Forum moving away from original function

[JohnK]

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.

I'd love to be able to ignore the Wine forum as it also distracts from the valuable content.

Oh and add the gloating credit card threads to that too.

 

[Deleted member]

I want to disagree with so much of your post, but I find that some of it makes some sense.
However, where do you draw the line?
The AFF forum could also stand for Australian frequent foodies .
If you consider what makes this site so interesting you need to go no further than the obvious. The additional experiences.
Once you get full bottle on travel tips , what next?
TR’s. trip reports tend to always feature the food experience , and wine experience , not just the photo op.
If we are to stay engaged, we do need to be allowed to go “off piste” occasionally.
I don’t get some of the threads, their relationship to food wine and travel is tenuous at best.
The social aspect of the group is another plus, we have made some great friendships and I guess will make many more.

 

[VPS]

With the option to click on a link of watched threads I think if you don't want to see anything else then you can easily just ignore the Playground stuff. As I've suggested on another thread I would really like to see a link to threads created in the last 24 hours so you could then just look at new threads and watch threads and not have to bother with anything else that you're not interested in

 

[drron]

I have been a member for nearly 17 years and indeed the forum has changed a lot and a lot of travel advice has gone.But not I would venture because of non travel posts being allowed.It was not infrequent that if someone had a problem with an award for example many would pitch in and help.i still do occasionally.Problem was the person helped often then disappeared and put nothing back into AFF.
Also the tips here were very valuable.But as the forum grew in size so many would avail themselves of the advice,and probably just as many non members,so that the particular advantage was abused and company policies changed to disappear the advantage.So you will see a lot less such advice given.Tip-go to an AFF gathering.

When I first joined there certainly wasn't much in the way of off travel threads.But as a percentage of total threads they,I think,have fallen.Certainly the number of political threads have fallen.For example there was always at least one thread when an election was called discussing issues.Often much more fiery and abusive than now.

So when I open up the new posts section i scan down and just view those I am interested in.No big deal if I only look at 2 or 3 in a page of new posts.

 

[eastwest101]

I have been a member for nearly 17 years and indeed the forum has changed a lot and a lot of travel advice has gone.But not I would venture because of non travel posts being allowed.It was not infrequent that if someone had a problem with an award for example many would pitch in and help.i still do occasionally.Problem was the person helped often then disappeared and put nothing back into AFF.
Also the tips here were very valuable.But as the forum grew in size so many would avail themselves of the advice,and probably just as many non members,so that the particular advantage was abused and company policies changed to disappear the advantage.So you will see a lot less such advice given.Tip-go to an AFF gathering.

When I first joined there certainly wasn't much in the way of off travel threads.But as a percentage of total threads they,I think,have fallen.Certainly the number of political threads have fallen.For example there was always at least one thread when an election was called discussing issues.Often much more fiery and abusive than now.

So when I open up the new posts section i scan down and just view those I am interested in.No big deal if I only look at 2 or 3 in a page of new posts.

I think that may be an issue that some are referring to - depending on the time of day and with only 10 Unread Threads per page, the first "New Posts" page can sometimes look like this:

Members Chit Chat
General Medical Issues thread
Qantas Delays & Cancellations thread
Virgin Australia Delays & Cancellation thread
Singapore Airlines Delays & Cancellations thread
Jetstar Delays & Cancellation thread
Emirates Delay & Cancellations thread
Ethiad Delay and Cancellations thread
Air New Zealand Delays & Canellations thread
Delta Airlines Delays & Cancellations thread

> Go to Page 2


Or this;

Members Chit Chat
General Medical Issues thread
Dan Murphys Deals
The Chardonnay thread
The Pinot Noir thread
The Sauvignon-Blanc thread
The Pinot Gris thread
The Shiraz thread
The Cabernet Merlot thread
The Merlot thread

> Go to Page 2

If there was a way for users to suppress or selectively hide some subgroup parts of the forum then think that would be helpful so that users could customize which parts of the forum they are interested in and which parts they could do without.

