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Announcement: New Board Breakdown for Chowhound

Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 01:01 PM

We're pleased to announce that we'll be making some changes to the breakdown of the Chowhound Boards on January 28th.

You can see a state by state breakdown of the American boards and a screenshot of the complete new board breakdown here: http://chowhound.chow.com/boardsplits

We've tried to create new urban boards where interest demanded them, as well as divide up some of our regional boards, without leaving any boards with so little discussion or so few posters that they will die out.

We'll be starting the new boards empty, and manually moving active discussions over to new boards where it makes sense. If you're participating in a discussion that you think needs a new home, please go ahead and use 'report' to flag it for the moderators to move.

We're also inviting well-established members of the site to help move threads. If you already have the ability to update and add Restaurants to our database, you'll also automatically have this ability. If you'd like to help, please see this thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/682192

When searching on new boards, we'll automatically provides searches of previous boards as appropriate to help ensure you're getting complete search results.

Some of our current boards are changing boundaries or definitions, while others are being archived because all of their current territory is being shifted to new boards. Existing threads on those boards will be open for further discussion, but we'll turn off the ability to add new threads.

If you have any questions, this is the place to post them.

-- Jacquilynne, Community Manager for Chowhound

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  1. ambrose RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 03:49 PM

    Absolutely delighted that New Jersey will finally have its own board! Thank you.

    1. LNG212 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 03:56 PM

      A couple of questions re: the screen shot of the new listing --
      --where did What's My Craving end up?
      --where did The Best end up?
      --where did Technical Help end up?
      Thanks.

      36 Replies
      1. re: LNG212
        Jacquilynne RE: LNG212 Jan 21, 2010 04:37 PM

        The Best still exists, and What's My Craving will be merged into it. Both those boards served the purpose of allowing people to talk about NYC-area chow without the rather tight geographic restrictions of Manhattan vs. Outer Boroughs vs. the close-in suburbs which were on Tristate, and neither of them were very popular, so we thought putting them on one board might help a little.

        The three different Site Specific boards just confused people and other than a few hardy regulars, no one had any idea which one to post on, so we'll be merging them all -- Technical Help, CHOW Feedback and Site Talk into a single Site Talk board.

        1. re: Jacquilynne
          nofunlatte RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 05:04 PM

          Good idea wrt the merging of the Technical Help, Chow Feedback, and Site Talk into a single place. I've been one of those confused people.

          1. re: Jacquilynne
            LNG212 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 05:49 PM

            Thanks for the info. Part of the problem with THE BEST is probably that (even now) the title of the board appears as The Best of the Mid Atlantic even though the board itself is listed with the NYC area stuff and, as you say, is supposed to be about NYC and the metro suburbs -- which the Mid Atlantic is not. I'm sure that's part of why people are/were confused. If the "new" board has a corrected title, maybe that will help.

            Thanks for the info re: Tech Help too.

            1. re: Jacquilynne
              bobjbkln RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 07:45 AM

              Combining the Best and the What's My Craving Board is a good idea, but calling it "The Best" in my opinion, does not represent the WMC part. Although little trafficked (and some posts were not on topic) WMC was a great idea: help in finding difficult to find foods and restaurants in the NY Metro area. How about a better name. One thought «Across the Boards» or «New York Metro: Across the Boards». This might help find a home for the cross borough questions like «Where should I go: Luger's or Keen's?».

              1. re: bobjbkln
                Up With Olives RE: bobjbkln Jan 22, 2010 10:07 AM

                Combining the Best and What's My Craving is great -- they're way too similar. But if I understand correctly, it's now going to cover the entire NYS and Tri-State area? This is not helpful. A good portion of NYC folks rely on public transportation and do not/cannot frequent great distances.

                1. re: Up With Olives
                  LNG212 RE: Up With Olives Jan 22, 2010 10:19 AM

                  No, according to Jacquilynne above, that board would cover NYC and its immediate suburbs only - not all of NYS. I still think that's too much territory -- it should really be limited to just across the five boroughs.

                  1. re: LNG212
                    Jacquilynne RE: LNG212 Jan 22, 2010 10:33 AM

                    I don't want to draw hard and fast boundaries on what The Best should represent. The goal is to have it allow for some border crossing discussion in the areas around New York, which are quite close together but covered on several different boards -- Manhattan, Outer Boroughs, New York, South New England, and New Jersey all cover territory that are well within commuting distance of each other, and we know that can make it difficult for people who are seeking something specific and willing to cross those boundaries to get the information we need.

                    I'm not expecting people from far Upstate and Western New York to use The Best, since they don't have the same problem with their region being covered on multiple boards, but we're not going to limit it to Manhattan and Outer Boroughs, either.

                    1. re: Jacquilynne
                      michele cindy RE: Jacquilynne Feb 5, 2010 04:47 AM

                      I would have liked to have seen one board that represents the Entire Hudson Valley of NY, and Bergen Co. NJ (which is right on the NY State border). It's a bit cumbersome to straddle the NY board and NJ board. Figuratively speaking Bergen Co. might as well be in NY. No offense to anyone living in NJ....

                      1. re: michele cindy
                        h
                        HillJ RE: michele cindy Feb 5, 2010 09:10 AM

                        Hi michele, As a NJ resident traveling the entire state, county by county for great CH, having NJ on one Board is wonderful. Anyone visiting NJ for the first time or the 100th time now has the opportunity to view one Board for one stop dining tips and rec's. If the CH Team separated NJ by counties how would that help all of us? I don't lump any NJ county in with any area of NY when I'm selecting a food destination. We could just as easily lump Philadelphia in with it's cousin NJ over the water. Ugh.

                        Now that the entire state has a separate Board and happens to be a state sectioned by counties; adding the county, town or area of NJ you happen to be reviewing or recommending seems like the best way to highlight any NJ Board post for clarity and ease of use. It's been suggested several times within this thread. How do you feel about that suggestion?

                        1. re: HillJ
                          LNG212 RE: HillJ Feb 5, 2010 09:53 AM

                          HillJ, while I generally agree with you that it does make things more easily navigable with NJ all on one board, your point about the Philly suburbs isn't quite accurate. According to another post (and the title of the Philly Board itself), that board is indeed including the NJ suburbs. So I guess things aren't as clear cut as we may like. :)

                          1. re: LNG212
                            h
                            HillJ RE: LNG212 Feb 5, 2010 01:22 PM

                            Are threads/posts still being moved LNG? I know a good deal of MidA posts were moved into the new, NJ Board. It was my understanding under the Board revamp that Philly would JUST be Philly.

                            1. re: HillJ
                              LNG212 RE: HillJ Feb 5, 2010 01:34 PM

                              HillJ, I too thought that Philly would just be Philly. But if you go to that board it says quite clearly on the board heading "including the NJ suburbs". So the idea that NJ items would all now be found in one place is, I guess, a little misleading. I don't know how the mods are handling the moving of threads that are NJ but could also be construed as Philly-suburban.

                              I really have no dog in this race, so to speak. I'm checking NJ because that's where my sister lives and I'm in NYC so that's 2 more boards, with relatives in NYS and in-laws in CT. So no matter what, I'm all over the place!

                              1. re: LNG212
                                h
                                HillJ RE: LNG212 Feb 5, 2010 01:50 PM

                                Gotcha. It is interesting that the Philly Board also states NJ suburbs. I have no idea what that refers to or what suburbs. Maybe Jacq. can shed some light on this when she checks in.

                                1. re: HillJ
                                  Jacquilynne RE: HillJ Feb 9, 2010 01:06 PM

                                  We try not to draw too tight or too specific boundaries around large cities because they usually fall outside their specific municipal borders quite substantially, and there are suburbs that everyone would absolutely consider to be an important part of a given city that are technically a different city and sometimes, as in the case with Philly, in a different state. But, we also don't want to stretch those boundaries to include every nearby place people from a given city even might go to eat occasionally.

                                  My intent isn't to draw off a lot of NJ discussion to the Philly board. Any place that's pretty clearly a destination / urban area in its own right (Trenton, for example) should be discussed on the New Jersey board. But Camden and Cherry Hill, as examples, are likely to get a lot more discussion if they're included with Philadelphia than as part of the general New Jersey board, because they're so tightly linked with that metro area.

                                  As mods, we also try not to segment those borders absolutely. A reference to or recommendation for a Camden restaurant in a thread about Southern New Jersey doesn't need to be split out and moved. But if it becomes a focused discussion with lots of good information about that restaurant then we may split it and move it to where it's most likely to draw the most interest and attention and additional information, which is on the Philly board.

                                  1. re: Jacquilynne
                                    h
                                    HillJ RE: Jacquilynne Feb 9, 2010 01:43 PM

                                    Thanks, very helpful to know the process and thoughts behind it.

                          2. re: HillJ
                            michele cindy RE: HillJ Feb 5, 2010 10:11 AM

                            Good suggestion. However the whole Hudson Valley could be consideded one destination, and I would lump N. Bergen in with it...

                            1. re: michele cindy
                              nsxtasy RE: michele cindy Feb 5, 2010 12:09 PM

                              Okay, here's the problem. The Tri-state area (NYC suburbs including Long Island, Fairfield County CT, Westchester, Orange and Rockland Counties NY, and Northern New Jersey) were all together in one forum, and they were split up. As a result of the split, there's going to be a dividing line *somewhere*, and anyone living near the dividing line needs to check two forums to cover everything nearby. So if you move the forum boundaries, you're not really eliminating the problem; you're only moving it.

                              For example, where would you have the forum border run? I can guarantee you it will create problems elsewhere. If you include northern Bergen County into the forum with the Hudson Valley, then people who live in the rest of Bergen will need to check two forums; if you include all of Bergen County in the forum with the Hudson Valley, then people who live near its border with Passaic County will need to check two forums. That would also make it really, really confusing to have to figure out where a given restaurant belongs. One advantage of having all of northern New Jersey in one forum is that there's no confusion about what belongs there and what belongs elsewhere.

                              I'm not saying the new structure is great. I think the "New York State forum" is a real mishmosh because it merges Upstate with the NYC suburbs. It would have been better IMHO to have one forum for Upstate, a separate one just for Long Island, and at least one for the other suburbs in New York State (maybe even two, with the Hudson as the dividing line). And Fairfield County is yet another issue. But at least when you split it up by state, the boundaries are easy to understand.

                              1. re: nsxtasy
                                h
                                HillJ RE: nsxtasy Feb 5, 2010 01:27 PM

                                Under each Board heading it states what areas that Board covers. Plenty of posts could be moved to accommodate the changes but I would imagine that the pre Jan 28th threads will stay to a degree and post Jan 28th posts will fall under the new Board layout. Having just taken a peek at what you are referring to, I'd say the "moving van" has alot of work ahead (or not) if the older posts are going to be moved.

                                1. re: HillJ
                                  nsxtasy RE: HillJ Feb 5, 2010 09:55 PM

                                  Here's what we've been told by the Chowhound Team. Some boards (e.g. Tri-State Area) have been replaced by new boards. Those old boards are labeled as a "general archive" (e.g. General Tri-State Archive forum). The archive boards can be searched, and posts can be added to topics there, but new topics cannot be created in the archive boards. The Chowhound Team has requested that any topics that have been updated since Jan 28 be moved to the appropriate new forum; an exception is made for updated topics that don't fit into an appropriate new forum (for example, a topic in the General Tri-State Archive about restaurants in Westchester and Fairfield Counties). There is not a lot of moving of such topics to be done, as only a few such topics get updated each day.

                                  That leaves the matter of topics in the general archive forums that have not been updated since January 28. The Chowhound Team has left it up to the user volunteers to determine which (if any) of those topics should be moved to the new forums. They could be left in place. Or, if the volunteers think certain topics are of particular importance, those could be moved. If volunteers want to move a lot of the older topics, they are welcome to do so, but it is not required by any means; it is up to the volunteers. As a result, there are some general archive forums (like the General Midwest Archive) where almost everything from the past several months has been moved into the new forums, and there are other general archive forums (like the General Tri-State Archive) where topics from early in January still remain. And they are saying that this is okay; if anyone wants to keep going through and do the work of moving the topics to the new forums, they are welcome to do so, but if that doesn't happen, that's okay too, they can stay in the general archive forums indefinitely. Anyone interested in doing some of the moving can find details and volunteer at http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/682192

                                  Anyway, this is my understanding based on what Jacquilynne and the rest of the Chowhound Team have posted in this topic (the one you are reading now). (If I have any of this wrong, please say so!)

                                  1. re: nsxtasy
                                    jfood RE: nsxtasy Feb 6, 2010 03:49 AM

                                    this is a very clinical approach to what they did. But they could NOT even decide amongst themselves whether to have exact lines or fuzzy lines.

                                    Look at your board in Chicago. It is the Chicago area. So someone has a good meal in Skokie it goes on the Chicago Board. If we live in Greenwich and walk down the street, yes walk down the street, to Portchester it is a different board. I literally live 1 mile from NY and posts I place on a good Italian place in NY, which has more CT cars in the lot than NY cars, and delivers cross-border goes on a board viewed by people in Buffalo, NOT CT.

                                    No perfect solution but i'm interested in whether the Mods will leave a post on the CT board that are less than a 9-iron on the other side of the geographic, but not culinary boarder.

                                    1. re: jfood
                                      nsxtasy RE: jfood Feb 6, 2010 05:05 AM

                                      There is always going to be a border somewhere. That was true with the old structure as well. You could be in the eastern edge of Queens at a restaurant which belongs in the Outer Boroughs forum, walk down the street into Nassau County, and poof, you're at a restaurant which belongs in the old Tri-State forum. The alternative, the only way you could avoid having borders going through populated areas, is to have one big board that covers the entire Tri-State NYC metropolitan area, including the five boroughs - which means people on the Island or in Jersey have to wade through posts about Manhattan and vice versa. Any time you split it up, there will be a border somewhere. Like you say, there's no perfect solution.

                                      1. re: nsxtasy
                                        jfood RE: nsxtasy Feb 6, 2010 05:22 AM

                                        you're missing the point.

