It's been a long time, I know. (I guess I don't have a lot to say, or no one cares. After all, I don't see a huge outcry of "what the hell happened to you?" comments, do I.)
I post today, though, to point out a certain exchange on a certain travel board that I used to frequent, but (as prior posts indicate), no longer bother. The first paragraph is from the founder of the board, in reaction to concerns about avatars being forced onto the membership (bolded emphasis is mine):
"Actually this has nothing to do with the democratic system, nothing to do with the U.S. There was keen interest from members of the TalkBoard and many others as to how we might "Get Out The Vote." This is not new and you might remember the I Voted icon has been used in the past. I just did a search on I Voted in the thread title and cannot find a single reference that any member in the past ever complained about the I Voted icon.
In my mind, and it's only a personal POV the use of the I Voted icon seems to be in the greater good of the FlyerTalk community. In fact, we did not use the icon last year (technical challenges) and I received many concerns from the TalkBoard and other members as to why not. It should be interesting to note that already this year using the I Voted icon, we have had more votes cast than all of last year and we're just getting started. So there is ample proof they do work.
Further to my personal POV, the use of the I Voted icon does not in any way reflect on the absolute sanctity of all elections and that is ... who you voted for. That is the key to me and we remain committed to that remaining so.
If you or any other member has a problem because of the I Voted icon, you can contact me. While not entirely sure, I don't have a problem checking to see if you can vote and i can manually remove the I Voted icon. I and all the volunteers are here to try and assist our members, we just need to know how we can help.
So again, it's really not a democratic or U.S. thing, it's really about how best we can get out the vote and that is for the greater good of all our members since a higher turnout for voters represents the broader base of all our membership.
I'm issuing a personal apology to you and violist for this. There certainly was no intent to harm you in any manner and as noted, there has never been any warning of any kind that this was viewed as anything but good for FlyerTalk."
This post was responded to as follows:
"Randy, your search skills need serious work.
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=624278&highlight=voted+icon
This is a multi-page (153 post) thread from a couple of years ago discussing this very topic. There was a push to boycott the vote because of this silly icon.
You contributed to the thread, too."
And then, Dear Leader's response:
"Actually, you need to get some reading glasses. Please reread my post, it is here "I just did a search on I Voted in the thread title and cannot find a single reference that any member in the past ever complained about the I Voted icon. " I did a search on "I Voted" in the thread title. Can you show me where "I Voted" is in the thread title? Now, I'l get back to watching Saturday morning cartoons."
Because I don't post on that site anymore, I'm offering my opinion here -- in my own space -- for whatever it's worth. The former owner of that site (who still runs it, due to an agreement by the new owners), in my humble opinion, needs his own pair of reading glasses -- since he, in his first post, says that he never knew that it would be an issue. While he was busy nitpicking the first bolded part, he conveniently ignored the second bolded part. This was brought up as an issue two years ago -- in a thread which I posted in, in a thread that is now linked in that post. Hence the title of my post -- physician, heal thyself.
I gave over seven thousand posts to that site in six years, and I'm sad to see that little has changed in the fourteen months I haven't posted there. FlyerTalk sucks just as much now as it did then, and the reason why starts at the top.
