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UP Charlotte Activity Compared to NY


JayGee

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I came across a story about a guy claiming to be a kid kidnapped in Oct 1955 less than a mile from where I lived in E. Meadow NY (I was 10 mos old at the time and my mother doesn't even remember it - thanks Mom). So I figured I'd go to UP for that area and see if there was any discussion.

There was no section for that area, but even for NYC, the posts were unbelievably sparse, barely used. I was surprised. Ok, so maybe we have less to do here in little old Charlotte North Carolina, but, heck, there's 8-10 million people up there!

Sure, we fight sometimes, but at least we participate and exchange ideas and thoughts. I wonder what the difference is.

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No. . . why would it be perceived as a joke? There is an obvious difference in the two cities, I am wondering if the difference in participation is because of the size of the city, the attitude of the people, etc.

There's a high level of participation here, I'm wondering why that's not the case in other cities. I lived in Manhattan and Brooklyn for awhile, there is a big difference in attitude, does it spill over into this?

Just looking for opinions.

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I think it has little to do with the fact that Manhattan or NYC in general is "built out" or already has a mass transit system that's successful. Every place has things to talk about. There's new developments going on up there just as much if not more than anywhere else. I think it's more to with New Yorkers in general probably have other things to do. I've been to New York many many times and have friends that live there. Most of them don't like being cramped up in front of their computer in their apartment. They are out and about in the city. They are movers and shakers. That's why a lot of people live in NYC... Well, most people I know anyways.

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I think it has little to do with the fact that Manhattan or NYC in general is "built out" or already has a mass transit system that's successful. Every place has things to talk about. There's new developments going on up there just as much if not more than anywhere else.
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I'm going to have to say Charlotte is much more active on this board because it was started by Charlotte locals, and the representation from the area is extremely high. You can also notice that other large cities such as Los Angeles or San Diego; not to mention foreign cities are light on topic discussion.

I would say as more people in these areas discover the site, which might take some time, that these areas will become more active.

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I'm going to have to say Charlotte is much more active on this board because it was started by Charlotte locals, and the representation from the area is extremely high. You can also notice that other large cities such as Los Angeles or San Diego; not to mention foreign cities are light on topic discussion.

I would say as more people in these areas discover the site, which might take some time, that these areas will become more active.

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It may be a critical mass thing, too. Get enough people starting to contribute that it becomes a steady stream, that feeds on itself. If you go to the site and see three posts in two weeks, you are less likely to join and contribute than if there are a couple dozen a day.

And true, I did check a couple other large cities and the participation was minimal.

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The Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York areas have a strong following on our two main rivals, SSP & SSC. Not to mention the thousands of other smaller urban development sites that focus on these cities. I like to think that UP focuses its attention on small to medium sized cities. It may not bring in the extra members or posts that major metropolitan areas would, but it spreads the word about proper urban growth to cities who have aspirations on growing bigger.

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Oh, I agree... Though Grand Rapids is, and I think Monsoon or Neo can probably confirm, the most active of any metro area on UP. I've been on the skyscraper forum and don't really care for it as much. This site to me is better organized. I had to laugh though. I saw someone on the Pittsburgh forum post a "death to UP" note on there... I guess some people have nothing better to do.

Grand Rapids does have more activity than Charlotte on this site, but North Carolina has much more viewers and activity as a whole than Michigan does as a whole.

w/r/t the Pittsburgh forum post on another board...this is one major difference between UP and most other boards that focus on similar topics. We simply don't accept kiddie posts such as this on UP which obviously leads to lower traffic levels. If you'll notice, most other forums are chock full of 'quality' posts like one-liners that offer nothing to the discussion, full articles copied and pasted (which is typically a copyright violation which is why we do not allow this practice here) and my city is better than your city threads. :rolleyes:

It may be a critical mass thing, too. Get enough people starting to contribute that it becomes a steady stream, that feeds on itself. If you go to the site and see three posts in two weeks, you are less likely to join and contribute than if there are a couple dozen a day.

And true, I did check a couple other large cities and the participation was minimal.

This is a problem that is hard to overcome. A critical mass is absolutely needed on any site to make it worthwhile to visit and participate. Unfortunately we do have this problem in many areas and I wish we didn't. The best resolve for this is for as many people as possible to get the word out about this site. Hopefully as the site gets older and more people realize what a great group of people we have here and that our layout is one of the best (IMO though I am biased), the critical mass issue will go away.

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I would also add that in the Charlotte area (and other parts of NC/SC) that the content rivals and most of the time surpasses any coverage by local media outlets on a consistent basis. I think in part because this is a forum where the subject matter can be debated from many different angles, whereas media is generally one sided 'here it is' with no input from those that really seem to know what the heck is going on in the matter. For the most part, if I hear a news clip or read an article in the O you can bet that I will be on here to get a more in-depth perspective, as well as a more accurate one too.

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I would also add that in the Charlotte area (and other parts of NC/SC) that the content rivals and most of the time surpasses any coverage by local media outlets on a consistent basis. I think in part because this is a forum where the subject matter can be debated from many different angles, whereas media is generally one sided 'here it is' with no input from those that really seem to know what the heck is going on in the matter. For the most part, if I hear a news clip or read an article in the O you can bet that I will be on here to get a more in-depth perspective, as well as a more accurate one too.
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I didn't know this site was started by Charlotte people either that's a nice lil trivia. I guess though it's more active in this area because we have alot more growing going on compared to a big city.

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As a Charlotte property owner and Manhattan resident, beyonce245 is right- NYC already has so much that if a store opens or closes or if a lot is developed, people hardly notice- and there are already websites that cover so much of what UP has: racked.com for retail openings/closings, MidtownLunch.com for restaurants, and lots more.

I was ordering dinner at the office on Seamless Web last night and even late at night, there were 100 restaurants open within a 5-block walk from my office (and north-south NY blocks are short- 1/20th of a mile- shorter than the ones up and down Tryon), for example- so if one opens or closes, I don't really notice (although I was devasted when Arby's in Manhattan and my local Wendy's and Burger Kings closed- I was solo in my sorrow).

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As a Charlotte property owner and Manhattan resident, beyonce245 is right- NYC already has so much that if a store opens or closes or if a lot is developed, people hardly notice- and there are already websites that cover so much of what UP has: racked.com for retail openings/closings, MidtownLunch.com for restaurants, and lots more.

I was ordering dinner at the office on Seamless Web last night and even late at night, there were 100 restaurants open within a 5-block walk from my office (and north-south NY blocks are short- 1/20th of a mile- shorter than the ones up and down Tryon), for example- so if one opens or closes, I don't really notice (although I was devasted when Arby's in Manhattan and my local Wendy's and Burger Kings closed- I was solo in my sorrow).

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