Area-specific forum sections?

[David Bailey]

Inspired by this post (http://www.cerocscotland.com/forum/showthread.php?p=238881#post238881):


I would like to see "Scotland", "England", "London", "N-Ireland" and "World" sub-sections of the "social" forum that you could opt in/out of on the "recent posts".

I've often thought it'd be a good idea to have some area-specific sections of the social forum. Personally, judging by the volume, I'd say a rational distribution is "Scotland", "London / SE England", "Weekenders" and "Other" (Sorry, "Other"s :flower: )

What do people think? Is splitting into regions a Good or Bad Thing?

[ducasi]

Not a bad idea... Think it should be part of a much larger forum re-vamp...

In particular, I think that Intermediate Corner should be renamed as "Technical Focus", or something similar...

And popular forums from "Fun and Games" should be brought into the Discussion Lounge, with the less-used forums merged into other appropriate ones.

Perhaps then the Social forum could become its own forum group, with the regional forums underneath it.

[Trousers]

ermmm isn't the forum sort of, well, sorry to say this but, ermmm, regional already?

when we say forum don't we mean CerocScotlands forum?
I know we do by the way just incase pedantitis breaks out.

the difficulty seems to be there are more girly, puffy, sad southerners willling to bend this to our will than the scots it was aimed at.





Sorry to say this guys but the things you suggest wont work.
the people that use this facility, already by virtue of prior knowlege, consider themselves in a bigger picture than mere regions. They, We, Us. . . . . are Forumites - don't we already live here?

Well some of you do LIVE here

we will all still post in the regional thread areas you suggest we should have.
:rolleyes: :sad: :eek: :mad: :( :angry: :tears:

[ducasi]

I don't think it would be a problem for non-Scots to post in the Scottish area, for example, but you'd expect them to be discussing (to some degree) Scottish events.

Threads and thread diversions not relevant to the forum can be moved or split to elsewhere.

The point is it will make it easier for folks from Scottish or London, or wherever, to find discussion of local events without having to dig through threads full of discussion about events happening at the other end of Britain.

[David Bailey]

Not a bad idea... Think it should be part of a much larger forum re-vamp...
I absolutely agree, and I did think of launching a "Structural changes" thread - but then I thought it'd be easier to try salami tactics. In my experience, it's much much easier to change a site or structure by a series of incremental changes than by one big one.

But hey, don't let me stop you if you want to do another thread :)


the difficulty seems to be there are more girly, puffy, sad southerners willling to bend this to our will than the scots it was aimed at.
Who are you calling sad? :mad: :whistle:

To me, the difficulty is that this forum is a victim of its own success, and now more accurately reflects the distribution of MJ dancers in the UK / World, not just Scotland. And, as there are way more dancers and venues in SE England, there tends to be way more discussion about those venues in the social section than about Scottish venues.


Sorry to say this guys but the things you suggest wont work.
the people that use this facility, already by virtue of prior knowlege, consider themselves in a bigger picture than mere regions. They, We, Us. . . . . are Forumites - don't we already live here?
This suggestion is only for the "social events", remember? Neither myself nor Ducasi are advocating sectioning the Forum as a whole into regions - that'd be just pointless. But when you talk about venues, that's region-specific.


The point is it will make it easier for folks from Scottish or London, or wherever, to find discussion of local events without having to dig through threads full of discussion about events happening at the other end of Britain.
:yeah: Rather than extremely generic "What's on this weekend" threads, which usually seem to mean "What's on in the London area this weekend". And I'm in the London area.

[Lou]

The point is it will make it easier for folks from Scottish or London, or wherever, to find discussion of local events without having to dig through threads full of discussion about events happening at the other end of Britain.

Which is perfectly fine for all you lovely people who live in one area! :rolleyes:

How's a poor Bristolian, who's working in Glasgow & dating a Londoner, supposed to organise her social life? :whistle: :devil:

Why not just put SEEngland, or Scotland, or wherever in the thread title, if it's region specific? :flower:

[ducasi]

Of course, the downside is that I wouldn't be able to annoy the Londoners in their "who's going where" threads by reminding them that there is dancing outside the M25. :rolleyes:

Oh, and it might make people a little more insular. If you only hear about local events you won't know what you're missing further afield... :(

[ducasi]

How's a poor Bristolian, who's working in Glasgow & dating a Londoner, supposed to organise her social life? :whistle: :devil: By reading all the forums that are relevant to her. :whistle:

Why not just put SEEngland, or Scotland, or wherever in the thread title, if it's region specific? :flower: Another benefit of having separate regional social forums, is that it might encourage more participation from local forumites. I don't think tagging threads in this way would have the same effect.

[David Bailey]

Which is perfectly fine for all you lovely people who live in one area! :rolleyes:
Which is, well, all of us I reckon...


Why not just put SEEngland, or Scotland, or wherever in the thread title, if it's region specific? :flower:
Because people forget to do it. This was actually suggested a while back, people did it for a while and then forgot about it. There's no culture in this forum of naming conventions, unlike things like some Usenet groups.

You might as well ask "Why have different sections in the Forum in the first place?" - and the answer is "To give guidance to viewers". Location-specific social sections would, I think, provide such guidance.

[Lou]

You might as well ask "Why have different sections in the Forum in the first place?" - and the answer is "To give guidance to viewers".
That's putting it far too simply. There's many other factors - you've left out the consideration of usibility, for one thing. For instance, do the couple of posts a week aboout regional social events really merit this added complexity of navigation? Or the overheads for Franck to restructure the forum? Or causing a perfectly good forum to become more divisive, as we all head to our regional silos?

