For over two years, I’ve put up a topic of the week up every Friday for everyone to discuss. But do you care? I’m debating whether to keep posting a topic of the week or simply go dark on Fridays, as I do on Wednesday. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.
44 comments on “Topic of the Week: Do You Care About the Topic of the Week?”
Honestly, it depends on the topic. For the most part I would say 50-75% of the topics garner enough of my interest to read them. Perhaps you could roll it over to your blog followers and take a random topic from one of us.
I enjoy it for the most part. I’m not the most active commentor, but I do enjoy the debate and discussion that comes up
Some weeks it’s interesting, other weeks it’s dull. Can only suggest picking a topic that will be of interest to a wide range of your readers and looking back through previous weeks to see which issues garnered the most comments…
If you find yourself struggling with time in the week, drop the Friday topic rather than the Mon, Tue or Thurs posts….
Keep it. I like most of them.
It’s been two years?
Man, I remember when it was new and it feels like it was yesterday…
I remember and miss the daily Monday through Friday posts.. I think I’m finally over my withdraw on Monday and Friday.
Monday? That’s not withdrawal (there is a post on Mondays), that’s hangover :)
I’m with most of the others. I enjoy the Topic of the Week in general, though some weeks it definitely generates better content than others. The best weeks seem to be when the discussion is about something topical like a news story in my opinion. I say keep it around but don’t force it. If there is something that you feel is worthy of a discussion than post it. If it’s a light week, don’t feel pressured.
The topic should stay. Generally it can be something that you couldn’t get to in the week or don’t have much additional to write about. Examples include the Jet-Etihad stake, AC-TK codeshare. As you know we love the discussion on here, so even a topic off the top of your head is fine for us to make it a sort of end all comment thread for the week.
Thanks!
I’d say, keep it but maybe add something like a poll to get people’s opinions quickly, then let people expand. It means that a casual viewer (such as myself) might actually participate – via the poll – which would in turn make me more likely to read the discussion.
Topic of the week is definitely better than nothing on Fridays. I just have trouble remembering to come back later in the day to read the discussion…
It’s your blog so you do what you think is best for you, but I still haven’t gotten over no Wednesday :-)
For a Friday topic you could just keep it as simple as asking what everyone thinks on a generic subject like: checked baggage, codeshares, O’hare, etc. Then just let readers go with thoughts/ideas/horror stories/etc on that one or two word subject.
You can take a couple of minutes and set up a whole months of Fridays topics to post on those dates and don’t really need to have something happen in the news to make a topic out of.
But on another topic, would be your Saturday post. I know that points people in other directions to other sites you post to, but I noticed not many comments are left for the among of work you do to set it up each week. So maybe Saturday could movie to Friday if you still want that type of Saturday posting you do now.
I second ChuckMO’s idea. I like the Friday Free-for-All for the most part, but perhaps make it a “reader submitted” category that you can choose at random.
Quality is more important than quantity.
I’d rather see it go to every other week or once a month, than to see strong topics mixed with weak.
I’ve noted that you sometimes post on Wednesdays. It’s obviously driven by a timely issue. To me, that seems like the best way to approach Fridays.
Holly Hegeman doesn’t always publish her news letter on a predictable schedule. Sometimes there’s not much to write about.
I really do think that in the next few years, the airline business will become less interesting because of the stability this last major round of consolidation should bring to it.
I enjoy reading your posts, but you also have to spend your time on things which generate income for you.
Bring in a guest blogger.
How about someone who recently retired from the industry and has some fun insider stories to share?
I like them alot although sometimes periodically they get a little too esoteric in their focus (Vision Airlines) or be a bit dry (Which Airline Had the Best Q4 Results? Worst?)…
But as a whole… I think they make for a decent read and are definitely preferable to nothing…
I always read them, but never comment. They’re ok.
I always enjoy the lively discussion! :-)
rather a topic over dark!
Guest blogger? Boo!
Dark on Wednesdays? Boo!
Dark on Fridays? Boo!
No such thing as too much Cranky!
In all honesty, i seldom read one completely. I praise your efforts but I haven’t seen many that actually grab me.
Sorry!
