Help Us Improve Our Section

[Mike K.]

We've been approached about the possibility of creating a separate section for St. John's.

Based on feedback there have been up to 70 contributors over the last while to St. John's discussions and some 15 are active.

There would be three options available:

1) Create a sub-forum for St. John's where threads can be started on projects or local issues
2) Create an SSP:L, full out section with sub-forums like Halifax
3) Expand St. John's presence within the current Atlantic sub-forum, essentially pre-fixing all St. John's threads with [St. John's] and threads for other cities with their respective names.

Please discuss. I can assist by providing our experiences with the three options above.

[PoscStudent]

I would choose option number 1.

[MonctonRad]

Although I am only an occasional contributer to the St. John's thread, I woild choose the sub forum option as well. A full fledged SSP local can be confusing to out of town visitors to the site.

For what it's worth, I think that it is time for a Moncton sub forum in SSP Atlantic as well. We have over 10,000 posts and over 1.2 million views on the current Moncton thread. Most threads are retired at this point. Perhaps instead of replacing it with a "Moncton II" thread, we should consider a Moncton sub forum, with different threads within the forum to discuss development issues in Riverview, Dieppe, downtown Moncton and Moncton Northwest. We could also have threads for retail, entertainment, sports etc.

Food for though.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Yeah, I'm for option one. While I do like Halifax's SSP, it can be somewhat confusing from time to time. A sub-form where separate threads for each development may be the best option.

I'm also all for a Moncton sub-form as well. While I don't post there, it does seem to be quite the active thread

[Ayreonaut]

I would prefer option #1.
I think I would contribute more to specific threads where I wouldn't feel like I was off-topic as is the case with the project/development thread. I also think a separate section could help to bring in new contributors.

I don't think an SSP: Local is necessary at this point; most of the threads people will be looking for would likely remain on the first page of a subforum anyway.

[Mike K.]

Ok great.

And what are the stats for Moncton? I.e., how many contributors and how many are active?

[MonctonRad]

For Moncton:

- 169 total posters of which I would consider about 30 to be active
- Over 10,100 posts in about four years
- Over 1.2 million views

The thread has become a resource for local media and we know that topics discussed on the forum can end up in the newspaper in about two days time. The Moncton thread is easily the second busiest in the Atlantic section of SSP. Only the Halifax SSP Local is busier.

I believe that it is time for us to move to the next higher level, however I am only one voice and would like some input from other Monctonians on the forum before this step is taken. Would it be OK with you if I PM you in a couple of weeks with the consensus?

[Architype]

My opinion, option no. 1 would be best suited.

[AllBlack]

A vote for Option 1 here.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Architype

My opinion, option no. 1 would be best suited.

i agree

[Architype]

It seems like the consensus is for a sub-forum but not a Local. Since St.John's has a decent economy now there is likely to be significant continuing development for a few years to come, and plenty of issues for discussion. Because of the heritage issues, etc. sometimes even smaller proposals seem to generate lots of attention in St. John's as compared to most cities.

[statbass]

My vote is for option 1 as well.

[Mike K.]

We'd like to try taking the prefix route for the time-being and see how many threads remain active and how much traffic they receive. We've found in the past that creating new sections that only have a small handful of active threads compartmentalizes the forum too much and makes it much less appealing.

So moving forward we'll monitor how things go with St. John's and Moncton threads.

Please prefix St. John's threads with [St. John's] and Moncton with [Moncton].

[PoscStudent]

Maybe time to revisit this, a lot of activity recently. Some of our threads are getting activity, though I find I miss some updates due to there being so many threads in the Atlantic Canadian section.

[J_Murphy]

Yup, I agree with a St. John's sub-forum.

[JHikka]

I would think the need for it would be higher now given the amount of posts in the various St. John's threads.

[Townie709]

I would consider myself a regular contributor on the St. John's thread. I think option one would be best! Thanks

Edit: I didn't realize this was from earlier this year. I thought this was started today, haha! The need is definitely there now. Even today we got two new "lurkers" sign up and start posting, we're averaging a few pages per day (9 pages in one day on thursday!) I would love to see a seperate sub-forum (option 1) for St. John's. Development, even small development, generally gets a fair amount of discussion in St. John's. The economy is booming here, so with that comes exciting development that will keep us discussing for at least the next 5 years! And like the city, our main SSP thread is rapidly growing! I would love it if this was revisited as the need really is there now. Again, I would prefer option one if this is to come into fruition! Thanks!

[SignalHillHiker]

Cool! Who asked? Was it us or NB/PEI?

I would prefer option 1. It keeps us from dominating the Atlantic Canada section but doesn't throw a whole section at us. We would struggle to fill and keep active a subforum like Halifax has. But just option 1 would be great.

Edit: also thought this was a new thread.

Edit 2: second that Moncton should have one as well. Very active group with lots of threads.

[statbass]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Cool! Who asked? Was it us or NB/PEI?

I would prefer option 1. It keeps us from dominating the Atlantic Canada section but doesn't throw a whole section at us. We would struggle to fill and keep active a subforum like Halifax has. But just option 1 would be great.

Edit: also thought this was a new thread.

Edit 2: second that Moncton should have one as well. Very active group with lots of threads.

It was us (St. John's) that originally requested the sub-forums/tagging forums and I think Moncton followed suit around the same time.

[MonctonRad]

I think it's time you guys approach Mike K again about requesting a subforum.

There has unquestionably been increased activity on the St. John's thread(s) since you adopted the multiple thread system in the Spring, you have a number of new active members and you guys have a number of large projects in the city requiring discussion. I think the need is there.

As for Moncton, I'm not so sure we are there yet. The case for a Moncton subforum is not quite so compelling. Our separate threads are all neighbourhood based and only a few new members have joined up in the last while. Although development is active in the city, there is little in the way of large scale projects going on.

I still like the subforum concept for Moncton though, as it would help to keep all our threads organized in one place rather than scattered though the Atlantic Canadian section. Sometimes they can be hard to find. If you guys contact Mike K, don't forget to ask him what he thinks about Moncton too. He can look at the posts and traffic counts on the Moncton threads and decide if it's worthwhile or not.