Impressions of this forum lately (Pittsburgh, Denver: lease, job market, salary)

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by creepsinc

She needs to realize that most of the people in this forum don't live in the city, and mostly form their opinions from the local news, which of course concentrates on the negatives.

I read the obits in the Beaver County Times on occasion, and sometimes my brother sends me stories from the P-G, but that's about it. The stories he sends are usually about sports, or Beaver Falls.

[Denton56]

RR said "I've actually just deleted my Facebook account so I can spend more of my free time as the weather improves getting on out and volunteering."

I am very glad to hear that you're finally going to do some volunteering. You will be surprised at how good it will make you feel and how many friends you will make. Remember, it won't happen immediately. You may need to volunteer several times before you begin to feel good about it and make friends. BUT, it might be a bit premature to have deleted your facebook account thinking that the weather is about to improve and you can get out more. It's a looooong way until Spring! There are many, many, volunteer opportunities that have nothing to do with the weather. So get out there! Enjoy!

[Denton56]

One other thing, you've asked ''when does Pittsburgh lose its appeal"? Sometime between Valentine's Day and the end of March.

[Caladium]

Originally Posted by RestonRunner86

Try the NoVA sub-forum, where any complaint about the area was "silenced" (sometimes via a time-out). .

I haven't noticed this to be true. In fact if you compare the Nova and Pittsburgh forums, both have about the same number of posts complaining about this or that. If you don't believe me, go take a look.

Of course, everyone has a different opinion, which is why I invite people from the Pittsburgh forum to drop by the Nova forum and check it out. After all, Nova is a quick drive from Pittsburgh and the two metro areas share a lot in common. Who knows, you might find something interesting to you.

[gg]

Originally Posted by Denton56

One other thing, you've asked ''when does Pittsburgh lose its appeal"? Sometime between Valentine's Day and the end of March.

That is perspective. I just got back from Seven Springs. I cannot tell you how beautiful it was there. Truly amazing with a ton of new snow. Over a foot of natural and more coming. I guess most wouldn't understand because they are afraid to go outside and enjoy this great weather and fun. Sad more people don't understand, but I know better to try and lift those in misery. They are happiest there and I am happiest in happiness.

Enjoy all. Life is so good, it is hard to describe!

[PreservationPioneer]

I love this forum, and I think there is a good mix of people who love the city, loathe the city, and people on the fence. It makes the discussions always interesting, and lots of points are always brought up and debated with interest.

[Tiger Beer]

I think any person who simply views a few negative threads and then writes off a city altogether, most likely had no interest in the city to begin with.

There are plenty of cities I don't have any interest in. Occassionally I view their forums, and can quickly identify or affirm the reasons I'm not interested in them. It doesn't mean the cities are awful or bad, it just means they don't appeal to me in my set situation.

If we wanted to, we could pick a random forum, peer into it, and quickly say if it's a place we'd relocate to or not. I think the majority of us would say a negative against it for relocation's purposes based on our own personal interests, and just a rare one or two would say 'hey that might be the place for me!'

[Fiddlehead]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

I think any person who simply views a few negative threads and then writes off a city altogether, most likely had no interest in the city to begin with.

There are plenty of cities I don't have any interest in. Occassionally I view their forums, and can quickly identify or affirm the reasons I'm not interested in them. It doesn't mean the cities are awful or bad, it just means they don't appeal to me in my set situation.

If we wanted to, we could pick a random forum, peer into it, and quickly say if it's a place we'd relocate to or not. I think the majority of us would say a negative against it for relocation's purposes based on our own personal interests, and just a rare one or two would say 'hey that might be the place for me!'

Good point. We see what we want to see.

[feanix]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I frequent some other city/state forums (fori?) with some regularity, e.g. the Colorado forums, all five of them to a certain extent, but mostly CO, Denver and Boulder; the Nebraska threads, NE and Omaha; and the Illinois thread. Sometimes I don't visit the latter two states for months on end, except to lurk. Sometimes I don't visit here for months on end, either, if nothing catches my eye. I haven't lived here for so long I can't comment on restaurants and such; my kids never went to school here, so I don't know schools. I try to keep my posts to things I do know something about; I know, that's odd for CD.

However, my point is, on the other forums as well, lots of threads about, in no particular order: crime/safety, weather, transportation, conditions particular to a place, e.g. these endless 'driving in the snow' threads on the Colorado and especially Denver forums, (interestingly, now that it's winter and there is snow on the ground, there aren't any active snow driving threads), schools, finding a job, etc.

I would say that most other cities aren't quite so defensive. Denver is a city of transplants. Lots of people have someplace else to compare it to, and make some negative comparisons. No one would think of disputing "Denver is a dry city; it doesn't rain much". It's a fact! Sometimes people will argue that it isn't *that* brown much of the year, etc, but I don't see the animosity towards posters that I do here. There is some, but usually the other posters will gang up on people who tell others to leave town if they don't like it, etc.

The Coloradans tend to be very upfront, too, about people with wild-eyed ideas about moving to CO and acutally making a living there. Hardly anyone recommends just upping and leaving their home and coming out to CO with no money saved. Some go so far as to say "have the job lined up first". Others will say, be prepared to work at McDonalds, and/or have six months savings. I don't see that on this board. Most of the cheerleaders talk about how great the economy is, how people will find a job with a snap of the fingers, and so on.

Just my observations.

I frequent the Colorado forums as well and agree very much with this assessment in comparsion.

I would not move back to Pittsburgh where I was born and raised, because the area no longer appeals to me for various reasons, but I don't fault anyone who loves Pittsburgh. As someone else said we see what we want to see. That is applicable not just to the forums but living in the city as well.

My attitude is far better now that I live somewhere that appeals to me and I'm sure that played the largest impact upon my view of my hometown. Then again I'm the type of girl who believes in personal accountability instead of just outright blaming a whole city for my discord.

[Tiger Beer]

Just re-reading the Colorado post.

Actually, in pretty much ALL western states, they all say 'have a job lined up first'. This is also a common theme with Florida as well. The consistent theme is that most of the U-Hauls are going in those directions. So, you basically have a lot of people all struggling to find work and competing with all the others who went to those places from everywhere else in the U.S. for the limited jobs and paying much more in rent/housing.

The reason you don't have those same responses in the Pittsburgh and Midwest forums, is because significantly fewer people move in that direction, and if they do, you have few of the other competitors driving from all around the country to compete with, and your rents/housing are much lower as well. So, there is no real reason to do the 'warning warning' theme in them.