Organization of Hilton Forum Threads 2006/7
Dec 5, 2006, 2:09 pm
#1
Moderator: Hilton Honors forums
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Marietta, Georgia, United States
Posts: 24,998
Organization of Hilton Forum Threads 2006/7
Dear Hilton forum FlyerTalk members,
Whether or not you have noticed, the Hilton forum has undergone an extensive re-organization that is far from completion.
The new organization of threads will eventually have each Hilton property split into a minimum of two threads:
There are exceptions to dividing a Hilton property into two distinct threads. Some Hilton properties are so popular that they require greater than two threads. This is to ensure that information is not buried into one long huge thread. An example of this exception is the Hilton Hawaiian Village: Questions & Opinions thread, which was purposely not merged together with the main Hilton Hawaiian Village® Beach Resort & Spa general thread. Another example may be a thread that discusses nothing except for room upgrades or elite benefits for a specific Hilton property.
Additionally, general information about Hilton properties in a general location have been merged as well. To see which threads have already been consolidated, please do an Advanced search for titles only in the Hilton forum and type in Hilton HHonors Properties. These threads include such questions as “Which Hilton in New York...” or “Transportation to Heathrow from London Metropole or London Paddington”, for example.
Some threads with information about a specific Hilton or Hilton HHonors topic have been combined, such as The Definitive On-Line Check-In Thread.
The single largest concern in the Hilton forum, by far, has been the duplication of thread topics. “Do a Search” has been recalled here many times. That is no longer necessary due to the technological reasons explained below — that is, if the Hilton forum moderators are contacted.
Through consolidation and the extremely rare deletion of threads, the amount of total threads in the Hilton forum currently has been reduced by greater than 1,600 threads.
The job is nowhere near close to finished, and this project has been in progress for a few months now.
As a result, there has been a noticeable reduction with regard to complaints pertaining to duplicate threads.
However, the reason why the announcement is being made now and not earlier is because of the upgrade of the software that powers FlyerTalk, which is currently vBulletin bulletin board software version 3.6.4.
We are happy to announce that there are several tools and enhancements to the software that are now available to FlyerTalk moderators, including the ability to:
This announcement is being made because squeakr and I could use your assistance. We have received a great deal of assistance from fellow FlyerTalk member Kiwi Flyer, as evidenced by the Hilton Family Hotel Master Thread “sticky” thread near the top of the Hilton forum. Many of you have either contacted us by private message, e-mail or by using the Report Bad Post function, all of which have been very helpful. Although there are times where it may seem like your assistance is being ignored, rest assured it is not. Depending on circumstances, there are many times where threads cannot be immediately merged because before they actually are combined, we like to ensure that it makes sense.
Also, if there is something that has been posted in one thread but should be moved to another — such as a trip report or a review that is in a general thread but needs to be moved into an official Trip Reports and Reviews thread for a particular property — please let us know.
The whole purpose of undertaking a massive project such as this is to help improve the search for information, to give quicker and easier access to the information, and for overall improved organization of the Hilton forum.
Please post your comments and suggestions in this thread and give us ideas on how we can further assist you in this project, which will take time.
In working together, we can achieve the common goal of improving the Hilton forum overall.
Thank you in advance.
Whether or not you have noticed, the Hilton forum has undergone an extensive re-organization that is far from completion.
The new organization of threads will eventually have each Hilton property split into a minimum of two threads:
- All questions and other information will be in a thread bearing a title which exactly replicates the name of the property as listed at the Hilton Internet web site. Exceptions to this rule include the Arlington Hilton, which will be denoted in the title as to whether the thread discusses the property in Virginia or Texas, for example.
- All trip reports will be consolidated into a Trip Reports and Reviews thread for each particular Hilton property.
There are exceptions to dividing a Hilton property into two distinct threads. Some Hilton properties are so popular that they require greater than two threads. This is to ensure that information is not buried into one long huge thread. An example of this exception is the Hilton Hawaiian Village: Questions & Opinions thread, which was purposely not merged together with the main Hilton Hawaiian Village® Beach Resort & Spa general thread. Another example may be a thread that discusses nothing except for room upgrades or elite benefits for a specific Hilton property.
