Va Beach/Norfolk split?

[rusthebuss]

Well do I qualify, I know I go off on a tangent every now and then but I keep my cool!

[vdogg]

All right guys, this is a work in progress here. I'm gonna take a little break and then get back at it tommorrow.

[vdogg]

I think the split is going fairly well. It's gonna take a little getting used to (I had to change my homepage ) , but it really helps with organization overall not to mention that it appears to be attracting more visitors as well. Our forum looks freaking huge now . A far cry from our humble beginnings.

[okinawatyphoon]

I think the split is going fairly well. It's gonna take a little getting used to (I had to change my homepage  ) , but it really helps with organization overall not to mention that it appears to be attracting more visitors as well. Our forum looks freaking huge now  . A far cry from our humble beginnings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

vdogg you are doing a great job moderating everything and i LOVE the forum even better with the spilt. It makes things much easier to focus on....thanks so much!!

[rusthebuss]

vdogg you are doing a great job moderating everything and i LOVE the forum even better with the spilt. It makes things much easier to focus on....thanks so much!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good job vdogg!

[baobabs727]

The polls evened out a bit  . This is actually kinda surprising. Please post if you vote too, i'd like to know where everyone is on this (especially if you vote no, i'd like to see what you'd prefer to see done instead).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, I suppose I'm not as prolific with my posts as some of y'all, and it would appear that I am a bit late arriving at the dance ...uh...but since you asked.....

I voted "no" because I believe that this forum has demonstrated a natural bias toward Norfolk, and I fear that Va. Beach will be neglected as a subforum--especially by the founding members. Additionally, this is URBANplanet, and Town Center notwithstanding, I think Va Beach is far too suburban to merit a subforum. Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I just don't like change all that much.

[vdogg]

Well, I suppose I'm not as prolific with my posts as some of y'all, and it would appear that I am a bit late arriving at the dance ...uh...but since you asked.....

I voted "no" because I believe that this forum has demonstrated a natural bias toward Norfolk, and I fear that Va. Beach will be neglected as a subforum--especially by the founding members. Additionally, this is URBANplanet, and Town Center notwithstanding, I think Va Beach is far too suburban to merit a subforum.  Finally, in the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I just don't like change all that much.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's cool and I respect your opinion. I really can't say anything about you not liking the change as that is your feeling an I can't change that. I only disagree with you on 2 points. Point 1, I live in Virginia Beach and part of the split was to allow me to add more Virginia Beach topics and raise it's proflie. Also, logistically speaking it will be easier for me to accomplish certain tasks and projects we have coming up with this split in effect. I will most certainly not neglect Virginia Beach. Point 2, it is not about whether the city is suburban or not it is about whether the development is. Virginia Beach has a lot of urban style projects coming up and as the largest city in the state and second most busy topic in the Virginia forum I think it merits its own subforum (If NN and Hampton were the 2 busiest I would have given them their own forum). Bottom line, whether I created Norfolk/Va.Beach subforums or we went with other options we mulled over (there were many but since this one received a positive vote we decided to try this first) subforums were going to be created for this section. We were getting far too busy and therefore disorganized to make for a user friendly experience for the many new forumers we've picked up.

[baobabs727]

That's cool and I respect your opinion. I really can't say anything about you not liking the change as that is your feeling an I can't change that. I only disagree with you on 2 points. Point 1, I live in Virginia Beach and part of the split was to allow me to add more Virginia Beach topics and raise it's proflie. Also, logistically speaking it will be easier for me to accomplish certain tasks and projects we have coming up with this split in effect. I will most certainly not neglect Virginia Beach. Point 2, it is not about whether the city is suburban or not it is about whether the development is. Virginia Beach has a lot of urban style projects coming up and as the largest city in the state and second most busy topic in the Virginia forum I think it merits its own subforum (If NN and Hampton were the 2 busiest I would have given them their own forum). Bottom line, whether I created Norfolk/Va.Beach subforums or we went with other options we mulled over (there were many but since this one received a positive vote we decided to try this first)

[vdogg]

I understand your reasoning, and I do not fault your thought process. In fact, I am appreciative of all that you do to promote the entire region. In no way did I intend to imply that you would favor one city over another (or neglect one to the benefit of another) under the new paradigm.  By "neglect", I was referring to the rest of us forumers and our natural bias toward all things Norfolk.  I believe that if you look at the historical views/posts count, you will see that Norfolk attracts a

crowd--and rightly so.  Simply put, I was expressing the hypothesis that having Norfolk development as a separate subforum might lull people into overlooking  Va Beach (or other locales). Afterall, even the most seasoned of forumers can get stuck in a surfing/navigational pattern where they almost forget about all the other channels--if you will.  I guess only time will tell, and I know that you will do your best to adjust as needed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I understand what you're saying and that was one of my biggest concerns, but Va. Beach also had fewer topics so that accounts for part of it. The creation of a subforum allows us to post a lot more uniquely Virginia Beach topics and they won't get lost in the shuffle. In the end I think we will see an uptick in users but these things take time. We have had many successes and failures with regard to expansions, and if this doesn't work I will have the subforums collapsed and add different subforums with a different format. There are many different subforum formats for the many different areas of UP. Some work better for some areas than they will in others. We will just have to see how this goes.

[baobabs727]

I understand what you're saying and that was one of my biggest concerns, but Va. Beach also had fewer topics so that accounts for part of it. The creation of a subforum allows us to post a lot more uniquely Virginia Beach topics and they won't get lost in the shuffle. In the end I think we will see an uptick in users but these things take time. We have had many successes and failures with regard to expansions, and if this doesn't work I will have the subforums collapsed and add different subforums with a different format. There are many different subforum formats for the many different areas of UP. Some work better for some areas than they will in others. We will just have to see how this goes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I may know development, but I am more than happy to leave all of those technical machinations up to you!

[johnhowell]

I voted no. Because of the swith the main Hampton Roads forum has been dead. Also I like seeing all of the Hampton Roads info on one page, not three.

[vdogg]

I voted no.  Because of the swith the main Hampton Roads forum has been dead.  Also I like seeing all of the Hampton Roads info on one page, not three.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I wouldn't call the main hampton roads forum dead. It may not be as active as the other two but we also seem to be in a fairly slow development cycle across the board which accounts for some of that. It's a catch 22 because the switch was actually designed to make for a less activity in each individual subforum in that you wouldn't have to sort through a whole bunch of crap and everything would be compartmentalized (sp?). I do see what you're saying about the 3 different pages. It's taken me a little bit of getting used to. In the coming weeks we may have to fine tune some things a bit. Overall forum activity (entire Virginia forum) has actually increased.

[vdogg]

I do see what you're saying about the 3 different pages. It's taken me a little bit of getting used to.

Using tabbed browsing helps out with this a lot.

[rusthebuss]

I think it was a great idea vdogg. It makes it easier to get through and gives us a little bit more personality to other forumers.