Milepoint.com Private Beta Registration Link Revealed

by Gary Leff

Last week I shared that I was stepping down from my roles at Flyertalk so that I could focus on a new frequent flyer community that Randy Petersen is starting.

That project is Milepoint.com, and it’s now in private beta.

We’re using the month of February to begin building content on the site. Because when the doors open and folks come on it, it’s important that they find useful information there. And a group of people that are answering each other’s questions. It was important not to publicize the private beta too early, or else folks would come on over and wouldn’t see what they wanted, probably wouldn’t come back. Creating a community is about creating a useful experience, you need memebrs to create content but you need content to attract members. Solving that chicken and egg problem is what the private beta is for.

In fact, I even asked another blogger to remove the link to it the private beta registration that he posted shortly after we went live.

Now, less than 100 hours into the private beta, Milepoint already has over 1200 members and 14,000 posts. And that’s with more or less trying to keep the thing under wraps.

And now I’d like to invite you to join me for the private beta. You can sign up at Milepoint.com/beta.

This is a really special place, I think, and you have a really special role to play. Signing up at the very start, you’re helping to set the tone with what we want to be the friendly place for frequent flyers to meet; a site with well-organized information that helps to make your travel better. And it’s built on a new technology that seems really promising, it will be able to deliver some really cool tools going forward.

There are going to be plenty of giveaways in the early days, and registering now puts you in line for those. Plus some modest posting to the community now will earn you ‘Original Member’ status. Plenty more to come, like industry chats and a whole lot more.

So please come on over, join us, and check it out. We’re in private beta for another few weeks. The look and feel of the site will change. More features will be added. But I’d love it if you would have a look.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Love the energy and vibe over at Milepoint. I joined the day you went live and have been posting again for the first time in a really long time; after “losing my way” in the crazy crowd that is now found at FT.

  2. Personally, there isn’t anything about milepoint.com that makes me say “This is way better than FT”. It’s more like FT with better forum software.

  3. Gary,
    Maybe you could give a quick overview of
    what MilePoint has to offer that is different from FT.

  4. Absolutely love it. Gary, I would like to suggest that you guys develop an iPhone app for MilePoint. The new FT iPhone app is garbage, not usable.

  5. Yeah, I agree. I’ll stick with FT for now as I think the interface conveys more information even if it is not as slick. I’m a big believer in don’t fix it if ain’t broke. I guess Randy just wanted to start something new now that FT is owned by Internet Brands.

    Plus, where’s the Mileage Runs forum?!

  6. There might be a problem sending account confirmation to Yahoo mails. Couple of hours passed and no confirmation.

    Changed my email to Hotmail & confirmation came instantly!

  10. @Daniel my role with Milepoint is that I wanted Randy to get back into the frequent flyer community space, I was considering ways to make something like that happen when he told me last month that he was already working on it. And I just asked, “how can i help?” So I’ve met and talked with Randy a good bit, and a group of other early adopters, and I’m helping to get the thing started and figure it out. I don’t have any sort of formal affiliation with the site at this point.

  12. I signed up and will give it a chance. Though I’m not sure it stands to offer anything different or additional beyond FT – slicket interface notwithstanding. There’s mention in the Beta opening page of wanting to set the right tone. If that means trying to be a bit more noob friendly and less tolerant of know-it-alls dragging down threads, that might be nice – whether that is enough to support reinventing the wheel is another question.

  13. I guess Randy didn’t have a “no compete” understanding when he left FT. And as others have noted, it does seem a lot like FT. But maybe input during Beta will help you find a distinctive “personality” and utility for MilePoint.

  14. Gary – I also haven’t received a confirmation email and I have a yahoo account (I signed up last night). I don’t use another for personal applications like this. What do you recommend?

  15. Was there not a noncompete with FT? At the moment, it seems like an identical clone using a different layout. I can’t imagine anyone who gave Randy money would be happy to see this site launch.

  16. I honestly cannot recommend this site. I signed up only to realize that it is a “facebook” style website with oodles of privacy settings. Realizing this, I sent a form to the website asking for my account to be deleted. It still has not been deleted. By the way, if you sign up using your name it displays your name. I have not found a way to change this setting. All in all, if I wanted facebook, I would have signed up for facebook.

  19. I didn’t get a confirmation to my yahoo email, either.

    So like others, I’m glad Randy is “getting back into the game,” but I’m wondering how MP is different from FT. If it means I just have to check two different websites, I’m, um, not so excited by this development. 🙂

  20. add another yahoo failure. I changed email address to comcast and then it works.

    However I have to agree with Red, that I did not expect the format is like this.

    Time will tell if this can compete with Flyertalk.

  22. I really don’t get it. This is an exact replica of FT. All the forum structures are the same, the same people, and the same topics coming up. What gives???

  23. I like the milepoint site. It will be nice to get in on the ground floor. Don’t forget, this is the “beta” (startup) of this site. I am sure some great things will occur with milepoint as time goes on. 🙂

  25. Lets not underestimate the legacy of Randy Petersen and his fine team.
    He gave we the traveling public the greatest plaform of all time with Flyertalk to share on the topic of miles and points and beyond
    He has now moved on to his new project MilePoint
    I think it will be a matter of patience and time before we see where he takes us more fully on this journey………..
    My money is on the new Milepoint to offer some new twists and turns along the way.With Gary Leff on board
    and a host of familiar others in and signed up the skies are the limit
    Seatbelts on All?
    Let the next generation of Talkboards begin!
    Cheers

  26. It ain’t the next generation. It’s the next regurgitation. It’s the Emperor’s New Clothes. Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks this is a carbon copy of FT, only more confusing and with less useful content. I already waste too much time on FT so who needs a whole new forum? Kudos for the efforts (I guess) but I don’t really get what the differentiation or raison d’etre is.

  27. I don’t like the behavior and message Randy Petersen sends our way. The guy sold FT and got good money for it. The minute his non-compete restriction ended he turned around and built a new site that competes with the people that made him very rich. This is pure greed and plain ugly. As far as I understand he could have stayed employed at FT.

  28. This is nothing against you Gary (I really like your blog and you are an honest person) but I wish you never got involved with the new project. Gary, Randy Petersen is damaging your image.

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