Forum Suggestions & User Assistance - Add a Mid-Atlantic sub-forum

Can we get a Mid-Atlantic sub-forum added under the Regional Discussions please? This is needed for the discussions to stay "regional".

I frequent the "Southeast" forum, and see people posting from that area regularly while bemoaning the lack of a Mid-Atlantic forum. I'm in Florida, and today I'm looking at a post from "southern Maryland". How regional is that?

The same thing is happenning in the "Northeast" forum. It truly is needed.

Thanks.

Seconded - I'm from the DC area, and I've noticed posts about our area in both Southeast and Northeast.

+1 - also in the DC area. also confused as to where to post.

+1, or +265 as seen here:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=272080&page=13

+1
Tons of D.C. area people on this board. Certainly enough to warrant a mid-Atlantic sub-forum.

+1

I go to a different bike forum for a mid atlantic forum.

It'd be nice to have one here.

Over there, it tends to be mostly PA, NJ, MD, DC, No VA, DE -- all stuff within a short drive or long bike ride.

I've got a thread called Schuylkill, Perkiomen Trail conditions - rider reports (http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=107566), which is pretty popular judging by the 3200 views.

you guys are neglecting one of the most populus regions in the usa by leaing out mid-atlantic

We'll look into it. :D

That would be great.

While you're at it, perhaps West Virginia could be moved out of the Northeast and reunited with Virginia. The Mason Dixon line (between PA and MD) would make a handy border.

Harper's Ferry is a tri-state area (WV, MD, VA converge) as is Washington, DC (DC, MD, VA), and many rides straddle those borders.

What I need is to have all you MidAtlantic types to post in here, so I can document the need for the forum, OK? That will give me an indicator of real interest. Show me the interest, and it won't be that hard to make happen. :D

What I need is to have all you MidAtlantic types to post in here, so I can document the need for the forum, OK? That will give me an indicator of real interest. Show me the interest, and it won't be that hard to make happen. :D

Will do, sarge.

Can I link to my schuylkill, perkiomen rider reports thread, or should I make a new one in the existing regional forum?

Go ahead with the ride report thread...

While you are at it, link to this thread in your signature. ;) Explain why, and it's going to show up where ever you post. :D

+1 here

I think a Mid-Atlantic forum would be a good idea. (I'm from PA.)

Please, please do. I've been learning a lot of geography about the whole Eastern Seaboard because I have to check both the NE and the SE forums. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it would reeeeaaallly narrow things down to items that are of practical interest to me if I could focus on the MA region.

Pleeease??

+1

[Mod cap off since these points I've brought up way before]

What would Mid-Atlantic be considered? I think we can agree that MA, NH, ME, VT, RI, upstate NY are Northeast. What about NYC area/NJ? Philly? CT?

There is a lot of bike traffic between Philly and NYC as well as Philly and DC much more than say Boston to NYC - for every discussion that's ever been brought up about it no solution has been agreed upon as to where the dividing line should be.

The bigger issue is that there are two weeks worth of threads on the first page of the NE forum that covers half the eastern seaboard. If the traffic doesn't support its own section than a dying forum will get divided up between two dead forums.

It's not an issue of ignoring - it's an issue of not finding the right solution to make it work yet.

[/mod cap]

I don't post in any regional forums because I have no idea where it would a) be most appropriate and b) get the most views.

I say go with the USA Cycling regional breakdown for collegiate racing:
Northeast - ME, NH, VT, NY, NJ, PA, MA, RI, DE
Mid Atlantic - MD, DC, VA, WV, NC
Southeast - TN, SC, GA, AL, MS, FL

Border regions for the forums will just naturally have some overlap, as I see it. Some NYC posts would be more appropriate to NE, and some MA, and some both, for example. There isn't going to be any one fix all solution, so we're looking at workable compromises. :D

PA and NJ belong with MD, VA (at least No VA), DC, DE. I ride with peeps from all of those areas, and do rides there myself. Also, a lot of NoVA, DC, MD and NJ peeps seem to like the PA rides that include Lancaster County, and the Schuylkill & Perkiomen trails, which start in historic downtown Philly and go all the way out along the rivers and creeks to Pottsville & points north.

