Is the forum going too far south ?

[David Bailey]

OK, going back to the point of the thread - I agree, sometimes it seems too much like everyone lives within 50 miles of Central London or something (and yes, ESG's that joke already).

I don't know if that's a problem or not - but I suspect it may alienate contributors from outside that area, who may feel they have nothing to contribute as everyone's talking about Stuff Wot Appens Darn Sarf.

If this is a problem, then maybe one structural answer would be to subdivide the "social events" section into different geographical areas - that makes sense, in that social events clearly do happen in fixed locations... Maybe "Scotland" / "England" / "Other"? I don't think that'd be divisive, any more than those divisions are in real life, and it'd allow people to at least confine chatter into specific areas.

[Dance Demon]

Can I have "it's all a storm in a S38 c-cup" on mine?

I'll have S38...The Crazy Russian

[Gadget]

If this is a problem, then maybe one structural answer would be to subdivide the "social events" section into different geographical areas

It's not a new idea - I came up with it years ago... Was shouted down because people only need to look at the title to know where it is.

(But there is a little bit more forum activity now than there was back then )

[Heather]

Stewart, does this thread mean you still haven't discovered that you can only see part of the forum???.....and that access to the bit through the fur coats out of the back of the wardrobe is only available to those who can show Franck a Scottish utility bill???

Heather,
XX

(If only!!!)

[Andy McGregor]

Stewart, does this thread mean you still haven't discovered that you can only see part of the forum???.....and that access to the bit through the fur coats out of the back of the wardrobe is only available to those who can show Franck a Scottish utility bill???

And there's a part of the Forum that's only seen by certain Southerners - it's the singleton's sofa. When they started it they made it so difficult to understand and basically uninteresting that everyone else stopped looking. Nowadays they've discussing matters of great importance on there - but the rest of us will never, ever, know...

[Heather]

I don't know if that's a problem or not - but I suspect it may alienate contributors from outside that area, who may feel they have nothing to contribute as everyone's talking about Stuff Wot Appens Darn Sarf.

Many Scots have stopped contributing or even logging on precisely for this reason !( Not my opinion , this is based on talking to people I know who used to be regular contributers) A bit disappointing really, but quite understandable.
I wouldn't presume to be aware of exact figures, but at a rough guess 80% of the current regular contributers to the Forum are from south of the border.
This is not confined to the Social events area either.

A bit sad really as it is supposed to be the CerocSCOTLAND Forum!


Heather,
xx

[ducasi]

And there's a part of the Forum that's only seen by certain Southerners - it's the singleton's sofa. ...

I guess you must have the Scots and N. Irish on the sofa on your ignore list...

[Andy McGregor]

I wouldn't presume to be aware of exact figures, but at a rough guess 80% of the current regular contributers to the Forum are from south of the border.

This is probably representative of the split of dancers between Scotland and "everywhere else".

I think it's a shame that the Scots do not contribute to their own Forum in the numbers they used to. However, it might be that some people have stopped for other reasons but used the invading English as a convenient/understandable reason that they give to anyone who asks. After all, the "invading English" causing a problem is a reason that all Scots will agree with. At least they're not taking our brides on our wedding nights

[ducasi]

If this is a problem, then maybe one structural answer would be to subdivide the "social events" section into different geographical areas - that makes sense, in that social events clearly do happen in fixed locations... Maybe "Scotland" / "England" / "Other"? I don't think that'd be divisive, any more than those divisions are in real life, and it'd allow people to at least confine chatter into specific areas.

And where would the Southport (et al) discussions go?

Occasionally things happen in England that are of interest to everybody.

[Andy McGregor]

I guess you must have the Scots and N. Irish on the sofa on your ignore list...

Nope, I've just got Sinner on my ignore list. I've no idea who's on the sofa. Ages ago I left in a huff because they made me sit on the floor and it was covered in crumbs, crisps, popcorn and trodden in chocolates. What you need is a labrador to hoover them up

[fletch]

Im just north of Watford that makes me Midlands I think

But i was born a southerner (Kingston)

No chance!!!

