Give Flightinfo Some Time

[Diesel]

Interesting the only one that has the cahones to say anything is UAL. Him and I didn't see eye to eye on a bunch of stuff but the sad fact is he is the ONLY one that has communicated with us.

The owners of the board have NOT communicated. If they had just said look we're going to have to make some changes and explain their position.

But they didn't. They made changes and like the rest of the world people resist change especially a group of type A people like ourselves.

So thank you UAL for explaining some of the situation. Shame on the current owners for not keeping the group informed. Remember without the pilots you can have all the advertisers you want but nobody will click on it.

 

[banned username 1]

Thanks Diesel and Jeff,

I know that one of the owners has been in the midst of moving across the country for the last two weeks, and you can imagine what that must be like! The other owner has been enrolled in the University of Hard Knocks, learning about the board and it's dynamics. There's a learning curve, and you all can imaging what it must be like. Remember when you first came here? I can. It was pretty daunting. Couple that with everything else.

I think that the mods are able to speak for the owners, and in fact, the owners would rather we do the communicating because love us or hate us, you at least feel like you know us. I have the luxury of some time off now and that's one reason why you've seen me be more prolific in replies than others. My counterparts are all on trips, although I think they defer to me sometimes because of my propensity for being "windy".

As far as the religious aspect, holy cow (pun intended) don't be so sensitive when you ask why we lump that in with the other verboten issues. There has been dialog about allowing it as an issue again. I'll be candid though and tell you that the realities of life are such that (and again we go back to it) some advertisers shy away from controversial content. Please (and I am as religious as the next guy) don't try to argue that it hasn't been controversial on this site. And although some of the threads have provided some of the absolute best debate that you could ask for, many, many times it spirals downhill because of a few knuckleheads and we end up having to delete or close the thread. Man, THEN do we hear the catcalls! Niether side is happy.

All I can do is respect you and be honest and candid with the facts as I know them. I'd be willing to bet that if everybody could excercise self-control and comply with a few common-sense rules, keeping in mind that now, more than ever, it is a healthy mix of participants as well as advertisers that keep this site alive, that virtually all subjects could be broached with practically no moderation. (oh man, my english teacher would be cringing at my syntax right now!)

I'd be happy to dialog with you collectively or indivually as my time permits and as always, I'll call it as I see it.

UAL78

 

[the_dimwit]

I have suggested what I'm about to say in the "Douch Bags" thread (Forum Feedback)...

Why not charge a fee to become a member? That would elminate the need for advertising and, at the same time, provide a place to discuss such issues as religion and politics without fear of losing money.

I'm not involved in any discussions that the mods/owners are having, so I don't know all of the details. It just seems to me that there are a lot of passionate members here, and I'm sure most of them would pony up enough money to cover annual operating costs (whatever they may be).

If this option were chosen, the first step would be communicating the costs on an annual (or month-to-month) basis. This would give the user community an idea of how much a site like this costs.

The second step would be to recruit paying members. I may be wrong, but I don't think that would be hard, especially if the membership fee is kept as low as possible.

Once a sufficient amount of membership is attained, the doors could be swung fully open, and the banter would begin. Of course, rules would still be in place, and the forums would be moderated. But, permanent bannination would be easier, especially since the membership money would be collected up-front, with an agreement to no refunds. (The members would have to be subjected to a "three strikes" rule with little or no leeway.)

I, too, am disappointed that this has all happened. I understand that this is a place of business, like any other. However, if there is any way that things could go back to the way the were, I would love to see it. Otherwise, I'm afraid that many of the most active users will not return.

--Dim

 

[banned username 1]

Thanks, Dim (I won't use your full name, as that sounds prejoritive)

It was Mark's desire not to have to charge for the membership, and that is how it will stay for the forseeable future. He probably knew that pilots were cheap!

I did pose a question to him about having a flightinfo uncut- or a site just like this but you WOULD have to pay to belong, but the other side of it, there would be no moderation and people could go at it hammer and tong- kind of like celebrity death match.

It was under consideration. Now, who knows?

I believe that pretty soon, you'll have the feel of the old site back, but not at the expense of some of the rules that we have to have around for the 2% that just have to push the envelope. If you're a normal pilot with a normal amount of irreverence to just about all things, this site will fit you just fine and you'll feel at home and among friends.

Thanks for the feedback,

UAL78

 

[redd]

Hey UAL78,

Thanks for posting, got to ask a question, how come posters like Chprplt & TonyC, who I haven't always agreed with but respect, get bounced, and "Douche Bag" posers and pot stirrers like SplitS are not?

As far as paying for membership, I could see that a problem could develop if the "Douche Bag" quotient started trouble and claimed it was their right to be there cause they paid, would have bad consequences too. Perhaps donations would be better like has been done in the past here.

Thanks again for the dialog!

Hi Redd-
As far as the two that you mention, without going into it, there seems to be things going on way, way outside flightinfo and it seems to be getting rather serious. Time will tell and it's best to let that passion play, "play out". TonyC right now as I see it is in the "good to go" position and can post anytime. I do not know why he was wherever he was. (Did that sentence make sense???)

As we speak, splitS is in the penalty box and you can see why with a trip to the PB forum.

UAL78

 

[pilotmiketx]

As someone with an extensive background in technology, I'm pretty sure any business who wants ad space on an internet forum could care less about the content of the individuals' posts as long as there is LOTS and LOTS and LOTS of traffic. Contrast that with a desolate board devoid of the kind of spirited discussions that cause threads to grow to 100+ posts and in turn generate many, many impressions (that's ad-speak for 'ad-views')

 

[redd]

Just thinking, is there anything we can do to help drive advertizers here?



Not having a background in web commerce, I wouldn't know. Maybe pilotmiketx has some ideas.