Would you participate at a small, regional, version of the SDMB?

In My Humble Opinion
1

What?
Smaller, like, a mini-SDMB focusing on your state or nearest big city.

Why?
See, I don’t know about you, but I tend to have a lot of questions about local politics, events/entertainment, and things of that sort when I’m, say, watching TV. I would post threads about these things but I’m convinced (in my own head, at least, which is really all that matters) that it’ll a) clutter up the boards, b) (possibly) not get that great a response anyway, and c) possibly annoy people who really don’t care, and get annoyed at the clutter.*

This was less of an issue when I lived in doper-rich L.A., but a lot more of an issue when I lived in Hawaii which, though it is better represented on the SDMB than I had previously thought, still isn’t all that well represented, per capita.

And suffice it to say, my inquisitive nature is being very much stimulated now that AudreyK and I have moved to Washington State which piques my curiousity with, among other oddities, a hell of a lot of “No Parking” signs on the sides of the freeways.**

How?
I figure I’d use phpBB software, which I’m currently using an older version of on my “pet” site (see sig) and that has proven to be fairly feature rich, easy on the eyes, easy to setup, use, and administrate, and is reportedly quite secure in terms of, um, security.

I figure I’d use subdomains to create URLs like losangeles.localboards.com (a TLD I did buy, just in case), and host it with my current webhost, with whom I have a resellers account anyway. (If it does prove to strain my pocketbook any, I reserve the right to place a single, non-animated, family-safe banner add at the bottom of the page.)

As far as administration and moderation goes, I’m (obviously?) hoping that dopers with free time would be willing to help, especially since the boards should be relatively small (especially compared with the SDMB!) anyway. And thus this poll.

So, would ya? :wink:

*and, D) I never had a pit thread started about me yet, and I don’t want to start now.

** I’m guessing it has something to do with nasty rain/snow storms, but even this theory seems…inadequate somehow.

2

Sure, I would (BTW- Say hi to Audrey, would ya?).

The problem, of course, is that it wouldn’t have enough people in it to make it fun.

That is, what makes this place fun (And sometimes a royal pain in the ass) is that it’s format invites a large number of people to come and chat. If you started taking away the ‘broadness’ of it all, and the differing people and their opinions, it’d (IMO) get stale and old fast- two people over there arguing about the election, both of which will never change their respected viewpoints; two guys over there arguing about the new speed-bumps on Aldrich… By the time the main things are done and gone through, you’ve got about ten die-hards chiming in chatting about everything with each other (And again, anyone who stays with that few people are typically the kinds you’d normally want to avoid).

So yea, while it’s a cool idea and one that would be fun at first, I’d think it’d get stale and old fast (Again, IMO).

Cheeri-ho!

3

I think it’s a pretty good idea, and it has some potential to do well, if you can get some dedicated people to help.

However, you will be competing with a lot of other similar local boards out there, especially in the case of large cities. So I am not certain if you would get the traffic to reach “critical mass”, without either a very dedicated group of workers, or some sort of “schtick”. It took the UnaBoard about 4-5 months to reach self-sustaining critical mass, but that is likely longer than most Boards.

I, however, have more than enough to do with the UnaBoard such that I’m not interesting in helping, sorry. :stuck_out_tongue:

4

In my experience with setting up the G’Dope site for the Aussie and Kiwi dopers, I’d have to agree with what Anthracite said.

We’re a very tiny board compared to this one. Similar in some ways, wildly different in others. I think we do have a “critical mass”, but that is mainly thanks to a hardcore of regular posters. I must say that it’s been very rewarding, and I’m kinda surprised that other groups of dopers haven’t done a similar thing. There’s probably a niche waiting for a Canadian board, for example.

The way you decide to go would be entirely up to you, and also a result of how much time and effort you ae willing to put in. The Aussie board is low maintenance, and basically just involved opening an EzBoard account. Moderating it is a breeze. The Unaboard is much more professional, and involves dedicated server equipment and software (and hard work!). The similarity is, I like to think, that the SDMB spin-off boards don’t compete with the main board or with each other, but each adds another dimension to the SDMB experience. Speaking for my own board, I’d be the first to admit that it’s great to see it grow and recruit new posters, but if it were to stop at its current size, I’d still be quite happy. It’s hopefully fulfilled its role as a chill out room for local dopers, and I wouldn’t ask for any more than that. In the end, the amount of traffic isn’t a major concern for me.

KKB, if you are thinking of setting one up as a labour of love, and without necessarily expecting it to join the big league, then I’d say “go for it”. It’s fun.

5

I would probably not really attend a board specializing in my region, just because I don’t find regional stuff terribly exciting and I get enough of it in the paper as it is. And because the closest “large city” to me is a couple hours’ drive away–not close enough to have events that I would know or care about, either. If a board like this was already set up and running, though, I would probably check it out.

I agree that a Canadian board is a niche that ought to be filled. (Hey, lookit, I’m being patriotic on my 200th post…is that a :smiley: or a :smack:?) A Canadian board–or even a specifically western Canadian board, say 'Bertans and Saskatchewanees and British Clumbians, might get a fair amount of business from me.

Just so long as it was Dope like quality. :smiley:

6

Out here in the boonies with a dish, I don’t even get the local TV station. My wife would never throw away newspapers and they piled up, so we stopped taking the paper. My point is that my local news comes out of New York City and Los Angeles. Like Nenya_Elizabeth my closest major city is an hour and a half away, so local news is of little interest.

Now after all that, I still wish you well in your endeavor and think for an area like around Seattle it might just work.

7

I’m in, KK. And I would be happy to help in any way I can, too. Just let me know what I can do, okay?

Auds has my email address.

8

I’d also be in for posting on and/or helping out with Seattle area board (even though I don’t think I’ve ever seen one of the “No Parking” signs along the side of the freeway.)

9

Great, so it’s just the brain trust between Renton and Seattle then. :smiley:

This could be arranged easily enough. As far as I’m concerned, as long as there’s enough interest, I’m down to set things up.
I’m really very flexible as to how big a region (a country, a state, half a state, whatever) would be covered by each mini-board, and, really, I imagine that it would differ quite differently for each state or region of the U.S./world.

That’s really all I would be looking for. Not something quite as…serious as the SDMB, but something more like a time-delayed chat room would be the atmosphere I’m looking for. And unless there’s demand (either in the planning stage, or after things start up) for a GD equivalent, I’d probably just as soon go without.

Other than a fairly laid back place to talk about (local) life, this is the only other thing I’d look to create. A message board where, for the most part, people bother to capitalize (correctly), spell words correctly, and, similarly, realize the “r” and “u” aren’t words.

Eh, maybe it’s a pipe dream, but it’s always nice to dream, isn’t it?

10

Thanks for the input and offers to help, guys. And KK, it kinda goes without saying, but I’m in. And I’m not just saying that because I’m your roommate.
Hi Cnote! :slight_smile: