State Designated Forums

Talk Discussion in 'BeerAdvocate Talk' started by HorseheadsHophead, Jan 26, 2018.

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  1. HorseheadsHophead

    HorseheadsHophead Grand Pooh-Bah (3,732) Sep 15, 2014 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Hi there. I know that regional forums already exist, but I'd like to posit the suggestion for forums for each individual state in the U.S. I realize that that might be a lot of work and might be more taxing on the website's servers, but some of the regions are such a broad area. If I want to find threads about Hawaii, I have to sift through dozens, (if not hundreds) of California threads. If I want to research Florida breweries, (which I have been trying to do) I have to comb through the entire Deep South. Even here in New York, we share space with Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. Beer scenes have become simultaneously so diversified, enlarged, and localized in each individual state that I've really begun to wonder if a forum for each state might be necessary.
    Anyway, that's just my opinion. Take it as you will. I just think it's a good idea worth considering.
     
    #1 HorseheadsHophead, Jan 26, 2018
    ecpho, Lucular, Samlover55 and 1 other person like this.
  2. Beersnake

    Beersnake Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,884) Aug 17, 2013 California
    Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I have had a similar experience. It makes sense to consider this and possibly separate out all states, or at least take out some of the really high-traffic states from the broader categories.
     
    #2 Beersnake, Jan 26, 2018
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  3. HorseheadsHophead

    HorseheadsHophead Grand Pooh-Bah (3,732) Sep 15, 2014 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Yeah. You're in California? My case in point. California is a world unto itself as far as beer goes. It's not fair to lump Hawaii in with it.
     
    #3 HorseheadsHophead, Jan 26, 2018
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  4. BBThunderbolt

    BBThunderbolt Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,846) Sep 24, 2007 Kiribati
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Well, perhaps, instead of having "someone" narrow things, perhaps "someone" could take charge, and organize "Visiting xxxx" threads for their area. Yes, it's work, the ones we have run quarterly, and our smaller areas have similar threads that are updated one or two times a year. TLDR, don't rebuild the the site, work within the current parameters:

    https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-seattle-winter-2018-update.554171/

    https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-portland-winter-2017-18-update.551544/

    https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/visiting-bend-sunriver-late-2017.524264/

    https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/nw-wa-updates-winter-18.553449/
     
    #4 BBThunderbolt, Jan 26, 2018
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  5. FBarber

    FBarber Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,325) Mar 5, 2016 Illinois
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    What if instead of seperate forums there were prefixes for threads that had the state name - sort of like the trading forums where you can select a prefix for your trading thread?
     
    #5 FBarber, Jan 26, 2018
    chrisjws, cjgiant, HorseheadsHophead and 3 others like this.
  6. bbtkd

    bbtkd Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,790) Sep 20, 2015 South Dakota
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Where you have lightly populated states near heavily populated states, the threads for the smaller ones would be lost in the fray.
     
    #6 bbtkd, Jan 26, 2018
  7. FBarber

    FBarber Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,325) Mar 5, 2016 Illinois
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    But that's largely irrelevant since you can search/filter by prefix. So if you only wanted to see one state's thread you just filter by that state's prefix.
     
    #7 FBarber, Jan 26, 2018
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  8. Lucular

    Lucular Grand Pooh-Bah (4,367) Jun 20, 2014 Maryland
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    I agree. The Mid-Atlantic forum tends to be NYC/NJ heavy. Personally I think state-specific forums would be awesome. Sure, some of them would be pretty sleepy but that's okay. Personally I would love to have MD-specific threads in one place. Wouldn't bother me at all if there's only 1-2 per week on average.
     
    #8 Lucular, Jan 26, 2018
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  9. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    Something to consider with this idea: Who's going to move the tens of thousands of threads into their respective state forums? It would be a very manual task due a lot of nondescript thread titles and regional discussions.
     
