Suggestion: a 'this airline on the forum' digest on the airline profile with the crew threads first and a thread counter, so the forum depth shows on the site
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#1 WestJet, and the airline profile pages have a forum card in the sidebar with the latest topics from the airline's board, which is good. This is the next step, from the applicant's side as the Canadian threads filled up, because the forum content is now the best thing about the site for the researching applicant and the site side shows a sliver of it.
The problem
The WestJet profile shows the latest three or four topics from the WestJet board. The applicant researching WestJet wants the crew thread about Calgary, the requirements comparison that mentions WestJet, the hiring thread entry, and the day count thread if there is one, in that order. The latest three are whatever was posted last, which might be a question about the uniform.
The suggestion
A digest on the airline profile: the threads started by current crew of that airline first (the crew tag data, as Yuen suggested for the board filter), then the threads in other boards that mention the airline in the title (the requirements and hiring and pay threads), then the latest. With a count: 'WestJet on the forum: 14 threads, 6 from current crew'. The applicant sees at a glance that the forum has the airline covered and goes to the board with a reason.
The reverse
On the forum board, a link back to the profile's sources card and the member rating, so the crew member answering a pay question can point at the primary source the site now links. The two halves of the site pointing at each other.
The counter
A small thing: a count of forum threads and replies on the airline profile and in the airline index, so the airline with 30 crew threads and the airline with 2 are visibly different to the applicant choosing which to research. The forum is the site's depth now and the site side should show the depth.
Why
Because the applicants I know who found the forum found it by accident from the profile card and then stayed for a week. The digest and the counter make the accident deliberate.
I know the crew filter and the answer marking and the verification are on the list. This is the site side version of the same idea and it might be the easier one, because the data is the same.
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#2 Air Canada, and the Canadian section filling up is exactly why Holly is asking: five airlines, twenty threads, and the profile cards show three each. The digest with the crew threads first is the applicant's view of the forum from the site. Seconded.
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#3 Cathay, and this is the site side of my board filter suggestion and Holly is right that the data is the same. The crew tag, the title match, the count. The two halves pointing at each other is the site becoming one thing.
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#4 Virgin, and the counter ('14 threads, 6 from current crew') is the thing that would make me send an applicant to a profile page instead of the board directly. The depth visible from the site side. Seconded.
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#5 Emirates joiner, and I found the forum from the Emirates profile card by accident, as Holly describes, and stayed for two months. The digest would have made the first visit the deliberate one.
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#6 Recruiter, and from the applicant research side the digest is what I would tell candidates to read before an event: the crew threads for the airline, in one place, from the profile. The accident made deliberate is the right phrase.
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#7 Thank you, and this is the site side of the board filter and it is the easier half, as Holly says, because the crew tag and the title match and the counts already exist in the data. The plan: the airline profile's forum card becomes a digest with the crew started threads first, then the threads elsewhere that name the airline, then the latest, with the counts; the airline index shows the thread count; and the board links back to the profile's sources card. It goes with the board filter on the list and this thread will be updated when it is live. The verification remains the bigger and later piece.