the challenges of reward programmes in 2016.

  I don’t feel great about giving this feedback.

  * reviews: we all know those American sites who do this. At best it’s clutter. Don’t see why reviews are needed.

  * cross pollination with shopper points. I know everyone needs to make money but there is just too much.

  Net effect is I don’t visit the site anymore, there is just too much irrelevant content now.

  • Mikeact says:

    1 Jan1 January 10:20

    Sorry to hear that, a) you love the site, and b) you don’t visit it anymore.

    • Clive says:

      1 Jan1 January 10:23

      I can’t comment because I don’t visit the site either.

      • Rob says:

        1 Jan1 January 11:02

        Cross pollination with SP in what way? The Tesco coverage on HFP has reduced since I launched SP, and I only tend to cover ‘no brainer’ Tesco deals on here now.

        The reviews feed the rest of the content in a way that is not always obvious. For eg, if I review Qatar and tell you I was blown away by it, you will take more notice of a Qatar fare sale. If we review a great new Hilton, you might be more interested in a new Hilton promo which could get you a free night there.

        The only stuff we review is linked to the big chains, to help with the ‘spending’ part of earning and spending parts. We also focus only on new or refurbished hotels where you would actually want to go – we don’t do random reviews of the Holiday Inn Sheffield every time I pass through it.

        • Mikeact says:

          1 Jan1 January 11:23

          There’s just no pleasing some people.

        • Clive says:

          1 Jan1 January 11:39

          Reviews are always useful because they tell us about the experience of the people – Rob and Anika – who are providing the other advice and so we know to trust your views.

        • Leo says:

          1 Jan1 January 13:02

          I actively look forward to the reviews.

        • the_real_a says:

          1 Jan1 January 14:59

          I read the site for tips but also for morning entertainment. If its a slow news day, then a review is an interesting way to introduce me to a brand/local/service that i had not considered. In fact i would like to see more of them!

• Concerto says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:18

  A Q&A section would be really good. Sometimes I have difficulty in finding a comment or question I wrote a few hours before. Not living in the UK any more means that a lot has less relevance for me than it did before. But it’s interesting to read all about the various deals going on in the UK. I think the comment about diversifying away from BA is a good one, but personally I have never been a fan of BA even in the days it was supposedly good. Nowadays, in the wake of what is going and reading the incredibly negative daily stories on FT, I completely avoid it.

• Fenny says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:22

  I like the 3 articles a day format. I rarely get chance to read before I get home from work in the evening, but at least I know that there are going to be 3 (plus a very occasional piece of “breaking” news) items.

  With regard to the comments, it’s always hard to keep people on topic. We naturally veer away from things or want a place to pose questions. Even if there’s a daily “Post recurring queries here” type post, I don’t think it’s going to stop people from putting them in the middle of a thread. A daily “Bits” thread will either shift other content or increase the number of posts per day. So unless there continues to be three articles and the bits thread remains a web-only item, the email readers are going to be frustrated.

• Clive says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:32

  If the biggest grumble is OT posts, it shows the site is great.
  The main consequence of banning OT posts in the absence of a forum would be Rob receiving even more questions through direct email – I don’t think it’s a problem for commenters to share the load of taking enquiries about the hobby. Scrolling through comments is not that hard on the thumb. 🙂

  • Polly says:

    1 Jan1 January 11:39

    Clive, agree full with you in my post below. OT not the big problem at all.

  • the_real_a says:

    1 Jan1 January 15:02

    Commenters are usually extremely disciplined and mark it OT – there have been so many nuggets of info i have gleamed from these that banning them to me is senseless.

    OT comments add to this site.

• Cate says:

  1 Jan1 January 10:33

  Happy New Year everyone!!

  OTs don’t bother me unless they are the very first post on a new article and aren’t accompanied by some acknowledgement they’ve read the article.

  In general I like the site as it is because it doesn’t feel like work to be here. If you are self employed you don’t want to go back to working for someone else and if it started to feel like I’d have to do work on it then I’d quickly lose interest. I like collecting points but they don’t run my travel arrangements.

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