Caporegime
- Joined
- 21 Nov 2005
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- 41,519
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- Cornwall
Don't think any new forum idea should be dismissed while we've still got the highly successful On The Water 
Travel sub-forum?
- Thread starter mr tommo
- Start date
Exactly. I'd be more than happy to do this for my trips and be extremely interested to read others reviews too. Would turn into a great resource in the future for people looking to book trips away, as long as there is a good structure to thread titles eg (Bali - April 2012) it will be brilliant for finding info.
Man of Honour
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- 27 Sep 2004
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- Glasgow
I've just taken a quick look back over the past few pages of GD and on first look there's maybe half a dozen threads on travel (with a fairly loose definition) which doesn't seem like a huge amount. I can appreciate the argument that GD being relatively fast paced means that some threads won't last terribly long on the front page but there is a general disinclination not to create lots of sub-forums and disperse the posting further.
One point that you may or may not be worried about is that while people might not consider themselves travel experts or interested enough to venture into a separate sub-forum they could still have useful input to the thread - keeping it in GD allows them to see it while moving it to another sub-forum may mean they miss it and so you don't get their input. It's an argument that applies to the creation of pretty much every sub-forum - sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn't but it's an issue to be aware of.
One point that you may or may not be worried about is that while people might not consider themselves travel experts or interested enough to venture into a separate sub-forum they could still have useful input to the thread - keeping it in GD allows them to see it while moving it to another sub-forum may mean they miss it and so you don't get their input. It's an argument that applies to the creation of pretty much every sub-forum - sometimes it matters and sometimes it doesn't but it's an issue to be aware of.
Soldato
- Joined
- 2 Jun 2004
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- 18,423
Same could be said about food, and yet that forum is clearly a success.
Not sure I understand your problem with it?
It will be more a of a resource forum, good for people looking for tips and advise, and threads will not be lost in the mass of **** that gets posted in GD a lot of the time.
I'd happily sit through other peoples reviews of exotic places aroundt he world, fascinating things theyve seen on their travels, or things to avoid in certain areas.
I'd probably get to see and hear about places I've never even considered travelling to before.. how could I possibly search for that in GD?
Yes but where does it stop? Travel subforum, gardening subforum, spec me subforum. It'll end up diluted so that many subforums have about 20 posts per day. Take some of the subforums on pistonheads as an example.
Soldato
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- 2 Jun 2004
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Trial and error is the key, as has already been said. Try it, and if it works keep it, otherwise don't. Simples.
Prevents legitimate travel topics being trolled by the GD masses at least.
TBH, the only people who would argue against it are people who don't travel and would read (and reply to) such threads out of literally nothing but boredom anyway.
I appreciate that it may get missed by people wanted to comment with a "nice holiday, always wanted to go there" , but I feel the most important part of a Travel forum is nearly always going to be the initial opening post.
Lets say someone posts about Bora Bora in the travel forum. Some great photos are posted, little paragraph about the hotel, the local area, best bits and worst bits. Thats fantastic and the OP is there to answer any questions people have about that holiday area, it matters very little that the average GD poster misses the opportunity to comment with a "cool hol, bro".
Its unlikely to evoke lots of "cool holiday" types posts, but as a review, it will make a great resource for others.
Taking a reactionary approach and creating a sub forum when another forum becomes overwhelmed with subjects on that topic isn't a good way to run a forum.
If discussion on a certain topic wants to be encouraged, a sub forum should be considered to promote and encourage discussion on that topic. Look at La Cuisine. How many food threads did we have in GD? Not that many. There are now a lot more threads on food than there would have been had La Cuisine not been created.
The boating forum is a failure but that's mainly because very few members have an interest in boating. It can be argued that a much larger portion of the membership have an interest in travelling and if there was a forum which took the topic seriously, those members would be more willing to take the time to construct reviews and conduct discussion on the topic of travel.
If discussion on a certain topic wants to be encouraged, a sub forum should be considered to promote and encourage discussion on that topic. Look at La Cuisine. How many food threads did we have in GD? Not that many. There are now a lot more threads on food than there would have been had La Cuisine not been created.
The boating forum is a failure but that's mainly because very few members have an interest in boating. It can be argued that a much larger portion of the membership have an interest in travelling and if there was a forum which took the topic seriously, those members would be more willing to take the time to construct reviews and conduct discussion on the topic of travel.
Soldato
- Joined
- 12 Jun 2008
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- 3,011
Just have a thread for it if you really need it. Having 50+ subforums for very look nook and cranny of life isn't really what these forums were designed for...
Soldato
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- 9 Oct 2009
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- 9,284
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- United Kingdom
Great idea. Would be happy to see travel sub-forum.
ocuk is a pretty old place as its members mature they become less interested in pcs and more interested in travel , cooking , gardening or cars its a simple fact.
if you want to keep brand loyalty from these people you need to give them a reason to stay interested in OCUK.
look how many people only post in the sports or motors section and barely ever bother with the other forums at all
if you want to keep brand loyalty from these people you need to give them a reason to stay interested in OCUK.
look how many people only post in the sports or motors section and barely ever bother with the other forums at all
Soldato
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- 2 Jun 2004
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I agree we don't want an over abundance of subforums, so if it works and is more popular than another subforum, then get rid of THAT subforum.
A travel forum would be at least as popular as LA CUISINE, and infinately more popular than ON THE WATER. So where's the issue?