Paid employee "discussions"

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Nickel Tour?

A cliche' and for the life of me, I don't know where it originated. It means it's free What it basically means is the standard tour is about $30 a piece give or take and you don't have the "touchy feely up close and personal" experience. I can provide a better one for zippo!
 
"Zippo..." works for me! Where do we sign up? :)
yea.. put me on that too.. i went on an "inside NASA" at the cape way back in the day... always wanted to see Houston's operations too! :nana2:

I could easily set up a meet & greet and see how many folks we could get down there (when the weather is good)?
 
Hey, we're in Houston. How "bad" can the weather be? I grew up in Avondale for a few years in addtion to going to Arizona State, so I know the weather here approximates the weather in Arizona, so it's all good.
 
Its' a 4 hour drive from Temple, but I would do it to get a personalized tour of Johnson. I got one at Kennedy and it was phenomenal.

Plus I could meet a bunch of JC'ers and not feel quite as bad about missing JC Vegas.
 
I don't really want to get involved in this mess, but I will say I find the moderator's response to it all distressing. People look to this board (among others) when trying to decide which school to choose. They come here expecting an unbiased and open internet forum where the opinions of current and former students can be shared. I realize jetcareers must make money somewhere, and I believe that schools paying for advertising on the site are rewarded with their own forum (please correct me if this is wrong). I used this forum extensively in my research when choosing a school.

As I understand it, and as the moderators have made clear in their own posts in this thread, school employees are allowed to post as long as they make clear who they are. Catherine didn't do this. I find it hard to believe that Catherine could post the pages and pages and pages of long, glowing, and detailed replies to potential student inquiries without ever *once* mentioning that she is a representative of the school unless her intent was to deceive.

The fact that the mods did nothing more than say "put a signature acknowledging that you are an employee in your posts" after this deception going on for months completely changes my opinion of this website. What is to deter schools from just hiring another shill if there are no reprecussions to being caught? I guess the almighty buck really does rule all, and I guess I no longer view jetcareers as an unbiased source of information.
 
Where is the line drawn of "paid employee"?? Aren't instructors paid employees? Do they all need that same descriptor in their sig? If so... there's a lot of folks who need to add that moniker to their sig... Just wondering since I too have to admit to getting a paycheck from my old flight school from time to time doing weekend ground schools & other contract-type (1099) work for them... I don't get paid to post on here nor do I work in their office but I do still have somewhat of a "connection" to them... you know... never burn your bridges... ;)

It's obviously not my primary job... and I certainly don't have any say in any business decisions of the company... but I also don't want to be drawn and quartered when someone says: "Hey... Capt Bob taught a weekend GS two months ago for his flight school... he's getting paid by them so he's obviously not being honest about his posts here on JC!"

Is it "someone who get's paid specifically to post in and monitor their flight schools forums and has the owner's/managements ear"... or any person that has received a check from them for work outside of these forums... ie: instructors, dispatchers, etc.??

On a side note... Mods... how about cutting MFT's NASA offer out of here and pasting it in the Meet & Greet section?

Bob
 
.......

The fact that the mods did nothing more than say "put a signature acknowledging that you are an employee in your posts" after this deception going on for months completely changes my opinion of this website......I guess the almighty buck really does rule all, and I guess I no longer view jetcareers as an unbiased source of information.

The mods didn't know at first. They found out and corrected the situation. People who research Ari-Ben will be (or should be) aware of "Catherine" and what transpired. They can then view her responses with that information in mind.

As for the situation changing your mind about the website....It's a free world.


.....Cue sound of door swinging.....:sarcasm:
 
...I no longer view jetcareers as an unbiased source of information.
Well... if you read every other post beside's Catherine's... You'll get an earful.

I guess in a way... I agree it's not unbiased. But there's enough info and posts/opinions on both sides of any issue posted on here to allow for you to get the info you are looking for. IE: Dems/Republicans, PFT/PFJ, SafetyPilot time/Solo time, Direct Track/Pay your dues, Academy/FBO, etc...

There's an awful lot of good people on here posting... biased and unbiased... so... take it for what it's worth.

Bob
 
"I guess the almighty buck really does rule all, and I guess I no longer view jetcareers as an unbiased source of information"

You're way out of line and you don't know what you're talking about. Your response to this will be your 4th post yet you think you have enough info to condem the site like that?

It's about respect. Catherine has always posted in a respectful manner, Florida Flyer, not so. Personally, I found her admitted digression to be very minor. When someone continually bashes a member like Florida Flyer did, it's not minor. Not a hard choice for the mods to make, as I see it.

This site is about posting your opinion. Feel free to post away. Continually bashing of another member will QUICKLY catch the attention of the mods.

At NJC 2005 Doug spent $1500 for one night in a suite for JC members. I was shaking my head. Trust me, this site is NOT about putting money in his pocket and anyone who says so has no clue. Especially when they have less than 10 posts...
 
"I guess the almighty buck really does rule all, and I guess I no longer view jetcareers as an unbiased source of information"

You're way out of line and you don't know what you're talking about. Your response to this will be your 4th post yet you think you have enough info to condem the site like that?

It's about respect. Catherine has always posted in a respectful manner, Florida Flyer, not so. Personally, I found her admitted digression to be very minor. When someone continually bashes a member like Florida Flyer did, it's not minor. Not a hard choice for the mods to make, as I see it.

