The totally off-topic thread

[notzac]

Is there a BBCode box that can be enabled where you can put info in and collapse it? I think I’ve seen it places before, could be helpful on the few uses it’d get.

[-]You mean like this?: https://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/113501-Spoiler-Tag?p=732072#post732072[/-]

Actually, that one sucked a bit. This would be nicer: http://www.vbulletin.org/forum/showthread.php?t=256107 (although the comments suggest there are problems with it and Internet Explorer)

 

[drron]

Definitely on line.

I also want to say a good word about JQ!Checked in on line for the first time since their fare changes and the last page of the process has changed.A big orange Continue sign draws your eye and only after clicking on it did I realise the light grey box at the top was the print icon.

Of course you cant go back and print so I shot off my disappointment on their on line feedback.Within 60 seconds I had received a mobile checkin.Well done.

But of course I am a tech dinosaur so I mused-How will i do this.So asked the lovely lady at check in at MKY.The reply-our readers dont recognise those yet so i will print you a Boarding Pass.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Definitely on line.

I also want to say a good word about JQ!Checked in on line for the first time since their fare changes and the last page of the process has changed.A big orange Continue sign draws your eye and only after clicking on it did I realise the light grey box at the top was the print icon.

Of course you cant go back and print so I shot off my disappointment on their on line feedback.Within 60 seconds I had received a mobile checkin.Well done.

But of course I am a tech dinosaur so I mused-How will i do this.So asked the lovely lady at check in at MKY.The reply-our readers dont recognise those yet so i will print you a Boarding Pass.

There can be some confusion at the airport when pax who use the podium to checkin try & scan their mobile at the boarding gate. If they use the podium QF will send them a text to their mobile advise them of their seat number & confirming they've checked in but they need to scan the QF card with the chip in it to board then take the docket off the printer.

The only time you scan your mobile is when you checkin by a smart phone. The airline will send a 2D barcode to your phone which is what you scan at the boarding gate & as above take the docket that prints out to show the CSM when you go onboard.

 

[JohnK]

what is Twitter, what is facebook you might ask.

I keep asking what is twitter and what is facebook and no one can answer. I still have no idea what the websites look like.

So are we all ready for Census night on Tuesday? Who is planning to do it on line and how many Jedi worshippers do we have?

The census questionnaire completed today. And no I am not living in Queensland on Tuesday night.

 

[Mal]

There can be some confusion at the airport when pax who use the podium to checkin try & scan their mobile at the boarding gate. If they use the podium QF will send them a text to their mobile advise them of their seat number & confirming they've checked in but they need to scan the QF card with the chip in it to board then take the docket off the printer.

I presume the txt sent doesn't have a barcode, so would create confusion indeed.

I'm now a convert to using my barcode on FF card to board. I get to wave my card around like I'm awesome (lol, I am joking), but it is much simpler once I'm checked in.

The one thing I'm trying to work out (and hopefully others here can help). If I check in using any of the various methods, yet throw away my BP (if I had one) and use my card what happens if my seat is changed "for operational reasons"?

Would it beep at the gate? Or not care and treat things like nothing has changed?

 

[LiamR]

The one thing I'm trying to work out (and hopefully others here can help). If I check in using any of the various methods, yet throw away my BP (if I had one) and use my card what happens if my seat is changed "for operational reasons"?

Would it beep at the gate? Or not care and treat things like nothing has changed?

You defiantly don't get beeped (I never have when a seat change happens) the little print out receipt you get will have a different seat on it, however unless you read it, you'll never know that it was changed.

 

[anat0l]

You defiantly don't get beeped (I never have when a seat change happens) the little print out receipt you get will have a different seat on it, however unless you read it, you'll never know that it was changed.

I think this is the go from a few stories that went around AFF. So far, everyone here seems to read the slip as it's produced, so there's little chance you'll make a fool of yourself (in a "nice" way ) when you board the aircraft.

I use card boarding whenever I can now. I don't bother with printing OLCI, using a kiosk or requesting a BP at all. I just select my seat then check-in using the totem pole. The seat is really all that matters (if it even matters), so everything else allows me to complete procedures "just in time", as it were.

 

[drron]

Mine was an SMS bar code checkin.I have since learnt as checking baggage i should have gone to the kiosk.If no baggage can be scanned at gate-exceptMKY.
Boarding with SMS on Jetstar. Register for SMS by automatic check-in or via web check-in

 

[Lawlass]

Just finished my census. Went No Religion.

Boy, I bet some of my answers are going to confuse the computer...

Highest level of high school achieved - year 8 or below (below)
Highest qualification achieved - 2 degrees (LLB(Hons)/BA)
And currently at TAFE

Living alone in own place with mortgage...
On negative income
Not actively looking for work

:shock:

 

[markis10]

On a mortgage with negative income, a few countries would tick that box .

The economy is not going to ease for a while, went to a work sales conference just before the F lounge run and a couple of vendors presented on how much opportunity there is in retail, I am pretty sure they dont read the papers or go shopping. Living near the Colorado HQ in West End I can assure you the lights been out for a long time, the same week there was news that Solomon Lews company would be closing a stack of stores!

 

[Mal]

The economy is not going to ease for a while, went to a work sales conference just before the F lounge run and a couple of vendors presented on how much opportunity there is in retail, I am pretty sure they dont read the papers or go shopping.

Indeed. Australian retail is stuffed for a little while.

Was interesting to see a Fairfax article today that blamed high retail rent for the ills of retail in Australia. Made a good change from retail blaming overseas purchasing (still < 10% of sales) causing their downfall.

I think Westfield, Centro and co are in for a huge shock soon!