                                        The powers to be created two subsets, those with exact borders and those with fuzzy borders. Look at Philly, it includes parts of NJ (poor Cheery Hill; is Trenton in NJ or Philadelphia), but Manhattan does not and it is NOT even a city; there 19 separate city boards; 5 use the word "area"; we have 2 "greaters"; a "metro"; and the twin cities are no longer MSP, but are FLL & MIA then the descriptions extends 20 miles north to Jupiter; The old Board had SouthEASTERN CT as part of the Tri-State but not SouthWEST (look at a map to see that silliness). Where does your Board end, Hoffman Estates, Barrington, Lake Geneva, the Wisconsin border. You want to include Gary Indiana, hey it's still in the area.

                                        No there is no perfect solution and it will depend on whether the Mods look for the gray versus the black and white. If Jfood posts on a Pound Ridge NY or a Vista NY restaurant on the CT board (or dual posts with the NY Board), that would be fine. But if they take a hard and fast rule and do not allow a post on a restaurant just because of the zip code versus the clientele, then the posters and the boards will suffer.

                                        1. re: jfood
                                          h
                                          HillJ RE: jfood Feb 6, 2010 05:56 AM

                                          If we write Gary, Indiana in the post heading won't that help? If NJ-specific posts are showing up in Phily Board, I'm not seeing them in a heavy concentration but won't writing Cherry Hill in the post heading help? Small solutions for now, until better ones are offered.???

                                    2. re: nsxtasy
                                      h
                                      HillJ RE: nsxtasy Feb 6, 2010 05:05 AM

                                      Oh a bunch of us have volunteered to move posts; myself among them. But I didn't rec' any specific directions just access and I focused on MidA to new, NJ Board moves. I focused on posts from 2009 and favs up to 2002. The CH Team has the final say, naturally. The current MidA Board is looking good and the new, NJ Board is active as ever.

                                      nsx, if you have time, you could always offer to help move posts. There is plenty of housekeeping to go around.

                                      1. re: HillJ
                                        jfood RE: HillJ Feb 6, 2010 05:28 AM

                                        And that process could have used a bit of 6-sigma improvements. four clicks for three drop down menus plus verbiage. All you need was click on a "move thread" versus "contributor panel" then a drop down to the where to. KISS was not the MO. After a few hours, jfood stopped plus the threads stopped moving altogether. It could have been more volunteer-freindly.

                                        1. re: jfood
                                          h
                                          HillJ RE: jfood Feb 6, 2010 05:53 AM

                                          We (a handful of us posted about this on the "moving" thread) asked several times for a simpler method. Nonetheless, we slog on, move posts and (hopefully) make the site enjoyable. There is always room for improvement and I have every reason to believe CHANGE is a constant on CH. Volunteering to help move posts gave me a chance to be part of the effort that actually gave NJ its own Board after years of asking. Years.

                                          1. re: HillJ
                                            jfood RE: HillJ Feb 6, 2010 06:09 AM

                                            Agreed, and the devil is in the detail. we'll see. so is Cherry Hill a NJ, a Philly or both? Jfood still does not believe that 609 is NJ. :-))

                                            1. re: jfood
                                              foleyd7 RE: jfood Feb 6, 2010 06:32 AM

                                              Ultimately, the majority of posters from the former Tri State area thought it made sense and didn't want it changed.
                                              If Chow wanted to break up the Tri State area because they wanted more black and white lines, the I would have at least understood that. If they made CT it's own board to keep things simple, I still wouldn't have liked it, but I would have understood it.
                                              The fact that they took a relevant board (Tri State) and made it irrelevant for all the people who used it is a huge step backwards. Dropping CT into a "Southern NE" board is awful. I'm already getting dismayed sifting through the posts. And I've probabaly only checked the NY board once (and again was dismayed sifting through stuff) - - - whereas I used to always read the NY topics posted to the Tri State area because they were relevant to me.
                                              I've already found myself less of a user of Chowhound (save for the topics already tied to the "My Chow" link) because of all the irrelevant topics now posted on my "primary" board.
                                              I've already posted this sentiment a few times here and I know that Chow isn't going to change anything today.... but I hope that posts like this remain in their memory for the next board update (in 2011 PLEASE!!!)

                                              1. re: foleyd7
                                                jfood RE: foleyd7 Feb 6, 2010 06:38 AM

                                                All we asked for in FFD county was to fix the heading from Southeastern to Southwestern CT. I feel my back is to Portchester and it feels weird. Three restaurants that i can walk to from my home are not on my "home" board. I went to the NY Board and it was worthless. I will miss all of Adamclydes recommendations from Portchester. I can't even post about my produce and grocery stores because they are in NY (shame on them). One step forward, two steps back f7. But maybe I might actually get to fairfield now.

                                                1. re: jfood
                                                  stuck in Hartford County RE: jfood Feb 7, 2010 09:25 AM

                                                  Stuck in Hartford County (more precisely- West Hartford) doesn't feel as stuck anymore now that CT has been reconciled. I don't have to surf 2 boards when we return to visit friends in Westport and Ridgefield. I kind of like it. And I can't wait for the Block Island postings to roll in on our new board! Maybe it's time for a RI roadtrip. Or not.

                                                  1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                                                    jfood RE: stuck in Hartford County Feb 7, 2010 09:35 AM

                                                    It's tough being a pretty date to the Prom. :-))

                                        2. re: HillJ
                                          Servorg RE: HillJ Feb 20, 2010 03:34 PM

                                          As I wrote in October of 2009 http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6569... when this subject was being discussed...(just good to see that some suggestions get implemented! ;-D> )

                        2. re: Up With Olives
                          k
                          Kim Cooper RE: Up With Olives Feb 12, 2010 11:02 AM

                          I'm not from the area, but it sounds like a board defined by where public transportation can get you would be a good idea.

                          1. re: Kim Cooper
                            stuck in Hartford County RE: Kim Cooper Feb 12, 2010 12:20 PM

                            Public Transportation in CT?!

                            ILMAO!!!!!

                            1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                              kattyeyes RE: stuck in Hartford County Feb 12, 2010 05:27 PM

                              Takes me right back to the post about taking the bus from St. Francis to downtown Hartford for a business lunch. I know you remember it with the same hearty chuckle as I do. Ahhhhh, memories, like the corner of my mind... :) LMAO right there with ya!

                        3. re: bobjbkln
                          a_and_w RE: bobjbkln Feb 26, 2010 09:19 AM

                          I think the What's My Craving and The Best boards are useless conversation killers. (I rarely will continue a conversation when it's moved to one of those boards.) My feeling is that Chowhound would be a lot better served if the moderators let genuinely cross-borough questions just stay where they're originally posted. Kind of an exception to to the usual rule of geographic purity. After all, these geographic boundaries are so arbitrary -- all it does is confuse and annoy people to move posts around.

                    2. g
                      gutsofsteel RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 03:57 PM

                      I wish the "Europe" board could be at least divided into western Europe and eastern Europe.

                      5 Replies
                      1. re: gutsofsteel
                        a
                        Asomaniac RE: gutsofsteel Jan 21, 2010 07:49 PM

                        Why? I am from Prague and it has always really annoyed me how Westerners have this weird appetite to keep dividing the continent 20 years after the iron curtain which had divided it disappeared. This is a foodie board. What culinary reason do you have for this division? By way of example, Bavarian, Austrian and Czech food has a huge amount of similarities owing to a shared culinary culture throughout the centuries. Why should Czech Republic be separated from German or Austrian?

                        1. re: Asomaniac
                          l
                          Lizard RE: Asomaniac Jan 21, 2010 11:17 PM

                          I'm happy to see there's a Europe option for the nations not qualifying for their own board. Also, agreed with Asomaniac: One board is all that is necessary for that.

                          1. re: Asomaniac
                            l
                            lagatta RE: Asomaniac Jan 22, 2010 05:33 AM

                            Indeed. The old Austro-Hungarian empire, and linguistically and culturally Bavaria is very close to neighbouring Austrial. People forget that Bratislava is almost a suburb of Vienna now. And several hundred km west of there, that many people now commute between Strasbourg and Kehl, so long an armed border along the Rhine.

                            1. re: Asomaniac
                              Mr Taster RE: Asomaniac Jan 27, 2010 12:47 PM

                              Asomaniac, it's utterly absurd to bring EU politics and history into the debate!

                              Europe should be divided into multiple boards for the same reason that America is divided into multiple boards. It has nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with finding specific kinds of regional foods in an easy and accessible way.

                              Mr Taster

                              1. re: Mr Taster
                                e
                                epop RE: Mr Taster Jan 30, 2010 12:31 PM

                                Indeed, Mr Taster.

                          2. pikawicca RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 03:59 PM

                            There should be (at most) an Indianapolis/Bloomington/West Lafayette board. We're in Indiana. but we're by no means "Great Lakes," and most of the best food is down our way.

                            3 Replies
                            1. re: pikawicca
                              nsxtasy RE: pikawicca Jan 21, 2010 04:12 PM

                              As an observer and sometimes poster in the soon-to-be-discontinued Midwest forum, I'm thrilled that Minneapolis-St. Paul will finally get their own board, and disappointed that this didn't extend to other large cities in the region, such as Detroit, Kansas City, Cleveland, St. Louis, and yes, Indianapolis. That being said, it's worth noting that Indianapolis and other Indiana locations will become a bigger portion of the new Great Lakes forum, now that posts for MSP and the Great Plains states (including Kansas City and St. Louis) will be elsewhere.

                              Also, periods of several days go by without any posts about Indiana eateries. I think the intent of the new structure was not to create boards for which that would occur. (I'm sure pikawicca knows that I am not dissing Indy by noting this; Indy is one of my favorite cities to visit, and I am appreciative of its restaurants and the information about them I've found on Chowhound.)

                              I think the new changes are a step in the right direction. Let's see how it goes before we start criticizing.

                              P.S. Indiana has some very nice beach communities on Lake Michigan, so it qualifies as Great Lakes. :) Quite aside from that, though, the Chowhound Team obviously wanted to break up the Midwest Forum, and separating those in the eastern part of the region from those in the western part of the region seems to make sense to me. Regardless of what name you give the new forums.

                              1. re: nsxtasy
                                KansasTravel RE: nsxtasy Jan 22, 2010 05:11 AM

                                While I am glad to see Minn-S. Paul split off (at times it seemed that half of the traffic on the Midwest board was from there), I wish that the Great Lakes and Plains hadn't split up.

                                My primary interest is in the area now on the Plains, but I still enjoyed and participated in the Great Lakes area. I'm not going to visit mulitple boards here, so the Great Lakes will now lose my participation.

                                I also worry that with the huge drop in posts to these areas (each will have about a third as many as before), people will visit this web site less often and overall posts will significantly drop.

                                1. re: nsxtasy
                                  m
                                  markh RE: nsxtasy Jan 25, 2010 04:17 PM

                                  "P.S. Indiana has some very nice beach communities on Lake Michigan, so it qualifies as Great Lakes. :) "

                                  Yes, but those communities are discussed on the Chicago board, since they are Chicago suburbs. It took years to convince Jim Leff that topics about NW Indiana, which has a physical border with the city of Chicago, belonged on the Chicago board. One hopes Chowhound will not make the same mistake twice.

                              2. c
                                chowmel RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:17 PM

                                Mass as southern New England - ouch !

                                24 Replies
                                1. re: chowmel
                                  Chris VR RE: chowmel Jan 21, 2010 05:51 PM

                                  Yeah but I think Northern New England would feel even more wrong.

                                  1. re: chowmel
                                    Bob W RE: chowmel Jan 22, 2010 04:56 AM

                                    LOL Lumped in with the heathens in RI and CT. I love it!

                                    1. re: chowmel
                                      Karl S RE: chowmel Jan 22, 2010 04:56 AM

                                      The northern border of MA has traditionally been the dividing line between N and S in New England, just as the Connecticut river divides E and W.

                                      1. re: Karl S
                                        bagelman01 RE: Karl S Jan 22, 2010 11:23 AM

                                        Except for the Merrimack Valley. The RT 495/RT 93 corridors are really northern New England. And everything from Lowell to Andover to Lawrence (MA) and Salem NH is one metro trading area.

                                        I spend three days a week in Andover, MA and cross into Salem to dine or shop regularly, and to buy alcohol at the NH state stores. From my office in Andover, it is 7 minutes to Salem.

                                        The attitude in the valley is definitely NOT southern New England.

                                        And there is nothing southern New Englsnd about Leominster, Fitchburg or Garner either.

                                        The Mass Pike is a more logical cutoff than the northern border of the state.

                                        It doesn't seem that the CH adminsitrators bothers to consult the readers and those who post about these areas.

                                        1. re: bagelman01
                                          Karl S RE: bagelman01 Jan 22, 2010 12:49 PM

                                          I disagree; the Merrimack Valley part of Massachusetts is closer to the sensibility of Greater Boston than it is to, say, Burlington VT or Bangor ME. The administrators are using state boundaries by and large as dividing points, as they are the simplest to administer in terms of comment moderation; given that exigency, their division of N and S in New England is the best under that standard; no one seriously considers MA northern New England. (And I write this as someone whose network is largely in the I-93 corrider up into NH.)

                                          No one whose daily life straddles a state border is going to like a policy that uses state borders as a dividing line; but that problem that is true of all borderlines - just think how ridiculous it would be to treat Worcester as northern New England but Sturbridge as southern New England, for just one example.

                                          The Mass Pike cuts right through the middle of Greater Boston metro area. Most people in VT, NH & ME would laugh at the idea that Andover or Worcester or Amherst MA were "northern" New England.

                                          1. re: Karl S
                                            rworange RE: Karl S Jan 22, 2010 01:28 PM

                                            I grew up in Connecticut, went to school in Boston and lived in Rockport on the upper border. Every summer we vacationed in Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont.

                                            Based on a quarter of a century in that area the more logical division would have been

                                            Connecticut - Rhode Island (or Southern New England)
                                            Massachusetts (or Central New Enlgand)
                                            Northern New England

                                            I know the dividing damage is done, but if current traffic was a consideration, the way the boards were divided in the past probaly led to the low traffic for CT, RI.

                                            I could never convince any of my friends or relatives in Connecticut to use Chowhound because there were too few tips for CT. They got lost in all the other noise.

                                            I will not have any better luck trying to get anyone from that area to use those boards since they are going to get dominated by Massachusetts postings.

                                            And seriously ... for all those CT commuters on the boarder. Even living mid-state, I was more likely to know what was going on in NY and NJ than Massachusetts which was a state we drove through to get to Maine on vacation. People in my home town commuted to jobs in NY. No one ... NO ONE ... commuted to Massachusetts. It is called the Tri-state region for a reason.

