Geography board?

[index]

It doesn't look like this has been proposed in this board since 2013 so it might be worth floating, although nobody has asked for one so it might not be. Nonetheless:

A lot of posts in Off-Topic are about geography or geography-adjacent topics (area codes, time zones, metro areas, population, town names, to name a few recent examples) and there is a significant overlap on this forum between people who are interested in both roads and people who are interested in geography, given the close nature of the two subjects. Establishing a geography board for these reasons follows the logic of the Urban Planning and Design board which so far has been welcome, although it is not the most active board. I feel it would also help more with sorting out more serious discussion from the fluff threads that are frequently posted in Off-Topic (not that I have a problem with those).

Even still, there are others such as Bridges, which are even more underutilized. Geography-related topics seem to be brought up much more frequently than topics which would go in either of those boards.

[Scott5114]

If you have a geography-related topic that isn't road related, the Travel forum is often a good place for it.

[jeffandnicole]

It doesn't look like this has been proposed in this board since 2013 so it might be worth floating, although nobody has asked for one so it might not be. Nonetheless:

A lot of posts in Off-Topic are about geography or geography-adjacent topics (area codes, time zones, metro areas, population, town names, to name a few recent examples) and there is a significant overlap on this forum between people who are interested in both roads and people who are interested in geography, given the close nature of the two subjects. Establishing a geography board for these reasons follows the logic of the Urban Planning and Design board which so far has been welcome, although it is not the most active board. I feel it would also help more with sorting out more serious discussion from the fluff threads that are frequently posted in Off-Topic (not that I have a problem with those).

Even still, there are others such as Bridges, which are even more underutilized. Geography-related topics seem to be brought up much more frequently than topics which would go in either of those boards.

Bridges are very much road related.

Urban Planning is pretty significantly based in roads and transit planning.

Time Zones and most geographic topics are not.

Personally...this is a roads forum, not an "off topic" forum. Random topics can be started but not necessarily be promoted as an entire subcategory.

[index]

It doesn't look like this has been proposed in this board since 2013 so it might be worth floating, although nobody has asked for one so it might not be. Nonetheless:

A lot of posts in Off-Topic are about geography or geography-adjacent topics (area codes, time zones, metro areas, population, town names, to name a few recent examples) and there is a significant overlap on this forum between people who are interested in both roads and people who are interested in geography, given the close nature of the two subjects. Establishing a geography board for these reasons follows the logic of the Urban Planning and Design board which so far has been welcome, although it is not the most active board. I feel it would also help more with sorting out more serious discussion from the fluff threads that are frequently posted in Off-Topic (not that I have a problem with those).

Even still, there are others such as Bridges, which are even more underutilized. Geography-related topics seem to be brought up much more frequently than topics which would go in either of those boards.

Bridges are very much road related.

Urban Planning is pretty significantly based in roads and transit planning.

Time Zones and most geographic topics are not.

Personally...this is a roads forum, not an "off topic" forum. Random topics can be started but not necessarily be promoted as an entire subcategory.

I can see why it would not be that good as a freestanding board. Come to think of it, it would probably make more sense to include it as a child board of Off-Topic if it was to become a thing.

[Roadgeekteen]

Sort of unrelated question. If one wanted to post a thread about railway bridges or pedestrian bridges, would it go in the bridges forum?

[webny99]

Sort of unrelated question. If one wanted to post a thread about railway bridges or pedestrian bridges, would it go in the bridges forum?

Either that or Transit, or possibly Urban Planning and Design, depending on the specifics.




As for the original subject, I would actually support a Geography board because it would mean less posts in the Off-Topic board. It was pointed out recently (and I would corroborate) that Off Topic has been trending towards becoming the busiest board on the forum, which makes me a bit sad. It's at least partly due to a few users making a lot of posts there, less activity in General Highway Talk from some forum regulars who haven't been as active, and users' interests shifting over time. But it is worth considering whether Off-Topic is a bit too broad and whether some tangentially-related discussions could be moved to another board. And to the OP's credit, "Geography" is certainly the best suggestion I've seen so far for what that board could be that would encompass a good portion of the current Off-Topic content.

[MATraveler128]

As a geography nerd myself, I support this idea. I do agree that the Off Topic board feels too cluttered.

[Scott5114]

It doesn't help that people will post things that are highway or travel related in Off-Topic for reasons that escape me. It feels like I move threads from Off-Topic to other boards far more often than the reverse.

[webny99]

People do seem to forget about the Travel board more often than other boards, maybe because it's not visible when logged out, and also has more crossover with Off-Topic.

[Roadgeekteen]

Sort of unrelated question. If one wanted to post a thread about railway bridges or pedestrian bridges, would it go in the bridges forum?

Either that or Transit, or possibly Urban Planning and Design, depending on the specifics.




As for the original subject, I would actually support a Geography board because it would mean less posts in the Off-Topic board. It was pointed out recently (and I would corroborate) that Off Topic has been trending towards becoming the busiest board on the forum, which makes me a bit sad. It's at least partly due to a few users making a lot of posts there, less activity in General Highway Talk from some forum regulars who haven't been as active, and users' interests shifting over time. But it is worth considering whether Off-Topic is a bit too broad and whether some tangentially-related discussions could be moved to another board. And to the OP's credit, "Geography" is certainly the best suggestion I've seen so far for what that board could be that would encompass a good portion of the current Off-Topic content.

