Question for everyone: Should Erie have its' own subforum? (Philadelphia: hotel, neighborhood)

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by alleghenyangel

Lancaster gets so much attention. What about York?

Oil City was quite a topic for discussion around here once upon a time. I'm sure Franklin and Titusville felt they were getting the short shrift.

[Tinare]

I think so. Or at least a Northwestern PA subforum, so that specific questions about that area can be addressed and not lost in general PA discussions. IMHO, anyway.

[SteelCityRising]

This topic has arisen in the past, and, essentially, the answer is that new city sub-forus are created dependent upon "traffic". If you want Erie to have its own sub-forum, then it needs to have more people discussing it. I pushed interminably for a "South Central PA" sub-forum that would have included not only Harrisburg but also York, Lancaster, Gettysburg, Hanover, Carlisle, and surrounding areas. That entire area functions as a sprawled out metroplitan area, anyways, with a lot of people commuting from city to city, and the area is interdependent economically. A lot of people agreed with me. In the end they decided to create a sub-forum exclusively for Harrisburg, and that forum hasn't seen very much traffic. If it included these other nearby cities it would be much busier and much more beneficial.

Getting back to the topic at-hand I do not believe Erie currently has a sufficient discussion level to warrant its own sub-forum. The PA forum is fine as it is---save for the blunder in excluding York, Lancaster, etc. from the Harrisburg (South Central PA) sub-forum.

[escilade18]

I don't see how it would hurt. I mean the Florida forum has 14 sub-forums some including cities that I have never even heard of (i.e., Brevard Co, Port St. Lucie, Punta Gorda, Ocala.) If those places warrant sub-forums, I don't see the harm of both making an Erie one and renaming Harrisburg the Harrisburg-South Central PA sub-forum. I trust that if there is enough demand for those two, that the mods will accommodate the demand but with the examples that I gave from Florida, I suspect the amount of demand is not very high

[trackstar13]

Yes the majority of Erie seems to discuss its concerns in person rather than on an internet forum. I am consistently amazed how many businesses only take cash in Erie and how many businesses do not have a website or a Facebook page. I have had some interesting political, economic, and social issue discussions with Erieites at various diners, bars, and local establishments.

[escilade18]

Originally Posted by track2514

Yes the majority of Erie seems to discuss its concerns in person rather than on an internet forum. I am consistently amazed how many businesses only take cash in Erie and how many businesses do not have a website or a Facebook page. I have had some interesting political, economic, and social issue discussions with Erieites at various diners, bars, and local establishments.

That is actually quite interesting. Do you have any theories on why this is the case?

[trackstar13]

I am honestly not sure escilade18, but Erie seems to be different than most medium size cities in terms of how businesses and residents have embraced technology. I know it is typical of certain businesses like Plumbers, Mechanics, etc. to accept cash only, but there are many restaurants, convenience stores, bait and tackle stores, small retail stores, etc. that only accept cash and have no website or Facebook page. I know this happens everywhere, but it is surprising how common this is in the Erie metro area. I understand that accepting credit cards costs the businesses money and everything, but they could simply have a cash price and then an increased credit price or put an ATM in the building. Additionally, many businesses seem to have very odd hours that are not posted anywhere but on the doors of the store and I usually have to ask one of my neighbors when they are open. People have told me "You have to go to this place they are great." Then I try to search online for more information and alas there is nothing.

Additionally, many people in Erie seem to still read the paper version of the newspaper and it is almost eerie leaving my house in the morning and seeing the sheer number of newspapers in people's driveways. It kind of reminds me of the 80's and 90's when newspaper readership was still high elsewhere in the country. Another interesting thing I have noticed is that for sports events, concerts, etc. many people in Erie still go to the box office and buy the tickets rather than purchasing online. I recently went to the ZZ Top concert that was in Erie and while I was entering the ballpark I noticed that I was one of the few people who had the printed out internet ticket, the overwhelming majority of people seemed to buy the hard ticket from the box office. I have no problem with any of the things I am posting here, I am just saying it is interesting to see how things are somewhat different in Erie than other areas of the country.

[Ohiogirl81]

Originally Posted by track2514

Additionally, many people in Erie seem to still read the paper version of the newspaper and it is almost eerie leaving my house in the morning

Hee.

[gwillyfromphilly]

Maybe instead of calling it an Erie sub-forum, it could be called the "Northwestern Pennsylvania" sub-forum so that it includes all the other Northwestern counties as well.

[PreservationPioneer]

Or we can just continue discussing all of these places on the main Pennsylvania forum. I think subforums, outside of major cities, attract less traffic.