As background, most of my flights are international from an Eastern gateway to either Frankfurt, Munich, or Vienna. Domestically, I use Southwest whenever possible. I really try to avoid American and United. I never fly from any Eastern corridor city to another Eastern corridor city. If I am flying internationally, I usually fly SWA to my international departure city and stay overnight so I have no hassel on the day of departure. I’ve never missed a flight.
I eagerly await all of your posts – the blog, topic of the week, and the Saturday post. I don’t view myslef as a commenter, so if the topic of the week left, I would understand. If it did leave, I would suggest having your blog posts on M, W, F, instead of M, T, Th.
That said, I do look forward to seeing what the topic of the week is each week.
LD
AS A SOMETIMES “CRANKY” TRAVEL CONSULTANT I DO READ 90% OF YOUR POSTINGS AND REFLECT UPON THEM, BUT WITHOUT COMMENT. KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK. SOME DAY THE “CRANKY” FLIER WILL BECOME THE “HAPPY” FLIER/CONSULTANT.
Having drunk the Kool-Aid, Cranky, anything you write is interesting, but…!
Keep us wanting. Let Fridays go dark. Save it for your regular posts.
Of course, if you simply want us to know someting hot, something too hot to wait, go to it. Let the Spirit, or whatever, move you!
The question I have is do YOU, The Cranky Flier, care. Do you read it? Does it give you inspiration for other topics for the blog? With out it you would be down to just 3 days. How would that effect the blog readers enthusiasm? As far as I am concerned, as the others have stated, it depends on the Topic.
Keep it! Most topics provoke at least a little thought, some a lot and good exchanges. But the most important latent consequence of Friday topics (and Wednesday blog) is that it keeps your brand visible at minimal cost. Nothing like brand exposure to expand your business.
I am with the majority….it topic is provoking for me, I will read it but I could wait a day or two also. Totally up to you.
Brett, do what’s best for your business. I enjoy reading your work, but I’m with the folks who suggested a compromise: drop the Friday post if you’re busy that week, but add it in the weeks when you have time to do it. If it’s not “mandatory,” then you give yourself the flexibility to determine whether you’re able to post for Friday or not. For us readers, if a Friday post shows up, great. If not, we’ll figure you’ve been busy. Either way, good luck!
It’s yours, you do it if you have time, if not we will understand.
I check every Friday to see the topic and the opinions of your community.
Hard to believe it’s been two years! I say keep it going. I read every week.
Keep them going!
Sometimes, I find the discussion to not be very entertaining. Although what about using the occasional blank Wednesday (or even the Friday) to run a poll and/or request topics.
I think it’d also be fine to have a “free for all” discussion.
Ditto Comment Number One, ChuckMO.
Not really. I enjoy your blog immensely, this topic thing not at all.
I miss the daily posts and would hate to see Fridays go dark too.
Maybe instead of an individual topic, you could put a list (2-4) of linked news articles from the week and a few quick thoughts by you to seed the conversation (not unlike what you do now, but with some Cranky opinions). Maybe also encourage users to introduce new topics for discussion.
I like the topic of the week. I usually read it even if it is a subject that I haven’t previously cared about.
I enjoy the TOTW especially when its getting into controversial areas. I also enjoy the guest posts. Anything is better than black.
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. It sounds like most people who commented here like it, so I’ll keep doing it. To answer some questions.
1) It doesn’t take me much time to put a topic of the week together, but some weeks are tougher than others. So this isn’t a time management issue – just a question of whether or not to bother.
2) I’m not interested in regular guest posts. Other sites expand to create more content and grow page views, but that’s not for me. I will continue to keep this site authored by me with only an occasional guest post when I’m traveling or if there’s a particularly interesting topic.
3) I do read all the discussion on Fridays and I enjoy it. But I just don’t participate except on rare occasions.
4) I would love to bring back Wednesday posts, but I just can’t justify the time. If anyone wants to start paying for content, then I’ll be happy to ramp back up!
Thanks for all the feedback. Maybe next week I’ll try Friday Free for All to just allow for general airline discussion.
More Family Airline news!
Hear, hear!
I’ve seen nothing new… Latest is this:
How about a poll of the week on stories covered to see which story had the most interest?
Good! Keep it! If it’s a minimal time investment for you, that certainly seems better than being “dark” 10 times out of 10. Also like the occasional “free for all” idea, that could be interesting.