                                            While I don't believe the Tri-State board was useful and was confusing, this new psuedo Tri-State board is even worse.

                                            I will conceede Rhode Island could be thrown up for grabs as I knew people who commuted from RI to Boston or other MA towns and visa versa.

                                            It is ironic. Chowhound started as a NY-centric forum with people clueless about the Western part of the country ... hence the alll those years of weeping and gnashing of teeth about a San Diego board.

                                            Now it is California-centric and New England. is being badly divided due to lack of familiarity ... I'm guessing ... and vacations to the East Coast don't count as familiarity.

                                            1. re: rworange
                                              foleyd7 RE: rworange Jan 22, 2010 02:05 PM

                                              Make a state a state.
                                              The concept of "New England" is just stupid.

                                              1. re: foleyd7
                                                Karl S RE: foleyd7 Jan 23, 2010 12:56 PM

                                                Well, in Fairfield County, it probably is (but used not to be: my parents' families come from several generations in that county, and they considered themselves New Englanders, not suburban NYers. My father was a Boston Braves/Bees fan. By a generation ago, the division in CT became Meriden/Middletown.

                                              2. re: rworange
                                                Karl S RE: rworange Jan 23, 2010 12:58 PM

                                                Well, SE Massachusetts (Bristol, the southern part of Plymouth, Barnstable, Dukes & Nantucket Cos) has a lot more in common with RI and southeastern CT in terms of traditional food ways.

                                                The NY oriented part of CT was west of the CT river.

                                                1. re: Karl S
                                                  foleyd7 RE: Karl S Jan 23, 2010 01:06 PM

                                                  If you are in Mass and searching for dining in Lenox or Lee or Pittsfield, do you really want search results from multiple states that are hours and hours away? When you post a topic like "Best Burger Around" do you want to hear of places that require a full tank of gas (and more?) to get to?
                                                  If Chow wanted to break up "TriState" because they wanted each state to stand separate then I could buy that. If they wanted clear dilineation, then I get it. Make CT its own. Make Mass it's own, etc. But moving CT out of a relevant "grouping" and putting us in an irrelevant grouping is not progress. This re-org may be 2 steps forward for some, but it is 1 step backwards for Fairfield County.

                                                  1. re: foleyd7
                                                    Karl S RE: foleyd7 Jan 23, 2010 01:25 PM

                                                    MA and RI are not "hours and hours" away from Fairfield Co; hours yes, but not "hours and hours" (it's less than 3 hours from Boston to Fairfield Co, less than 2 hrs from Providence). They are closer to Fairfield County than many prominent locales within single US states are. NE has six states in 72K sq miles. MA, CT and RI together comprise under 25% of that area (about 30% bigger than the state of Maryland).

                                                    1. re: Karl S
                                                      foleyd7 RE: Karl S Jan 24, 2010 06:22 AM

                                                      Last time I drove to Provincetown on the cape it took me 6 hours.
                                                      I don't want their posts coming up when I'm looking for "local" topics and threads. If I want to search for Ptown, I should be able to search MA as it's own entity.

                                                      1. re: foleyd7
                                                        Karl S RE: foleyd7 Jan 24, 2010 07:40 AM

                                                        If you lived in Westchester, it would lake a lot longer than 6 hours to drive to the other end of your own state; that's true of a lot of states (it would take at least 5 hours to drive from Provincetown MA to Williamstown MA, significantly more in heavy traffic; Williamstown is less "local" to me here in the Boston area than Fairfield Co, which is only 3 hours away). Southern NE is small; as noted, it only 30% bigger than the entire state of Maryland, smaller than West Virginia.

                                                        1. re: Karl S
                                                          jfood RE: Karl S Jan 24, 2010 08:20 AM

                                                          But size does not matter (FFD County alone is larger than Boston and every other city that has its own board....It is the POV of the customer , in this case the people of FFD county. NOT ONE poster in FFD Cty appears to have been included inthe VOC, and jfood was taught that progress means making things better, not worse.

                                                          1. re: jfood
                                                            j
                                                            Johnct RE: jfood Jan 26, 2010 08:04 AM

                                                            I agree 100%. Why not give FFD County its own board, or couple it with Southern Westchester County NY? The number of posters and restaurants in these areas should deserve a second look (and thier own board).

                                                            1. re: Johnct
                                                              julietg RE: Johnct Jan 28, 2010 05:10 PM

                                                              Second. I grew up in FFD and now live in Westchester. I'll go as far as Suffolk and Orange, but can't make it up to Albany or Buffalo!

                                                          2. re: Karl S
                                                            l
                                                            Lenox637 RE: Karl S Jan 25, 2010 05:10 AM

                                                            Williamstown is 5 hours from Ptown IN heavy traffic...... substantially less with light traffic.

                                                          3. re: foleyd7
                                                            l
                                                            lagatta RE: foleyd7 Jan 24, 2010 06:05 PM

                                                            Hah! lucky you. It is impossible to drive from Montréal to the far north of Québec - Nunavik, the remote Arctic - or even to some places on the Lower North Shore in the fare east.

                                                            I don't drive anywhere, but this site does pretty much cover the whole planet. so people have to figure out destinations that are logical for them.

                                                      2. re: Karl S
                                                        rworange RE: Karl S Jan 23, 2010 03:50 PM

                                                        That is quite true about the Ct river. Still, a significant part of the population is west of the river

                                                        Personally, I'm just happy I don't have to share my hometown with Vermont anymore

                                                        While I don't agree that a state needs to be a state .... my Fairfield County relatives consider themselves pround New Englanders ... for a good chunk of people in CT, suddenly having to deal with Cape Cod, Ipswich, and Rhode Island posts may be a bit of a pain.

                                                        And yes, I do remember the toll booth stops on the Merritt Parkway ... and the rest stops with machines dispensing bad sandwiches wrapped in cellophane.

                                                  2. re: bagelman01
                                                    Passadumkeg RE: bagelman01 Jan 22, 2010 03:52 PM

                                                    Bag., Washington Dc is closer to Boston than I am in Maine, you guys even talk funny! Kinda like a southern accent!
                                                    Why are there Boston Southies?

                                                  3. re: Karl S
                                                    c
                                                    chowmel RE: Karl S Jan 22, 2010 03:40 PM

                                                    I've never felt associated with southern New England. Geographically it may make sense but growing up in north central Ma , Ct and RI were the south. Its just personal experience, I know. When we travelled it was north not south. Makes me think of the Dunkins commercial Newyorkachusetts ! Its too warm down there !

                                                    1. re: chowmel
                                                      Karl S RE: chowmel Jan 23, 2010 01:00 PM

                                                      Consider that folks in ME don't even think of Portland southward as really Maine, and people in northern and central NH think of southern NH as overly dominated by Massachusetts.

                                                      1. re: Karl S
                                                        c
                                                        chowmel RE: Karl S Jan 23, 2010 03:48 PM

                                                        Yes, its all personal experience. And really mine is a gut reaction based on that, not on food or restaurants which is where I should be thinking.

                                                  4. re: chowmel
                                                    s
                                                    sophie fox RE: chowmel Jan 27, 2010 07:55 AM

                                                    Northern New England has always been ME, NH and VT. Rural in character vs suburban/urban in character.

                                                  5. nsxtasy RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:18 PM

                                                    >> We'll be starting the new boards empty, and manually moving active discussions over to new boards where it makes sense. If you're participating in a discussion that you think needs a new home, please go ahead and use 'report' to flag it for the moderators to move.
                                                    .
                                                    .
                                                    .
                                                    >> If you have any questions, this is the place to post them.

                                                    I have a couple of questions. Although I am using the Midwest Forum as an example, these questions apply equally to any other forum which is being discontinued and broken into multiple forums, with an archive forum for the existing topics.

                                                    1. If there is a topic that, on January 29, is sitting in the Midwest Forum Archive, and we think it's an important discussion with a lot of useful information, can we move it into the appropriate new forum (Great Lakes, Great Plains, or MSP) immediately, even if there are no new posts in it? Or do we have to wait until a new post is made before moving it?

                                                    2. I assume that, after the new structure goes into place, people will still be able to post to current topics in the Midwest Forum Archive (and then those with appropriate privileges will move them to the proper new forum, i.e. MSP, Great Lakes, or Great Plains). Will users be able to create new topics in the Midwest Forum Archive? (I am hoping the answer is no.)

                                                    I know this new structure must have been the product of a lot of discussion and hard work, and I thank all of those involved. I think it will be a big improvement.

                                                    1 Reply
                                                    1. re: nsxtasy
                                                      Jacquilynne RE: nsxtasy Jan 21, 2010 04:38 PM

                                                      1. Yes, any thread will be movable.

                                                      2. Yes, people will still be able to reply to existing threads on the archive boards (though we will, then, move them to a new board if possible and let the person who bumped the thread know), but they will not be able to start new threads on those boards.

                                                    2. j
                                                      Jim M RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:20 PM

                                                      Looking forward to the new breakdown. As a Detroiter, I'm interested in hearing about places in Cleveland or Columbus, not so much about St. Louis or Oklahoma City.

                                                      5 Replies
                                                      1. re: Jim M
                                                        grayelf RE: Jim M Jan 21, 2010 04:27 PM

                                                        Huzzah! British Columbia will have its own board. Not that I won't miss some of those Prairie characters :-) but it's such a huge area geographically...though come to think of it with the addition of the territories and Nunavut I think our area just got bigger LOL.

                                                        1. re: grayelf
                                                          fmed RE: grayelf Jan 21, 2010 05:58 PM

                                                          The Calgarians are the most active posters in the old Western Canada board. It'll be pretty quiet in the new one. I'll miss those guys!

                                                          1. re: fmed
                                                            maplesugar RE: fmed Jan 22, 2010 06:28 AM

                                                            This Prairie character will miss reading about all your fabulous chowdowns in Van :)

                                                            1. re: maplesugar
                                                              Office Broccoli RE: maplesugar Jan 22, 2010 07:12 AM

                                                              Being from Calgary and travelling to Vancouver/Victoria frequently I will miss the convenience of keeping up to date in both places.

                                                              1. re: Office Broccoli
                                                                a
                                                                Albertagirl RE: Office Broccoli Jan 23, 2010 11:21 PM

                                                                Living in Calgary and only infrequently getting out to the coast means that for me, I won't have to wonder as much where someone is posting about.
                                                                I think we should all remember to put our locale in our postings. YYC, or whatever. I once put out a request for San Francisco with SFO as my region, and some smarty pants said that no one eats at the airport.

                                                      2. goodhealthgourmet RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:37 PM

                                                        hooray!!! three cheers for San Diego finally getting its own board. Atlanta too - well deserved and long overdue.

                                                        the Jersey board is good too, though it's still a big state so hopefully CHers will be diligent about specifying *where* in Jersey they're referencing or asking about in their posts :)

                                                        1. foleyd7 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:43 PM

                                                          This actually makes it worse for Fairfield County Ct. I searched the "TriState" board before which was my area of focus. Now I'm blended into Mass and RI - - - places I'll never be.
                                                          The concept of "New England" is ludicrous. It's 2010, not 1910. Will there never be a way to secede from this outdated notion of an area????

                                                          46 Replies
                                                          1. re: foleyd7
                                                            stuck in Hartford County RE: foleyd7 Jan 22, 2010 04:42 AM

                                                            Agreed. Fairfield County CT residents have MUCH closer ties to NYC than "New England" (unless they are heading to their Cape Cod summer house or VT ski house...). Anyway, just wanted to point this out.

                                                            1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                                                              amanda3571 RE: stuck in Hartford County Jan 22, 2010 04:58 AM

                                                              100% agree. Splitting Fairfield & Westchester Counties is a big bummer. Fairfield County is definitely more of an NYC suburb than the generic Southern New England (*frowns*).

                                                              1. re: amanda3571
                                                                s
                                                                sibeats RE: amanda3571 Jan 22, 2010 05:05 AM

                                                                Yep, totally agree. Separating FFLD and Westchester is a terrible idea, especially when you are now lumping us with Mass...ugh.

                                                                1. re: sibeats
                                                                  s
                                                                  Scotty100 RE: sibeats Jan 22, 2010 05:38 AM

                                                                  Yup, this is a bad idea. FFD county is part of the NY City suburbs, not the Boston suburbs!! The "tristate" designation is much more relevant than "Southern New England"...what the hell does that mean?! Time for a rethink on this decision chowhound...

                                                                  1. re: Scotty100
                                                                    jen kalb RE: Scotty100 Jan 22, 2010 09:01 AM

                                                                    I think NY Suburbs (other than NJ) which would include Fairfield, Westchester and LI would be a fair division. I guess it could include upstate NY if there are not enuf posts there.

                                                                    the Northern part of CT appropriately falls in So. NE, I think.

                                                                    1. re: jen kalb
                                                                      p
                                                                      PPPPP RE: jen kalb Jan 22, 2010 09:17 AM

                                                                      I totally agree with this. I'll really miss having Westchester and Fairfield in the same board. That's a much more logical division than all of CT vs. all of NYS.

                                                                      1. re: PPPPP
                                                                        r
                                                                        rjka RE: PPPPP Jan 22, 2010 11:07 AM

                                                                        I've got to agree. I can see NJ being separate and even Long Island being separate, but Southern Westchester and Southern Fairfield are really one area for most residents.

                                                                      2. re: jen kalb
                                                                        MisterBill2 RE: jen kalb Jan 22, 2010 07:34 PM

                                                                        I would split Long Island out by itself, and leave CT/Westchester in another board. But then where do you break "upstate"? If you use a NYC mentality, upstate is anything north of Westchester. But Putnam and probably Dutchess should be separated out. And Rockland probably belongs with NJ.

                                                                        1. re: MisterBill2
                                                                          GIOny RE: MisterBill2 Jan 22, 2010 08:57 PM

                                                                          I agree that Long Island should have it's own board, but it would make sense to have Westchester and the Hudson Valley to their own board. I believe even now on the current boards they have places like Rodchester and Buffalo and Albany as part of the Tri-State boards, which doesn't make any sense geographically. Ct and Westchester only makes sense to those who live in the Eastern part of the county (Westchester), for those who live in the Western part of Westchester, NJ and Rockland are closer.