 

[mannej]

Totally off-topic, I have noticed Caltex Woolworths eftpos terminals not requiring a pin or signature for purchases under $35.

Great for convenience.

BUT, they advertise it as safe. How can this be? There is no need to ID that the card is yours, what is to stop someone from finding a card on the floor, filling up with $35 worth of fuel? No one would be none the wiser until the card got reported missing.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Indeed. Australian retail is stuffed for a little while.


I think Westfield, Centro and co are in for a huge shock soon!

I think you might be correct, as a small example I can ( and do) buy Benefit makeup/ toiletries direct from Benefit US for approx 40% less than Australian retail. Why the AU markup ???

 

[JohnK]

Trying to use my Nokia N97 Mini and I will be stuffed if I can even bring up a simple thing like Google.

 

[anat0l]

I don't want to create a huge stir here, but here is an interesting Talkboard motion being debated on Flyertalk:

Voting Underway: Restore Post Count Credit for Omni - FlyerTalk Forums

Some of us will remember when Playground was excluded from the AFF post count. (OMNI is virtually the FT equivalent of AFF's Playground, subdivided into a "general" OMNI discussion and a dedicated sub-forum for religious & political discussion (i.e. the "hard stuff")).

This is another one of those debates that are almost polarised to the point of religion, just like those "which is better" arguments, e.g. vi vs. emacs, American bacon vs. English bacon, etc.

 

[serfty]

...

Great for convenience.

BUT, they advertise it as safe. How can this be? There is no need to ID that the card is yours, what is to stop someone from finding a card on the floor, filling up with $35 worth of fuel? No one would be none the wiser until the card got reported missing.

I am sure they have done their sums and decided they can afford to underwrite any claim mode due to this security side step.

e.g. Thinks about the self service check-outs - no longer any need to get an attendant to very your signature for these small purchases.

I don't want to create a huge stir here, but here is an interesting Talkboard motion being debated on Flyertalk:

Voting Underway: Restore Post Count Credit for Omni - FlyerTalk Forums
...

That thread is turning OMNIesque in it's own right.

I posted my views there, but like OMNI there are those who will only view a thing one way and those who will only view it the other; any reasonable debate is ignored by both 'sides'.

 

[drron]

This is another one of those debates that are almost polarised to the point of religion, just like those "which is better" arguments, e.g. vi vs. emacs, American bacon vs. English bacon, etc.

What debate?American bacon is the pits.

 

[TonyHancock]

I don't want to create a huge stir here, but here is an interesting Talkboard motion being debated on Flyertalk:

Voting Underway: Restore Post Count Credit for Omni - FlyerTalk Forums

Some of us will remember when Playground was excluded from the AFF post count. (OMNI is virtually the FT equivalent of AFF's Playground, subdivided into a "general" OMNI discussion and a dedicated sub-forum for religious & political discussion (i.e. the "hard stuff")).

This is another one of those debates that are almost polarised to the point of religion, just like those "which is better" arguments, e.g. vi vs. emacs, American bacon vs. English bacon, etc.

I'm a bit slow on the uptake at the best of times, but am I to understand that this debate is over status? There are those who feel that contributions to the OMNI (Playground) should not be counted towards status, and that there are members who have reached the heady heights of FlyerTalk Evangelist by posting "non useful" contributions.

On the other hand there are those that feel contributions to the OMNI thread are just as important as those in the "main" forum.

I suppose in the FF world where status is important it is also important to have forum status? Does higher status give benefits on FT?

 

[anat0l]

I suppose in the FF world where status is important it is also important to have forum status? Does higher status give benefits on FT?

On FT, like on AFF, you get special "titles" on your name for particular post count levels (e.g. instead of "Posting Enthusiast" on AFF, on FT you can be an "Evangelist"). Pretty much the same as flying 10 million BIS miles and having an aircraft named after you.

Apart from that on FT, title and post count don't give much more than some sort of inherent "respect" (i.e. a post count is roughly indicative of experience, contribution and, to a measurable but non-tangible degree, seniority).


On the new MilePoint, on the other hand, you can gain "status credits" by participating more (i.e. posting) as well as garnering "Likes" (I think there's a give and take thing here). The more status credits you have, you will gain different levels of status, e.g. Silver, Gold etc.. These are the named titles on MilePoint. Additionally, unlike AFF and FT, you can receive free gifts as you achieve MilePoint status levels. I don't know if you can lose your status on MilePoint (other than by breaking the rules, of course). The problem I see on MilePoint early on was that everything (including junk topics) counted to your post count, and people would also create rubbish "Like" threads and basically just "like" each other to build up their "like count". A similar thing happened here on AFF when the facility was introduced (there is such a thread in the Playground, although not much attention has been given to it of recent). Basically this inflated the counts of those who participated in it, though in saying that the usefulness of the "Like" facility could be argued as being limited right from the get-go anyway (it was argued as good in theory, but in practice it's sort of lost its shine when examined on a member by member basis (cf. a post by post basis)).

 

[JohnK]

On the other hand there are those that feel contributions to the OMNI thread are just as important as those in the "main" forum.

I am one who believes that if you are going to have post counts then all posts should count.

i.e One of my posts in the xx_,xx_th post threads takes a fair amount of time to construct whereas a '+1 agree with you there" in the Virgin Australia thread takes very little time to construct yet gets credit with a post. Why? And this post took some thought as well yet I get no credit for it. And yes some people don't care about post counts and they should stay out of these debates.

And on the other side of the coin there was a person on Flyertalk a while back who had way over 12,000 posts and way over 12,000 of their posts were on the counting thread. And I think these posts were posted in a matter of days. :shock: