Special Members Area with designated access qualifications?

[Princess Fiona]

I am against the idea.

If anyone wants to keep things more private than this forum or wants to discuss them as such, you have PM, email, chat, Facebook, Twitter or even good ol' face-to-face.

At a very long stretch, I'd maybe support a Gold only forum (one already exists but it only does to instruct Gold members what they are entitled to), but I still think this is pointless and just sets the wrong ethos. As well as this, there will always be a risk and concern that info within the "secret" area will be leaked, without being necessarily traceable back to a member (unless a witch hunt is initiated).

I respect that others have gone to lengths to research particular "tricks" or what not; if they share those with me then I do not post them openly here without their permission. That's just a trust matter, which I thought was kind of part and parcel with something else called common sense. If I post something which is not meant to be shared, if someone tells me so then I will remove it.

If it gets out, well then it's out and unless it's forcibly removed, I'll talk a bit more liberally about it. Needless to say, once it is out in the open and not stopped from being talked about, it's not quite right to brand those who newly read this information as "leeches". Of course, if the topic is further discussed and that's significant synthesis on top of the original content, then that might be described as "leeching" and needn't be answered (for example, specific routings, checking rules, etc. - no need to answer these if you don't want to; after all, you did all the routing trial-and-error, you are the one who purchased a subscription to Expert Flyer / KVS, etc. etc.)

There are certainly a couple of things which I know which I have only learned by talking to those people face-to-face. To this day, I still haven't talked about it on AFF. Other things I have discussed off AFF or via PMs. Nothing wrong with that.

In any case, when reposting information - whether it be on another thread, another forum or a blogpost - the principles of proper attribution should be followed. The information where you derive your post from should be clearly referenced, and the proper authors of that acknowledged. (In academia, we do this with referencing; in the more informal sense on forums and blogs, a "hat tip" or standard courtesy should be paid.) Especially in the case where content is lifted without significant synthesis, attribution should be made and a generous thanks given (or even better, permission sought from owner), otherwise there's a risk that an accusation of plagiarism could be made.

I realise that blogs like some on the Boarding Area earn affiliate income based on traffic, as do some other websites, for example Australian Business Traveller, perhaps to a lesser degree. The reposting of information on such blogs I don't think is necessarily wrong, as long as the blogger does not claim ownership of the material, references the source and gives appropriate attribution to the original author.

Put ever so more eloquently than I could

 

[JohnK]

To be honest I'm a bit like drron :shock:
I'm happy to help out wherever I can but the info I'm giving publicly isn't exactly state secrets.
Any info I have gained via PM or in person will be passed on in the same manner

I am happy to also help out where I can but I draw the line at some things and I find it extremely sad that people think I am holding back information and is not in the spirit of AFF.

If I spend hours and hours researching something and find a loophole that is going to benefit me then i will not post it on AFF but will tell people I know/have met on the proviso they do not make it public knowledge. Why? Because I want to continue to enjoy this "loophole" for as long as possible.

Am I being selfish? I don't think so. The selfish ones are those that continuously take information away from AFF without contributing something in return. Is this also referred to sponging?

And then the ones that actually ask for assistance and do NOT even bother to thank the person providing the assistance. If these are the types of people who actually miss out on information sharing by having a members area then we have actually achieved what we wanted.

 

[mella2007]

Agree with John.
I'd also be open to seeing a coupon connection type thread accessible to only Gold members with lengthy membership or post count.

 

[anat0l]

I am happy to also help out where I can but I draw the line at some things and I find it extremely sad that people think I am holding back information and is not in the spirit of AFF.

"Holding back info" is not fundamentally against the spirit of AFF. (It may be on FT, but the demographic range over there is far greater and polar compared to here - and may it never be like there over here.....)

Just as in real life where even if you are not necessarily on unfriendly terms with someone, there are some things which you will share and some things you won't. The fact that you won't necessarily open up fully to some people doesn't automatically mean you have a selfish disposition.

If I spend hours and hours researching something and find a loophole that is going to benefit me then i will not post it on AFF but will tell people I know/have met on the proviso they do not make it public knowledge. Why? Because I want to continue to enjoy this "loophole" for as long as possible.

