Split up the Africa/Mid East forum?
Apr 11th, 2009, 08:19 AM
#22
Yes , you can split it...it means I will have one more click.!
When I click to "Change Forum" from Middle East to Africa or Vice Versa !!
When I click to "Change Forum" from Middle East to Africa or Vice Versa !!
Apr 11th, 2009, 08:48 AM
#23
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I agree with the consensus that a split would be a good idea. While I like Egypt and the pyramids, I usually do come to this forum to read about safaris and animals and skip the Northern Africa posts all together. If I don't see any postings about East/Southern Africa in the first 25 threads, I usually don't look further so I'm sure I'm missing things.
CarrieT
CarrieT
Apr 13th, 2009, 11:57 AM
#32
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I have mixed feelings. I also want to point out that it's not a split between culture and wildlife (no offense to those of you just being silly) -- there was plenty of culture on my trip to Uganda last year, and I don't just go to Africa for the animals. And what about those non-safari African countries in the "middle?" Ethiopia and Mali are two that come to mind (countries I really hope to travel to someday!), and the Sahara is not as simple a way to split up the continent as it seems at first glance.
For me, it's more a problem of too few posts listed (25), and how easy it is for new posts to drop off the front page too quickly for people to see them. I don't have a problem with the forum going through cycles where we see more posts about pyramids or more posts about safaris. So, I would vote no (even though that doesn't seem to be the popular position here).
If there IS a split, Fodors will need to be clear about where the line is drawn between "Northern" and "Southern" Africa, because there is a lot in the middle there. Would it be just Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia kept with the Middle East, and every other African country kept with the "Africa" board?
For me, it's more a problem of too few posts listed (25), and how easy it is for new posts to drop off the front page too quickly for people to see them. I don't have a problem with the forum going through cycles where we see more posts about pyramids or more posts about safaris. So, I would vote no (even though that doesn't seem to be the popular position here).
If there IS a split, Fodors will need to be clear about where the line is drawn between "Northern" and "Southern" Africa, because there is a lot in the middle there. Would it be just Egypt, Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia kept with the Middle East, and every other African country kept with the "Africa" board?
Apr 14th, 2009, 01:37 PM
#36
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Thanks for all the feedback--we will definitely consider it as a future change. It's a relatively large change on the site's backend. We renamed and split the Latin America forum specifically because it wasn't consistent with our database's naming conventions--we have our guide content on the site for instance split between South American and Mexico & Central America. There were also search engine benefits to renaming "Latin America" as it's not a typical search term for someone planning a trip to either.
That said, there was ample concern before the split that it would affect traffic and responses. We have received complaints since--namely that both forums seem really slow now. The Latin America forum had comparable traffic to the current Africa forum before it's split. It is my feeling that those two particular forums will benefit in the long run and will grow in time due to the change; but in the meantime, that's the early feedback we've received.
I understand your desire for the split. I think it's partly that the types of trips that travelers take to the two regions tend to be very different (generally speaking); and I sense a desire to split the forum based on these perceived differences. However, reading through your feedback it seems like the larger complaint relates to our current set-up and the limits of the left-hand column and the difficulty in viewing more topics past the 25 that appear on the front page. It seems that some (based on feedback we've received and posted here) want the split as a means to make our new system "work". This is a forums wide issue---and it's an important one that I think we need to address first. We're currently working on an alternative as momliz noted.
Other thoughts...regarding trip reports drifting off the top column. I feel like our inclusion of the trip report section, though it is towards the bottom of the main forum page, highlights the trip reports better than our previous format. This was something that was often complained about in our old format and this was partly why we introduced the special tag and icon. As it is now, reports remain on the "main page" sometimes for anywhere from 1 week to 2 on this forum. What else...it is possible to limit your view to one country, like Egypt, if you select "Egypt" from the "view by country" pull down. You'll note that we have many countries in that list---would you like us to remove countries that have very few topics tagged in order to make it easier to use? This was something we debated.
