Why do San Jose and San Francisco have their own sub-forums?

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by bmw335xi

If we had sub forums for every area/city...there would be very little discussion on City-Data.

I have to disagree. There are so many general questions along with politically motivated posts that they end up taking a larger % of the general posts. All one has to do is take a look at the posts on the first page and the longest running threads in the California forum. How many are questions from someone interested in moving to an area for example? They are mostly ppl bickering about some generic thing like Why shouldn't rich people in CA be taxed more? There will be plenty of those mind numbing discussions to go around for many years to come. And for those interested in area specific data, they should be able to go to a forum related to such an area, just like SoCal does right now. Heck I used to live in LA. And the forum separation down there is much better and useful for example when someone has a question on a good place to raise a family close to the coastal LA. Something that specific gets lost in the general forum when ppl are too busy pontificating on why all liberals are commies or rebuplicans ignorant. Then add in the racially charged threads and the downward spiral merrily continues like listen to conversations in a bar going down some endless rabbit trail.

[Curmudgeon]

'Cause they're the center of the universe, dontcha know.

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

I agree.

Personally I'd like to see a "California Politics" subforum to move those discussions out of the general forum. The political threads degrade so fast anyway into bashing from both the left and right.

A subforum for CA politics? Not a bad idea.

Although I suspect the CA forum would get really boring because you'd be stuck fielding the same questions over and over again.

[18Montclair]

Another idea for locals looking at generating more traffic about their city or county or region would be to create a thread titled something like "The Central Valley Thread" or "The Fresno Thread". And you can post things about your city or area in that thread and instead of creating a new thread for new topics, just post them all in the same thread. Just an idea.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

A subforum for CA politics? Not a bad idea.

Although I suspect the CA forum would get really boring because you'd be stuck fielding the same questions over and over again.

I've dealt with that on other forums over the years, it is actually OK with me to field the same questions since one of my reasons to be here is to help answer questions, not debate politics. If I want to debate politics I can go to newspaper forums, HuffPost, etc.

Having a political subfourm would create a better and more useful general forum instead of the same people reiterating their same positions over and over and over on new threads. That results in useful info about California regions getting shoved onto the back pages of the forum.

Most people don't go beyond a page or two on search engine results or forums before they give up looking for info, either walking away or creating a post with the same old question.

If the other posts weren't pushing out the regional info maybe the same questions wouldn't get asked over and over again.

I think most of us know the political positions of the regulars, has anyone really changed their viewpoint because of those threads? Can't we at least combine some of that repetitive reposting of political and other viewpoints into master threads or subforums?

If not, then we need to rethink the regional subforums creating new ones to collect all the relocation info in one place for each region of the state. That would also make it easier for visitors to find previous answers.

[FresnoFacts]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

Another idea for locals looking at generating more traffic about their city or county or region would be to create a thread titled something like "The Central Valley Thread" or "The Fresno Thread". And you can post things about your city or area in that thread and instead of creating a new thread for new topics, just post them all in the same thread. Just an idea.

Except that then goes against what happened with Ventura where it was the number of threads not the number of posts that led to creating a new subforum. See below:

Originally Posted by SOON2BNSURPRISE

What it comes down to is numbers of threads within a forum. We were able to start a Ventura County forum because many of us asked for it and were able to show that we had the threads to support a new sub forum.

[TimC2462]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

I've dealt with that on other forums over the years, it is actually OK with me to field the same questions since one of my reasons to be here is to help answer questions, not debate politics. If I want to debate politics I can go to newspaper forums, HuffPost, etc.

Having a political subfourm would create a better and more useful general forum instead of the same people reiterating their same positions over and over and over on new threads. That results in useful info about California regions getting shoved onto the back pages of the forum.

Most people don't go beyond a page or two on search engine results or forums before they give up looking for info, either walking away or creating a post with the same old question.

If the other posts weren't pushing out the regional info maybe the same questions wouldn't get asked over and over again.

I think most of us know the political positions of the regulars, has anyone really changed their viewpoint because of those threads? Can't we at least combine some of that repetitive reposting of political and other viewpoints into master threads or subforums?

If not, then we need to rethink the regional subforums creating new ones to collect all the relocation info in one place for each region of the state. That would also make it easier for visitors to find previous answers.

Excellent points. When I began posting on this forum, it was to provide information and clarifications on the misconceptions of the Central Valley cities that I am familiar with.

Admittedly, I have ventured away from doing that when I started participating in California politics and the ongoing bashing.

It makes sense provide a subforum specifically for California politics as those who are interested in such topics can always check out the subforum. I don't think it would reduce the traffic or the interest for California politics. If anything, those who are interested in information about various cities would see a reduction in traffic in general, but at least they won't have to go through a lot of clutter.

That said, I'm all for creating a subforum for California politics if the moderators are soliciting feedback.

[MtnSurfer]

Yes, I like the idea of a California Politics forum as it really has nothing to do with city/area specific data. Then those who have a political hot button to press can hog wild with it there. But I do agree with FresnoFacts that very few of these discussions ever change anyone's view or amount to much. They are basically ppl talking at ppl with the same agenda over and over again. So while I've responded to some of them, it's really not my purpose for participating in CD at all. I'd rather provide usefull regional information to someone with legitimate needs/questions rather then respond to loaded/rhetorical political questions which go nowhere.

Derek

[18Montclair]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Yes, I like the idea of a California Politics forum as it really has nothing to do with city/area specific data. Then those who have a political hot button to press can hog wild with it there. But I do agree with FresnoFacts that very few of these discussions ever change anyone's view or amount to much. They are basically ppl talking at ppl with the same agenda over and over again. So while I've responded to some of them, it's really not my purpose for participating in CD at all. I'd rather provide usefull regional information to someone with legitimate needs/questions rather then respond to loaded/rhetorical political questions which go nowhere.

Derek

All true, but what you call useful might not be useful to others and what you call useless might not be useless to others.

To each his own. That's why we dont have to respond to or even open threads we dont think are relevant.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by 18Montclair

All true, but what you call useful might not be useful to others and what you call useless might not be useless to others.

To each his own. That's why we dont have to respond to or even open threads we dont think are relevant.

That's fine, that's also why its good to organize things according to ppl's area of interest. Some really enjoy debating political issues. So have a place for them to do just that. But when mixing togther politicals, philosophical questions, racial debates, etc... with topics specific to region/city data its a jumbled mess. It's like going to a forum to learn about one thing (a new car's features) and seeing a bunch of threads about something totally different (natural child birth). The only thing they have in common is that ppl happen to do them in CA.

Derek