@bigblue7722 wrote:I think that the mods should change the credit card approval forum from having posts that say congrats to a Data input spreadsheet.
I would like to see things like:
1. Income
2. credit scores accross all three boards or which everone they know
3. inq past 12 months
4. New accounts past 12 months
5. Credit utlization
6. have a section for comments
I would allow the user to be anonymous if they want.
Then i would take that data input it into a spread sheet, im sure a computer program can do all of the work, so then people can see the averages. Now that would be a heck of a lot more helpful than a bunch of people saying congrats.
Isn't this solved mostly by the creditpulls database?
If it's not it wouldn't be a hard website to build, hell even I could do it in about a week or two for the base functionality (admittedly yucky UI) probably without too much trouble. I don't think a spreadsheet is the right solution, database works so much better for adhoc querying.
Real issue is getting people to actually put the data into it, that was the issue with the CP database as I saw it; however, we do have a higher user count and more post volume I think, and maybe it would work better if we got approval from FICO to do it... though I doubt there'd be many issues on that if we're not doing anything stupid.
I actually agree with the original poster. Though I dislike the moving of the approvals to another category (because to me we lose some of the spontaneous excitement that used to be interspersed when reading threads in the former way), that doesn't bother me too much. I just happen to like it the other way, theres no right or wrong to it.
But when something happens to generate some excitement, like Double Cash, or NASA, I dislike lumping every post into a single thread. Its hard to read that way, its hard to find and answer the separate slightly different questions, the answers to separate posters questions get interspersed with each other, etc. Just let nature run its course, and let the posts that are generated by the current topic(s) of interest stay topics of interest, and not just one confusing topic.
But, thats just me.
Now, heres a random chart I've never uploaded before. Inserted for no reason whatsoever... I don't think my conclusions are stated correctly though.
@Middleswarth wrote:The problem if you break it up by lender is you will have too many categories. It will be as hard to read as it was with 50 billion NASA posts. I experienced this in a home theater forum that decided to have a sub forum for every brand. It took way to long to navigate and I'm sure I missed good information (and I didn't stick around long).
Home theatre is admittedly a different market space: there it doesn't make any sense to have any thread (outside of the information FAQ-style ones) where you're not comparing two or more since we're talking buying decisions on features and price points in addition to sound or visual quality... and there's a non-trivial subjective element to it as well. I don't think that forum quite understood it's function personally as an outside observer but I've never dabbled in home theatre other than occasionally looking at AVS when I wanted to make a purchase. Credit cards are more black and white with only some variation for credit strata: either the rewards are good, or they aren't.
I think we keep it simple if we were to do it: Amex, Chase, Citi, BOFA, Barclays, and I'm struggling to think of another major lender offhand though I'm certain I'm missing some as Discover is something of a one trick pony like USBank and WF isn't a real player as I see it in the CC market... after that drop your idea of CU and Store Cards as two individual categories, and general type forum, and we're talking less than 10 which is a lot more navigitable as you're correct too many boards is a similar issue to too few. Also it would be no problem stickying certain FAQ's like the Amex 3X CLI under an Amex specific board, which isn't working under the Helpful Threads sticky for various reasons.
Could also make it flexible too, and add or remove categories if necessary: who knows USBank might come out with something beyond the Cash+ and be competitive across the board with the big 4ish.
In case anyone hasn't figured it out, I'm somewhat playing devils advocate on a lot of these trying to drive the discussion towards ideas which actually improve the forums and frankly I think the community is all about y'all regardless of who's hosting it.
@longtimelurker wrote:Oh, I hate constructive suggestions, but if you insist: How about copying some other boards and create issuer sub-forums. So, General, Amex, Citi, Chase, Barclays, BoA, Cap One and Others (or some such, General for issues concerning ccs as a whole, Others for other issuers not specifically covered) Then at least those interested in a specific question (lets say the email of the Cap One EO!) can start in more focussed forum.
FlyerTalk recently added a Citi subforum (after an extended time discussing if the traffic justified it, but that's them), and the mods could do the same here, deciding if for example PenFed deserves its own forum etc.
Stops cross-pollination, but so does too many posts and an underpowered search feature.
I disagree. Many on this forum are starting out and I think its more beneficial when someone ask about getting a card that may not be a great fit for them that they can be redirected to a card that may be appropriate even if it is with a different lender and that a thorough conversation can be held comparing lenders. FT is another type of animal than these forums. I find FT to be more focused on frequent travellers who tend to be well established with credit and are working on a more advanced level than many of the people who post on these boards looking for advice. On these boards the more knowledgeable credit users tend not to be asking questions but answering them on FT its much more of a discussion of advanced techniques.
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