Update: the Travel Codex Forum is now closed. Thank you for participating in this experiment!
I’m very pleased to see that the travel community Tahsir and I created, Travel Codex, is gaining popularity. In fact it has almost as much traffic as this blog! Yesterday we passed a new threshold: 10,000 messages (after reaching 1,500 members a few days before).
What is Travel Codex? Originally started by Tahsir as a community for those interested in Manufactured Spend, we later gave it a more permanent home and expanded it to include some other travel-related topics much like you would find on FlyerTalk. But the big catch is it’s only open to members. It’s free to join, but membership helps prevent content from being indexed on search engines. So there are fewer people who stumble upon information and then leave without contributing.
It’s kind of like leaving your door unlocked. Anyone could go in there, but most people don’t. Even an unlocked door deters those who aren’t invited in. For that reason it’s a little safer for sharing tips and secrets that you wouldn’t ordinarily leave out on the sidewalk.
On top of that, there are two even more private communities for Manufactured Spend and Travel Hacking, ones we do keep behind a locked door. I don’t think “travel hacking” is quite the word I want, but it encompasses topics like fuel dumping, hidden city ticketing, and so on. These communities require a history of posting and sharing content on Travel Codex before you can be admitted. I think it encourages people to share even more sensitive information. In fact, I had to block out some of the recent topics in this screenshot.
Apart from creating your own community this is about as protected as it gets, and so far it seems we’ve got just enough openness that there are regular updates coming in every day. I’m still trying to add new features whenever I find the time, so please check it out!
