Forum moving away from original function

[RB]

Obviously not a popular opinion but I have found the forum seems to be moving away from what I saw as its original function-as a travel forum.
The playground section seems to be ever expanding and things some days seem more like a Facebook gathering

 

[support]

I think there's still a lot of AFF that is focused on travel, but in the world we live in websites tend to broaden their reach to keep members online and posting. If we don't offer a service and somewhere else does, you can bet that a member will split their time between the two. Obviously, we don't want to stray too far from our core and we choose to expand parts of the site from time to time that have an overlap with the core focus, such as the AFF Wine Lovers Resources category.

With regard to the Playground, every site has off topic posts and we try to contain that to one specific forum. Posts and threads that have strayed will often find themselves moved there, and if you do not want to read such things, you don't have to.

 

[Steady]

Can members hide or unwatchable a forum like the Playground or wine lovers etc?

 

[Buzzard]

My 2c worth.
I'm sure a lot of people here don't travel a lot. By being able to engage in topics other than travel, AFF keeps their interest.
When those people do travel there is plenty of information and support available here.

 

[support]

Can members hide or unwatchable a forum like the Playground or wine lovers etc?

I do not believe so.

You can ignore different prefixes though, at the bottom of account preferences: https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/community/account/preferences

 

[DC3]

Can members hide or unwatchable a forum like the Playground or wine lovers etc?

We would actively need to seek out such forums if not contributing or have an alert set up. So, probably no need for "hiding" them.

Suggest not to click on the thread links. unless interested?

 

[Steady]

We would actively need to seek out such forums if not contributing or have an alert set up. So, probably no need for "hiding" them.

Suggest not to click on the thread links. unless interested?

My post was in response to the OP - I thought if it was possible, it may help.

I don’t actively seek out any of the playground posts, or many other topics, but due to how I view AFF, all new activity ends up in my feed (I like it that way, then once I’ve looked at what interests me, I mark forums read, viewing this way many unwanted (by me) threads fill my news feed at easily 10 + to one. I’m happy to not click, I suggest we are all different

 

[Denali]

Non travel thread comments have inspired me to travel more

 

[pauly7]

I do empathise with the OP and wondered myself if there was some way to ‘mute’ sub forums non related to travel (for example). I’m just using the manual ignore method at the moment.

But I do also note that if AFF does become too general then it could lose the travel edge and positioning and ultimately member interaction to other more travel and points specific forums that are developing around it, so I think support will be very conscious of that as per their response upstream.

 

[kpc]

FT allows you to only subscribe to forums you are interested in and those are the only forums you see when you login...it would be great if a similar feature could be added to AFF. TBH, I'm not terribly interested in the day to day personal problems / issues of others... I get that every day at work! Anything travel related, that is what I come to AFF for...

 

[levelnine]

It would be great to have the option to hide the Playground forum from appearing on the list of new posts and activity feeds.

It distracts from the valuable content.

 

[dajop]

I don’t think it’s a problem that is worth worrying about. I just counted “new posts” this morning and of the last 100, only 5 involved threads in the playground. It’s not difficult to ignore (as in not look at) those that don’t interest you. There are plenty of travel related threads that don’t interest me either, likewise I just don’t look at them.

I suspect the real concern is about a handful of threads in the playground that are somewhat political in nature. Just ignore them! Even if you don’t, you might see they can get a little heated, but if you’ve been around for a while you can predict what the responses will be from some specific contributors.

 

[Hvr]

Last year at the annual function which was held in ADL there was a celebration of AFF at 20. Part of that gathering had an overview of how the site began and has since evolved. Well worth a read.

AFF Gathering #12 in ADL on 19 - 21 October 2018

Not unless there’s an ambulance on standby I think as the ingredients are more complicated than a science experiment! Either that or the fire brigade as I’ll either burn the house down from excessive chillis or neglect in the kitchen! :D So it’ll be fine as long as @JessicaTam is in attendance?

www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au

 

[drron]

I don’t think it’s a problem that is worth worrying about. I just counted “new posts” this morning and of the last 100, only 5 involved threads in the playground. It’s not difficult to ignore (as in not look at) those that don’t interest you. There are plenty of travel related threads that don’t interest me either, likewise I just don’t look at them.

I suspect the real concern is about a handful of threads in the playground that are somewhat political in nature. Just ignore them! Even if you don’t, you might see they can get a little heated, but if you’ve been around for a while you can predict what the responses will be from some specific contributors.