I realize this may not be the answer you were looking for from me, but I really appreciate everyone taking the time to voice their opinion. There are several factors that go into to these types of changes so our teams needs to really look at everything. It's good to know where you stand and what you'd like to see here. I will certainly let our group know that you'd like to see this change.
That said, there was ample concern before the split that it would affect traffic and responses. We have received complaints since--namely that both forums seem really slow now. The Latin America forum had comparable traffic to the current Africa forum before it's split. It is my feeling that those two particular forums will benefit in the long run and will grow in time due to the change; but in the meantime, that's the early feedback we've received.
I understand your desire for the split. I think it's partly that the types of trips that travelers take to the two regions tend to be very different (generally speaking); and I sense a desire to split the forum based on these perceived differences. However, reading through your feedback it seems like the larger complaint relates to our current set-up and the limits of the left-hand column and the difficulty in viewing more topics past the 25 that appear on the front page. It seems that some (based on feedback we've received and posted here) want the split as a means to make our new system "work". This is a forums wide issue---and it's an important one that I think we need to address first. We're currently working on an alternative as momliz noted.
Other thoughts...regarding trip reports drifting off the top column. I feel like our inclusion of the trip report section, though it is towards the bottom of the main forum page, highlights the trip reports better than our previous format. This was something that was often complained about in our old format and this was partly why we introduced the special tag and icon. As it is now, reports remain on the "main page" sometimes for anywhere from 1 week to 2 on this forum. What else...it is possible to limit your view to one country, like Egypt, if you select "Egypt" from the "view by country" pull down. You'll note that we have many countries in that list---would you like us to remove countries that have very few topics tagged in order to make it easier to use? This was something we debated.
I realize this may not be the answer you were looking for from me, but I really appreciate everyone taking the time to voice their opinion. There are several factors that go into to these types of changes so our teams needs to really look at everything. It's good to know where you stand and what you'd like to see here. I will certainly let our group know that you'd like to see this change.
Apr 14th, 2009, 04:05 PM
#37
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Thank you, Katie! for a thoughtful and helpful answer.
one quick response - do not eliminate countries. This is against everything that Fodor's is about. Even if there is only 1 lonely post (or none), please leave it.
one quick response - do not eliminate countries. This is against everything that Fodor's is about. Even if there is only 1 lonely post (or none), please leave it.
Apr 15th, 2009, 04:46 AM
#39
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Thanks for the reply Katie.
So the Latin America split went ok. That split and the overall forum changes came in the midst of a huge economic downturn so less traffic is not surprising. People may also be reacting to the overall forum changes as much as the specific split. But at least it appears that split didn't bring to light any horrendous problems.
Going from 25 to 50 posts (even 40) would be a big improvement, regardless of split.
Thanks for the view by country reminder. I wonder how many of us have been doing that? I haven't.
I agree with Momliz. Don't remove countries that have few or no posts.
So the Latin America split went ok. That split and the overall forum changes came in the midst of a huge economic downturn so less traffic is not surprising. People may also be reacting to the overall forum changes as much as the specific split. But at least it appears that split didn't bring to light any horrendous problems.
Going from 25 to 50 posts (even 40) would be a big improvement, regardless of split.
Thanks for the view by country reminder. I wonder how many of us have been doing that? I haven't.
I agree with Momliz. Don't remove countries that have few or no posts.
Apr 15th, 2009, 05:13 AM
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Katie --
Although I'm against splitting the forum, I am really horrified by the idea of removing countries from the list with few/no tags. As someone that spent quite awhile writing a trip report for Benin/Togo, and will hopefully have another off the beaten path trip report later this year, I'd probably leave the forum completely if Fodors did this. Like Momliz said above, [I would think] this is against everything Fodors is about!
Although I'm against splitting the forum, I am really horrified by the idea of removing countries from the list with few/no tags. As someone that spent quite awhile writing a trip report for Benin/Togo, and will hopefully have another off the beaten path trip report later this year, I'd probably leave the forum completely if Fodors did this. Like Momliz said above, [I would think] this is against everything Fodors is about!