From NYC north, it's pretty much known as New England, beginning in CT.

NC? Southeast. WVA? Midwest. Southern VA? Southeast.


That's my $0.02.


Mid-Atlantic, according to NYT:

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/section/jobs/200703/image_map/jm_map_mid-atlantic-jobs.gif

Source: http://jobmarket.nytimes.com/jobs/location/mid-atlantic-jobs


.
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CT I'd partly/mostly agree with, and those people who want to be connected to NYC can do so. Would upstate people want to go to NE more and be split from NYC? Maybe/maybe not.

My wish would be that each state and/or region gets it's own subforum and then you'd select all the feeds you'd want to see, subscribe to and read. Won't work with the platform but it would be really slick.

DC, Philly, and NYC are connected in both the issues involving biking, rides, geography, as well as events - I don't think they should be split up. The map you posted would seem like a possible solution though parts of CT and upstate NY may get upset a bit.

Something I wonder about though: There are a bunch of NYC threads about informal rides, get togethers, etc... but I don't see the same types of threads pop up for DC area nearly as much except for the very generic and hard to follow roll call threads. Yet that region has always been vocal about secession.

There's nothing stopping someone from creating local threads so why is that and how will making the region smaller help that? It gets to the heart of whether or not creating that subforum will create more traffic and users or make both areas die off.

+1 to Mid-Atlantic. But I grew up in "North Joisey" and other than a pesky social studies and geography teacher in middle school, I don't recall anyone thinking we were other than Northeast.

I suggest for purposes of organizing discussions on this site, Mid Atlantic means Delaware, Maryland, DC, and Northern Virginia (probably to somewhere down around Fredericksburg or so, but the posters will self-sort it out). When I worked in Richmond, no one thought they were anything but "South", including us transplanted Northerners. This will capture all the DC, Baltimore, and Eastern Shore threads, which right now wind up posting (or us looking for them) in 2 places (thank heaven for RSS!).

The place I currently go for mid-atlantic:

http://forums.roadbikereview.com/forumdisplay.php?f=64

A lot of MD, DC, PA, NJ.

The main issue with the current arrangement is that MD is in the Northeast forum and VA is in the Southeast. This splits the DC/Baltimore area.

Is the Northeast really a dying forum? Taking a quick look at the most recent and oldest posts on each of the US forums, the range of dates seems in line all but one of the others. However, I do understand the point about whether there would be enough traffic for a new forum.

I feel your pain, oldnoob.

VA feels like 2 states.

I lived in Norfolk for 4 years, and it definitely felt like The South.

I have relatives in Arlington, and spend quite a bit of time in No VA, and that definitely feels like Mid Atlantic.

+1 Mid Atlantic here.

+ 1

+1

Maryland, DC, Delaware, WV, and VA all need to be lumped together ......

NJ, NY and PA = Northeast

IMHO, of course.... ;^)

maryland, dc, delaware, wv, and va all need to be lumped together ......

Nj, ny and pa = northeast

imho, of course.... ;^)

+1

+1
and sorry, but PA and especially philly are mid atlantic. It's the keystone state for craps sake! thats the middle of the east coast, hence mid atlantic.

Border regions for the forums will just naturally have some overlap, as I see it. Some NYC posts would be more appropriate to NE, and some MA, and some both, for example. There isn't going to be any one fix all solution, so we're looking at workable compromises. :D

We don't need a "fix all" solution, because what we have doesn't need fixing. I see no reason to start dividing up territories when, in the end we will just have to visit more forums and, some of these will have very little activity. I wouldn't be surprised if the bottom of the current page will end up with posts well over a year old. I would rather see one forum labeled "East Coast" than a bunch of sub forums. The forums need to stay active otherwise they stale quickly which leads to even less activity. Then we miss good ride opportunities because they are not posted.

+1 on new MidAtlantic Forum.

It might make sense to re-title Northeast to New England, since the people in those states are very particular about which states carry that label. It is clearly defined, and once you cross out of it, you are no longer there... Then the rest of what is currently called Northeast, would join VA, MD and DC as Mid-Atlantic.