Additionally, general information about Hilton properties in a general location have been merged as well. To see which threads have already been consolidated, please do an Advanced search for titles only in the Hilton forum and type in Hilton HHonors Properties. These threads include such questions as “Which Hilton in New York...” or “Transportation to Heathrow from London Metropole or London Paddington”, for example.
Some threads with information about a specific Hilton or Hilton HHonors topic have been combined, such as The Definitive On-Line Check-In Thread.
The single largest concern in the Hilton forum, by far, has been the duplication of thread topics. “Do a Search” has been recalled here many times. That is no longer necessary due to the technological reasons explained below — that is, if the Hilton forum moderators are contacted.
Through consolidation and the extremely rare deletion of threads, the amount of total threads in the Hilton forum currently has been reduced by greater than 1,600 threads.
The job is nowhere near close to finished, and this project has been in progress for a few months now.
As a result, there has been a noticeable reduction with regard to complaints pertaining to duplicate threads.
However, the reason why the announcement is being made now and not earlier is because of the upgrade of the software that powers FlyerTalk, which is currently vBulletin bulletin board software version 3.6.4.
We are happy to announce that there are several tools and enhancements to the software that are now available to FlyerTalk moderators, including the ability to:
- Merge threads more quickly. We now can merge threads with greater ease than before.
- Moving threads within the same forum into a different thread. This is another way of merging threads together, but in this case the old thread does not disappear immediately. Instead, as when a thread is moved to another forum, a “re-direct” arrow will appear for the old thread. With certain rare exceptions, no longer will an announcement of any type need to be posted concerning a thread merged into another thread, nor will the merged threads cause a FlyerTalk member who posted in the former thread to wonder what happened to that thread. Additionally, “re-direct” arrows can now automatically expire within a certain time period, further reducing the clutter in a forum.
- Individual mileposts can now be moved from one thread to another. Yes, this feature did exist before, but this was a cumbersome process that has been greatly streamlined in the latest version of the software that powers FlyerTalk.
This announcement is being made because squeakr and I could use your assistance. We have received a great deal of assistance from fellow FlyerTalk member Kiwi Flyer, as evidenced by the Hilton Family Hotel Master Thread “sticky” thread near the top of the Hilton forum. Many of you have either contacted us by private message, e-mail or by using the Report Bad Post function, all of which have been very helpful. Although there are times where it may seem like your assistance is being ignored, rest assured it is not. Depending on circumstances, there are many times where threads cannot be immediately merged because before they actually are combined, we like to ensure that it makes sense.
Also, if there is something that has been posted in one thread but should be moved to another — such as a trip report or a review that is in a general thread but needs to be moved into an official Trip Reports and Reviews thread for a particular property — please let us know.
The whole purpose of undertaking a massive project such as this is to help improve the search for information, to give quicker and easier access to the information, and for overall improved organization of the Hilton forum.
Please post your comments and suggestions in this thread and give us ideas on how we can further assist you in this project, which will take time.
In working together, we can achieve the common goal of improving the Hilton forum overall.
Thank you in advance.
Last edited by Canarsie; Dec 5, 2006 at 2:14 pm
Dec 5, 2006, 2:19 pm
#2
Moderator: American AAdvantage
Join Date: May 2000
Location: NorCal - SMF area
Programs: AA LT Plat; HH LT Diamond, Maître-plongeur des Muccis
Posts: 62,948
This makes HH Forum even more valuable - bravo!
Fan-bloody-tastic! You, squeakr and Kiwi Flyer have done an admirable job, and the amount oof more easily found information on this forum is brilliant! Kudos - and many thanks - to this dynamic team.^
Dec 6, 2006, 8:05 am
#6
Moderator: Hilton Honors forums
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Marietta, Georgia, United States
Posts: 24,998
Last night, as a trial run of the new vBulletin bulletin board software, I combined the threads of the following Hilton HHonors properties:
The exceptions in these cases:
I must say that, although the process still takes time due to reviewing each thread to ensure that they indeed are combined properly, the time to implement the process has been significantly reduced.
