Suggestion: a 'from current crew' filter on the airline boards and a crew verification step, so the boards become a reference and the questions stay
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#1 Cathay, three years, and the crew tag on replies is live and good. This is the next step, which several crew have mentioned in the crew room and nobody has posted.
The problem
The airline boards mix three kinds of thread: current crew explaining the airline (the reference threads), applicants asking about the airline (the question threads), and the waiting and day count threads. All three are useful. But an applicant researching Cathay wants the first kind first, and right now the board lists them by activity, so the day count thread from yesterday is above Leon's rebuild thread from a month ago.
The suggestion
A filter on each airline board: 'from current crew' (topics started by members with the airline set to that airline in their profile, which the crew tag already uses), 'questions' and 'all'. Or a simpler version: the crew started threads listed first with a marker, and the rest after. The crew tag data is already there. This is a sort, not a new feature.
The verification question
The crew tag relies on the airline field in the profile, which anyone can set. Right now the forum is small and honest and the tag is trustworthy. As it grows, a member could set 'Emirates' and post as Emirates crew without being one. A light verification (a staff ID photo to the admin, checked once, a verified mark on the profile) would make the crew tag reliable and would make the reference threads citable. It is work for the admin and it is the thing that would make the forum different from every other cabin crew group on the internet.
The applicant side
The question threads and the day count threads should not be hidden; they are the reason half the members are here. The filter just puts the reference first for the researching applicant and the questions first for the applying one. Both stay.
A smaller one
The 'mark as answer' suggestion from Chris's thread would combine with this well: a crew started thread with a marked answer is the strongest kind of reference the forum can have.
I know this is a bigger ask than the search fix. It is the one that would make the airline boards the thing this site is for.
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#2 Cathay, and Yuen has said the thing I think every time the day count thread goes above the rebuild thread. The crew filter is a sort on data the forum already has. The verification is the real ask and the real difference.
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#3 Virgin, and the verification step is the thing that would make me send applicants here instead of to the Facebook groups. A verified crew tag is worth more than any other feature on the list. Seconded strongly.
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#4 Emirates joiner, and from the applicant side: I wanted the reference threads first and found them by reading the whole board. The filter would have saved me a week. The day count thread should stay; it is where I lived for two months.
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#5 Qatar purser, and the verification by staff ID to the admin is how the private crew groups do it and it works. A verified mark on the profile and the tag becomes a credential. Yes to this.
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#6 WestJet, and the Canadian section would benefit exactly as Yuen describes: the crew threads first for the applicant researching, the questions first for the applicant applying. A sort, as she says.
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#7 easyJet, union rep, and the verification would also help the rights threads: a verified rep or a verified crew member answering a contract question is a different thing from an anonymous one. The credential matters for the serious threads most.
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#8 Thank you, and this is the right next step and the honest description of the cost. The crew first sort on the airline boards uses data the forum already has and it is at the top of the list with the answer marking from Chris's thread. The verification is bigger: a staff ID photo checked once by the admin, a verified mark on the profile, and the crew tag showing verified status. It is manual work and it is the thing that makes the reference threads citable, so it will be done. Both will be posted in this thread when they are live, and the day count and question threads stay exactly where they are.