You aint no midlander

[Piglet]

There's room for all of us but I would like to hear more from the Scottish people on here.

To all you lovely Scots: come on in - the water's not as chilly as its reputed to be!

[David Bailey]

Many Scots have stopped contributing or even logging on precisely for this reason !( Not my opinion , this is based on talking to people I know who used to be regular contributers) A bit disappointing really, but quite understandable.
I wouldn't presume to be aware of exact figures, but at a rough guess 80% of the current regular contributers to the Forum are from south of the border.
This is not confined to the Social events area either.

A bit sad really as it is supposed to be the CerocSCOTLAND Forum!

Well, I'm a bit biased being a nancy southerner, but I'd have thought that pretty much most topics (e.g. dance technique, Why CerocTM is Cr@p At XXX, Singletons Sofa etc.) are fairly location-neutral; presumably the more contributors, the more healthy the forum is as a whole? If you doubt that, look at some other ceroc forums in the UK...

On the other hand, it's worth remembering, especially with social events, that this internet thingy is worldwide, and perhaps it's worth keeping that in mind for any and all posts. It's easy to forget sometimes...

Personally, I've made a resolution this year to talk about dance as much as possible, and to stay clear of most of the social threads - works for me, as I'm naturally anti-social anyway, and most social threads bore me.

[stewart38]

There's room for all of us but I would like to hear more from the Scottish people on here.

To all you lovely Scots: come on in - the water's not as chilly as its reputed to be!

I may have missed it but have never heard whats going on over a weekend within 100 miles of Newcastle

My friend is always going up there getting pissed. I could leave him in the pub and find somewhere to dance

[David Bailey]

And where would the Southport (et al) discussions go?.

Errr... OK then:
- "Social: Scotland"
- "Social: England"
- "Social: Weekenders"
- "Social: Other"

How's that?

I'm feeling another poll coming along...

[LMC]

Other is too vague. How about

Social: herding cats

for non-dance related stuff?

[drathzel]

Have we not discussed this before? or am i having deja vu?

[Lynn]

I guess you must have the Scots and N. Irish on the sofa on your ignore list...

Yeah, there's two of us N Irish there you know!

[Piglet]

I may have missed it but have never heard whats going on over a weekend within 100 miles of Newcastle

Well if you look at the opening Ceroc Scotland webpage all the details are there - I guess we Scots just don't like starting threads on them for some reason. I think most of us are shy, or just like to be flies on the walls of the posts.

But come up to Aberdeen in February for the fantastic Beach Ballroom event - there is a thread on here about that.

Otherwise there's a party on in one of the cities once a month - Aberdeen's is the third Saturday of the month - the first Saturday and the last Saturday of the month are held in either Edinburgh or Glasgow - they have a set Saturday, but I can never remember which is which and usually only go along when I've been invited by a lovely dancer cos both are much too far away to drive back from at the end of the night. Think Inverness might be getting their own Saturday soon and perhaps Dundee? And there's the odd party in Stirling. Every Friday night we've now got a ceroc night in Brechin and that is fantastic! There are also other nights that get a mention on here that aren't run by ceroc.

If you fancy a trip to Scotland I'm sure that there are enough forumites on here to make you feel welcome and help you find the best venues to go to.

[ducasi]

Errr... OK then:
- "Social: Scotland"
- "Social: England"
- "Social: Weekenders"
- "Social: Other"

How's that?

Getting better...

The two hot spots for forum memberships seem to be Scotland and London. So I'd pull them out as special cases from the general, giving a General events forum, a Scottish events forum and a London events forum.

That's just an idea though, with its own flaws...

I'm feeling another poll coming along...

I'd been thinking of posting a new thread asking folks how the forums could be revamped or rearranged to improve the organisation. (Just for my own curiosity, though maybe Franck would also be interested.)

The first things I'd do is rename "Intermediate Corner" to be "Technique and Style", and merge the book club and big brother forums into chit-chat, and bring fun & games into the discussion lounge.

Actually, I'd want to do a whole lot more than that, but I'll wait until I get round to that thread before going further...