By the way, after threads are combined, I delete mileposts that either say something similar to “Have you done a Search?” or “Do a Search” or simply display now-obsolete links to threads that have since been combined. Yes, each link is tested to ensure that it is indeed outdated — otherwise, the milepost remains and is not deleted.
Please allow us to express our gratitude to those of you who expressed positive comments pertaining to this massive project. We also look forward to constructive feedback, as well as your assistance, which is greatly appreciated.
- Hilton Singapore Hotel
- Conrad Centennial Singapore
- Hilton Tokyo Narita Airport hotel
The exceptions in these cases:
- There were so many combined trip reports of both Hilton HHonors properties in Singapore that a special Hilton HHonors Properties in Singapore Trip Reports and Reviews thread was created.
- Due to the controversy surrounding breakfast for Hilton HHonors gold and diamond members, Hilton Tokyo Narita Airport hotel has a separate thread whose sole topic is breakfast for elite Hilton HHonors members.
I must say that, although the process still takes time due to reviewing each thread to ensure that they indeed are combined properly, the time to implement the process has been significantly reduced.
By the way, after threads are combined, I delete mileposts that either say something similar to “Have you done a Search?” or “Do a Search” or simply display now-obsolete links to threads that have since been combined. Yes, each link is tested to ensure that it is indeed outdated — otherwise, the milepost remains and is not deleted.
Please allow us to express our gratitude to those of you who expressed positive comments pertaining to this massive project. We also look forward to constructive feedback, as well as your assistance, which is greatly appreciated.
Last edited by Canarsie; Dec 6, 2006 at 10:35 am
Dec 6, 2006, 5:49 pm
#7
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Chicagoland/ORD
Programs: UA Million Miler (Gold), Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,458
You mods are great! I can't believe you're taking the time to do this, but I greatly appreciate it. It's so frustrating to get a gazillion threads (give or take one) with much the same info when doing a search. It's so much easier skimming through one longer thread.
Dec 6, 2006, 6:01 pm
#8
Moderator: Hilton Honors forums
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Marietta, Georgia, United States
Posts: 24,998
Don’t forget that one can do a Search within a thread as well.
If a thread eventually gets too long and becomes too cumbersome, it is possible to split part of it off into one or more new threads, one milepost at a time.
If a thread eventually gets too long and becomes too cumbersome, it is possible to split part of it off into one or more new threads, one milepost at a time.
Dec 6, 2006, 7:14 pm
#9
Moderator, Hilton Honors
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: on a short leash
Programs: some
Posts: 71,422
Thanks Canarsie ^
I apologise I haven't updated the Hilton Family Hotel Master Thread for all your changes. I have made a start, as well as adding new threads, new & closed hotels and updating for the new features mentioned in the opening post of that thread. The opening post keeps a running update of which countries, states and cities I have recently updated. In the meantime you all can help by letting me know of any corrections, broken links etc in particular for the countries, states and cities I have done - either by PM or by posting in the Hilton Family Hotels Master Thread: Suggestions, Corrections & Updates for inclusion. Any new ideas are also welcome. Thanks.
I apologise I haven't updated the Hilton Family Hotel Master Thread for all your changes. I have made a start, as well as adding new threads, new & closed hotels and updating for the new features mentioned in the opening post of that thread. The opening post keeps a running update of which countries, states and cities I have recently updated. In the meantime you all can help by letting me know of any corrections, broken links etc in particular for the countries, states and cities I have done - either by PM or by posting in the Hilton Family Hotels Master Thread: Suggestions, Corrections & Updates for inclusion. Any new ideas are also welcome. Thanks.
Dec 6, 2006, 7:27 pm
#10
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Chicagoland/ORD
Programs: UA Million Miler (Gold), Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 3,458
Dec 10, 2006, 5:30 pm
#11
Moderator: Hilton Honors forums
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Marietta, Georgia, United States
Posts: 24,998
There is another note which we would like to add:
A new thread that is obviously a similar or duplicate topic of a thread does not necessary mean that the thread will automatically be merged into the main thread immediately.