                                                                          1. re: GIOny
                                                                            mcf RE: GIOny Jan 23, 2010 09:46 AM

                                                                            First of all, I'm really looking forward to the new board breakdown, it's taken a lot of thought, research and planning and I'm grateful that these forums are so actively moderated and thought about.

                                                                            I'd love a dedicated Long Island forum, but I just don't know that there's enough posting volume to keep it active and interesting enough at all times, and that could cause folks to sort of stop looking in.

                                                                            You can never please everyone, but you can make a lot of positive change by trying to meet folks' needs in a thoughtful way, so THANK YOU to the CH team.

                                                                            1. re: mcf
                                                                              jfood RE: mcf Jan 23, 2010 10:53 AM

                                                                              "a lot of thought, research and planning" - is that something you can let us know about how the research was conducted for those of us in FFD county who find the change mindboggling?

                                                                              1. re: jfood
                                                                                mcf RE: jfood Jan 23, 2010 10:59 AM

                                                                                I think that falls under "you can never please everyone." :-) If your complaint is that there are clearly some less than ideal solutions in some areas, I won't argue. But that doesn't mean that the team didn't think and research, only that they reached some conclusions that some folks disagree with.

                                                                                1. re: mcf
                                                                                  jfood RE: mcf Jan 23, 2010 11:11 AM

                                                                                  Jfood agrees that you cannot please everyone, absolutely. And jfood will learn to look at the SNE Board for his FFD desires and somewhere else for the Portchester stuff...no biggie.

                                                                                  But jfood would push back on the statement you made "a lot of thought, research and planning" since there seems to be a groundswell from the FFD posters on the end result. Jfood was just curious if you had some cold, hard facts about the process versus a broad brushed wet finger in the air.

                                                                                  Jfood was part of the Beta test for the last re-design and is curious whether they did likewise on this one.

                                                                                  1. re: jfood
                                                                                    mcf RE: jfood Jan 23, 2010 12:40 PM

                                                                                    I have absolutely no personal, inside knowledge of the process, but I've read all of the discussion and responses from the OP and to me it's clear that they've evaluated the usage patterns of the boards. That doesn't mean they nailed it on the head with every choice. Fair nuff?

                                                                                    1. re: mcf
                                                                                      jfood RE: mcf Jan 23, 2010 12:48 PM

                                                                                      Fair, but if they had the ability to segment the Tri-State Board into the various useage components they would also have the ability to move the thread that generated these results. Since they have also asked for assistance in moving thread, jfood would state that they have absolutely no idea of the sub-useage on the boards.

                                                                                      Jfood has done this too many times in his life and this one is 2 + 2 = 5.

                                                                                      1. re: jfood
                                                                                        Das Ubergeek RE: jfood Jan 23, 2010 02:43 PM

                                                                                        It's a very slight improvement over NJ's current situation (where exactly is the line between Mid-Atlantic and Tri-State? Is it the Union/Middlesex county line? Where do you go for things in Somerset County? Or Monmouth? Is that close enough to New York?) in that at least Connecticut, including Fairfield County, is part of southern New England even if sometimes it feels like there's a wall around the eastern border of the county to keep the rest of the state out.

                                                                                        SNEC [Southern New England Chowhound]... we go beyond the wall :)

                                                                                        1. re: Das Ubergeek
                                                                                          Karl S RE: Das Ubergeek Jan 23, 2010 02:50 PM

                                                                                          Whereas the wall used to be on the western border of the same county, the idea being that one could enjoy aspects of proximity to NY without being of NY, as it were.

                                                                                          Anyone remember the old toll booths on the Merritt Pkwy at the NY border....

                                                                    2. re: sibeats
                                                                      f
                                                                      fooodie RE: sibeats Jan 24, 2010 05:37 PM

                                                                      I hate using the boards for Westchester and Fairfield as it is since the posts are lost among Long Island, Upstate and NJ. I think it's great that NJ gets it's own board. But really lumping Fairfield in with Mass and RI is ridiculous - this will be so much worse. It would be great if it could still be lumped in with Westchester, but if not it makes more sense to have CT as it's own board.

                                                                    3. re: amanda3571
                                                                      q
                                                                      queenregina RE: amanda3571 Jan 29, 2010 11:19 AM

                                                                      Adding my vote for the return of the Tri-state board! I agree with Amanda, splitting Fairfield & Westchester Counties is a big bummer!

                                                                  2. re: foleyd7
                                                                    d
                                                                    DGresh RE: foleyd7 Jan 22, 2010 05:15 AM

                                                                    I can understand how the FF county and southern westchester folks might feel about this, but as for me in N. Westchester, FF county might as well be litchfield as far as I'm concerned. I guess for me the new thing is great since I won't have to deal with all the NJ and connecticut stuff, and there never was all that much Albany or Syracuse anyway. So in my mine, "New York" will more or less = "Westchester" :)

                                                                    But I can understand that now, while you can easily check "New York" (which after all really just means Westchester now), but you have to filter out all that "S. NE" stuff now.

                                                                    1. re: DGresh
                                                                      s
                                                                      sibeats RE: DGresh Jan 22, 2010 07:57 AM

                                                                      Well since New Jersey now has it's own board, why can't CT have it's own board? I'd prefer that to "southern New England"...

                                                                      1. re: sibeats
                                                                        amanda3571 RE: sibeats Jan 22, 2010 08:08 AM

                                                                        I think it's a mistake to change the TriState board. I can understand moving anywhere north of Westchester to a NYS board...but so many of us travel within the confines of this specific area (Long Island, FFD Cnty, Westchester Cnty, & Northern NJ).

                                                                    2. re: foleyd7
                                                                      jfood RE: foleyd7 Jan 22, 2010 02:26 PM

                                                                      Portchester to New Haven would have been jfood's desire, but that would have been unrealistic.

                                                                      More realistic would have been a CT only Board or split the Tri-State 3 ways, 1 - NJ, 2 - Upstate NY, 3 - Westchester & SW CT

                                                                      1. re: jfood
                                                                        s
                                                                        sibeats RE: jfood Jan 22, 2010 04:38 PM

                                                                        Yes, that makes perfect sense to me (the 3-way split)...unfortunately I don't think anything will change at this point. I don't get why they split NJ into it's own board yet CT gets lost in the shuffle...are there really that many more posts about NJ than CT? Sigh....

                                                                        1. re: sibeats
                                                                          stuck in Hartford County RE: sibeats Jan 22, 2010 04:55 PM

                                                                          I'm on board! When do we start?

                                                                        2. re: jfood
                                                                          f
                                                                          fooodie RE: jfood Jan 24, 2010 05:50 PM

                                                                          Totally agree on the three way split! Splitting out LI into a fourth might not be a bad idea either. Where would Rockland County fall? I think I'd be OK if this was lumped in with Westchester and Southern CT. I will be very happy not to have to wade through the NJ and upstate posts, but I think Mass and RI will be even worse! I hope they listen and fix this sooner rather than later...

                                                                          1. re: jfood
                                                                            surman RE: jfood Feb 12, 2010 01:43 PM

                                                                            You forgot L.I.

                                                                            1. re: surman
                                                                              jfood RE: surman Feb 12, 2010 04:47 PM

                                                                              How do you guys feel about the Outer Boroughs and LI

                                                                          2. re: foleyd7
                                                                            h
                                                                            hungrykids RE: foleyd7 Jan 23, 2010 09:08 AM

                                                                            Ditto.

                                                                            I work in Greenwich less than one mile from the Port Chester (and therefore NY state) line. Splitting Fairfield County from Westchester County means I would be searching two different boards to decide where to eat lunch or where to go for a quick bite after dinner.

                                                                            I live farther north in Fairfield County but still more or less near the NY state line. If I drive 20 minutes west I am in NY state, where I frequently enjoy meals in border towns such as Bedford, Katonah, South and North Salem, etc. And with a child on travel sports teams, I often find myself eating dinner after games in Pawling, Patterson, Poughkeepsie, etc.

                                                                            In the past year, I've eaten a meal in New Haven exactly once....and although my husband grew up in West Hartford, we haven't been out to dinner there in YEARS, since we tend to visit friends/family in that area.

                                                                            For me, this new division is a big step backwards.

                                                                            1. re: hungrykids
                                                                              jfood RE: hungrykids Jan 23, 2010 09:37 AM

                                                                              It appears from all the posts that Chowhound did not even reach out to 1 poster to have input onto which Boards should go where.

                                                                              This was probably their thought process

                                                                              1 - New Emgland is broken into three boards: NE, Boston, Tristate
                                                                              2 - That means 6 states
                                                                              3 - Lets keep VT, NH, Maine together
                                                                              4 - Therefore the remaining board only includes Mass, RI and CT
                                                                              5 - What do we do with FFD County
                                                                              6 - Since the Tri-State definition has incorrectly for years stated Southeastern, not southwestern, nobody raised their hand
                                                                              7 - Ah what the heck let's just make the whole state one.

                                                                              Total lack of focus by the powers to be on eating habits.

                                                                              Sounds like the end of WW2...ah heck let's just divide Berlin in 4's.

                                                                              Can't make this stuff up.

                                                                              1. re: hungrykids
                                                                                h
                                                                                HillJ RE: hungrykids Jan 23, 2010 09:56 AM

                                                                                I would be searching two different boards to decide where to eat lunch or where to go for a quick bite after dinner.
                                                                                ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                                                                And this type of site searching is exactly what NJ CH's posting and/or reading as well as those visiting the lovely state of NJ for food destinations via CH reviews went through with two boards reporting on one state. Many of us voiced our opinions about how unecessarily it is to break up one state into several parts/Boards and since you can visit NJ tip to toe in one day (with enough willpower & gas) I feel for ya. Now, I'd like to see how the Jan 28th changes go before dumping on what many of us have waited for...and many will still want reconsidered.

                                                                                1. re: hungrykids
                                                                                  nsxtasy RE: hungrykids Jan 23, 2010 11:34 AM

                                                                                  >> I would be searching two different boards to decide where to eat lunch or where to go for a quick bite after dinner.

                                                                                  This is inevitable where one forum's area is moved or split into two or more areas. There are lots of examples of this. St. Louis, Missouri, and its suburbs across the Mississippi in Illinois are both in the Midwest forum now; Missouri will be in the new Great Plains forum and those suburbs will be in the new Great Lakes forum. Heck, it's even worse for Chattanooga, Tennessee, which has suburbs in Georgia and is just a few miles from Alabama; those three states will belong in three different forums, while they are all in one forum today.

                                                                                  There will always be some people who live near the new border line, where there was none before. And yes, it is unfortunate but true that for people who live there, they will now need to check two forums for posts to stay on top of food on both sides of the new border. But for MOST people, this will be a big improvement, because with forums being split up, MOST people will no longer have to wade through posts from some other area that they don't frequent. It may even be much better in ways people don't realize. For example, in the new forums, Fairfield County CT will probably have a huge portion of the posts of the new Southern New England forum, a far larger portion than they have had in the Tristate forum where they currently have to wade through posts for New Jersey, Long Island, Rockland and Orange Counties NY, etc.

                                                                                  My suggestion is to give the new structure a try before you start complaining.

                                                                                  Disclaimer: I am not a part of the Chowhound Team.

                                                                                  1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                    s
                                                                                    sibeats RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 11:46 AM

                                                                                    <MOST people will no longer have to wade through posts from some other area that they don't frequent.>

                                                                                    But we are not MOST people, as those of us in FFLD county have just been given the opposite. NOW we will have to wade through 2 states that we have virtually no connection to.
                                                                                    So my suggestion is to maybe let the people who actually live in the area under discussion give the facts of OUR new situation, because your facts of the Tri-state forum are clearly incorrect. Good grief.

                                                                                    1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                      jfood RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 12:06 PM

                                                                                      nsxtasy,

                                                                                      let's just say that those posters who have 1000s of posts in FFD are the ones commenting about the FFD inclusion with Worcester MA.

                                                                                      Please understand that someone from Chicago is a little out of the appropriate zip code to understand the food culture in FFD CT

                                                                                      1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                        h
                                                                                        hungrykids RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 12:26 PM

                                                                                        speaking only for myself....since I grew up in New Jersey and still frequently visit family and friends there, and since my brother and my brother-in-law live on Long Island, where we also visit, the soon-to-be-non-existent Tristate forum worked really well. My only wish (and this won't change on any board) is that people were better (myself included) about putting the town and state in the title of their thread to make it easier to figure out what to read or skip...

                                                                                        Virtually all of the Ffld Cty posts were south-of-84 posts...and a whole lot of the regular Ffld Cty posters have weighed in here to say this is not a change that benefits us.

                                                                                        I think we have a pretty clear idea about our dining/traveling habits...and as for the "other places will be affected, too" comment from nsxtasy....so what? we're not commenting on whether the other changes are better or worse. we're just saying that for US this specific change does not match our typical dining experience.

                                                                                        1. re: hungrykids
                                                                                          jfood RE: hungrykids Jan 23, 2010 12:49 PM

                                                                                          +1

                                                                                          1. re: jfood
                                                                                            foleyd7 RE: jfood Jan 23, 2010 12:58 PM

                                                                                            I'm heading to Tarry Lodge for dinner with my wife and another couple. I'm going in planning to get pizza and pasta so I've got high expectations. A report will come soon!
                                                                                            Of course, I'll have to figure out where to post it. Do I put it on the NY thread where many of my Fairfield County friends will miss it? Or do I put it on the Southern CT thread where people in RI and Mass can ignore it?

                                                                                            1. re: foleyd7
                                                                                              jfood RE: foleyd7 Jan 23, 2010 01:28 PM

                                                                                              Post on both...wait a minute you HAVE TO POST ON THREE BOARDS....:))

                                                                                              1 - NY State
                                                                                              2 - NYC and the outer boroughs (Westchester is not a borough)
                                                                                              3 - Southern New England

                                                                                              Can't make this stuff up.

                                                                                              :-))

                                                                                              1. re: jfood
                                                                                                s
                                                                                                Scotty100 RE: jfood Jan 23, 2010 07:14 PM

                                                                                                Why aren't they listening to us?

                                                                                              2. re: foleyd7
                                                                                                h
                                                                                                hungrykids RE: foleyd7 Jan 23, 2010 01:36 PM

                                                                                                LOL foley - perhaps you can stop in at meli melo in greenwich for dessert, thus requiring posts on TWO boards (in the new system) in order to talk about your evening....

