Off The Beaten Path
 

This September my wife and I will be spending 4 days on the Big Island, 4 Days on Kuai, and 7 on Maui. We have been to the Big Island and Maui before but not Kuai. We are looking to do some things that are not generally thought of. We love the outdoors and unique places that may be off the beaten path. Any suggestions would be great.

I suggest you repost this with the title "Off the Beaten Path in Hawaii - suggestions?"

There are many people here who are Hawaiian "experts" who might skip over this post not knowing you are asking about their favorite place!

Austin. The title is okay. Echuether has posted this specifically under the "Hawaii" forums. If you leave the "search" box blank and highlight Hawaii and hit the search button, you will only be looking at topics submited under Hawaii.

Echuether: You might look into Birds in Paradise. Looks pretty cool

There is no way to post under "Hawaii" that I know of... Only US, Europe, etc. If you do as you sudggest, it still just shows up on the US board.
Even if you could, there is no way a reader knows it's about Hawaii until they open it. Many don't open generic topics.

Austin, You CAN post under Hawaii.

When you start a NEW post, you can choose nothing which would put it in one of the general sites. But you can also choose the area where specifically want it to show up.

Give it a try. Don't put anythin in the search box at the top center of your screen. Highlight Hawaii and hit Search. You will see that you only get peoples questions on Hawaii.

It's a great feature. As I like to see only what people are asking about Hawaii and their questions and answers help me plan my trip. I don't have to weed through all the other states information. And I imagine those people that are the "Hawaiian Experts" most likely do this to, so they can look quickly at peoples questions regarding Hawaii only.

Nancy, you aren't posting "under" Hawaii, you're making your post *searchable* under Hawaii.

And board regulars who have expertise in more than one area, or who want to see the general topics (who'd want to miss all those threads about packing?) won't be looking under "Hawaii" anyway, they'll be looking on the general US board.

Finally, when you do a search that limits you to posts that have specified "Hawaii" you re of course going to miss posts about Hawaii if the OP didn't select that keyword.

Maybe you can post to Hawaii, but when most people come to the US board, they click on US only. If they are specifically wanting to view posts about Hawaii, they have to click "Hawaii" and "search". (It's not a "Hawaiian board", just searching for Hawaii posts...) Echeuther may have think she posted this to the "hawaii board", but there is no such thing. Only the US board.

I understand your point Nancy. What I'm saying is that most people don't come here by clicking on Hawaii and the search button. Most just click on "US" from the fodors homepage. Am I making sense?

Put nothing in the search and highlight Alaska and hit Search. You will not see Echuether's "Off the Beaten Path" post. Because he posted it with the path to Hawaii. Understand it is not a seperate board. But if someone is looking at Alaska posts they won't see Echuether's post - which is a Good Thing.

But I think the point is:

The search feature you mentioned is great for people who are looking for posts specifically on Hawaii, or some other specific topic.

But, when people are ANSWERING questions, they do not use it. Therefore, those peopel with answers to the original question would have no idea that it was a question on Hawaii from the subject, because they are looking at the entire US board.

Austin's suggestion was a good one because it will ensure that those people who have answers about Hawaii will see the post, when they otherwise might have skipped it due to vagueness.

You're not wrong about the search function, Nancy. It's just not enough in this case to get the answers from people who have them.

I have to agree with Nancy. I'm one of those people who only answers (well almost only) Hawaii related questions on the US board, so I highlight Hawaii immediately after clicking on the US board. This way I bypass all of the non-Hawaii related questions as I don't have time to sift through the entire US board.

Patty - So then in that case you'd see the question whether or not Hawaii was in the title, because it was in the Hawaii board.

But, for others who don't do that, they'd skip by.

There's no one right way to make a header, but Austin was just offering the advice to make it more specific, so that the MOST people who might have info would see it.

Hang in there Echuether, I am sure someone will address your inquiry. There are many very knowledgeable folks who post here. Good luck

Lillium - I guess it does look like we're monopolizing this post with a discussion of appropriate headers, but it's OK - echuether did repost with Hawaii in the title and has gotten a few replies there. :)

Woops! Scrolled down and there were the replies. Sorry.

Nancy is Wrong
Austin is Right

Too many people think there are specific boards for Hawaii, Florida, etc. These are only search keywords

Also...one of the main reasons it comes up in search is that we've all used the word Hawaii in this post

I suppose if most people were like Patty and only wanted to answer questions regarding a particular state, that would be the way to do it. However, I think most of us like to share information about all places we've been and receive information about all places we want to go. Could not do it if we don't read thru the US board.

I've never gone straight to the Hawaii "only" section only the broader US section. Most people do not go directly to a specific state but the country or continent or region.

Topper - If only I could get my Husband to say that I was right....;-)

Sorry Topper, but that's not the reason why this thread comes up when you highlight Hawaii. It's because the OP chose Hawaii in the box above the title when he posted this.

I'm surprised that more people don't go directly to specific states or countries. I do this on almost every board. When I go to the Asia board, I highlight China, as that's the only country where I've traveled enough to feel qualified to answer any questions. But I guess I'm in the minority here.