Jenbel

I'm a bit concerned that some think Travelbuzz! is appropriate for threads about the US. Travelbuzz! is not the forum for threads related to a particular country - they should be moved off to that country's destination forum. If you start a thread about tipping in the US, the appropriate venue for it is not Travelbuzz!, it's an American forum. Unless you want to make Travelbuzz! the de facto US forum. But that's not great as there is no guarantee a thread which is asking about American stuff will stay on that topic, as because Travelbuzz! is not the American forum, international respondents will reply with international responses.. which isn't really what the OP was looking for.

CMK10

Well, why aren't these threads appropriate in TravelBuzz! The description of said forum is:

Tipping in the US fits that description

Jenbel

So then is EVERY thread about travel. Why bother having the destination forums?

But also its about equality of treatment. A thread about tipping in the UK will be moved straight off to the UK & Ireland forum. Why isn't that thread considered Travelbuzz! worthy, when one about the US is? Do we want to make non-Americans feel marginalised on FT?

CMK10

Well Americans are the majority presence on FT (60/40 split I believe) so the entire rest of the world combined does not equal one country...think about that. For what it's worth, I think there should be a USA forum, I just disagreed with you saying it wasn't what TravelBuzz was for, especially as TravelBuzz gets a lot of traffic, I like knowing that good questions (like tipping in this strange land of mine) can get a lot of air time.

Jenbel

I am thinking about it. I don't really thinks that it helps the 40% of members to have one of the general forums also seen as the preserve of US only questions. Too many Americans already make the assumption that everyone will automatically know they are talking about the US when they start threads on a board with a 40% non-US membership

And yes, Travelbuzz! does get a lot of traffic. So let's not move any question about any country out of it, since it will get a lot of air time in there!

exilencfc

I'd have thought that you could have tipping threads in both - one in the US forum aimed primarily at visitors to the USA and one in Travel Buzz which would be more a discussion of when tipping is appropriate/comparison of the situation in different countries. I don't think the current travel buzz thread is actually all that helpful if you just want simple, easy to follow, advice.

The same could apply to the 50 state thing being as foreign tourists don't necessarily have the same requirements as American business people when it comes to deciding where to have dinner in Atlanta or whether to drive through rural Georgia.

I do think there's a paradox in that American business travellers must be comfortably the largest group on FT and yet the USA forum as many of us seem to imagine it wouldn't really cater for them.

tcook052

Yes, please as I don't believe there's been a firm answer as to how many threads should be housed in this proposed forum. Is the demand really there are only appears to be there?

MSPeconomist

For the record, I disagree with this perspective/attitude.

BTW, statistically USA citizens don't travel abroad as much and are much less likely to have passports than citizens of many other countries (especially if you control for education and/or income/wealth), but I suspect that FT participants from the USA aren't typical in this regard and, in fact, many of us do international business travel regularly.

lin821

And here's the TravelBuzz thread for it:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...countries.html

I am positively sure traffic shouldn't be the right reason to justify threads created or kept in "busier" fora for more air time.

SkiAdcock

That's not the part we're thinking about, more your comment reinforcing the view that it's all about us Americans FT is a IBB that is lucky enough to have a 40% int'l presence with numerous int'l FTers providing info for others, including us Yanks when we travel abroad.

I'm going to give this a few more days or a week to get some additional input on pros/cons, but I'm leaning towards giving this a go.

Cheers.

MSPeconomist

I'm inclined to be in favor of a general USA forum in the Destinations area of FT, but before we vote, I'd like to see the evidence.

According to the sticky thread entitled "What is TB and how are new forums...considered?" at the top of this forum (which has its own wiki too), TB has formal criteria for forum changes, including a list of 6-9 questions (which has apparently evolved somewhat since at least 2009). See the February 2009 post that was updated by SanDiego1K in 2010:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/11201697-post2.html

Typically, these questions are posted in threads proposing now fora, often bySkiAdcock and JDiver, but sometimes by others, including people who are not TB members. Here are some recent examples:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22523247-post4.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22680522-post2.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/22074824-post7.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19128011-post7.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18897981-post3.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18829657

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19048313-post3.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18146372-post3.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18380424-post2.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17869484-post2.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17744320-post7.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/17744312-post23.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20882511-post2.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19135845-post8.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19819499-post2.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20412261-post52.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20203165-post4.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/20246455-post2.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19906099-post4.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19861751-post8.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/19135845-post8.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/18823533-post2.html

While I realize that a few posts in this thread have touched on some of these questions, for instance by giving examples of threads and general topics that could go into the new forum, it would be helpful to have the case made for the new forum in one place. This material could be a good candidate for a wiki attached to this thread.

SkiAdcock

There - fixed it for you. No need to post a gazillion links that say the exact same thing.

BTW - my initial concern was about traffic, but based on other posts in this thread giving examples & their thoughts I'm leaning towards this & unless there are more anti-arguments made will probably do a motion re: it early next week.

Cheers.

JDiver

I wish I could say I've done due diligence on this one, but I can't. But at a gut level, it feels like a good move. USA Forum with a general USA and regional (the existing) fora seems to make sense, allowing for the regional activity that exists now, but adding a place to ask, answer and share national issues not regionally constrained.

"I have two weeks' holiday coming up and want to experience the (diverse wilderness, best regional wining and dining, most diverse cities, most important historical places, etc. etc.) in the USA. What can you suggest?"

"I'm thinking of renting a car for a couple of weeks, driving from New York to Seattle, down to San Francisco and Los Angeles and then to Miami via southwest Indian country; your suggestions are welcome."



I genuinely can't see any negatives, only positives.

exilencfc

But I thought that Americans only had such ridiculous plans for travelling in Europe because that was how travelling in America works

Jenbel

Couple of weeks? That's a three day itinerary in Scotland