                                                                                                1. re: hungrykids
                                                                                                  amanda3571 RE: hungrykids Jan 23, 2010 02:42 PM

                                                                                                  I really hope the team is listening to us and will reconsider this decision.

                                                                                                2. re: foleyd7
                                                                                                  nsxtasy RE: foleyd7 Jan 23, 2010 03:01 PM

                                                                                                  Put it in the forum where the restaurant is located.

                                                                                                  Gee whiz, this isn't rocket science. If I post about a restaurant in Los Angeles, am I supposed to think about putting it in the Chicago forum so my friends in Chicago don't miss it? Sheesh...

                                                                                                  1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                    Das Ubergeek RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 03:04 PM

                                                                                                    If you wanted your Chicago friends not to miss it, you could always post a link in the Chicago board to the main post in the LA board. That happens a lot.

                                                                                                    1. re: Das Ubergeek
                                                                                                      nsxtasy RE: Das Ubergeek Jan 23, 2010 03:23 PM

                                                                                                      Yup. And someone posting about Tarry Lodge could do the same thing, right?

                                                                                                      1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                        jfood RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 08:00 PM

                                                                                                        Managing to the exception is no way to run a business and for those of us who post here daily this is a PITA. And as more posters from FFD line up in opposition, it further proves that this thing was done in a vacuum with no VOC, yet another not a way to run a business.

                                                                                                    2. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                      r
                                                                                                      rjka RE: nsxtasy Jan 29, 2010 07:48 AM

                                                                                                      As a former FF county resident who still gets back there a lot and a current Chicago area resident, this is akin to breaking the Chicago board into a Cook County plus the rest of Illinois and a Lake County plus Wisconsin board, and then expecting suburban Chicagoans to toggle between two boards, with people looking for HIghwood restaurants having to read posts about Milwaukee and Green Bay.

                                                                                                      This was a really stupid idea for the Westchester/Fairfield market.

                                                                                        2. Jacquilynne RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:50 PM

                                                                                          Folks, I know there's a strong inclination to declare what you wish we had done or ask for more boards at this point, but I want to step in now and say that changes to this layout will not be happening immediately.

                                                                                          We fervently hope that these new boards will allow some areas that were being drowned out to step up and develop a great, ongoing conversation, and we will revisit the issue of new boards in hopefully rather less than the 3 and a half years it took us this time around. But, we've carefully balanced these boards based on the volume of conversation that actually exists and the likelihood that those conversations will grow, and we're going to let them settle in for awhile before we consider any more changes.

                                                                                          If you've got questions about any new functions or the new breakdown or can't figure out where your hometown ended up, please do ask, but I won't be responding to new board requests.

                                                                                          1. JillO RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 04:52 PM

                                                                                            Hallelujah! We up here in the Pacific NW (especially those of us in Portland, OR!) thank you!! We love you Seattle, but we need our own board!

                                                                                            1. s
                                                                                              selfportrait93 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 05:08 PM

                                                                                              Ahhhhh, Las Vegas is on its own......what happens in Vegas stays with Vegas,

                                                                                              1. zorra RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 05:25 PM

                                                                                                Woo hoo! Houston board!!

                                                                                                1. m
                                                                                                  MRS RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 05:45 PM

                                                                                                  Sorry but I have to say it- the NY Metro area is NOT the same of all of NY State. It might be a good idea to separate areas of NJ, CT and NY but not in this way. I don't really have much interest in what goes on in all of NY State, truthfully and I am sure the Chowboard doesn't care, but I think this is a HUGE mistake.

                                                                                                  1 Reply
                                                                                                  1. re: MRS
                                                                                                    foleyd7 RE: MRS Jan 21, 2010 05:49 PM

                                                                                                    Agree. There should be separate searches for NY, NJ, CT, and MA.
                                                                                                    Within NY there should be a way to fine tune the board to NYC and within MA a way to fine tune to Boston.
                                                                                                    I'm from CT and think this new alignment is worse than the old "Tri State" board.

                                                                                                  2. l
                                                                                                    lagatta RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 05:47 PM

                                                                                                    I'm glad to see several of these changes. I had never heard the term "Tristate" and neither had friends across the border in northerly parts of New York State.

                                                                                                    Guts of Steel, "Europe" is a big improvement over "International". West and East is problematic too - where do we put "Mitteleuropa"? Or Scandinavia?

                                                                                                    I am also glad to see "Kosher", for example, become a topical rather than a US board. If the majority of Kosher queries concern the US, that is simply because chowhound is US-based. Still, there have been many kosher board queries about Canada - or about France, Argentina or Israel for that matter. When queries warrant, there may well be a Halal board, or a Vegetarian board.

                                                                                                    9 Replies
                                                                                                    1. re: lagatta
                                                                                                      foleyd7 RE: lagatta Jan 21, 2010 05:55 PM

                                                                                                      Never heard of "Tristate"? Didn't you watch Yankee games with Phil Rizzuto as the announcer? Don't you remember those famous lines: "brought to you by your local Tri State Toyota dealer". Tri State is NY, NJ, CT. Everyboyd down here knows that.
                                                                                                      This just proves the need for granularity in the board configuration.

                                                                                                      1. re: foleyd7
                                                                                                        l
                                                                                                        lagatta RE: foleyd7 Jan 22, 2010 05:22 AM

                                                                                                        No. I'm from Montréal. Why would I watch that? Or I'll start querying you about our local shows and ads - in French!

                                                                                                        I'm not a big TV watcher anyway. Don't even own a TV now - I work all day on the computer; don't need to look at another screen. People who do watch US shows from New York State here are looking at Northern NY, and Torontonians are watching Buffalo. No Tristate in sight. Please don't assume that people in other countries are up on all aspects of US popular culture.

                                                                                                        1. re: lagatta
                                                                                                          m
                                                                                                          mazza3 RE: lagatta Jan 22, 2010 10:59 AM

                                                                                                          not to mention, in philadelphia, the tri-state area is PA, NJ and DE. i am sure that there are many tri-states in the US.

                                                                                                          and YAY FOR A PHILLY BOARD! about time. :)

                                                                                                          1. re: mazza3
                                                                                                            nsxtasy RE: mazza3 Jan 22, 2010 02:18 PM

                                                                                                            >> i am sure that there are many tri-states in the US.

                                                                                                            Just to prove your point... Here in Chicago, we don't refer to the area as the "Tri-State Area", but the Tri-State Expressway which circumnavigates the city goes from the Wisconsin state line to the Indiana state line.

                                                                                                      2. re: lagatta
                                                                                                        misspastina RE: lagatta Mar 6, 2010 08:02 PM

                                                                                                        Those of us who live in the Tri-State region know exactly where and who we are. Those who don't know what it means might look at it as a learning opportunity ...

                                                                                                        1. re: misspastina
                                                                                                          d
                                                                                                          DGresh RE: misspastina Mar 7, 2010 01:59 AM

                                                                                                          I think though that what lagatta was trying to say was that "Tristate" as the name of a board is ambiguous to those *outside* the region. I've lived in the NYC suburbs a good part of my life (both NJ and NY) so I'm familiar with the term. However someone new coming to these boards may have scratched their head at that. After all, I've heard of many other tristate regions in my travel around the US, in both the midatlantic and southeast areas.

                                                                                                          1. re: DGresh
                                                                                                            stuck in Hartford County RE: DGresh Mar 7, 2010 10:52 AM

                                                                                                            Good point. I grew up in Maryland, outside D.C. and our tri-state region was MD/VA/DE.

                                                                                                            I had a question recently about a childhood fave restaurant near Bethesda, MD, and it was really tough to figure out where to post my question- wasn't in Washington D.C., wasn't in Baltimore, and the only other option was Eastern Seaboard. Yikes!!!

                                                                                                            1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                                                                                                              nsxtasy RE: stuck in Hartford County Mar 8, 2010 07:48 AM

                                                                                                              siHC has a good point. Some of the names and labels of the boards are quite confusing. For example, he/she mentions Bethesda MD, a suburb of DC. Let's look at the board where it belongs. The name of the board is "Washington DC & Baltimore Area", and the subtitle is "Tips for Dining, Eating, and Food Shopping in DC/Baltimore and Suburban Virginia". That's totally confusing and does not clearly include the MD suburbs.

                                                                                                              It sounds like that board should be split into two, one for the Washington DC Area (including suburbs in MD and VA), and another for the Baltimore Area (including its suburbs). Appropriate names would make this all much clearer.

                                                                                                              1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                surman RE: nsxtasy Mar 8, 2010 12:16 PM

                                                                                                                Is anyone inside Chow.com reading this stuff?

                                                                                                      3. c
                                                                                                        CulinaryKate RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 06:29 PM

                                                                                                        Wow, I cant wait for Chowhound to filter my messages locally!

                                                                                                        1. Curt the Soi Hound RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 06:29 PM

                                                                                                          We merge continents. But, at least, Jersey has its own board..... ;-)

                                                                                                          2 Replies
                                                                                                          1. re: Curt the Soi Hound
                                                                                                            debbieann RE: Curt the Soi Hound Jan 21, 2010 07:23 PM

                                                                                                            really!! what, we are all in China now??

                                                                                                            1. re: debbieann
                                                                                                              Curt the Soi Hound RE: debbieann Jan 21, 2010 07:36 PM

                                                                                                              Maybe there should just be one, big "Oriental" branch?
                                                                                                              ;-)

                                                                                                          2. r
                                                                                                            RibDog RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 06:32 PM

                                                                                                            I kind of surprised that you are breaking out Miami from the Florida board and not Tampa Bay area. It seems to me the Tampa Bay area has just as much traffic on the Florida board as Miami. Well, at least now we won't have to keep asking where the poster is asking a question about.

                                                                                                            10 Replies
                                                                                                            1. re: RibDog
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                                                                                                              andy huse RE: RibDog Jan 22, 2010 07:33 AM

                                                                                                              Miami may as well be an island.

                                                                                                              1. re: RibDog
                                                                                                                Jacquilynne RE: RibDog Jan 22, 2010 08:13 AM

                                                                                                                We did look at both, along with Orlando/Kissimmee, but Miami seemed like a stronger candidate to be self-sustaining at this point. Tampa remains a possibility for the future.

                                                                                                                1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                  a
                                                                                                                  Alfred G RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 01:10 PM

                                                                                                                  I think you should have included Palm Beach County in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale board. This is the area typically known as South Florida. The 3 counties of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach are a built-in region.

                                                                                                                  Just a thought.

                                                                                                                  1. re: Alfred G
                                                                                                                    r
                                                                                                                    Raboi RE: Alfred G Jan 23, 2010 11:25 AM

                                                                                                                    I second the motion. We call it the tricounty area.

                                                                                                                  2. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                    l
                                                                                                                    ldkelley RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 05:24 PM

                                                                                                                    I also agree with the two previous posters. I am in the Fort Lauderdale area, and we equally visit Miami-Dade and Palm Beach for meals and shows. We are basically one extended metro area.

                                                                                                                    However, don't get me wrong - I am thrilled that Miami-Ftl will get their own board!

                                                                                                                    1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                      m
                                                                                                                      mialebven RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 06:51 PM

                                                                                                                      Realized I should have responded here - I agree with the other posters, Palm Beach should be a part of Miami / South Florida (As Zagat puts it on the cover of their books). The tri-county metropolitan area refers to itself as South Florida.

                                                                                                                      1. re: mialebven
                                                                                                                        m
                                                                                                                        Mellicita RE: mialebven Jan 27, 2010 08:13 PM

                                                                                                                        I agree with the many posters who have noted that Palm Beach should be included with the Miami-Dade board for the same reasons given.

                                                                                                                        Interstate 95 allows for easy weekend travel between the 3 counties.

                                                                                                                        1. re: Mellicita
                                                                                                                          nsxtasy RE: Mellicita Jan 27, 2010 08:34 PM

                                                                                                                          If they named the board "Miami-Fort Lauderdale Area" (rather than "Miami-Fort Lauderdale"), the way the current city boards all have "area" in their names, that could be interpreted to include Palm Beach.

                                                                                                                          1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                            Kajikit RE: nsxtasy Jan 29, 2010 06:26 AM

                                                                                                                            If I was dividing the Florida board I'd have included Palm Beach as well... but this is better than nothing! Thank you for subdividing the unwieldily large Florida board!

                                                                                                                            1. re: Kajikit
                                                                                                                              nsxtasy RE: Kajikit Jan 30, 2010 01:31 PM

                                                                                                                              At the top of the new Miami-Fort Lauderdale board is a stickied topic by the Chowhound Team called "About the new Miami - Ft. Lauderdale board". It says, "This board covers the urban area surrounding Miami from as far South as Homestead to as far North as Jupiter, including Miami Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Coral Springs and other cities that fall within that range."

                                                                                                                  3. queenscook RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 07:19 PM

                                                                                                                    Re: We'll be starting the new boards empty, and manually moving active discussions over to new boards where it makes sense. If you're participating in a discussion that you think needs a new home, please go ahead and use 'report' to flag it for the moderators to move.

                                                                                                                    Does this mean that all old discussions which aren't currently active will no longer be available? I know that on the kosher board, which is what I frequent 90% of the time, there are many threads which people like to be able to access, even if they are not part of current discussions, like questions about a restaurant not under current discussion, but which you are looking into visiting. And other threads come up only at the time of the year that are appropriate, i.e., passover threads when passover starts to approach.

                                                                                                                    6 Replies
                                                                                                                    1. re: queenscook
                                                                                                                      The Chowhound Team RE: queenscook Jan 21, 2010 07:57 PM

                                                                                                                      The Kosher board will be moved to the board grouping with the Topical boards (whereas it is now under National). It will be the same board, just listed in a different place on the main page and Chowhound drop-down menu.

                                                                                                                      1. re: The Chowhound Team
                                                                                                                        queenscook RE: The Chowhound Team Jan 21, 2010 08:24 PM

                                                                                                                        Sorry to sound so dense here. I just want to confirm whether this means the board will NOT be starting empty, as I originally understood the announcement?

                                                                                                                        1. re: queenscook
                                                                                                                          The Chowhound Team RE: queenscook Jan 21, 2010 08:28 PM

                                                                                                                          Only the brand-new boards will start empty. The only change for the Kosher board is where it will be found in the board listings. Same for the Chains board.

