As of approximately 12:10 Eastern Daylight Time today, The Gate has moved back to BoardingArea.
In the article I posted yesterday — which was officially the last article for The Gate here at FlyerTalk — questioning if commercial aviation is safe after four major incidents, I wrote at the end:
“…so sit back, relax — and enjoy your flight. May your travels be packed with plenty of excitement where you will experience reactions of envy every time you tell your travel stories to others — but may you travel safely in the process; and never be afraid to take flight…
“…and if it sounds like I am saying goodbye to you, please be assured that I am not — but I am about to announce a major change with The Gate. Please stay tuned — and thank you for reading over the years…”
This is a bittersweet moment for me, as it is the end of one era and the beginning of another; but it is not foreign to me. Consider that when The Gate was officially launched almost eight years ago in August of 2006, its first home was here at FlyerTalk. It then moved to BoardingArea in 2008 and became one of the original weblogs there. Then — on May 4, 2011 — The Gate was moved back here to FlyerTalk…
…and now it resides at BoardingArea once again. That is admittedly a rather bizarre history.
My relationship with Internet Brands — the entity which owns FlyerTalk — does not end here, however. I still plan on being of assistance in any way possible in the future. I also will remain a volunteer moderator on FlyerTalk until further notice. There are no hard feelings, no acrimony, or anything else that would potentially lead to interesting speculation — in fact, quite the contrary…
…so if you were expecting some fiendish or nefarious reasons for the move about which to read or spread rumors, then please accept my apologies. There has been no drama; there is no drama; and — if I have it my way — there will not be any drama pertaining to this transition.
The Gate will remain open at FlyerTalk for an indefinite period of time even though no new articles will be added here. The articles posted from May 4, 2011 through July 31, 2014 are currently the property of Internet Brands and will not be found over at BoardingArea. All parties involved with the transition of The Gate from FlyerTalk to BoardingArea agreed that this was reasonable. In fact, I have already started referring to articles which reside over here and will continue to do so with future articles which I will post over at BoardingArea. Meanwhile, you may still post comments to any existing article here in which you would like to be heard.
I want to thank Internet Brands for the opportunity of having The Gate hosted at FlyerTalk for the second time. I wish nothing but the best of success to Brent, Jeremy, Cadence and other employees of Internet Brands with whom I have worked over the years; and I also wish the best of success to fellow “bloggers” Gerry Wingenbach — once a co-“blogger” here at The Gate but currently writes for The Tarmac — as well as Sarah Steegar, John Mendelssohn, Tim Winship, and Rick Ingersoll and the crew over at Frugal Travel Guy.
As I said, this is not goodbye — The Gate and I are simply moving to a different location on the Internet. I hope to see you there; but please keep reading the weblogs posted every day here at FlyerTalk — as I will continue to do — and keep posting to FlyerTalk itself.
Most importantly of all, I want to thank you for reading and supporting The Gate for the past eight years. I truly appreciate it and hope you will continue to read The Gate. Thank you.
