Could we not split Africa and Middle East
 

Dear Fodor webmaster

Is there anyway we could split Africa and the Middle east so that they each have thier own section, there are so many posts now that it is difficult to catch them all and we are missing some of them as they are rolled over on teh same day.

You've got my vote ;-)

The only problem I see is where to put Egypt. It kinda falls under both "Categories." Located on the African continent, but a lot of people combine trips to Egypt with trips to the ME (Jordan, Israel).

IF I were going to split I'd do

North Africa & Middle East

(Sub-Saharan) Africa

Though it'd still be a tough job deciding an exact cut-off line for countries such as Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan...

Personally, I'm happy with it as it is... the search function at the top lets me narrow down by keyword and/ or by country if I need to find posts on a specific destination. Otherwise, I quite enjoy working through the list of all threads.

It's not difficult to decide which ones interest me and which to skip and I simply continue working down the list until I hit threads that haven't been updated further since the last time I logged on.

I also would prefer that it was split as it would make it easier to read the relevent posts without scrolling too much.
They are very different areas with different areas of interest.

Well as I suggested it I def think it would be a good idea to split it, now we just need word from fodor wesmaster

Thanks for the suggestion. We currently have the forums set up in large "buckets"; you'll notice for instance that Europe is not broken down into individual countries or regions. We feel that by organizing these threads into these larger categories there is a greater chance that other users will stumble on them and be inclined to read or reply to them. Does that make sense? While you may not be inclined to go looking into an Egypt folder, you might see an Egypt post in the larger forum and be interested.

Is the feeling that the number of posts for the Middle East has risen or are you saying that there are so many Africa-specific posts that the Middle East posts are easy to miss?

The Forums are certainly not set in stone and we can make changes; but splitting the forum would be a significant change in our database, which would effect future searches. We'd just want to consider it from every angle if that makes sense.

yes, it does!

that is exactly what i like about fodors boards! i feel i learn through osmosis and even if i don't have a trip planned to a particular region, i will sometimes read a thread and learn about a place and bookmark it mentally.

i also use the search function if i'm looking for africa and it works just fine.

kerikeri :)

i do agree that the number of middle east posts has dramatically increased in the past 6-8 months, compared to the all-africa feel this boardhad previously had.

i also agree that since this is one of the more 'active" of the 'communities" (same posters over a long period of time with very loyal postings and following), that perhaps a separate africa area would be a warranted "treat"/ favor, given the addiuctive qualities and shared experiential nature of this board in particular.

i often post in australia/new zealand, and it is not the same on these points...

When the search function works (most times) if you enter Egypt, you get the Egypt threads on the left. Or other individual countries or areas, that's what you get.

No need to scroll thru all the threads to find what you might be seeking.

No more than if Europe (as Katie mentions) were divided by countries, where France seems to get the bulk of the posts, or dividing the US, by States. Would you divide Africa between north/south... then Kenya gets split in half; does Egypt belong in Middle East or Africa (it is located in Africa); many visitors combine trips to Egypt w/Kenya/Tanzania; combine East and Southern African countries.

I find that this combo - Africa/Middle East - works just fine.

sorry, i should have organized my thoughts before posting.

the other thing is, i rarely search out an area i have not been to recently, but if a post catches my eye and i can answer i do.

i would imagine many people who have been to africa might have knowledge of middle east as well and can be helpful. as those middle east postings get much fewer responses, in general, it would seem they don't warrant their own area, so where would people put them?

kerikeri :)