The New Carolinas Forum Setup

[orulz]

I do not like the way that all the "Carolinas" subforums have been lumped into one. Before, there was a "Carolinas" with a bunch of subforums for each region ("Coastal area" "Triangle" "Upstate", etc.) Now, there is only a "South Carolina" and "North Carolina" forum, and the only region deemed 'worthy' of its own subforum was the Charlotte metro area.

The joint "Carolinas" forum worked really well because NC and SC have a lot in common and are closely linked; the regional forums made it easy to sort through all the posts to find the ones that affect me personally. The system before worked extremely well, and as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I think it should be changed back.

[orulz]

As you've no doubt noticed, the discussion revolving around the Carolinas has been compiled into one forum for each state, plus Charlotte as a sub-forum. What do you think?

I, for one, think that the old system was not broken and did not need to be fixed. It was extremely useful to have the subjects broken up like that. Since I'm most interested in the NC mountains and the Triangle, I could simply go to those forums and see all the related discussion right there. But now all of a sudden Charlotte is the only area worthy of its own subforum? Give me a break.

[Spartan]

It is pointless to have an entire section of information and topics that are rarely used If topics and discussions increase about a certain area then that area could have its own section again. Tennessee is a good example of that.

[orulz]

It is pointless to have an entire section of information and topics that are rarely used If topics and discussions increase about a certain area then that area could have its own section again. Tennessee is a good example of that.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I disagree that it's pointless to have a section that's not used frequently. Say I'm interested in stuff about Raleigh; having a "triangle" forum makes it very easy to find posts that I'd be interested in. With everything lumped together, I have to go through pages and pages of stuff I don't care about to try to find anything that matters to me. The sub forums all showed up together on the main "Carolinas" forum page, so they were easily accessible and readily visible by all, and would "light up" whenever there was a new post, so even people who don't regularly visit a forum might do so to see what was up.

I'm sorry, but I can't think of this new set up as anything but a step backwards, making the forum less convenient for everyone except the Charlotte folks. This is my opinion and the management can do whatever they want, but I just thought I'd weigh in.

[ezcheese]

I disagree that it's pointless to have a section that's not used frequently. Say I'm interested in stuff about Raleigh; having a "triangle" forum makes it very easy to find posts that I'd be interested in. With everything lumped together, I have to go through pages and pages of stuff I don't care about to try to find anything that matters to me. The sub forums all showed up together on the main "Carolinas" forum page, so they were easily accessible and readily visible by all, and would "light up" whenever there was a new post, so even people who don't regularly visit a forum might do so to see what was up.

I'm sorry, but I can't think of this new set up as anything but a step backwards, making the forum less convenient for everyone except the Charlotte folks. This is my opinion and the management can do whatever they want, but I just thought I'd weigh in.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree 100% orulz. The old system was much more convenient. Just because there hasn't been tons of actual posting activity in some sub-catergories doesn't mean that people aren't accessing the existing posts in those sections. One thing I have noticed about these forums is that there are almost always at least twice as many un-registered visitors online as registered members. I'm sure some of those people are looking through posts that may not be the hottest topics on the forum.

[monsoon]

These are the view statistics for the last 3 months. The NC portion represents the combined totals for The Triangle, The Triad, The NC Mountains, and the remaining non-Charlotte parts of North Carolina. I am not sure that it is worth having 3 complete subforums for so few posts. What I will say is if there is a pickup in activity we can restore one or more. Its up to you guys to support it.

I am in agreement with a separate SC forum. Other than commonality with Charlotte, I don't see much interaction between the two states. Again this is an observation but beyond the Charlotte forumers we never had much activity from the rest of NC in SC threads. And the SC forum is doing quite well due in part to Spartan really spending time to kick it off.

[orulz]

You haven't convinced me yet.

