SanDiego1K

I'm happy to consider giving the continents of the world the same status as the USA. I want folks to have the best member experience possible, and if we can do that thru gentle software tweaks, will do so.

I would appreciate whoever is interested, looking at all the top tier categories under "rest of world" and suggesting how to structure them. For example, there's Cuba and Caribbean that should not be given the same status as Europe and Asia, but then where would they go? I'd be inclined to give Canada and Mexico top tier status, as most of North America is the US which has its own separate section.

Thoughts, please.

As an aside, I'm about to rename the Scandinavia forum "the Nordic countries". The description spoke of the Nordic countries. People were posting their questions about Finland there. A member yesterday was rbping all of them, suggesting they be moved to the Europe forum. That's one solution; yet I think that most are apt to think of the northern countries together. By renaming the Scandinavia forum, it will reflect what actually resides there.

Jenbel

I can't say I'm happy about the apparent discrepancy between say Orlando which is accorded equal status as Germany or the UK & Eire. Really?

As to this being a US owned board blah blah blah... we cannot attract in non-US members if we continue with the mantra that the US is more important. Why would any non-Americans want to spend time on a board where their own country of residence is accorded such little importance?

Why not do away with the artificial distinction between the US and the rest of the world, create a set of forums by continent (and please reunite the ME with Asia,where it belongs, in the current list it's even more tagalong than normal), and then subforum into their constituent parts? So top level forum would be North America, with subforums for US regions, Canada and Mexico... then Europe - with their associated sub forums/constituent parts... etc.

Dovster

The fact is, as far as "destinations" is concerned, it doesn't really matter where the poster is from, what is important is where he is going to.

I rarely go to the Middle East Forum, for example, because I don't travel to any country in the area with the exception of Israel and, living in that country, I really don't need to get information about it.

I have posted on the Orlando Forum (when I first started planning my trip there) and the Las Vegas Forum before going there.

exbayern

I don't post much in the Germany forum for similar reasons (plus it gets really boring answering the same questions about castles in Bavaria over and over, when there are already a number of excellent threads available on the subject). It may not be the intent, as some fora have ambassadors who do a really good job of giving advice about 'their' country/region, but I simply don't. I suppose that I feel marginally guilty about not giving back to the community that way, but I can do so in other ways.

Agree on all your points. I was told earlier this year however that this website is primarily for Americans and thus terminology should be presented in a format most suited to American readers. I don't agree and I think many others feeel the same, and I don't know if that really is the intent or the life of this site anymore. Even when it was first created, there were many non-American posters, posting about non-American destinations.

As to the Middle East, I am still extremely puzzled about that one. So it would appear are readers. Questions about Turkey, Azerbaijan, and others are tossed in there more likely due to ignorance about geography and history, but it is debatable if they belong there. They are then difficult to find for those of us looking under other fora for information. (I stumble on those threads via a google search more often than by looking at what I consider the appropriate forum heading)

Thank you however for the efforts which have been made to date, as well as the opportunity to give input. I know that I would use the destination fora more frequently if I could find things more easily.

JOUY31

I would strongly disagree. Egypt is part of the Middle East, yet it is in Africa, not Asia. I believe we should keep a Middle East forum separate from Asia and separate from Africa.

exbayern

I know that the destination fora subheadings are meant to be descriptive, but perhaps then the Middle East needs to be more defined?

SanDiego1K

I shudder when I read that, as that is not the case. 35-40% of our moderators are from outside the US. Talkboard has increased its worldwide focus the past 18 months by searching for gaps in coverage of international carriers. I have not observed US-centric focus amongst either group.

Let's give everyone a blank piece of paper. Tell me how you would organize the regional forums. What would be top tier, and what would you move under each?

exbayern

Thanks. I shuddered as well, then I 'got over it'

As to organisation, that is an interesting one. It's like the world map; depending on where you are in the world, it is laid out differently ie North America is not always in the centre.