As one of those specific contributors I can say that the political threads today are very much less heated than they were in the past.

 

[eastwest101]

It would be great to have the option to hide the Playground forum from appearing on the list of new posts and activity feeds.

It distracts from the valuable content.

Another vote for an option to hide Playground posts from new posts or te "Whats New"view, or at least subdivide the playground into logical subcategories that can be individually hidden/surpressed would be helpful. I find that I am visiting less as the volume of posts about wine, health and peoples personal life far exceeds useful stuff about travel, points earning/burning and other airline related discussions. When your site starts to look like a baby-boomer instagram feed then you are venturing into Facebook territory, and I think that may result in the forum losing some quality with the increse in quantity and becoming a bit of a digital backwater as time moves on.

 

[RB]

Just as a point of clarification, my original post was made in the thread "Please bring back the Hug". It seems Support then spun my post off to start this new thread.

I don't go looking for Playground forums but I do read the "Chit Chat". I believe that thread started as "Off Topic" or something similar. My understanding was that Off Topic was for brief mentions of travel related matters/experiences that didn't merit/need a separate thread. There was a time that I believe I learnt quite a lot in Off Topic and there is still the odd pick-up from the Chat forum.
My frustration is that Chat has evolved into a Facebook style forum where a large number of the posts by a small number of posters are about their personal life and have no relevance to flying/travel.
I understand that posts in Chat do not count in post counts but it is becoming a further frustration to me that a small number of posters see the need to repeat anecdotes through a variety of "On Topic Threads" despite the very tenuous relevance of their thoughts-just my opinion of course but just because a forum has a lot of posts every day does not make it better and just because a person posts a lot does not make them a more valuable member.

 

[tgh]

I think that having the playground keeps people coming back…. Indeed

As a dinosaur to chat lists, I have seen a lot of "managment" lead to the fickle birds flying elsewhere.
Mandating more core content would, I suggest, make no difference to the core content and just frighten the pigeons….

It seems quite a perilous task to keep a list ticking over and a cry for more of something is , perhaps , antipathy to the flighty pigeons who can type anywhere they please.

 

[support]

FT allows you to only subscribe to forums you are interested in and those are the only forums you see when you login...it would be great if a similar feature could be added to AFF.

You can already do this on AFF, and this is the method we would suggest for those wanting to limit their focus to specific areas. Every forum (and sub-forum) allows you to watch it, much like a thread. You can also choose to be notified about new threads, messages (posts) or not at all, and you can choose how to receive the notifications (by alerts and/or email).

When logging in, we would then recommend users head to the "watched forums" link, which can be bookmarked.

When your site starts to look like a baby-boomer instagram feed then you are venturing into Facebook territory, and I think that may result in the forum losing some quality with the increse in quantity and becoming a bit of a digital backwater as time moves on.

The problem I see with this view is that if a site does not move with the times, its user group will stagnate and as these members disappear, the site is left with nothing. The test is to keep the old guard happy while attracting new members.

Just as a point of clarification, my original post was made in the thread "Please bring back the Hug". It seems Support then spun my post off to start this new thread.

This is correct, as I informed you in an alert at the time. Your original post may have started as a 'reaction' to the comments about the hug reaction, but it did not reference it in any shape and seemed to speak of a broader issue that I felt would drag that whole thread off topic, as evidenced by where we are now.

Is it irony that our discussion of offtopic posts started with a (perceived) offtopic post?

I understand that posts in Chat do not count in post counts

Nor do posts in the Playground as a whole, of which General Chit Chat is a subforum.

 

[Deleted member]

I don't see the problem, I don't look at the topics which don't interest me

 

[Danger]

Obviously not a popular opinion but I have found the forum seems to be moving away from what I saw as its original function-as a travel forum.
The playground section seems to be ever expanding and things some days seem more like a Facebook gathering

Here, here. I've been barking up this tree for some time to no avail.

I think there's still a lot of AFF that is focused on travel, but in the world we live in websites tend to broaden their reach to keep members online and posting. If we don't offer a service and somewhere else does, you can bet that a member will split their time between the two. Obviously, we don't want to stray too far from our core and we choose to expand parts of the site from time to time that have an overlap with the core focus, such as the AFF Wine Lovers Resources category.

With regard to the Playground, every site has off topic posts and we try to contain that to one specific forum. Posts and threads that have strayed will often find themselves moved there, and if you do not want to read such things, you don't have to.