I'm saying that it doesn't MATTER if fewer people view the split-up forums; it makes them much more pleasant and logical to use. Did it cost you more money on your web host to have the subforums? Was it a strain on your servers? Did it cause any inconvenience to anybody in any way whatsoever? To the best of my knowledge, there are NO other forums online dedicated to discussing planning & urban issues in, for example, Asheville OR Raleigh. You guys really filled in a niche! And you gave it up.

I repeat, it wasn't broken, so it didn't need to be fixed.

[Urban_Legend]

Woot, for the Jacksonville forum, lol!

[Viper]

Wow. That's *sniff* beautiful man.

[monsoon]

You haven't convinced me yet.

I'm saying that it doesn't MATTER if fewer people view the split-up forums; it makes them much more pleasant and logical to use. Did it cost you more money on your web host to have the subforums? Was it a strain on your servers? Did it cause any inconvenience to anybody in any way whatsoever? To the best of my knowledge, there are NO other forums online dedicated to discussing planning & urban issues in, for example, Asheville OR Raleigh. You guys really filled in a niche! And you gave it up.

I repeat, it wasn't broken, so it didn't need to be fixed.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Actually I think you have the convincing part backwards.

It is the policy of UP not to keep subforums that people don't use. It is confusing to the forumers and it is more work to administer. To my knowledge there isn't an online forum dedicated to NC either. If the activity takes off on Raleigh, Greensboro or Asheville, we will be glad to create a subforum for it.

I think the reason that SC is doing so much better than NC is there is a lot of interaction between SC's cities where in NC, you have 3 urban areas that completely ignore each other. While Charlotte is big enough to support its own subforum, the others apparenty are not. Successful subforums also take good leadership and from time to time we have people who will step up and help us grow the site. Spartan is a good example of this. SC is now one of our busier forums and as a result he is one of our SuperMods now. I would be more than happy if we had someone stand up from one of the other NC areas to do the same thing for our state.

[Spartan]

Thanks for those compliments, monsoon. I think you are right about SC compared to NC. For SC's forum, the Upstate/Midlands section contained 2 of our major metros (Greenville & Columbia) and Charleston was cut out of the loop, so that section had most of the traffic. Merging them made perfect sense, since we regularly talked about Charleston in the Upstate/Midlands section.

in NC, you have 3 urban areas that completely ignore each other.

This thread itself is proof of what monsoon said. All of you want your own forum with your own info in it, and you don't really seem to care about the other metros. That how it looks to me anyway.

I do see the advantage of having the separate forums for each city, but like monsoon said- if there isn't demand for it, then its wasted space.

NC and SC never had any shared topics except for I-73 and the occasional Rock Hill thread.

As an outsider to NC, I would be more likely to read something about Raleigh or Winston-Salem if it were all in the same location, rather than having to go to several different forums. Activity generates more activity.

Start with NC, and when traffic for a certain area picks up it will definately get its own section. You guys can do it. There is alot of great stuff going on in NC.

[JunktionFET]

I wonder why some NC forumers are so dedicated to their one region. Only a few of us and myself are pan-piedmont, and I really don't know who we could consider pan-state.

[orulz]

There have only been a few replies to the poll (maybe because most people only come here for the Charlotte forum anyway? Or maybe everyone has better things to on the day before Valentine's day?) but so far most people seem to agree with me.

I'm hardly a "high volume" poster. When I post, I go for quality over quantity - so I tend to post about what I know; therefore, most of my posts are about the Triangle and Mountains. Nevertheless, I made it a point to read every new post in each of the Carolina regional forums, and I have also written posts about the Triad, Charlotte, the Upstate, and Columbia as well.

I recognize that things might be different for non-NC natives. As an NC "insider" I already know something about each region, so I'm more likely to "click in" to a subforum to see what's going on. I definitely liked it better with seperate forums - that worked great for me. Some people clearly think otherwise.

Moderators: All I ask is that you don't consider this to be a done deal. Keep it like this for a while, and watch this thread. If most people seem to be okay with it, then so be it - but if most people would rather have seperate forums, then I hope you would consider changing it back. I recognize that this is your site and you can do what you want with it, but being receptive and responsive to the users makes the experience more enjoyable for all

Thanks!

