DANVILLE VA (the River City) NEEDS ITS OWN FORUM ... How Do We Start One? (Roanoke: how much, home)

[Dan_in_DC]

Seems like recently there has been an increase in postings about Danville, either by somebody with something to say about Danville, or by somebody with questions about Danville. That would probably be easy IF THERE WAS A FORUM FOR DANVILLE. However, it took me quite awhile to figure out which Forum might have information I needed about Danville when I first started using City-Data Forums to look for Danville-related postings.

Eventually, I managed to discern that most people seemed to be posting Danville comments in the ROANOKE AREA Forum, which makes no sense at all, since Roanoke is about 80 miles from Danville, and there doesn't seem to be a high degree of similarity between the two Cities.

Some people post new Danville threads in the VIRGINIA Forum (parent of ALL the sub-forums pertinent to anything to do with Virginia), which makes life more complicated for those looking for information specific to Danville in the Virginia Forum, because they usually have to wade through a multitude of postings that may or may not be relevant to whatever they're trying to learn about Danville.

Danville has an illustrious history. From the Virginia General Assembly's establishment in Danville of its first tobacco warehouse in 1793, Danville was to rapidly become Virginia's largest market for bright leaf tobacco. From 1882 to 2006, Danville was home of Dan River Mills, which for almost a century was the largest textile mill in the world. Today Danville is home to Ikea's very first furniture factory in North America (and so far the *only* one). Danville has its very own Metropolitan Statistical Area. And Danville was also the last Capital of the Confederacy.

And Danville needs its own Forum on City-Data.

So what's the next step here? HEY MODERATORS!!! How can we get a Danville Forum started?

Dan

[sregorat3]

Originally Posted by Dan_in_DC

Seems like recently there has been an increase in postings about Danville, either by somebody with something to say about Danville, or by somebody with questions about Danville. That would probably be easy IF THERE WAS A FORUM FOR DANVILLE. However, it took me quite awhile to figure out which Forum might have information I needed about Danville when I first started using City-Data Forums to look for Danville-related postings.

Eventually, I managed to discern that most people seemed to be posting Danville comments in the ROANOKE AREA Forum, which makes no sense at all, since Roanoke is about 80 miles from Danville, and there doesn't seem to be a high degree of similarity between the two Cities.

Some people post new Danville threads in the VIRGINIA Forum (parent of ALL the sub-forums pertinent to anything to do with Virginia), which makes life more complicated for those looking for information specific to Danville in the Virginia Forum, because they usually have to wade through a multitude of postings that may or may not be relevant to whatever they're trying to learn about Danville.

Danville has an illustrious history. From the Virginia General Assembly's establishment in Danville of its first tobacco warehouse in 1793, Danville was to rapidly become Virginia's largest market for bright leaf tobacco. From 1882 to 2006, Danville was home of Dan River Mills, which for almost a century was the largest textile mill in the world. Today Danville is home to Ikea's very first furniture factory in North America (and so far the *only* one). Danville has its very own Metropolitan Statistical Area. And Danville was also the last Capital of the Confederacy.

And Danville needs its own Forum on City-Data.

So what's the next step here? HEY MODERATORS!!! How can we get a Danville Forum started?

Dan

I thought the same of Lynchburg; it is larger than Charlottesville, has a positive growth rate, and a pretty balanced economy, but no forum. I've noticed that the forums for smaller metros are usually dominated by just a few posters and the occasional person looking for info. I wonder what the criteria for a separate forum would be.

By the way- any luck in RM?

[Dan_in_DC]

Originally Posted by sregorat3

I've noticed that the forums for smaller metros are usually dominated by just a few posters and the occasional person looking for info. I wonder what the criteria for a separate forum would be.

I found a posting by one of the moderators about that. Seems like ultimately it's up to the board administrator, and depends on how much traffic there is that's related to a particular topic.

Originally Posted by sregorat3

By the way- any luck in RM?

Not too much so far. But we're continuing to look around, as well as doing our own research.

[springgrl]

I don't understand why they don't make the sub-forums geographic, like SW VA and Central VA instead of label the areas with cities. Lynchburg, like Charlottesville, is considered Central VA, but if you post in the Charlottesville forum they bump it out. So I just start threads about Lynchburg in the main VA forum.

What would Danville be considered?

[sregorat3]

City-Data is probably like a radio station; if you never see anything about your area, you tend not to get involved. There have been plenty of posts about Lynchburg over the years, and most of these seemed to end up in the Roanoke forum. I am surprised that they don't just add Lynchburg to the Roanoke forum, since their MSAs are adjacent to one another. Danville has very little in common with either Roanoke or Lynchburg- as a region, it is considered "Southside," along with Rocky Mount, Martinsville, and South Boston.

[Dan_in_DC]

Danville is currently considered a City (or MSA) that doesn't have its own City-Data Forum yet.

[sregorat3]

Originally Posted by Dan_in_DC

Danville is currently considered a City (or MSA) that doesn't have its own City-Data Forum yet.

... my point being that if Lynchburg, which is substantially larger than Danville, doesn't have one, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Danville forum. It might never get its own forum here, but least Danville will likely have an Interstate before Lynchburg!

[LynchburgLover]

Originally Posted by sregorat3

... my point being that if Lynchburg, which is substantially larger than Danville, doesn't have one, I wouldn't hold my breath for a Danville forum. It might never get its own forum here, but least Danville will likely have an Interstate before Lynchburg!

No Interstate! I love my Route 29 just fine.

[passo82]

I think there will eventually be an interstate along the 29 corridor, whether its in the next decade or 50 years from now, it will happen. As far as subforums are concerned, they should just re-name the Roanoke forum the "Lynchburg-Roanoke area" or something along those lines.

[springgrl]

I'm derailing the thread, but why is L'burg tied to Roanoke? To be clear, I mean no disrespect to Roanoke: I spent many hours in Roanoke in the 80s while at VTech and weekends there in the 90s when my parents lived on the southern side of SML and my sister was working on Roanoke revitalization. If the train had run that far in 2009, I would have considered buying there, even though my parents are now in Lynchburg, because I'd love to be more in the mountains. But, perhaps because it was the closest town to Blacksburg, when I think of Roanoke, I think of the NRV and SW VA.

From my place in L'burg it takes me about the same amount of time to get to both cities, but 29 north seems to be an easier drive and the grocery offerings are better and more easily reached, so I head up 29 more often. As a result, I know much more about the area between Lynchburg and C'ville than Roanoke so I can offer more insight on that area for forum visitors. That's why I think the sub forums are more logically geographically stated than broken down by cities. But maybe my case is unusual? I know relatively equal numbers of people who commute from the area to each city (and one who commutes to Danville, and another who commutes to Farmville), so I can't argue forum placement from that POV.

Side note: the radio stations I listen to are full of Charlottesville ads, with very few Roanoke ads, so maybe that's also why I head there to shop. If I had local subscription TV, I guess I'd get Roanoke stations and would probably head there... Oh well. Sorry to derail. This was supposed to be about Danville.