Which I think is fine. I follow a similar principle.

That's not to say that discussing it on the forums will mean the "loophole" is closed, but in some cases the risk is certainly increased.

The selfish ones are those that continuously take information away from AFF without contributing something in return. Is this also referred to sponging?

And then the ones that actually ask for assistance and do NOT even bother to thank the person providing the assistance.

And this is what I do not condone either. Equally applicable are sites which repost information which they have not synthesised themselves, but neglect to acknowledge the source or claim it as their own info. Whilst there are little legal protections in this regard (so almost "anything can be taken"), it is a miscarriage of trust and integrity.



P.S. if anyone reading this finds that I've breached a trust in this regard, please contact me - I want to know.

 

[samh004]

Really in 2 minds with this.But basically I only give away things that can be found elsewhere with a little effort.
Now if we were serious then access to this section should be enabled by some one who is discerning.As the only self acknowledged DYKWIA here it would have to be Tony Hancock!

To be honest I'm a bit like drron :shock:
I'm happy to help out wherever I can but the info I'm giving publicly isn't exactly state secrets.
Any info I have gained via PM or in person will be passed on in the same manner

Have the same views and think the official stance has always been along the lines of AFF being a freely accessible forum for a reason, closing doors would only lead to issues. I can however see the point behind it, but think the solution to that isn’t a private forum, but more participation from members offline.

Quite often you’ll have cryptic threads, but even more that that you’ll have deals spread by word of mouth at a bar, or over dinner, and there are many such gatherings taking place all the time. You’ve just got to take the plunge and meet someone. I remember my first meeting, it was pretty daunting, but I love it now, I often find out more than I do by reading it here, and that’s not because those members don’t want to share with all, it’s because some things are best shared in smaller groups, and not forever immortalised on the internet!

Come to a gathering, find out things not posted, and share things you don’t want to post.

 

[extracta]

, closing doors would only lead to issues. I can however see the point behind it, but think the solution to that isn’t a private forum, but more participation from members offline.

No doors would be closed the forum would still operate as it does now.

The only change would be that there would be an area that trusted members could post information in with reasonable confidence of it staying within the group. The threads would not even be visible to the general public or members at a lower level.

There are many sections of the AFF forum that I do not use, ie AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRPOINTS, OR ETIHAD GUEST. Just because I do not use these sections does not mean that they are not relevant to other people. Just because I do not use them does not mean that they should not exist.

The same with a more SECURE SECTION, not everybody will want to use it. It is up to the poster to determine if they want to post in the open forum or the SECURE SECTION.

For those people who are against a SECURE SECTION they do not have to participate in it and life will go on as it does now.

This sort of thing works well on other forums and would work well here too.

There are many AFF members that do not post juicy information due to the fact that the forum is too open. Every post is visible to basically every person on the planet. You only need a username and password if you want to log in and contribute.

I believe it is worthwhile to have a section where trusted members can post selective information without the whole planet having the ability to look over our shoulders.

At the end of the day it is up to the administrators to decide what they want to do.

 

[Stephen65]

I belong to a couple of other forums where access to a closed forum is given to people with high posts counts and decent forum reputation. I think it's a good idea.

 

[TonyHancock]

No doors would be closed the forum would still operate as it does now.

The only change would be that there would be an area that trusted members could post information in with reasonable confidence of it staying within the group. The threads would not even be visible to the general public or members at a lower level.

There are many sections of the AFF forum that I do not use, ie AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRPOINTS, OR ETIHAD GUEST. Just because I do not use these sections does not mean that they are not relevant to other people. Just because I do not use them does not mean that they should not exist.

The same with a more SECURE SECTION, not everybody will want to use it. It is up to the poster to determine if they want to post in the open forum or the SECURE SECTION.

For those people who are against a SECURE SECTION they do not have to participate in it and life will go on as it does now.

This sort of thing works well on other forums and would work well here too.

There are many AFF members that do not post juicy information due to the fact that the forum is too open. Every post is visible to basically every person on the planet. You only need a username and password if you want to log in and contribute.

I believe it is worthwhile to have a section where trusted members can post selective information without the whole planet having the ability to look over our shoulders.

At the end of the day it is up to the administrators to decide what they want to do.

