what about regional sections?

[JLuck13]

On my car forum we have regional sections that chunks up the US into 4 or 5 sections and lets us learn who lives near us and set up things that help each other out. Im currently looking for a new supplier of F/T rats and i know there are a few breeders in CA that are local enough so that i wouldnt ahve to ship but i can never find them cuz my posts gets lost. If we had say like a south western, north western, midwest, north east, south east type of sections where everyone could post and find out more local people are them it would be nice. It might also make selling/trading easier, incase someone doest like/want to ship or doesnt have a paypal or something.


just my .02


-Jordan

[CoolioTiffany]

Sounds like a pretty fair idea to me

[BloodyBaroness]

I like this idea a lot.

[jben]

I also belong to a car forum that has the same thing, i like the idea.

[Brunoheart]

I really like this, too. It would definately be helpful to know what breeders are nearby as I build my collection. I understand that they can shipped successfully, but I would be a nervous wreck and would therefore prefer to deal with local sellers.

[JLC]

BP.net has never been about the sales ads. We have one little forum set aside as a courtesy to the members to help move or find animals. We don't have any desire or intention to make that forum any larger or make the management of it any more complicated than it already is.

However, the idea of being able to search ads by region IS a good one, and will most definitely be on the table when considering future expansions of the site.

[kc261]

Regional sections would be useful for a lot of reasons beyond sales ads. For example, it could help people find each other when they want to coordinate a bp.net get-together at a show.

[Brunoheart]

Exactly. As far as meeting breeders in my area, I don't only mean to buy from, but also to develop relationships with them, learn from them and possibly even mentor with one of them. Sorry if it came across as just looking for local snakes to buy.

[JLC]

But how would you divide the entire site up into regional sections?

Hmmmm....I have an idea we could try that would at least give folks a place to post within their "regions"...although I'm not sure how much traffic or interest they would get after the initial introduction. But it can't hurt to try. Lemme run it by the rest of the staff and then work on putting it together, then I'll let ya know.

[kc261]

No, I would not want to see the entire site divided up into regions!

What I was imagining was starting a new section of the forum, like the ones we currently have BPs, Other Pythons, Boas, etc. And in it would be regional subforums, such as north east, south east, international, etc., in the same was that the BP section has general BPs, BP husbandry, BP pictures, etc.

If we were going to do this, I would suggest putting it near the bottom, probably either right above or right below the business section. We definitely do not want the focus of the site to switch to the regional sections, and keeping it at the bottom should insure that most people will continue to focus on the existing subforums rather than turning their attention to only the regional ones.

Another possibility, if the site decides it is not interested in making regional subforums at this time, is that anyone always has the option to pay the membership level required to get a personal forum, and make their personal forum a regional forum for their area.