However, I would do something such as

'The Americas'
- Canada
- US (with sub fora for the most popular areas, and I agree that Orlando may not be one of them...)
- Mexico
- and so on moving southwards and eastwards to include the various current fora

'Europe'
- UK and Ireland
- France
- Germany
- the Nordic countries
- and so on moving again southwards and eastwards including those pesky countries such as Turkey and the rest of the muddied area on the right hand side of the map which are often classified as Europe, or Asia, or the Middle East, but are really considered Europe

'Africa'
- now it gets messy! Do some of the countries listed as 'Middle East' get listed here?

'Asia'
- India
- China
- etc again moving southwards and eastwards

'Australia' (can't forget them!!)

'Antartica'

Ultimately however, whatever you end up with, someone will be offended, or lost. If the goal is to make things easier to locate, as well as provided some order and logic, then I think that using the continents as a starting point may make sense (although I did group the Americas together)

(Maybe what we really need is a visual map so that posters know where to look. )

Using Baku as an example: Awhile back I wanted up to date, recent information. I found little on FT. Now I find little except in the LH forum about a snow delay, and then a rather odd thread in a hotel forum with posts from people who had never been there and were rather uncomplimentary. In the end, I did a google search and found Baku or Azerbaijan mentioned in a few places on FT but I don't believe where I expected to find it on FT ie in the destination forum for that city/country. Ultimately I went elsewhere for information.

GUWonder

More in favor of a "Middle East and North Africa" section if not having the Middle East as a section under Asia.

Africa (Sub-Saharan)
East Asia and Pacific
Europe and Central Asia
North America (excluding Latin America and Caribbean)
Latin America & Caribbean
Middle East & North Africa
South Asia

JOUY31

I would pretty much agree with this; I could perhaps change "South Asia" to "South Asia (Indian sub-continent)", separate the Pacific from East Asia, but overall, I like it.

UnitedFlyGuy

Destinations forums should be in alpha order. Then again, I'm OCD with that kind of stuff.

jspira

At the very top, there should be three regions, namely

• The Americas

• EMEA

• APAC

Every nation or land can find a home under one of these top-level categories and this is how most people in the corporate world organize it as well.

SanDiego1K

We currently have two major headings for our regional forums:

• USA
• World

When FlyerTalk was formed, it was predominantly an American board. Putting the USA alone and pushing all other countries into "world" reflected that. That's not the case today. We are genuinely an international board. A significant volume of readership comes from outside the US. Members have made valid points here and elsewhere about respecting our international diversity. It is my goal to do that by going more to a regional structure in alphabetical order.

Everything below is an existing forum; it simply is a reordering in hopes of making them easier to find. I welcome feedback on this structure:

• Africa
• Antartica
• Americas
  ----Canada
  ----Caribbean
  ----Central America
  ----Cuba
  ----Mexico
  ----South America
  --------Argentina
  --------Brazil
• America - USA
  ----Current forums in current order
• Asia
  ----China
  ----Hong Kong
  ----India
  ----Japan
  ----Singapore
  ----Thailand
• Europe (closed to posting at this level)
  ----Europe
  ----European Rail Travel
  ----France
  ----Germany
  ----Italy
  ----Nordic Countries
  ----Russia
  ----U.K. and Ireland
• Middle East
• Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and Pacific Islands)

My desire is that we naturally guide people to where they can find information or post their question. If you feel there are gaps in country coverage, please start a new thread and make your case to Talkboard.

SanDiego1K

Looking upstream at prior posts, I have clarified two points today:

• Turkey threads are to go in the Europe forum. The region description has been edited appropriately. I know that Turkey's land mass is overwhelmingly in Asia, but its political ties are in Europe. Turkey is a candidate country to the European Community.
• Egypt threads are to go in the Middle East forum. The region description has been edited appropriately. I looked at a number of sources before reaching this decision.

Still open: I know there has been discussion of Macau being added to the Hong Kong forum. I don't know that there was ever closure on this.

exbayern

A genuine thanks for providing the updates and for taking feedback.

I do like the new proposed ordering. And thanks in advance for the efforts it will require to make the changes.