Depending on the situation, we will occasionally wait until additional information and comments have been posted before we take action to ensure minimal disruption.
Another situation could be that threads pertaining to a particular Hilton HHonors property simply have not yet undergone the consolidation process just yet. We are striving to ensure that the organization of information is as sensible as possible.
Again, if anyone has additional comments, ideas and suggestions on how to improve the organization of threads and information in the Hilton forum, please let us know.
Thank you in advance.
A new thread that is obviously a similar or duplicate topic of a thread does not necessary mean that the thread will automatically be merged into the main thread immediately.
Depending on the situation, we will occasionally wait until additional information and comments have been posted before we take action to ensure minimal disruption.
Another situation could be that threads pertaining to a particular Hilton HHonors property simply have not yet undergone the consolidation process just yet. We are striving to ensure that the organization of information is as sensible as possible.
Again, if anyone has additional comments, ideas and suggestions on how to improve the organization of threads and information in the Hilton forum, please let us know.
Thank you in advance.
Dec 11, 2006, 5:03 am
#12
Suspended
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: New York, NY
Programs: Delta - Gold; Starwood - Platinum; HHonors - Diamond & Avis Preferred
Posts: 10,869
There is another note which we would like to add:
A new thread that is obviously a similar or duplicate topic of a thread does not necessary mean that the thread will automatically be merged into the main thread immediately.
Depending on the situation, we will occasionally wait until additional information and comments have been posted before we take action to ensure minimal disruption.
Another situation could be that threads pertaining to a particular Hilton HHonors property simply have not yet undergone the consolidation process just yet. We are striving to ensure that the organization of information is as sensible as possible.
Again, if anyone has additional comments, ideas and suggestions on how to improve the organization of threads and information in the Hilton forum, please let us know.
Thank you in advance.
A new thread that is obviously a similar or duplicate topic of a thread does not necessary mean that the thread will automatically be merged into the main thread immediately.
Depending on the situation, we will occasionally wait until additional information and comments have been posted before we take action to ensure minimal disruption.
Another situation could be that threads pertaining to a particular Hilton HHonors property simply have not yet undergone the consolidation process just yet. We are striving to ensure that the organization of information is as sensible as possible.
Again, if anyone has additional comments, ideas and suggestions on how to improve the organization of threads and information in the Hilton forum, please let us know.
Thank you in advance.
Jan 16, 2007, 8:15 am
#14
Moderator: Hilton Honors forums
Original Poster
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Marietta, Georgia, United States
Posts: 24,998
Officially, not yet.
However, I would like to see an official thread for each of the following: Diamond, Gold and Silver Hilton HHonors VIP members.
The problem is that there are many threads for each, and we do not want to just lump them all into one giant generic thread for each.
Threads are carefully examined and scrutinized before being merged together. This is why this project is taking so long. Judgement calls must be made to ensure that threads are properly and carefully merged together. Superfluous postings such as “Have you done a search” or mileposts that contain only outdated links are usually deleted to help shorten the lengths of threads as well.
There may also be a specific part of being a Hilton HHonors Diamond VIP member that may require its own thread due to its popularity, which is another reason threads are simply not merged together haphazardly.
Of course, I could always use assistance. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let us know!
However, I would like to see an official thread for each of the following: Diamond, Gold and Silver Hilton HHonors VIP members.
The problem is that there are many threads for each, and we do not want to just lump them all into one giant generic thread for each.
Threads are carefully examined and scrutinized before being merged together. This is why this project is taking so long. Judgement calls must be made to ensure that threads are properly and carefully merged together. Superfluous postings such as “Have you done a search” or mileposts that contain only outdated links are usually deleted to help shorten the lengths of threads as well.
There may also be a specific part of being a Hilton HHonors Diamond VIP member that may require its own thread due to its popularity, which is another reason threads are simply not merged together haphazardly.
Of course, I could always use assistance. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please let us know!