    #9 Todd, Jan 26, 2018
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  10. JohnnyChicago

    JohnnyChicago Initiate (0) Sep 3, 2010 Illinois

    This seems to make the most sense. The ‘follow thread’ option already solves this problem.
    Want a Rhode Island specific thread? Open up ‘Rhode Island Breweries’ in the NE forum and everyone who wants to keep updated on it will follow the thread.

    I am of the opinion that with forums, as with beer styles, the LAST thing this site needs is MORE options.
    But, i also voted for the 1-5 rating scale, so maybe I just hate change!:stuck_out_tongue:
     
    #10 JohnnyChicago, Jan 26, 2018
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  11. Harrison8

    Harrison8 Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,285) Dec 6, 2015 Missouri
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I like this solution. It wouldn't change anything in retrospect, but would help clean up the regional forums in the coming years.


    And I don't visit the Midwest regional forums often. Everything Missouri gets buried except for Side Project news. But I'm under the impression my side of the state doesn't have many large contributing members on BA. At least, I haven't run into any, and no one else is rating/reviewing new local establishments that are packed every weekend.
     
    #11 Harrison8, Jan 26, 2018
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  12. Lucular

    Lucular Grand Pooh-Bah (4,367) Jun 20, 2014 Maryland
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Hadn't thought of that. Maybe the regional forums could be soft-closed (still accessible, but no new threads) and the new state forums could be started with a blank slate? Perhaps not a perfect solution but within a few weeks everyone would be used to the new state-specific system.
    This is also a great idea. Not sure which would be easier to implement administratively.
     
    #12 Lucular, Jan 26, 2018
  13. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    Same thing with prefixes. Someone has to tag tens of thousands of threads, otherwise the prefixes will be useless for all past threads.
     
    #13 Todd, Jan 26, 2018
  14. FBarber

    FBarber Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,325) Mar 5, 2016 Illinois
    Mod Team BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Is it posible to add the prefix label but not retroactively apply it? In other words it would be an option moving forward but not automatically applied to the already existent thread. If there was a thread that is particularly active then someone could "report it" and ask for a specific prefix to be added? Id imagine that for the tens of thousands of threads a fraction of those are actually still active and being used ...
     
    #14 FBarber, Jan 26, 2018
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  15. Todd

    Todd Founder (13,518) Aug 23, 1996 Finland
    STAFF Mod Team Society Pooh-Bah

    Yes, which is why it would be the best solution.
     
    #15 Todd, Jan 26, 2018
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  16. HorseheadsHophead

    HorseheadsHophead Grand Pooh-Bah (3,732) Sep 15, 2014 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    That, I think, would be the biggest challenge. :thinking_face:
     
    #16 HorseheadsHophead, Jan 26, 2018
  17. jvgoor3786

    jvgoor3786 Grand Pooh-Bah (4,222) May 28, 2015 Arkansas
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Someone started an informal Arkansas thread quite a while ago. It stays active, and I love it. Great idea.
     
    #17 jvgoor3786, Jan 26, 2018
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  18. drtth

    drtth Initiate (0) Nov 25, 2007 Pennsylvania
    In Memoriam

    Living near the PA boarder with at least 3 different states and having convenient access to at least two more nearby states I'd prefer not to lose the ability to easily watch brewery happening in nearby mid-atlantic states. So I don't find the present organization particularly burdensome as I can easy track mid-atlantic brewery happenings.
     
    #18 drtth, Jan 27, 2018
  19. cjgiant

    cjgiant Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,584) Jul 13, 2013 District of Columbia
    Society Pooh-Bah

    I like the tagging and going forward ideas. If possible and not too taxing, perhaps there also could be a "suggest update" to update the tag for the threads people care enough to want to "upgrade."
     
    #19 cjgiant, Jan 27, 2018
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  20. Realsambo

    Realsambo Initiate (0) Apr 15, 2016 Texas

    What if nothing old moves and just tabs are added to the regional boards like in the main ip trade forum board. That way people can still post regional topics but also get more specific just in case something ever happens in Idaho.
     
    #20 Realsambo, Jan 27, 2018
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