PA is definitely seen by most people as Mid-Atlantic. As is New Jersey (which tends to be directly east of PA).

I definitely think that the east coast is far too homogeneous in the regional forums as compared to the west coast, where California gets 2 forums for 1 state (although admittedly it is a huge state).

I do understand there will always be issues with the people that live at the border regions, but frankly, right now, most things I read about in the regional forum that should apply to me are about NY City (which will still exist with a new division) or about New England, which is a 5-6 hour drive away.

I can identify by listening a good 3 or 4 different accents within the area covered by Northeast Regonal forum. Is there any other regional forum within the US where this could happen?

+1 on Mid-Atlantic forum

+1, and also to the idea that there are New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast regions along the East Coast. I've only been here eight years, but it's fairly evident already.

I can live with PA as "mid-atlantic".....my neighbor to the north! :)

Maybe you could "split" Pa and split Va?.....

+1

i am fully in support of this idea, as i frequent new york, live in philadelphia, and have parents retiring in delaware, and will continue to be biking all of it.

+1 Metro philly here.

VA is almost always considered Mid-Atlantic. That's where I would look for it first anyway. I always thought these forums were weird in the way they were categorized.

+1 for Mid-Atlantic forum

+1. Listen to the weatherman, he always describes DC metro area as " mid-atlantic ". I feel it would be much less confusing.

Tom, we already had a thread where we brought up all the problems w/the current set-up, so I'm not sure why we need to repeat them. Having said that: Obviously, any state borders you draw will be at least a little arbitrary and have the potential to split off groups who think they should be together. The main point is to divide the regions so that you're not splitting up a well-defined metro area into >1 region. That's the problem you have now: it's a little ridiculous to have DC and its VA suburbs in different forums. Admittedly, it's complicated to divide things up in the northeast. Metro NYC includes 3 states - NY, CT, and NJ - so you need to keep those states together. But, NJ & PA have to be together so you're not splitting up metro Philly. But then some people will say you need to keep MD and PA together, and MD needs to be w/DC and VA, and all of a sudden you've got CT and VA in the same region.

I have previously proposed, and will suggest again, a metro DC forum. This solves the current problem of DC's riders not knowing which forum to post in, which is (in my obviously unbiased opinion) the single biggest problem w/the current set-up. (As noted previously, metro DC is home to several hundred BF members, so there's certainly enough people to justify a separate forum.) This also avoids the problem of having to decide which states do (and do not) qualify as "mid-atlantic" (WV? PA? NC? - See my earlier comments about what happens if you split PA from NJ, etc.) Let individual riders decide whether they are close enough to DC to post in the metro DC forum. E.g. - if you live in WV w/in shouting range of DC and want to post something about a 'local' DC ride, you'll know where to do it, even though most of the state probably does not consider itself part of the DC area.

+1

i don't post in any regional forums because i have no idea where it would a) be most appropriate and b) get the most views.

I say go with the usa cycling regional breakdown for collegiate racing:
northeast - me, nh, vt, ny, nj, pa, ma, ri, de
mid atlantic - md, dc, va, wv, nc
southeast - tn, sc, ga, al, ms, fl


+1

How about -- any place where they say y'all is southeast; anywhere they put an R on the end of the word China is new england; and what's in between is mid atlantic.

+1 (DC Resident, divided between two 'regions') :wtf:

+1
New England, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast regions please.
This is so easy and very common.
It makes NO sense for DC to be split into two regions.

I don't post in any regional forums because I have no idea where it would a) be most appropriate and b) get the most views.

I say go with the USA Cycling regional breakdown for collegiate racing:
Northeast - ME, NH, VT, NY, NJ, PA, MA, RI, DE
Mid Atlantic - MD, DC, VA, WV, NC
Southeast - TN, SC, GA, AL, MS, FL



If we can't have a straight-up DC thread, then I think this makes the most sense.

I'm from No Va and also ride weekends in Md. I'm interested in a mid Atlantic forum to find rides and races as well as riding partners/groups.

Jersey, PA, Delaware, DC, MD, Virginia