Worcester, Springfield and Pittsfield don't have forums? (Boston: best school, live in)

[emilybh]

I would think these counties would be big enough for their own forums. I don't think City-Data realizes how many people live in Massachusetts. It is a pretty densely populated state and Worcester and is a different world than Boston. I suppose, Springfield being close to Hartford CT could share that forum but Pittsfield is yet another world. Boston is to Pittsfield as Raleigh-Durham is to Ashville, NC. Having lived there, I know.

Just making an observation.

[btownboss4]

Originally Posted by emilybh

I would think these counties would be big enough for their own forums. I don't think City-Data realizes how many people live in Massachusetts. It is a pretty densely populated state and Worcester and is a different world than Boston. I suppose, Springfield being close to Hartford CT could share that forum but Pittsfield is yet another world. Boston is to Pittsfield as Raleigh-Durham is to Ashville, NC. Having lived there, I know.

Just making an observation.

no its the Outer Banks Vs Ashville

[Tiger Beer]

I believe it's based on how often or frequent people post about a certain city or region.

Just doing a quick 'search', there doesn't seem to be many inquiries on any of those cities...with the potential exception of Worcester.

[KellyCrash]

I don't feel there is enough activity to warrant separate forums for those areas.

[in_newengland]

We've discussed this before. I think more people would post if they had a place to post. Mostly on here it's kind of boring (sorry) with people always asking what is the best school system in the Boston area.

I think at the very least there should be central MA and western MA. They can even lump Pittsfield and the Berkshires in with WMass, I don't care anymore, but I'd like to see a place for WMass.

[brent s]

there is barely enough activity to support a forum for the rest of MA outside of the boston subforum. I can't imagine there are more than 30-40 posts per day in this forum and maybe 2-3 new threads per day.

[ruready1st]

Oops, I started a new post with exactly the same subject.

I do feel there are plenty of inquiries about other parts of the state. I also agree that there aren't as many post because Boston dominates so much.

Even just creating an "All Other Areas" would be helpful.

[ruready1st]

There are at least 8 independent threads on other areas besides Boston on just the first page right now.

Are the moderators from the Greater Boston area, hence the tunnel visions?

[massnative71]

I just posted on a similar thread criticizing those who complain about Boston overly dominating this forum, yet it seems threads from elsewhere don't generally attract much interest. While this is still true, I just noticed that a good half of all threads in the main MA forum are related to the Boston area. I think everywhere inside I-495 should be moved to the Boston subforum. That is how it is done in most other states with large/multiple cities. Once you free up all the Greater Boston posts from the MA forum, I think you will find that there is too little to break up into other subforums. Yet it will simplify things for those looking for info on the rest of the state. Maybe it will even encourage more posting from other areas.

[JuJu83]

I fully support a Western Mass. forum.

In my opinion, it would increase the number of posts in the Massachusetts forum, contribute to diversity of posts in the forum, and also bring in new posters.