                                                                                                                          1. re: The Chowhound Team
                                                                                                                            queenscook RE: The Chowhound Team Jan 21, 2010 09:30 PM

                                                                                                                            Thanks for the clarification.

                                                                                                                      2. re: queenscook
                                                                                                                        Jacquilynne RE: queenscook Jan 22, 2010 04:51 AM

                                                                                                                        We're not removing any threads from anywhere, they'll all still be available. But, to use the example of the San Diego board, which will be new, we're not going to be able to move every single thread that's about San Diego from the California board. We'll move things that are recent, and if people reply to older San Diego related threads on the California board, we'll move those, too, but some threads are going to remain on California.

                                                                                                                        Even in cases like Midwest, where the current board is being completely replaced, all those threads will still be there, searchable. There's too much great information in the Chowhound archives to delete it.

                                                                                                                        1. re: queenscook
                                                                                                                          nsxtasy RE: queenscook Jan 22, 2010 05:27 AM

                                                                                                                          >> Does this mean that all old discussions which aren't currently active will no longer be available?

                                                                                                                          No. All old inactive discussions will continue to be available.

                                                                                                                          Some boards from the "old" layout will continue to exist, and all old discussions will continue to be available there.

                                                                                                                          Other boards from the "old" layout are being replaced by several boards in the new structure. Where this occurs, the old discussions will continue to be available; the board containing them will be renamed as the "General X Archive". For example, the Midwest forum in the old layout is being replaced by the Great Plains forum, Great Lakes forum, and Minneapolis-St. Paul forum in the new layout. The old discussions from the Midwest forum will continue to be available in the forum called General Midwest Archive, except for any of those discussions which are moved to one of the three new replacement forums. No new topics will be created in the General Midwest Archive forum.

                                                                                                                          I'm not on the Chowhound Team but I hope this explanation helps.

                                                                                                                        2. debbieann RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 07:25 PM

                                                                                                                          Where is there more info on the intl breakdown? Just got back from Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam - now it won't be 'greater asia' - but it is all China?

                                                                                                                          Anyway, the US bias of Chowhound is a little tedious. International seems to mean everywhere outside the US, why not take a more global view?

                                                                                                                          2 Replies
                                                                                                                          1. re: debbieann
                                                                                                                            The Chowhound Team RE: debbieann Jan 21, 2010 08:02 PM

                                                                                                                            The two boards are being merged. The new board will be called China & Southeast Asia.

                                                                                                                            1. re: debbieann
                                                                                                                              Jacquilynne RE: debbieann Jan 22, 2010 05:16 AM

                                                                                                                              We're merging those two boards together for a couple of reasons. A lot of posters have traveled within Asia a fair bit, and since we don't get a lot of natives posting on our non-English boards, we're hoping we can goose the level of conversation a little by putting those two boards together. It also helps resolve questions about whether Taiwan, Hong Kong, etc, belong on the China board or on the Greater Asia board.

                                                                                                                              The US bias exists because that's where our site started and our members primarily are. We're starting to build some great boards in other regions of the world, but there isn't the level of traffic that would keep the conversation alive in most parts of the world. We try very hard not to create dead boards where no one is talking about much of anything, because that's self-perpetuating. If a new visitor comes a couple of times and sees nothing new, they'll never come back, and we've lost the chance to add their voice to the site.

                                                                                                                            2. DiningDiva RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 07:58 PM

                                                                                                                              Thank you so much for the San Diego board :-)

                                                                                                                              1 Reply
                                                                                                                              1. re: DiningDiva
                                                                                                                                a
                                                                                                                                andy huse RE: DiningDiva Jan 22, 2010 07:35 AM

                                                                                                                                that makes complete sense. i had difficulty searching for SD locations in the past, don't know the names of all the neighborhoods.

                                                                                                                              2. r
                                                                                                                                radiopolitic RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 08:44 PM

                                                                                                                                Will Turkey be under the 'Middle East, Southwest Asia and Africa' board?

                                                                                                                                Will Greece just be lumped together with the 'Europe' board?

                                                                                                                                1 Reply
                                                                                                                                1. re: radiopolitic
                                                                                                                                  Jacquilynne RE: radiopolitic Jan 22, 2010 05:20 AM

                                                                                                                                  We're merging the Turkey and Greece board into the general Europe board. Turkey, of course, poses a problem because it crosses two continents, but we've opted to put it on Europe since most of the discussion about it revolves around Istanbul (which is at least partly on the European side of the country) and because that's consistent with having had it on a board with Greece previously. We did consider putting Turkey on the Mid-east / Africa / West Asia board, where it would probably have helped the traffic on that board, but decided it would be less confusing to have the whole Greece/Turkey board move to the same place.

                                                                                                                                2. c
                                                                                                                                  Claudette RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 10:02 PM

                                                                                                                                  This must have been a lot of work - thanks so much, and don't get discouraged by critics who complain that it isn't perfect. When people complain to me, I just make them roll up their sleeves and help out...it shuts them up very quickly.

                                                                                                                                  7 Replies
                                                                                                                                  1. re: Claudette
                                                                                                                                    Sam Salmon RE: Claudette Jan 21, 2010 10:21 PM

                                                                                                                                    BC & Territories?

                                                                                                                                    Typical yanqui cluelessness I wonder if the clowns who divvied this up have ever seen a map of Canada.

                                                                                                                                    WTH does BC have in common with Nunavut or NWT?

                                                                                                                                    1. re: Sam Salmon
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                                                                                                                                      Shattered RE: Sam Salmon Jan 22, 2010 02:24 AM

                                                                                                                                      Would you be happier if they were lumped with the Prairies? They're clearly not big enough for their own board. Get over it, my fellow Canuck, and hey, look East. Metro Montreal is the same size and GTA twice the size as yer entire province and neither have their own board. Not to mention VA, Ohio, Illinois...

                                                                                                                                      1. re: Sam Salmon
                                                                                                                                        kpzoo RE: Sam Salmon Jan 22, 2010 04:38 AM

                                                                                                                                        As a Canadian (who looks at maps), I agree about the geography, but quite honestly, I've *not once* ever seen a post about the Yukon, NWT or Nunavut on the Canada board (where they'd currently go) so this is mostly a moot point anyway, as there's unlikely to suddenly be a flood of requests for the best place to get poutine in Yellowknife clogging up the BC board.

                                                                                                                                        1. re: Sam Salmon
                                                                                                                                          Jacquilynne RE: Sam Salmon Jan 22, 2010 04:56 AM

                                                                                                                                          Being Canadian, I didn't want to ignore them, despite the fact that there is basically no discussion about them. So it came down to either subdividing them up, and putting the Yukon with BC, Northwest with Prairies and Nunavut either with the Prairies or with Quebec, and it seemed to make less sense to divide them up.

                                                                                                                                          I could have put them in with the Prairies just as well as BC, but I don't anticipate BC getting split into new boards any time soon, while it's more likely to happen with the Prairies, and that would simply open the question again of how best to align the Territories, so I went with the more stable option.

                                                                                                                                          1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                                            s
                                                                                                                                            Shattered RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 10:56 AM

                                                                                                                                            My logic, as well, except I wouldn't even consider putting a territory with Quebec (but you didn't fortunately).

                                                                                                                                            @ Sam Salmon: consider, too, that the Atlantic provinces have their own board. They have roughly 2.5 mil people between them. There are dozens of cities that size or larger in the U.S. Collectively, they compare in population with the 35th biggest U.S. state. (B.C. would also be in the bottom half, btw).

                                                                                                                                            Yet you couldn't lump the Atlantic with Quebec or Ontario. Seems to me Canada came out disproportionately well with the boards, if anything.

                                                                                                                                            1. re: Shattered
                                                                                                                                              l
                                                                                                                                              lagatta RE: Shattered Jan 22, 2010 07:08 PM

                                                                                                                                              The territory that could be added to Québec is Nunavut (Nunavult territory + Nunavik Arctic Québec). But it wouldn't realy make sense.

                                                                                                                                              Canada came out disproportionally well just in the sense of the rest of the world still has a meagre share. Hopefully that will change.

                                                                                                                                        2. re: Claudette
                                                                                                                                          debbieann RE: Claudette Jan 22, 2010 02:11 AM

                                                                                                                                          Every person who posts is supplying content which sure looks like "helping out" to me. Tripadvisor is a lot more thankful to users supplying content.

                                                                                                                                        3. r
                                                                                                                                          RB Hound RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 10:19 PM

                                                                                                                                          Though you are starting the boards empty, wouldn't it be a trivial matter for you to move all the threads with a new urban board name in their title? For example, you could pull any thread with "San Diego" in its title off the California board and put them in the new board, and capture the majority of the San Diego threads.

                                                                                                                                          8 Replies
                                                                                                                                          1. re: RB Hound
                                                                                                                                            thirtyeyes RE: RB Hound Jan 21, 2010 10:25 PM

                                                                                                                                            I agree. Anything with San Diego or space SD Space could be split off.

                                                                                                                                            1. re: thirtyeyes
                                                                                                                                              Jacquilynne RE: thirtyeyes Jan 22, 2010 04:57 AM

                                                                                                                                              We tried this with Austin, and the results were not good. For example, many threads would have titles like "Austin hound visiting Dallas" and they got auto-moved to Austin, despite being quite specifically about not-Austin.

                                                                                                                                              1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                                                r
                                                                                                                                                RB Hound RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 09:29 AM

                                                                                                                                                It probably is for the best to do this manually, and only with the recent threads. Clean slate and all that. At any rate, it will be easier to read through the topic list now that one won't need to tag things with "San Diego", "Poway", "Barrio Logan", etc.

                                                                                                                                                1. re: RB Hound
                                                                                                                                                  thirtyeyes RE: RB Hound Jan 23, 2010 08:58 AM

                                                                                                                                                  I get the clean slate approach and somewhat agree. However, I also think if you moved everything "San Diego" it would be less work to move the few backward posts. After all everyone is always visiting San Diego, we don't actually get to go anywhere because we're busy cleaning up at the zoo.

                                                                                                                                            2. re: RB Hound
                                                                                                                                              Chris VR RE: RB Hound Jan 22, 2010 03:58 AM

                                                                                                                                              Given how the "auto link" feature worked when it was rolled out, I'd be suspicious of anything that does something automatically based on key words. I like the idea of only the current, relevant content being pulled to the new boards.

                                                                                                                                              1. re: RB Hound
                                                                                                                                                nsxtasy RE: RB Hound Jan 22, 2010 05:34 AM

                                                                                                                                                As noted in the response to my question above, any existing topic can be moved (manually) to one of the new boards, even if it hasn't been updated. So if there are important discussions for San Diego in the California forum, you can move them to the new San Diego forum. For that matter, if you want, you can move *all* the San Diego topics over if you want. You just have to select them manually (for the reasons noted here by others).

                                                                                                                                                1. re: RB Hound
                                                                                                                                                  s
                                                                                                                                                  Shattered RE: RB Hound Jan 22, 2010 11:11 AM

                                                                                                                                                  Don't you guys bookmark favourite threads? I have dozens. Not that my home board (Quebec) has any changes, but if I were in yer shoes searching & re-bookmarking my fave inactive threads would be a drag.

                                                                                                                                                  1. re: Shattered
                                                                                                                                                    Jacquilynne RE: Shattered Jan 22, 2010 11:31 AM

                                                                                                                                                    Moving threads doesn't change their URLs.

                                                                                                                                                2. s
                                                                                                                                                  soupkitten RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 10:22 PM

                                                                                                                                                  i think it's fan-effing-tastic. the former midwest board was pretty ludicrous! good to see other deserving, high traffic boards get some streamlining too, hopefully leading to less confusion and vagueness. from the pov of a newcomer to the boards i think the new breakdown will be much easier to navigate.

                                                                                                                                                  wrt the critique re: international boards, further breakdowns of regional boards, etc--we can't all get everything we want instantly, let's give these new boards a shot and see if they work better! i am sure that the mods that be will use this current round of board revisions as a model for future ones. if it all leads to better discussion, more posts and less deletions/wrong place posts in the long run, they'll be more apt to do more fine tuning. we've been asking for these changes for years, you all-- let's roll with it now and be sure to remember to say THANKS.

                                                                                                                                                  1. thirtyeyes RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 10:23 PM

                                                                                                                                                    Good idea and what took you so long? About 30 out of the first 48 posts on the California board are San Diego.

                                                                                                                                                    1. damonster RE: Jacquilynne Jan 21, 2010 11:12 PM

                                                                                                                                                      Frankly Toronto should have it's own board, given some of the individual boards that you have i'm surprised it won't get it's own. Very active and knowledgeable posters, and the size of the city. Given the population of the Toronto area it deserves it. I mean for crying out loud you've given Austin it's own board (and no disrespect intended very helpful but no where near the posts abooout toronto)

                                                                                                                                                      10 Replies
                                                                                                                                                      1. re: damonster
                                                                                                                                                        nsxtasy RE: damonster Jan 22, 2010 05:43 AM

                                                                                                                                                        >> Frankly Toronto should have it's own board, given some of the individual boards that you have i'm surprised it won't get it's own.

                                                                                                                                                        I am not on the Chowhound Team and I don't speak for them. However, when one metropolitan area dominates an entire forum (the way the GTA does on the Ontario forum), there is really no compelling reason to separate it out. Right now I count something like 33 out of the 37 topics on the first page as referring to the GTA. For all practical purposes, the Ontario forum ***IS*** the Toronto forum.

                                                                                                                                                        1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                          bbqboy RE: nsxtasy Jan 25, 2010 07:45 AM

                                                                                                                                                          I'm not sure I agree with that.When a city so dominates the boards, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy. San Diego and Seattle in my 2 regions are prime examples, because I feel they stifle discussion about anywhere else in the region due to posts being almost impossible to find. I'm 20 miles from the California border, and folks do ask about food in the North State, but it is a literal needle in a haystack thing.

                                                                                                                                                          1. re: bbqboy
                                                                                                                                                            mikeb RE: bbqboy Jan 25, 2010 08:18 AM

                                                                                                                                                            I agree with you bbqboy. It is self fulfilling. The Ontario board has always been Toronto centric and drowned out other content. Years ago, the Ottawa members marched off to start their own message board for that reason.

                                                                                                                                                            1. re: mikeb
                                                                                                                                                              p
                                                                                                                                                              painperdu RE: mikeb Jan 25, 2010 01:41 PM

                                                                                                                                                              Where are the Ottawa members now?