If I want to talk about purely Bristol things, I post on the Bristol LeRoc forum. If I want to talk about Scottish things, I post on the Scots only section on this forum (of course, you'll not see it DJ, as your IP needs to show you're in this fair country). Maybe you could get the lovely Iain to set up a London based forum.... :whistle:

[El Salsero Gringo]

That's putting it far too simply. There's many other factors - you've left out the consideration of usibility, for one thing. For instance, do the couple of posts a week aboout regional social events really merit this added complexity of navigation?I think they do.
Or the overheads for Franck to restructure the forum?Not much overhead really.
Or causing a perfectly good forum to become more divisive, as we all head to our regional silos?God forbid there should be regional silos. It's not like anyone feels the need to use, for instance the Bristol LeRoc forum for Bristol things; and it's not as if there's a private Scottish users only forum here for the discussion of haggis recipes and caber-tossing or whatever the Scots get up to when they're not dancing.
If I want to talk about purely Bristol things, I post on the Bristol LeRoc forum. If I want to talk about Scottish things, I post on the Scots only section on this forumDarn it - I spoke too soon.
(of course, you'll not see it DJ, as your IP needs to show you're in this fair country)Technical aside: probably best not to use IP addresses to determine location as they don't map geographically.

[David Bailey]

That's putting it far too simply. There's many other factors - you've left out the consideration of usibility, for one thing.
Nope - navigation changes are usability-related.


For instance, do the couple of posts a week aboout regional social events really merit this added complexity of navigation?
I wish to God there were only a couple of posts a week :rolleyes:
Looking at it now, of the 29 active threads in Social events, we have:
- 16 threads (!) about weekenders, 1 of which is about Scotland (Blaze)
- 1 thread about Scottish event (Busking in Aberdeen)
- 4 "Who's going where" type threads
- 8 others ("Bow", "Monday Lush", "Party Night" etc.)

Hmmm... actually, from that volume, the only justifiable division is splitting off "Weekenders" into a separate section; maybe that would be the best solution?


Or the overheads for Franck to restructure the forum?
No my problem :innocent: - But OK, it has to be justifiable to warrant the overhead.


Or causing a perfectly good forum to become more divisive, as we all head to our regional silos?
Supposition - why would this happen any more than it does now?


Maybe you could get the lovely Iain to set up a London based forum.... :whistle:
I think there already is one (http://www.mjda.org)...

[Lou]

I have an alternative proposal.

Could we split the forum into 2 main sections?

One section could be devoted to threads by, say, grumpy, pedantic, MIBs from London (and if that's not specifc enough, I'm sure we could add further attributes in order to define the section to your satisfaction). The other section would look rather like the forum does now... :flower:

Right. I'm off to the "What's On in Glasgow on a Thursday Night in a month without an "R" in it, when the moon is waxing" section....

[Claire S]

I think there already is one (http://www.mjda.org)...Oh great!
Just what I need.... another forum to distract me! :rolleyes:

[Dreadful Scathe]

I have an alternative proposal.

Could we split the forum into 2 main sections?

One section could be devoted to threads by, say, grumpy, pedantic, MIBs from London (and if that's not specifc enough, I'm sure we could add further attributes in order to define the section to your satisfaction). The other section would look rather like the forum does now... :flower:

Right. I'm off to the "What's On in Glasgow on a Thursday Night in a month without an "R" in it, when the moon is waxing" section....

Great ideas. We are sadly missing the Ceroc Babes in Bikinis section (sub threads by bikini colour and skimpiness).... theres not nearly enough pictures on this forum :)

[Gadget]

I'm glad you put the word "babes" in there.. I had some horrible visions for a fleeting moment :what:

[Dreadful Scathe]

You just thought of Dave Hancock in a bikini didnt you :eek: :)

[Gadget]

Actually he was missing from a strange pagent of Tramp, Franck, Wako, CJ*, Pretzelmeister, McJester, Ducasi, ... :sick::what::sick::eek:

*Actually CJ didn't look that bad :eek:

[ducasi]

Actually he was missing from a strange pagent of Tramp, Franck, Wako, CJ*, Pretzelmeister, McJester, Ducasi, ... :sick::what::sick::eek:

*Actually CJ didn't look that bad :eek:
Such company – I'm flattered. :respect:

I guess this was CJ after his bikini wax, right?

[bigdjiver]

As far as is possible I would like to keep boundaries out of MJ.

[Lou]

Technical aside: probably best not to use IP addresses to determine location as they don't map geographically.

I love it when you talk techie. :drool:

Isn't modern technology wonderful?! (http://www.netgeo.com/PR_11052004.htm)

[El Salsero Gringo]

Managed to make the same post twice (oops!)

[El Salsero Gringo]

Isn't modern technology wonderful?! (http://www.netgeo.com/PR_11052004.htm)I wouldn't put too much faith in the marketese contained in a press release. There are simply more accurate ways to determine someone's location, since IP addresses aren't geographical.

[Lou]

I wouldn't put too much faith in the marketese contained in a press release. There are simply more accurate ways to determine someone's location, since IP addresses aren't geographical.

Yes. We all know that, ESG. Don't make me have to play the Geekier Than Thou card. :rolleyes:

Oh, and I've met Whitebeard, and he is natually as self-effacing in real life as he is on the forum. There's nothing false about it. Are you just going through a more grumpy than usual period? :hug:

(btw.. it's a full moon on Sunday - maybe that'll help?)

[El Salsero Gringo]

Yes. We all know that, ESG. Don't make me have to play the Geekier Than Thou card. :rolleyes: You couldn't if you tried.
Are you just going through a more grumpy than usual period? It's the gout, you know.
(btw.. it's a full moon on Sunday - maybe that'll help?)Although now you mention it...