It does seem like AARoads has turned from a forum where we talk about roads to a forum where people interested in roads talk about anything, often related to some sort of geography or transportation. Most everyone on this forum is a roadgeek, we just talk about other stuff as well.

[hbelkins]

An interest in geography seems to be a natural offshoot of an interest in roads, but I don't know that a separate board is necessary. A case could also be made for a cartography board to discuss maps, but those discussions find their way into niches on other boards so geography can as well.

At least we'd have a specific place to discuss the flatness of Illinois if a geography board was created. 

[Roadgeekteen]

It doesn't look like this has been proposed in this board since 2013 so it might be worth floating, although nobody has asked for one so it might not be. Nonetheless:

A lot of posts in Off-Topic are about geography or geography-adjacent topics (area codes, time zones, metro areas, population, town names, to name a few recent examples) and there is a significant overlap on this forum between people who are interested in both roads and people who are interested in geography, given the close nature of the two subjects. Establishing a geography board for these reasons follows the logic of the Urban Planning and Design board which so far has been welcome, although it is not the most active board. I feel it would also help more with sorting out more serious discussion from the fluff threads that are frequently posted in Off-Topic (not that I have a problem with those).

Even still, there are others such as Bridges, which are even more underutilized. Geography-related topics seem to be brought up much more frequently than topics which would go in either of those boards.

Bridges are very much road related.

Urban Planning is pretty significantly based in roads and transit planning.

Time Zones and most geographic topics are not.

Personally...this is a roads forum, not an "off topic" forum. Random topics can be started but not necessarily be promoted as an entire subcategory.

We have sports and weather as boards. Neither has anything to do with roads.

[NWI_Irish96]

If you have a geography-related topic that isn't road related, the Travel forum is often a good place for it.

I propose that Geography Topics be a subforum under Travel. Plenty of discussion about geographic topics not related to travel per se.

[Roadgeekteen]

If you have a geography-related topic that isn't road related, the Travel forum is often a good place for it.

I propose that Geography Topics be a subforum under Travel. Plenty of discussion about geographic topics not related to travel per se.

I'm wondering, would the guess the state/country games go into Geography if it was created? I put those games in travel as they aren't road related but I didn't want to put them in off topic.

[NWI_Irish96]

If you have a geography-related topic that isn't road related, the Travel forum is often a good place for it.

I propose that Geography Topics be a subforum under Travel. Plenty of discussion about geographic topics not related to travel per se.

I'm wondering, would the guess the state/country games go into Geography if it was created? I put those games in travel as they aren't road related but I didn't want to put them in off topic.

That would be my vote.

[Scott5114]

If we were to add a Geography board, which board would you guys want to get rid of?

[Roadgeekteen]

If we were to add a Geography board, which board would you guys want to get rid of?

Travel Mapping hasn't been posted on since 2016 so probably that one. Besides that, Welcome probably has the least value.

[NWI_Irish96]

If we were to add a Geography board, which board would you guys want to get rid of?

Travel Mapping hasn't been posted on since 2016 so probably that one. Besides that, Welcome probably has the least value.

The TM threads could be moved to the General Highway talk board.

[Rothman]

If we were to add a Geography board, which board would you guys want to get rid of?

Travel Mapping hasn't been posted on since 2016 so probably that one. Besides that, Welcome probably has the least value.

The TM threads could be moved to the General Highway talk board.

Why move inactive threads into the General Highway Talk board?

[Roadgeekteen]

If we were to add a Geography board, which board would you guys want to get rid of?

Travel Mapping hasn't been posted on since 2016 so probably that one. Besides that, Welcome probably has the least value.

The TM threads could be moved to the General Highway talk board.

Why move inactive threads into the General Highway Talk board?

To archive the threads so we can delete the board.

[JoePCool14]

Why does the TM board need to be removed? That defeats the point of separating those threads.

It's an archived board, so having it stick around isn't harming anyone.

[Roadgeekteen]

Why does the TM board need to be removed? That defeats the point of separating those threads.

It's an archived board, so having it stick around isn't harming anyone.

Scott asked what board I would get rid of.

[JoePCool14]

Why does the TM board need to be removed? That defeats the point of separating those threads.

It's an archived board, so having it stick around isn't harming anyone.

Scott asked what board I would get rid of.

I saw. I just don't see the need to "remove" a board just to add another one.

Why not just rename Travel to "Travel and Geography"?

[vdeane]

Didn't we just remove the dedicated Ohio Valley board, too?

[NWI_Irish96]

Why does the TM board need to be removed? That defeats the point of separating those threads.

It's an archived board, so having it stick around isn't harming anyone.

Scott asked what board I would get rid of.

I saw. I just don't see the need to "remove" a board just to add another one.

Why not just rename Travel to "Travel and Geography"?

I don't see the need to remove a board either but I'm not an admin and Scott is so I'm guessing he has a reason.

I still like Geography as a subforum under travel, so those who only post in one but not the other don't have to wade through one huge forum to find what they're looking for.