                                                                                                                                                              1. re: painperdu
                                                                                                                                                                mikeb RE: painperdu Jan 26, 2010 10:05 AM

                                                                                                                                                                Ottawafoodies.com

                                                                                                                                                              2. re: mikeb
                                                                                                                                                                jen kalb RE: mikeb Jan 25, 2010 01:48 PM

                                                                                                                                                                this is one area where Chowhound should be forward looking rather than just looking at volume. Its not rocket science to figure that some areas could thrive with the laser focus of their own board tho lost in a large regional board. All it takes is a few seed members and lots of new metro boards could grow.

                                                                                                                                                                1. re: jen kalb
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                                                                                                                                                                  soupkitten RE: jen kalb Jan 25, 2010 08:29 PM

                                                                                                                                                                  this is not necessarily so, though. some urban areas with large populations and really excellent restaurants, which have had their own boards for years, still don't actually have a lot of posts/threads. look at the baffling lack of traffic on the chicago board, for example. we also have failed experiments like the austin tx board-- this should give everyone who wants every single state/county/city with four regular posters to have its own board a bit of a pause, shouldn't it? i think that while some board break-downs have been a loooooong time coming, indeed-- that we shouldn't necessarily go the other way and get too carried away with everyone saying they're entitled to their own board. let's be reasonable, folks! i would infer that hyper-specific board regions could potentially be just as maddening as uber-broad ones, as it seems that they can lead to low traffic, meaning the regular contributors may only check in once a week or once a month rather than every day, which in turn would lead to queries not getting answered, general lack of interest, further slow-down in posts. . . and, poof-- you've just killed discussion in that area, and that's *much* worse than an area's residents having to share a board with one or two other states within driving distance (oh, the horror!). i dunno, as a "midwest" contributor, having to share a board with 13 other huge states was on the one hand completely inane-- not like i *ever* drove to oklahoma city for lunch and then cincinnati for dinner ;-P but on the other hand i did occasionally click on a kansas city or ames iowa thread just to see what was shaking in those parts. and i learned something about what my "midwestern neighbors" 1000 miles away were having for dinner. maybe i'm atypical, but it didn't kill me, or actually in any way stunt my contribution to the site, to have no choice but to note that places outside of my parochial diocese actually exist and have chow.

                                                                                                                                                                  anyhow i think the mods might be going off of "the austin experiment" here and being cautious and prudent with the new board breakdowns-- it kind of stands to reason that they could continue to break the boards down further a few months or a year down the line, if posting traffic seems to indicate the need for this-- but if they went too far with the breakdown right now, it could turn out badly. imagine how truly horrible for Jacquillyne to have to say, for example: "um, sorry, there have been only five posts on the sheboygan board in the past week, and of those, three of them have been by george, and, uh, two of those have been on two different batches of the beer cheese soup at bob's tavern. so. . . sorry to both of you, but we're going to have to reabsorb the sheboygan board back to "great lakes" now. george, can we put you down to help move posts? they're mostly all yours, anyway." ;-P just a thought--a lighthearted one (please don't kill me--or at least not over this-- i'd much rather give my life for something meaningful, like the war for serving cheese at proper temperature).

                                                                                                                                                                  btw i'm just responding to the gist of many posts here because it's convenient-- this is not necessarily a response just to Jen Kalb's post. i just think we need to take a breath, & appreciate what the mods are trying to do here and be a little bit less whiny about our individual specialness and more supportive of the overall goal of the site. just my perspective.

                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: soupkitten
                                                                                                                                                                    grayelf RE: soupkitten Jan 25, 2010 08:52 PM

                                                                                                                                                                    Fair point well made, soupk. I was all excited about BC essentially getting its own board (with all due respect to the Territories) but now I'm wondering if there will be enough posts to keep interest up once the Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg folk ride off into the sunset :-).

                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: grayelf
                                                                                                                                                                      puzzler RE: grayelf Jan 27, 2010 03:25 PM

                                                                                                                                                                      But if they ride off into the sunset they'd end up in Vancouver, eh?

                                                                                                                                                                    2. re: soupkitten
                                                                                                                                                                      fmed RE: soupkitten Jan 25, 2010 09:03 PM

                                                                                                                                                                      A bit OT: Some cities have well established food forums that have much more traffic that Chowhound's local boards (I'm thinking that LTHForum might be the reason why the Chicago board has low traffic.) Portland has PortlandFood, etc.)

                                                                                                                                                                      Back OT: There is a definite danger that certain boards will not have a critical mass of posters and thus whither and die - despite all the good intentions. I'm hoping it doesn't happen on my own home board - we have a fair bit of traffic, but only time will tell if it will have any momentum after the split since our out-of-province neighbours provide so much of the board's energy.

                                                                                                                                                                      Ultimately, geography does not matter in this case - it becomes a matter of managing a healthy flow of traffic.

                                                                                                                                                                      The underlying technical architecture of the actual Chowhound forums may have changed too. Perhaps allowing a 'cross post' feature makes sense in order to contend with greyzones within megacities, tricities, crossborder cities, etc (eg a poster can elect to share one post on more than one forum - with geographic restrictions, of course. This could be also be made possible with a simple policy change by the moderators to allow such posts.)

                                                                                                                                                          2. s
                                                                                                                                                            smartie RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 03:53 AM

                                                                                                                                                            rather than Miami-Ft Laud I also think Palm Beach County should be linked with it. The strip from Miami to West Palm is a 100 mile linear city in many respects and we frequently cross post and cross refer. Perhaps call it Tri-County.

                                                                                                                                                            2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                            1. re: smartie
                                                                                                                                                              RickL RE: smartie Jan 22, 2010 02:02 PM

                                                                                                                                                              I agree - not that it matters to the Chow Authorities.

                                                                                                                                                              1. re: smartie
                                                                                                                                                                lax2mia RE: smartie Jan 28, 2010 09:24 AM

                                                                                                                                                                Agree WPB should be lumped with Miami and Fort Lauderdale. Possibly even Key West and call it South Florida and the Keys.

                                                                                                                                                              2. pepper_mil RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 04:25 AM

                                                                                                                                                                umm, how does South Asia and Southeast Asia divide?

                                                                                                                                                                2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                1. re: pepper_mil
                                                                                                                                                                  l
                                                                                                                                                                  lagatta RE: pepper_mil Jan 22, 2010 05:14 AM

                                                                                                                                                                  That is a standard division for journalists and historians. South Asia is what used to be called "the Indian subcontinent": India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and a few smaller countries. Southeast Asia extends from Burma to Vietnam, between the above and China, and also includes the island nations of Indonesia and Philippines.

                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: pepper_mil
                                                                                                                                                                    Jacquilynne RE: pepper_mil Jan 22, 2010 05:22 AM

                                                                                                                                                                    They're just the South Asia board vs the Greater Asia and China boards merged together. The breakdown hasn't really changed from what was there before. If there's a specific country you're wondering about, let me know.

                                                                                                                                                                  2. LNG212 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 05:54 AM

                                                                                                                                                                    Jacquilynne - I don't know if this matters ... But on several boards (Home Cooking, Not About Food, eg), your thread announcement is shoved down quite a bit. Perhaps it would be better for it to be stuck at the top of each board? Just a suggestion.

                                                                                                                                                                    2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: LNG212
                                                                                                                                                                      Jacquilynne RE: LNG212 Jan 22, 2010 05:57 AM

                                                                                                                                                                      Since this is mainly a geographic split, and none of the topical boards are changing, I deliberately didn't sticky it to the top of those boards.

                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                                                                        LNG212 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 06:02 AM

                                                                                                                                                                        Ah, now I understand. Thanks.

                                                                                                                                                                    2. b
                                                                                                                                                                      Bigley9 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 06:00 AM

                                                                                                                                                                      A Philadelphia board YEAH!!!!

                                                                                                                                                                      1. b
                                                                                                                                                                        BookGuy RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 06:37 AM

                                                                                                                                                                        I may be alone in this, but I believe that the Washington, DC and Baltimore boards should be separated. There is a very clear line in the area of which direction people want to go to eat and few seem to go to the other area except as a special day out.

                                                                                                                                                                        8 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: BookGuy
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                                                                                                                                                                          SuzyInChains RE: BookGuy Jan 23, 2010 10:45 AM

                                                                                                                                                                          No, you're not alone. I'm 15 minutes from downtown Baltimore and would never consider running to the DC area for dinner. Too many posts are for restaurants that are way too far for Baltimore-area readers, and I'm sure the same goes for B-more restaurants and DC-area readers.

                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: SuzyInChains
                                                                                                                                                                            w
                                                                                                                                                                            wombat RE: SuzyInChains Jan 24, 2010 11:36 AM

                                                                                                                                                                            And I'm right on the DC border in Maryland, and can't remember the last time I went to Baltimore even for a special day out. I was very surprised to see that so many changes were being made and this board wasn't getting a split.

                                                                                                                                                                          2. re: BookGuy
                                                                                                                                                                            i
                                                                                                                                                                            ikobi RE: BookGuy Jan 28, 2010 08:34 AM

                                                                                                                                                                            Yes, please split these!

                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: BookGuy
                                                                                                                                                                              m
                                                                                                                                                                              mgarland RE: BookGuy Jan 29, 2010 08:59 AM

                                                                                                                                                                              you are not alone- I agree, they need to be split. Most people don't specify in their post titles what city they are referring to so you don't know until you've actually opened the post. People in Baltimore don't really drive to DC for dinner (and vice versa), except as a special occasion thing. The traffic is to horrendous, even though they are geographically close.

                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: mgarland
                                                                                                                                                                                LindaWhit RE: mgarland Jan 29, 2010 10:03 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                Perhaps several of you could *start* putting "DC" or "Baltimore" on your subject threads, and perhaps others would take note and do the same. They got around to doing that on the old Northwest board, and it seemed to work for them. Granted, not everyone did it, but practice makes perfect. :-)

                                                                                                                                                                                While I'm not in that area, and I *do* agree that it would make sense to have those two areas with their own boards, the Mods and Jacquilynne have already said no additional changes are going to be made, so perhaps this is the best way to go for now. Remind people to use the DC or Balt designation if they don't, and perhaps eventually it will become second nature for the regulars.

                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: mgarland
                                                                                                                                                                                  Bill Hunt RE: mgarland Feb 2, 2010 06:22 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                  This has always been an issue with multi-city boards. One needs to be somewhat specific, and the board members should gently nudge the posters in the right direction, with a little "[City Name] in the post's title.

                                                                                                                                                                                  Good luck,

                                                                                                                                                                                  Hunt

                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: Bill Hunt
                                                                                                                                                                                    nsxtasy RE: Bill Hunt Feb 3, 2010 07:43 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                    I've reported many, many topics which need identification of a location in the title, and the Chowhound Team has always been happy to take care of that when it's reported to them.

                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                      The Chowhound Team RE: nsxtasy Feb 3, 2010 08:13 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                      As nsxtasy says, always feel free to use the Report link at the bottom of the post that needs a title edit to clarify location, and let us know what city/state or province needs to be added.

                                                                                                                                                                              2. Scagnetti RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 06:50 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                Separate boards for Austin, Dallas, and Houston is long overdue. Davy Crockett would be proud.

                                                                                                                                                                                1. Das Ubergeek RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 08:08 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                  Thanks for doing this, Chowderators. This is long overdue.

                                                                                                                                                                                  (See? It's not always pitchforks and torches!)

                                                                                                                                                                                  1. stuck in Hartford County RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 08:26 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                    Kattyeyes, where are you for this momentous decision?!

                                                                                                                                                                                    I hereby decree that residents of the nutmeg state that actually doesn't produce nutmeg (also know as CT) should have a board all to itself. Can we use your suggestion of "The Land Of Steady Habits" as our new Board name? Talking about steady habits, we can also include Westchester, County, NY. If they're steady enough. And the steady parts of Long Island...

                                                                                                                                                                                    Just kidding, Chowhound Board. If every state can't have their own Board, then I suppose CT is, technically, Southern New England. But, technically, it's also a Tri-State...Change is so hard!

                                                                                                                                                                                    3 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                                                                                                                                                                                      kattyeyes RE: stuck in Hartford County Jan 25, 2010 05:34 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                      <Can we use your suggestion of "The Land Of Steady Habits" as our new Board name?>
                                                                                                                                                                                      You know I LOVE this idea! I don't consider Mass. part of my greater neighborhood, same for RI (Mass & RI are a better pairing).

                                                                                                                                                                                      I have to say, having waded through most of this thread, it puzzles me why some of the well-thought out comments from our friends on the tri-state board (the FFD county folks) have not received feedback from Jacquilynne or The Chowhound Team re HOW the decision to split the boards was made. jfood, you nailed it right here, IMO:
                                                                                                                                                                                      http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6821...

                                                                                                                                                                                      So, Chowhound Team, paraphrasing The Talking Heads, "Well, how did you get here?"
                                                                                                                                                                                      ["These are not my beautiful boards!"]

                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: kattyeyes
                                                                                                                                                                                        The Chowhound Team RE: kattyeyes Jan 25, 2010 07:03 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                        Jacquilynne provided the following information on this thread:

                                                                                                                                                                                        'We've tried to create new urban boards where interest demanded them, as well as divide up some of our regional boards, without leaving any boards with so little discussion or so few posters that they will die out"

                                                                                                                                                                                        "We fervently hope that these new boards will allow some areas that were being drowned out to step up and develop a great, ongoing conversation, and we will revisit the issue of new boards in hopefully rather less than the 3 and a half years it took us this time around. But, we've carefully balanced these boards based on the volume of conversation that actually exists and the likelihood that those conversations will grow, and we're going to let them settle in for awhile before we consider any more changes."

                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: The Chowhound Team
                                                                                                                                                                                          kattyeyes RE: The Chowhound Team Jan 25, 2010 07:17 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                          Thanks--I see. And not that you owe me (or any of us) anything, as we are guests here, but were these decisions made solely among The Chowhound Team, or was any VOC sought? I ask because I feel jfood asked a fair question and am curious myself. If I missed that answer, please feel free to redirect me.

                                                                                                                                                                                    2. m
                                                                                                                                                                                      Mike in Rhinebeck RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 08:56 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                      I know that those who make decisions don't want any more suggestions, but the new alignment for Tri-State Region makes as little sense as the old alignment. While I agree that removing NJ and CT helps a bit, combining Long Island with the rest of non-NYC NYS doesnot help those of us who live north or west of Westchester in NYS. I predict that most of the new NYS Board will be dominated by LI and Westchester. so perhaps we will have to wade through fewer irrelevant posts than before!

