# Mourning the loss of the Chicago forum. **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [January 30, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369 "2015-01-30T20:43:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/1 "2015-01-30T20:43:49Z")
I thought the Chicago forum gave the SDMB an identity. The Straight Dope Column is tied to a Chicago paper (Chicago Reader ). There seems to be a lot of board members from from Chicago. A forum for the home team was a nice gesture. I know it was a low volume forum. But, I think the SDMB has lost a piece of its unique identity and culture with this decision. It’s the small touches that gives a home its character. Is modding a forum with only a few posts a month that big of a hassle? ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/2 "2015-01-30T20:46:40Z")
I disagree. Dead forums make a site look abandoned. To attract new members (and I think anyone who was here for the “pay to post” period will agree that we need new blood on a regular basis) we have to be active and, as importantly, seem active. SDChicago and Barn House detracted from that. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/3 "2015-01-30T20:58:44Z")
We need a soup forum. I know we have Cafe Society for food threads, but a dedicated soup forum, where we could talk about different kinds of soups, our favorite soup ingredients, where you can order mail-order soup from, etc, would be tits. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/4 "2015-01-30T21:02:00Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > I disagree. Dead forums make a site look abandoned. They weren’t all that dead.I saw loads of spam in both. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/5 "2015-01-30T21:12:42Z")
There were several regular Chicago posters. I assumed they were associated with the paper in some way. They have been absent for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/6 "2015-01-30T21:58:32Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > We need a soup forum. I know we have Cafe Society for food threads, but a dedicated soup forum, where we could talk about different kinds of soups, our favorite soup ingredients, where you can order mail-order soup from, etc, would be tits. I’ve been on boards with soup forums and they are always dominated by tomato soup threads, I think we would need a separate forum just for tomato. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/7 "2015-01-30T21:59:04Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > There were several regular Chicago posters. I assumed they were associated with the paper in some way. They have been absent for awhile. No association. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/8 "2015-01-30T22:09:18Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > I’ve been on boards with soup forums and they are always dominated by tomato soup threads, I think we would need a separate forum just for tomato. I was on one of those, and it was dominated by gazpacho. Anything about hot tomato soup was overwhelmed. It really needs to be split into hot and cold. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/9 "2015-01-30T22:18:37Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > I was on one of those, and it was dominated by gazpacho. Anything about hot tomato soup was overwhelmed. It really needs to be split into hot and cold. What about chilies and chowders? Are they close enough to “soup” to fit under the umbrella of this new Soup forum or will we need some kind of a sub-forum for these. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/10 "2015-01-30T23:00:15Z")
I used to post, like every 6 months or something, in the Chicago forum. So I did my part. ---
**Author:** ![sich\_hinaufwinden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@sich\_hinaufwinden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sich_hinaufwinden)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/11 "2015-01-30T23:10:38Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > What about chilies and chowders? Are they close enough to “soup” to fit under the umbrella of this new Soup forum or will we need some kind of a sub-forum for these. I think it will be fine to leave all the soup discussion in Cafe Society, but it would be helpful if each of those threads could have a [SOUP] tag in front of the title. /too soon? ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/12 "2015-01-30T23:23:10Z")
Hey, I used the Chicago forum a lot! I’m going to miss it. I’ll especially miss all the nuggets of wisdom from Mr. Downtown. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/13 "2015-01-30T23:52:16Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > We need a soup forum. I know we have Cafe Society for food threads, but a dedicated soup forum, where we could talk about different kinds of soups, our favorite soup ingredients, where you can order mail-order soup from, etc, would be tits. maybe it’s worth stewing about. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2015, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/14 "2015-01-30T23:56:30Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > I disagree. Dead forums make a site look abandoned. To attract new members (and I think anyone who was here for the “pay to post” period will agree that we need new blood on a regular basis) we have to be active and, as importantly, seem active. SDChicago and Barn House detracted from that. Which wouldn’t have mattered if they were kept as sub-forums. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/15 "2015-01-31T02:19:06Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > No association. Ok. I got nuthin then. 🙂 I thought there had to be something deeply personal and special to create a forum dedicated to one city. If theres not, then I totally agree it was a third wheel. Unneeded. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/16 "2015-01-31T02:42:13Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Ok. I got nuthin then. 🙂 I thought there had to be something deeply personal and special to create a forum dedicated to one city. > > If theres not, then I totally agree it was a third wheel. Unneeded. It was a business decision by Creative Loafing when they owned the Reader, with the prospect of opening similar forums for other CL cities if it took off. It didn’t take off. I must admit to some bemusement that a poster from Arkansas felt that a Chicago-focused forum added identity to the SDMB. You read it, and participated in it, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/17 "2015-01-31T03:04:33Z")
I posted a couple questions about Chicago. The one about the historic stockyards yielded quite a bit of personal information from local posters that knew that area. I didn’t know the history behind SDChicago. My over active imagination filled in too many details to fill the void. Thank you for clearing that up. ---
**Author:** ![Ed\_Zotti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/fbc32d/32.png) [@Ed\_Zotti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ed_Zotti)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/18 "2015-01-31T17:03:05Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > Hey, I used the Chicago forum a lot! I’m going to miss it. I’ll especially miss all the nuggets of wisdom from Mr. Downtown. Mr. Downtown is a buddy IRL and one of my dreams is to build something around his vast knowledge of Chicago and cities in general. ---
**Author:** ![Archeonomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Archeonomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archeonomist)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/19 "2015-01-31T17:29:24Z")
> [@Ed\_Zotti](#): > > Mr. Downtown is a buddy IRL and one of my dreams is to build something around his vast knowledge of Chicago and cities in general. But does he know anything about soup? ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369/20 "2015-01-31T18:01:30Z")
Can we please drop the Soup stuff? This is a very serious thread where we are mourning the loss of a great forum that everyone loved. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mourning-the-loss-of-the-chicago-forum/711369.md?page=2)