If AFF keeps going the way I believe it is, with an increasing number of off-topic posts and threads completely unrelated to flying and travel, the second F in AFF will stand simply for Forum. It will be the Australian Frequent Forum, losing what I understand was the very reason it was established in the first place.

I don't believe you should be concerned with being all things to all people which appears to be the responses I've received to my concerns in the past.

My post was in response to the OP - I thought if it was possible, it may help.

I don’t actively seek out any of the playground posts, or many other topics, but due to how I view AFF, all new activity ends up in my feed (I like it that way, then once I’ve looked at what interests me, I mark forums read, viewing this way many unwanted (by me) threads fill my news feed at easily 10 + to one. I’m happy to not click, I suggest we are all different

Agreed. I view AFF simply by picking up where I finished from my last visit, with all threads showing in chronological order. It's not possible to avoid the playground threads and to me (and I'm pleased to see a few others agree) that detracts from AFF.

I do empathise with the OP and wondered myself if there was some way to ‘mute’ sub forums non related to travel (for example). I’m just using the manual ignore method at the moment.

But I do also note that if AFF does become too general then it could lose the travel edge and positioning and ultimately member interaction to other more travel and points specific forums that are developing around it, so I think support will be very conscious of that as per their response upstream.

I absolutely agree.

It would be great to have the option to hide the Playground forum from appearing on the list of new posts and activity feeds.

It distracts from the valuable content.

Again, I absolutely agree.

I don’t think it’s a problem that is worth worrying about. I just counted “new posts” this morning and of the last 100, only 5 involved threads in the playground. It’s not difficult to ignore (as in not look at) those that don’t interest you. There are plenty of travel related threads that don’t interest me either, likewise I just don’t look at them.

I suspect the real concern is about a handful of threads in the playground that are somewhat political in nature. Just ignore them! Even if you don’t, you might see they can get a little heated, but if you’ve been around for a while you can predict what the responses will be from some specific contributors.

As noted above, though, it's not possible to avoid playground threads.

Additionally, the fact there are plenty of travel related threads that don't interest you (and me and everyone else) is perfectly fine. It's a travel forum, not a forum for discussing the latest mortgage rates or where to buy cat food on the cheap.

As for the political threads, I believe the almost vitriol that permeates through some of them nowadays is a disturbing indictment on AFF. Those of us who also frequent FlyerTalk would know "amicable" and "convivial" are not words used to describe it, whereas I believe they are very central to AFF. Political threads always lead to animosity and that's not good for anyone. Let's stick to debating which is the better frequent flyer program or respectfully disagreeing on the best use of 100k bonus points from the latest credit card promo.

Another vote for an option to hide Playground posts from new posts or te "Whats New"view, or at least subdivide the playground into logical subcategories that can be individually hidden/surpressed would be helpful. I find that I am visiting less as the volume of posts about wine, health and peoples personal life far exceeds useful stuff about travel, points earning/burning and other airline related discussions. When your site starts to look like a baby-boomer instagram feed then you are venturing into Facebook territory, and I think that may result in the forum losing some quality with the increse in quantity and becoming a bit of a digital backwater as time moves on.

Yes, please. Let's hide the playground thread (ideally, entirely).

I think that having the playground keeps people coming back…. Indeed

As a dinosaur to chat lists, I have seen a lot of "managment" lead to the fickle birds flying elsewhere.
Mandating more core content would, I suggest, make no difference to the core content and just frighten the pigeons….

It seems quite a perilous task to keep a list ticking over and a cry for more of something is , perhaps , antipathy to the flighty pigeons who can type anywhere they please.

If you're coming back for the plaground posts, you're coming back for entirely the wrong reasons and only goes to show how far AFF has strayed from its core.

. . . The problem I see with this view is that if a site does not move with the times, its user group will stagnate and as these members disappear, the site is left with nothing. The test is to keep the old guard happy while attracting new members.

Respectfully, I think allowing more and more non-travel threads as necessary to move with the times is entirely wrong. It's a dilution of AFF. Members drive the move with time. Members will post new ways to earn or redeem points or post trip reports on unusual airlines or rarely visited countries and so on. The forum has done very well in moving with the times, in my opinion, the recent platform upgrade a perfect case in point. I'm not at all a fan of the like/hug/kiss/middle finger emoji change (I've never used it and I never will) but that's a movement with the times. Thinking you need to spread yourself thinner and thinner to attract more people is completely the wrong approach, in my opinion.

Travel is not stagnate. The constant evolution of airlines, hard and soft products, hotels and points earning and redemption is testament to that.