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.
If you have a geography-related topic that isn't road related, the Travel forum is often a good place for it.
Quote from: index on February 19, 2023, 07:05:16 PM
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.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 19, 2023, 07:13:38 PM
Quote from: index on February 19, 2023, 07:05:16 PM
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.
Sort of unrelated question. If one wanted to post a thread about railway bridges or pedestrian bridges, would it go in the bridges forum?
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 19, 2023, 07:29:41 PM
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.
As a geography nerd myself, I support this idea. I do agree that the Off Topic board feels too cluttered.
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.
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.
Quote from: webny99 on February 19, 2023, 09:45:30 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 19, 2023, 07:29:41 PM
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.
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. :-D
Quote from: jeffandnicole on February 19, 2023, 07:13:38 PM
Quote from: index on February 19, 2023, 07:05:16 PM
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.
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 19, 2023, 07:10:16 PM
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.
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on February 20, 2023, 02:21:04 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 19, 2023, 07:10:16 PM
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.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 20, 2023, 02:27:47 PM
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on February 20, 2023, 02:21:04 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 19, 2023, 07:10:16 PM
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.
If we were to add a Geography board, which board would you guys want to get rid of?
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 20, 2023, 05:58:13 PM
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.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 20, 2023, 08:21:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 20, 2023, 05:58:13 PM
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.
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on February 21, 2023, 07:05:52 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 20, 2023, 08:21:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 20, 2023, 05:58:13 PM
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?
Quote from: Rothman on February 21, 2023, 07:09:05 AM
Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on February 21, 2023, 07:05:52 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 20, 2023, 08:21:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 20, 2023, 05:58:13 PM
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.
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.
Quote from: JoePCool14 on February 21, 2023, 09:35:46 AM
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.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 21, 2023, 09:36:30 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on February 21, 2023, 09:35:46 AM
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"?
Didn't we just remove the dedicated Ohio Valley board, too?
Quote from: JoePCool14 on February 21, 2023, 10:03:24 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 21, 2023, 09:36:30 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on February 21, 2023, 09:35:46 AM
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.
I would support removing the Travel Mapping board. (For those that aren't aware, TM has had its own forum for several years now.)
Quote from: webny99 on February 21, 2023, 02:51:36 PM
I would support removing the Travel Mapping board. (For those that aren't aware, TM has had its own forum for several years now.)
Understood, but there needs to be a gateway over to TM, so new people can join it.
I think that Scott was being facetious
Quote from: index on February 19, 2023, 07:05:16 PM
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.
They have conferences for Geography:
https://www.aag.org/all-events/
As a devout geographer, I will tell you that everything under (as well as over, around, and through) the sun can be made geographical. All you need is to make the subject spatial.
A new board, for this subject, is not necessary.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 22, 2023, 02:25:31 AM
I think that Scott was being facetious
I was not.
I have 31 different boards (including sub-boards and admin/mod boards) on my board menu. That's a lot of freakin' categories to have to look through. If there's a good reason to separate something out, it can be considered, but ideally I don't want to increase the number beyond what we have now without a bullet-proof reason to do so. If there's a clear board that can be cut so it's a 1:1 swap, that lowers the bar to only a very good reason.
Quote from: Scott5114 on February 22, 2023, 02:52:43 AM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 22, 2023, 02:25:31 AM
I think that Scott was being facetious
I was not.
I have 31 different boards (including sub-boards and admin/mod boards) on my board menu. That's a lot of freakin' categories to have to look through. If there's a good reason to separate something out, it can be considered, but ideally I don't want to increase the number beyond what we have now without a bullet-proof reason to do so. If there's a clear board that can be cut so it's a 1:1 swap, that lowers the bar to only a very good reason.
I guess we could probably merge Welcome and Suggestions and Questions. Travel Mapping could somehow be folded into something else.
Maybe we could merge Road Trips and Travel if really needed. I think that the boards are fine the way we are though.
Make a 'Midwest' board and just move all the Midwestern states over there. :bigass:
Quote from: kphoger on February 22, 2023, 12:41:08 PM
Make a 'Midwest' board and just move all the Midwestern states over there. :bigass:
That would just be merging Great Lakes and Central.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on February 22, 2023, 04:18:50 AM
I guess we could probably merge Welcome and Suggestions and Questions. Travel Mapping could somehow be folded into something else. Maybe we could merge Road Trips and Travel if really needed. I think that the boards are fine the way we are though.
A definitely NO to at least the first suggestion. Welcome and Suggestions/Questions fulfill very different roles, and I wouldn't want to tread a bunch of one page welcome threads just to see meta discussion.
As for the latter idea, I'll leave that to the people who actively use one or both of those boards. I don't usually look at either.
Quote from: kphoger on February 22, 2023, 12:41:08 PM
Make a 'Midwest' board and just move all the Midwestern states over there. :bigass:
Let's not go rearranging the regional boards again, shall we? :spin:
I like the idea of a Geography board. As with any proposal, though, we're going to need more examples of the Geography board's function to make a compelling case for it. If we do want this, we should put forth a more compelling proposal with numerous examples of topics or categories of topics that would fit under that board.