....but who decides if a member is "trusted" or not?

 

[The Rok]

....but who decides if a member is "trusted" or not?

That would be my issue! I don't know any of the moderators and I generally don't attend AFF social events as I do not like people. However that doesn't mean that I don't contribute to the forum. I think I do, others might think otherwise!

Should I be excluded from this Cigar Lounge just because I don't smoke?

 

[extracta]

....but who decides if a member is "trusted" or not?

It is really up to the administrators.

Some forums use high post counts and content as stated by op above.

My suggestion would be due to the fact that there are so many get togethers amongst members of AFF that the initial people would be those personally known to a moderator or X amount of known members with a reasonable posting history.

The important thing is that the person is known and can be trusted.

 

[SeatBackForward]

I like you as a friend and want to be social and network with you, but only if you've seen my face or read my book can we be linked in together around in my space.

 

[samh004]

It is really up to the administrators.

Some forums use high post counts and content as stated by op above.

My suggestion would be due to the fact that there are so many get togethers amongst members of AFF that the initial people would be those personally known to a moderator or X amount of known members with a reasonable posting history.

The important thing is that the person is known and can be trusted.

Being known and being trusted are two different things

 

[anat0l]

I think the other thing to keep slightly in mind is that even though protected areas of forums exist, that doesn't stop them from somehow being crawled by Google et al. I have no idea how the robots do it, but when I've searched Google for things at times, the engine brings up snippets from forums which, if you click on the link itself, is a forum which requires log in or higher privileged log in. Yet, if you view it using what Google has cached, then in many cases whatever protections existed to stop it from becoming too "public" are circumvented.

I know this takes a bit more than the run-of-the-mill poster to actually get that information, and it would take a bit of determination on their part to do so, but I just wanted to put out there that the information within a "secret" forum will not necessarily stay that way.

 

[extracta]

I know this takes a bit more than the run-of-the-mill poster to actually get that information, and it would take a bit of determination on their part to do so, but I just wanted to put out there that the information within a "secret" forum will not necessarily stay that way.

Most of the information in this forum bores the pants off of most people. It is only really relevant to those of our members who want to gain themselves a bit of an advantage, and also any industry reps who may want to plug any holes that we find.

It is really more about keeping selective information away from industry reps so that our members can share the information and use the information for a longer period of time.

 

[MarkD]

I have a reasonably high post count but im a pain in the cough. Can i get in?


I'm too poor to own a signature

 

[vitagen]

I own like 15 hi vis shirts

Good enough for membership? Im willing to share.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using AustFreqFly

 

[medhead]

I have a reasonably high post count but im a pain in the cough. Can i get in?

You're a cough cat compared to some.


Sent from the Throne

 

[haydensydney]

I'm all for a 'AFF Sealed Section' where users who have either 100/200/500/1000 posts up their sleeves can read/post. This qualifies the member as a 'known-unknown' rather than just a 'unknown-unknown'. The same qualification period + a nomination from an exiting member would make the member a 'known-known' which would be preferable.

Further, it could also be only open to AFF members who are silver/gold so admin could make some extra cash (which wouldn't go astray i'm sure).

Bring it on.

 

[Paddy55]

I'm all for a 'AFF Sealed Section' where users who have either 100/200/500/1000 posts up their sleeves can read/post. This qualifies the member as a 'known-unknown' rather than just a 'unknown-unknown'. The same qualification period + a nomination from an exiting member would make the member a 'known-known' which would be preferable.

Further, it could also be only open to AFF members who are silver/gold so admin could make some extra cash (which wouldn't go astray i'm sure).

Bring it on.

I agree - a combination of post count and financial support to AFF, although I'm out in the cold if the requirement is 1000 posts

 

[extracta]

I'm all for a 'AFF Sealed Section' where users who have either 100/200/500/1000 posts up their sleeves can read/post. This qualifies the member as a 'known-unknown' rather than just a 'unknown-unknown'. The same qualification period + a nomination from an exiting member would make the member a 'known-known' which would be preferable.

Further, it could also be only open to AFF members who are silver/gold so admin could make some extra cash (which wouldn't go astray i'm sure).

Bring it on.

I agree with this