This site is about posting your opinion. Feel free to post away. Continually bashing of another member will QUICKLY catch the attention of the mods.

At NJC 2005 Doug spent $1500 for one night in a suite for JC members. I was shaking my head. Trust me, this site is NOT about putting money in his pocket and anyone who says so has no clue. Especially when they have less than 10 posts...

:yeahthat: Nuff said outta me.
 
Catherine has always posted in a respectful manner, Florida Flyer, not so. Personally, I found her admitted digression to be very minor. When someone continually bashes a member like Florida Flyer did, it's not minor.
So, who have I continually bashed then? Sure, the owner of the school who I consider to be at the root cause of the problems. But Catherine? No, I don't think I've been disrespectful of her. I've never been critical of any members who have praised the school. They are entitled to their opinion. Look at my responses to Catherine's posts right up to when Gonzo, exposed the truth about her status. I was always respectful. And after Gonzo told it like it was? No, I never got personal. It's not like her posts represent her own views anyway. When she posts in future, I'll do as the mods say and say nothing about it. However, as this thread was started by a mod on the subject I think that this is an appropriate place to air my views on the subject.

Well, Mike, I'm sure glad I didn't get a job as a "Positive Poster" for the Aviator, on JC. Man that would have been a bum deal. Sure, it's a unique opportunity that only your mind can dream up, but the downsides are kinda scary. As well as having to deal with all the regular BS you put your students and employees through, I'd get an extra layer of BS on top. Wow man, I'm not sure what the job pays but can it be enough to have your name dragged through the dirt on a public forum, in a small industry where people have a long memory; uhhh don't think so! Yeah, and I'll bet when the thing backfires on you like it has done you'd just go blame your "Positive Poster" wouldn't you? So Mike, lets say you are hiring for the job, what would it pay? Any medical benefts or 401k, that kind of stuff?
 
When she posts in future, I'll do as the mods say and say nothing about it.
Mods have not said that you should "say nothing". The point is that her posts are now marked by signature as coming from an employee of the school, and people are duly advised to consider her perspective when reading her posts.

[generalized thoughts follow]
The problem for people comes when they are derogatory and demeaning based on perceived improprieties, or for any reason actually. When people post in ways that drag this website down I will say something. I am tired of the negativity, back-biting, and disrespect that occasionally crops up around here and will be working to turn that back around. Everyone's help in that area will be appreciated. If someone would rather be the flamer/blamer/basher type they would be well advised to move on to another web site where that behavior is tolerated. It won't be here.

However, as this thread was started by a mod on the subject I think that this is an appropriate place to air my views on the subject.

Not quite correct. I simply pulled the appropriate posts (first 8) out of an existing thread that was quickly getting derailed. Rather than lose valuable information that was happening there I moved the offending posts (including my own) here. It would have been simpler to have just deleted those posts and made the hysteria go away, but I'm not a big fan of moderation-by-deletion unless absolutely necessary. There are enough bogus claims of moderator bias here already (emphasis on bogus) so I'm trying to allow issues to live in the open as much as possible without getting out of control. A fine line, for sure.


Well, Mike, I'm sure glad I didn't get a job as a "Positive Poster" for the Aviator, on JC. Man that would have been a bum deal. Sure, it's a unique opportunity that only your mind can dream up, but the downsides are kinda scary. As well as having to deal with all the regular BS you put your students and employees through, I'd get an extra layer of BS on top. Wow man, I'm not sure what the job pays but can it be enough to have your name dragged through the dirt on a public forum, in a small industry where people have a long memory; uhhh don't think so! Yeah, and I'll bet when the thing backfires on you like it has done you'd just go blame your "Positive Poster" wouldn't you? So Mike, lets say you are hiring for the job, what would it pay? Any medical benefts or 401k, that kind of stuff?

<sigh>



I know that you think you are bashing Mike with that tired little display of passive/aggressive non-think, but it strikes me that you are doing more to harm people's perception of yourself, rather than Mike.

How about sticking to adult methods of conversation and debate in the future? Leave the stupid insult tactics elsewhere.
 
Captain_Bob, your situation is different to Catherine. You are just posting info related to schools that you are involved with; just as many Aviator instructors have done in the past. Now if your primary job role was to covertly post positive opinions (true or not) on the schools that you work for.....well that is a different deal altogether. You do see that don't you?
 
Hey there FF... I'm interpreting it the same way as you... but I just wanted clarification since Doug posted this above:
Employees of flight schools, especially advertisers are more than welcome (an absolutely encouraged) to participate in the forum. As I've said before (and I thought was clear) that they need to identify themselves so people can judge for themselves information from marketing.
So... that leaves it open for interpretation and I was just looking for clarification. But I believe I'm of the same mindset as you.

Bob
 
"But Catherine? No, I don't think I've been disrespectful of her"

I think you were. I could go back and dig it all up if you'd like. Maybe this next week when I have nothing better to do at work since all I do is sit around wait for the phone to ring. Should be fun....

Bob, I wouldn't worry about it until somebody complains. Honestly, the mods and admins looked at this as a very minor issue but yet something that would be wise to change. Unless somebody complains, I wouldn't worry about it changing your style. If I thought you were paid to be the primary apologist for ATP at JC, though, I'd say you should state so.

As far as the MFT thing, I have no idea what you're talking about?
 
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