I don't think there is a lot happening in the world of airlines and loyalty in Australia at the moment, as demonstrated by the cosy duopoly, similar products, rising fares and depletion/neglect of airline frequent flyer schemes and alliances so I also expect thats why both QF and VA decided to discontinue their company representations on this site.

The churning and burning of credit cards threads is a good research tool for many though and its not surprising that this part of the forum is kept active.

 

[Pushka]

I think that may be an issue that some are referring to - depending on the time of day and with only 10 Unread Threads per page, the first "New Posts" page can sometimes look like this:

Members Chit Chat
General Medical Issues thread
Qantas Delays & Cancellations thread
Virgin Australia Delays & Cancellation thread
Singapore Airlines Delays & Cancellations thread
Jetstar Delays & Cancellation thread
Emirates Delay & Cancellations thread
Ethiad Delay and Cancellations thread
Air New Zealand Delays & Canellations thread
Delta Airlines Delays & Cancellations thread

> Go to Page 2


Or this;

Members Chit Chat
General Medical Issues thread
Dan Murphys Deals
The Chardonnay thread
The Pinot Noir thread
The Sauvignon-Blanc thread
The Pinot Gris thread
The Shiraz thread
The Cabernet Merlot thread
The Merlot thread

> Go to Page 2

If there was a way for users to suppress or selectively hide some subgroup parts of the forum then think that would be helpful so that users could customize which parts of the forum they are interested in and which parts they could do without.

I don't think there is a lot happening in the world of airlines and loyalty in Australia at the moment, as demonstrated by the cosy duopoly, similar products, rising fares and depletion/neglect of airline frequent flyer schemes and alliances so I also expect thats why both QF and VA decided to discontinue their company representations on this site.

The churning and burning of credit cards threads is a good research tool for many though and its not surprising that this part of the forum is kept active.

I’ve never seen that many wine threads and didn’t know most existed.

 

[blackcat20]

I’ve never seen that many wine threads and didn’t know most existed.

They dont.

 

[RB]

I realise we all use the forum differently and for different reasons. With the new layout I simply click on new posts and select which threads I want to read. I certainly pick and choose which playground threads I read.
I come on to AFF to learn and enjoy others travel experiences. If I can help with advice or have experience in the subject area I will post but I won't post just for the sake of it or simply repeat an answer that has been given up-thread. My original post was also referring to how the "playground" style posts are permeating into the mainstream travel threads and some posters are making posts that clearly add nothing to the discussion ( I am not sure whether it is post padding or nothing better to do sometimes).
I have written Trip Reports previously and have appreciated receiving encouragement and feedback during the report. There have been some excellent recent reports but in some there seems to have been multiple posts where a reader is constantly posting. I find this distracting. I enjoy the "View from my Office thread " and appreciate some of the banter (eg PER) that arises there, but again the thread is seeing more gratuitous posting
So yes I only look at topics that interest me but I am still encountering/unable to avoid a lot of needless posts

 

[admin]

Thank you all for your input and suggestions. It's indeed a fine line we have to negotiate: AFF is essentially a travel forum - but it's also a community of real people. We therefore do provide an environment (ie. the Playground) where members can interact online to discus non core subjects.

That said, I do appreciate that not all members wish to participate in the Playground. Unfortunately there is no easy way to provide members the ability to selectively hide posts from specific forums or threads. If you are not interested in a topic, you can simply ignore those post (as suggested by others in this thread) or follow support's suggestion to use the "Watched Forums" link. If this doesn't work for you, I'm offering one more option....

... if you are not interested in participating in the Playground and don't want to see any threads/posts in that forum, please message support and we will permanently block the Playground for you - you then won't see anything posted in the Playground, Playground posts won't appear in your feeds, and you won't be able to participate in any Playground thread. Please note that this is a manual process for us, so we won't be inclined to reinstate access if you change your mind! So be sure thats what you want before requesting it!

@RB @Steady @pauly7 @kpc @levelnine @eastwest101 @Danger