P.S. If you ever need a moderator for a "Triangle" or "Mountains" forum and you feel like you can trust me, just let me know and I'd be glad to take on the responsibility.

[monsoon]

Just a note, I was one of the ones who voted against the change.

We have heard you. All of us here watch the NC forum closely. If there is a need to change we will. The re-creation of the Tennessee forum is an example of this.

As I alluded to earlier, we ask people to join the staff who make a positive contribution to the forum and stick by a slow section even in slow times. Eventually this will cause that section to grow. The reverse is true too. Thanks for all your interest in bring up this issue. I really do appreciate it.

[archiham04]

I'm behind orluz 100%... I live in Charlotte and enjoy the CLT subforum, but seeing posts for Asheville (my hometown) is what I really get excited about. Having all the area's topics accessible was great, esp. when an old topic comes back up in the news...

[StevenRocks]

I understand why the metro dividers were eliminated, but I don't like it. When it was divided into metro areas, some of the divisions didn't get posts for days. But it diefinately made it easier to see local topics.

Oh well, I guess change can be good sometimes.

[IBruton]

Well, this site sucks now. I don't think I'll be taking the time to wade through a bunch of posts that I'm not interested in. For what it's worth, I like keeping up on Raleigh and Charlotte because they are the largest metros in the carolinas. I'm from Raleigh, and I feel a bit slighted (I realize that there aren't that many Raleigh people posting, though.)

The divisions made it so simple to see if there was anything new at a quick glance. I'm much too busy to look through a bunch of topics that don't interest me.

[monsoon]

Well, this site sucks now.  I don't think I'll be taking the time to wade through a bunch of posts that I'm not interested in.  For what it's worth, I like keeping up on Raleigh and Charlotte because they are the largest metros in the carolinas.  I'm from Raleigh, and I feel a bit slighted (I realize that there aren't that many Raleigh people posting, though.)

The divisions made it so simple to see if there was anything new at a quick glance.  I'm much too busy to look through a bunch of topics that don't interest me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well this is the computer age. We do have a search button, RSS feeds, My Assistant and subscriptions that you can setup on the user CP page. I really don't understand the belly aching given that Raleigh would go for weeks at a time with no new posts.

[JunktionFET]

I sort of like having North Carolina in its own forum, though I can also see how some folks will not. I believe it creates a greater sense of unity, and it makes it convenient for me to see the latest happenings in the state as a whole.

I can go either way with the Charlotte subforum. It would be nice to have it all in the same forum. But it is also a very popular subject, and I'm afraid the Charlotte threads would overpower the others too quickly.

[monsoon]

... But it is also a very popular subject, and I'm afraid the Charlotte threads would overpower the others too quickly.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

As they did on much lower quality and distasteful forums that shall remain nameless to protect the guilty. That is until we all moved here.

[JunktionFET]

Oh you mean the incident that occured along about August 7 2003? Hahaha

[monsoon]

Oh you mean the incident that occured along about August 7 2003? Hahaha

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yep. Gee, I just noticed that you are member #4. haha.

[monsoon]

Just a statistical note.

In January, the forums that made up the present NC forum were the 12 busiest in terms of forum views.

Now that we have collapsed it, it has risen to 7th busiest on UP and we have a number of new NC forumers to boot. Welcome everyone.

[orulz]

The whole North Carolina forum has definitely been a bit more lively since you put them all together. I still like the old way better, but I may just have to eat crow pie as this way seems to be working better.

Of course, it may just be a coincidence that we got a bunch of new NC forumers lately, and I have personally been posting a lot about the Triangle in an effort to prove that a dedicated forum would be worthwhile, but after going along with this system for a while I'm willing to say that I can live with it.

[monsoon]

We all appreciate your very valuable posts here orulz and I do believe they have helped here. We may very well be able to do another subdivision, but the old way was too granular. I do see the possiblility of bringing back a Triangle section if it does pick up more.