Today we are launching The Forum at Saverocity . The purpose is to discuss ‘gaming everything’ – from exotic frequently flyer point awards, to reducing taxes and retiring early. I see it as the embodiment of Saverocity, and it’s all about you.
Why a forum?
Improved Communication
Some of my more popular posts quickly garner over 100 comments, and it is hard to keep track of conversations like this, a forum software solution would have helped people a lot when organizing events, such as Charlotte. and it will help a lot to coordinate Firesky in Phoenix later this year, allowing people to share contact information for ride sharing and dinner plans prior to the event. Equally important is a platform to discuss strategies and ideas created from attending the event.
Stewardship
I have a desire to bring people into the game of points and miles, and a sometimes conflicting desire to protect the game from people who go off half cocked. People often say that blogs share information in order to collect readership, and convert them into affiliate transactions – so spilling the ‘beans’ is encouraged. Posts that are controversial bring in a lot of foot traffic on the day, but even more of a problem is Google Indexing so people stumble into things that they don’t really understand, and frequently screw up.
Our forum has levels of membership, the first is open to all, and the second allows access to more sensitive things I would rather not google index. For example in our Manufactured Spend forum I am discussing the Multiple Amazon Payments accounts that I once shared via ‘protected post’. I think this creates a safer environment for sharing information as on one level you take SEO and indexing off the table, and on another we know that there has been at least some level of vetting for the Manufactured Spend stuff.
Frankly, I don’t know if that is enough, and am wondering about having deeper levels of membership for more sensitive things that can work on an invite based system. For me, stewardship means helping people grow, and helping to protect the game, it isn’t a black and white subject, and I am certainly open to hearing how to do things better.
It’s more about you now!
I hope to be very active in the forums, but without interaction, questions and answers from the readers and members the forum will be a flop. It is all about the community and how it can help each other. There are going to be a lot of experts, but to a person with no experience a person with 1 year is an expert, so please help out the new folks, and keep that feeling of adding value to the community. I’ve started a few threads, but please start your own, with thoughts, comments, ideas. We all look forward to hearing from you!
I am very open to hearing any ideas to make the forum better, and look forward to your comments. If you like, you can start a conversation about how to improve things on the Forum itself. Please check out the rules first, they are brief!
I look forward to seeing you at The Forum!
Wow – you have started off with a bang. Excellent “Membership Rules” page content – so typical and original that we get to see from Saverocity. I am sure maintaining minimal publicity to the forum so as not to get in the likes of Flyertalk and at the same time trying to create enough content, viewership and comments is going to be a real challenge. You are seasoned enough to know that you are holding a two edged sword and i 100% trust that this forum lives up to its agenda for which it was born. Wish you success and my hearty congratulations to the “new born”.
Thanks Kumar, though in fairness I ripped it off from Mr Money Mustache as I thought they did it really well. Yes, it will be tough to develop, but it really comes down to the readers now, and I hope they can help build it into a place that they want it to be.
Hey Matt,
Would love to participate in the forum and provide constructive criticism between the two. Hopefully, there will not be a lot of overlap . I tried signing up but cried “uncle” after failing to match catchable words 10 straight times. Went so far as mp3 download, but was nothing but static . Maybe I need hearing aids to go with new glasses
I can sign you up- want to use this email address?
Best of luck, wish there was some collaboration between this and the guys from hackmytrip. You guys have the same kind of ideas in principal.
Definitely, I think we come at this with a lot of similar ideas. I would say that I think people like BMG and Amol are far ahead of me at MS stuff, so perhaps the focus of the sites will be a little different, but we will find a groove I am sure.
We will be collaborating with some things in the future for sure.
Agreed with Adam. I wished there were a bit more of a collaboration efforts rather than everyone goes out and creates a forum.
I understand, but a direct collaboration wasn’t appealing since I wanted a forum, and they wanted a forum 🙂
I wish you the best of luck with this. A forum like this is only useful with a healthy mix of “experts” and newcomers.
I am still looking for something that’s a little more closed the flyertalk but with enough traffic to keep me interested.
I wish there was a way to filter people in order to avoid to much and the wrong publicity.
RIP “coupon connection”
Thanks – we have a good mix of experts there, and I hope to help the newcomers feel welcome too. We are exploring a leveled access system that might help with what you are looking for.
I stumbled on your site a few weeks ago and really enjoy all the articles. This new forum idea is great! It sounds like it could be a good alternative to flyertalk, in which threads often turn ugly.
Looking forward to it!
Thanks- hopefully we will keep it narrower in focus and with a shared mindset that will lend itself to being nicer… One can hope at any rate 🙂
I just joined yesterday and LOVE the gatekeeping. I hope it doesn’t become too onerous for you as the forum blossoms!
I hope so too! It’s been a busy few days and I need to get writing 🙂
Congratulations, Matt! I discovered this magical world 2 years ago and have never looked back. I look forward to joining and participating your MS forum. Thanks for setting this up!
Thanks Zoe, welcome aboard!
PS. I’m having difficulty trying to post something on the introduction thread. It says “You do not have permission to view this page or perform this action” and “You have insufficient privileges to reply here”. After I I sign up for the forum, what’s the next step? Thanks for your help!
I’m sorry to hear that Zoe, did you manage to sort it out? If not tell me your username and I’ll drop in and check the settings.
Congratulations on the launch, Matt. Best of luck with the project!
Speaking of google indexing, you might want to ask them not to index this post. They are very responsive to requests. Good reminder for me to check my stuff.
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