                                                                                                                                                                                      1. p
                                                                                                                                                                                        Potrezebie RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 09:06 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                        Mazel Tov...this is wonderful news. It should only have happened earlier. I'm glad NJ is getting its own recognition.

                                                                                                                                                                                        But couldn't you have given DiFara's Pizza in Brooklyn its own board?

                                                                                                                                                                                        1. cheereeo RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 09:20 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                          Your paragraph: "When searching on new boards, we'll automatically provides searches of previous boards as appropriate to help ensure you're getting complete search results." So if someone wants to search for a restaurant topic first so as not to duplicate an existing discussion, and they get results showing up on a former/closed board, will they be able to reply to it--and where will the reply end up?

                                                                                                                                                                                          1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: cheereeo
                                                                                                                                                                                            Jacquilynne RE: cheereeo Jan 22, 2010 09:23 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                            Yes, they'll be able to reply. The reply will be on the old board, but our plan is keep an eye on those old boards and move posts that get restarted to the appropriate new board.

                                                                                                                                                                                          2. d
                                                                                                                                                                                            DeppityDawg RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 09:36 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                            Did you just overlook Arkansas, or has it been officially declared a Chow-less state?

                                                                                                                                                                                            1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: DeppityDawg
                                                                                                                                                                                              Jacquilynne RE: DeppityDawg Jan 22, 2010 09:38 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                              It's on Central South.

                                                                                                                                                                                            2. ChefJune RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 10:32 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                              So, does "San Francisco Bay" include Napa Valley and Sonoma County? It doesn't sound as if it does.

                                                                                                                                                                                              1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: ChefJune
                                                                                                                                                                                                The Chowhound Team RE: ChefJune Jan 22, 2010 11:00 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                The SF Bay Area board's parameters are unchanged; it still covers the nine counties of the SF Bay Area: San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Solano, Napa, and Sonoma.

                                                                                                                                                                                              2. h
                                                                                                                                                                                                HillJ RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 11:43 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                Such good news for NJ chowhounds and out of state/town folks passing thru CH Boards for food destinations. Good news all around for this site. Thanks CH & Jacq,

                                                                                                                                                                                                1. b
                                                                                                                                                                                                  Big Daddy RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 12:10 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                  Will MY Posts continue to carry old threads? That would assist the process of reintroducing cogent threads once the new boards start clean.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: Big Daddy
                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jacquilynne RE: Big Daddy Jan 22, 2010 12:12 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                    Yes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  2. t
                                                                                                                                                                                                    TerryG RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 01:21 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                    I know Atlanta has a larger population, but it seems to me that the greater Triangle area (CH, Durham, Raleigh, Cary, Hillsborough, Wake Forest, Garner, etc) has more postings. I suspect that the smaller cities have not been included in your tally because the Admin staff doesn't know the area.. I haven't done a study, but it sure feels that way. Anyone who knows both regions up for doing a count of the last month or 2 or 3?

                                                                                                                                                                                                    10 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: TerryG
                                                                                                                                                                                                      t
                                                                                                                                                                                                      TerryG RE: TerryG Jan 22, 2010 02:37 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                      OK, I did the count --just from the beginning of 2010.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Total postings: Triangle: 51, Atlanta: 15.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      And this doesn't seem an exceptional month. Most of the postings are obvious but for the complete total, you would need to know that Carrboro and Rolesville are in the Triangle (I didn't stretch it to Burlington). There were also 2 Triangle postings w/ no geography indicated. I didn't see any postings for locations in the greater Atlanta area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      I'd guess that in an average month the Triangle has 3 times the postings of Atlanta. This area has emerged as a real foodie mecca -- not just for the chow, but for the passionate local discussions around food.

                                                                                                                                                                                                      Sorry, Atlanta, but you guys just aren't that active. Even though we're a cluster of medium and small towns that can be challenging for non locals to define, if any place on the South Board deserves it's own board, it's here in the Triangle ,

                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: TerryG
                                                                                                                                                                                                        meatn3 RE: TerryG Jan 22, 2010 05:56 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                        I am in total agreement.

                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: meatn3
                                                                                                                                                                                                          c
                                                                                                                                                                                                          cervisiam RE: meatn3 Jan 26, 2010 08:45 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                          second this!

                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. re: TerryG
                                                                                                                                                                                                        lynnlato RE: TerryG Jan 31, 2010 02:09 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                        Completely agree. I was stunned, stunned, to see an Atlanta board over a triangle board (or, at the very least, a Carolinas board). Living in NC I don't know of anyone that travels to Atlanta to eat. They just aren't known for their food scene like the Triangle area or the Charleston SC area - hell, even the Asheville NC area for that matter. And a dedicated board to Tennessee and Kentucky? Weird!

                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: lynnlato
                                                                                                                                                                                                          Bill Hunt RE: lynnlato Feb 2, 2010 06:23 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Had not encountered this yet. I would expect Atlanta to have a sub-board in South, and would not expect to see it grouped with NC, and other locations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Just my observations,

                                                                                                                                                                                                          Hunt

                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: Bill Hunt
                                                                                                                                                                                                            lynnlato RE: Bill Hunt Feb 3, 2010 11:46 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Bill, what I meant was I found it odd that the mods elected to create an Atlanta "sub board" and a "Tennessee and Kentucky" sub board but not a dedicated sub board for The Carolinas. I don't think Atlanta should be grouped with the Carolinas. Heck, I don't think Atlanta gets enough attention to even have it's own sub board. But that's just my not so humble opinion. :-)

                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: lynnlato
                                                                                                                                                                                                              Scirocco RE: lynnlato Feb 5, 2010 10:23 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                              I'm just happy we don't have the one giant board of "south" any more that encompassed eleven, yes ELEVEN, entire states! LOL

                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: Scirocco
                                                                                                                                                                                                                nsxtasy RE: Scirocco Feb 5, 2010 12:13 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                There were THIRTEEN states in the former Midwest forum. What made it even worse is that there are some good-sized towns with the same names in multiple states, such as Bloomington in Minnesota, Illinois, and Indiana!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  soupkitten RE: nsxtasy Feb 6, 2010 03:10 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  there's also apparently a bloomington in missouri. the things you learn on chowhound when you're trying to figure out where the $#%^ someone is talking about. . .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: soupkitten
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    nsxtasy RE: soupkitten Feb 6, 2010 05:11 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Yup. There was a discussion about Grand Rapids MI (pop 193,396) and someone asked whether it was a reference to the town in Minnesota (pop 7,764), which I didn't know existed. You learn something new every day.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    FWIW...
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Bloomington IN - pop 72,254, home of Indiana University
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Bloomington IL - pop 74,975, home of State Farm Insurance
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Bloomington MN - pop 80,869, home of Mall of America

                                                                                                                                                                                                      3. sixelagogo RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 01:36 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                        New Jersey says THANK YOU!!!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                        12 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: sixelagogo
                                                                                                                                                                                                          s
                                                                                                                                                                                                          sibeats RE: sixelagogo Jan 22, 2010 04:40 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                          CT says thanks for nothing...

                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: sibeats
                                                                                                                                                                                                            s
                                                                                                                                                                                                            Scotty100 RE: sibeats Jan 22, 2010 04:55 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                            Why is the chowhound team not responding to the FFD county posters who view the move to a "southern NE" board dominated by Boston et al as ridiculous? Some of us in FFD live a mere 30 mins drive from the center of Manhattan!!! Hellooooo...???!! Can we get a response to this please?

                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: Scotty100
                                                                                                                                                                                                              The Chowhound Team RE: Scotty100 Jan 22, 2010 05:21 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                              http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/6821...

                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: The Chowhound Team
                                                                                                                                                                                                                s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                sibeats RE: The Chowhound Team Jan 22, 2010 08:03 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                That's pretty funny...you directed him back to this thread? Wow...I'd say major fail...for CT that is...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: sibeats
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  maplesugar RE: sibeats Jan 22, 2010 08:10 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  If you follow the link as posted it's a permalink directing you upthread to an earlier post by Jacquilynne which read (in part) "If you've got questions about any new functions or the new breakdown or can't figure out where your hometown ended up, please do ask, but I won't be responding to new board requests." I expect the moderators are busier than a one armed paper hanger right about now so I think they were trying to keep from having to repeat themselves.

                                                                                                                                                                                                              2. re: Scotty100
                                                                                                                                                                                                                MMRuth RE: Scotty100 Jan 23, 2010 05:39 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Since Boston has its own board, how would the Southern New England board be dominated by Boston posts?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: MMRuth
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Scotty100 RE: MMRuth Jan 23, 2010 07:30 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  FFD county will be lumped in with the Boston suburbs and the surrounding Mass/RI/Nrthn Ct posts rather than aligned with Westchester as part of the tristate/Manhattan suburbs. All of FFD county is pretty much within an hour of Manhattan as opposed to 3 hours of Boston. We're called the "tristate" region for a reason...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: Scotty100
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Chris VR RE: Scotty100 Jan 23, 2010 10:17 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    No, the Boston suburbs are discussed on the Boston board, which actually covers a pretty wide area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: Chris VR
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      LindaWhit RE: Chris VR Jan 24, 2010 07:11 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      So is it safe to assume that the "Boston board" (a.k.a. the city and its suburbs) will pretty much remain as it is?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I haven't posted there in awhile, as I haven't gone out to eat any place new in quite some time. But I think of the Boston board as within the 495 belt: north up to Newburyport, Rockport, Andover and the Lowell/Lawrence/Haverhill area, and south to Norwood, Westwood, Framingham, Canton areas and west out to Sudbury, Acton, Concord area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      ETA: I went back and looked at the pop-down list breakdown and saw that it'll be called "Greater Boston Area", so I'm thinking my assumption is correct.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: LindaWhit
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Karl S RE: LindaWhit Jan 24, 2010 07:43 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        They used to treat 128 as the rough border of Boston, but many of us years ago said that 495 would be more effective (of course, the Boston CMSA extends from southern Maine through RI, but that's for demographic purposes, not food purposes).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: Karl S
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          LindaWhit RE: Karl S Jan 24, 2010 08:27 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I recall the mods using 128 as the "border" for Boston area. Glad it was kept at the 495 belt.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2. re: Scotty100
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Das Ubergeek RE: Scotty100 Jan 23, 2010 02:55 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      It doesn't work this way. The Los Angeles board includes Ventura and Orange counties (which means you can drive 155 miles and still be in one board—that's about the distance from Boston to Danbury); the Boston board includes the suburbs as well.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      That doesn't mean we don't have our own problems on the LA board; places I consider suburbs of LA (Chino Hills, Corona, Ontario) are sometimes forced out onto the California board, which doesn't help searching, but sometimes it gets let slide by the mods.

                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. k
                                                                                                                                                                                                              KTFoley RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 02:14 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                              Yay!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. Passadumkeg RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 03:54 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                Nice job guys! Thanks for listening.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. Mawrter RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 05:06 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Thank you! Having a dedicated Philadelphia region board will be great. Appreciate the responsiveness.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                  4 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: Mawrter
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                    dmjordan RE: Mawrter Jan 29, 2010 02:35 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I don't quite understand the several "yippee for Philly board" posts. The Pennsylvania board was 90% Philly! Unless you are cheering because you are from Pittsburgh ; )

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: Mawrter
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      dmjordan RE: Mawrter Jan 29, 2010 02:57 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      According to the American Heritage Dictionary, America means:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. The United States.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. also the A·mer·i·cas (-kz) The landmasses and islands of North America, Central America, and South America.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      The Colllins English Dictionary pretty much defines it the same way:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. (Placename) short for the United States of America
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. (Placename) Also called the Americas the American continent, including North, South, and Central America

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Edit: I was responding to a few posts below, regarding the Elsewhere in America board. Must have hit the wrong post. Sorry.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      So it looks as if Chowhound is correct to use it this way. I can't speak for the non-English speaking world, but I think if you asked any English speaker to point to America, they would point to the U.S. I'm curious to know what natives of Central and South America think. When I did a google search on "las Americas" I got 9.2 million hits. It appears that they, too, use the plural when referring to the whole north to south land mass.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: dmjordan
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Mr Taster RE: dmjordan Jan 29, 2010 09:28 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        You know, Mexico also is the United States of America (though they call it "Estados Unidos Mexicanos")

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        http://www.beastcoins.com/World/Mexic...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Mr Taster

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: Mr Taster
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          dmjordan RE: Mr Taster Jan 30, 2010 02:12 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Yes, I know. I hope no one starts saying we shouldn't call ourselves the US now.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2. lagniappe RE: Jacquilynne Jan 22, 2010 09:47 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I see Virginia has seceded again, but this time away from the South...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: lagniappe
                                                                                                                                                                                                                        nsxtasy RE: lagniappe Jan 23, 2010 05:44 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        LOL!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Seriously, though, that doesn't make sense to me. With all the other changes, bigger boards are being split up, so if you're in X forum now, you're in one of its successor pieces after the changes. Not so with Virginia or West Virginia. Right now they're in the South, so all the current topics about VA/WV will be in the General South Archive after the split. But new topics about VA/WV will go into Mid-Atlantic. Very confusing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          jeanmarieok RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 02:01 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Not too happy about where VA is moving to - I don't think of US as 'mid-atlantic', but whatever.....

                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. phDuh RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 08:13 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Thank you for giving New Jersey our own board. Fabulous!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Jaymes RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 10:41 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Jacquilynne -

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Regarding the "US bias," you say: "The US bias exists because that's where our site started and our members primarily are. We're starting to build some great boards in other regions of the world, but there isn't the level of traffic that would keep the conversation alive in most parts of the world. We try very hard not to create dead boards where no one is talking about much of anything, because that's self-perpetuating. If a new visitor comes a couple of times and sees nothing new, they'll never come back, and we've lost the chance to add their voice to the site."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          So, Jacquilynne, why did you say, "The US bias" and not "the AMERICAN bias" ? I think it's because "the US" is your automatic, unthinking phraseology to refer to the country that is located in America (as is Canada), directly south of Canada. You are Canadian, so you very well know something about which most US residents seem to be completely ignorant.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          And that is that "America" is comprised of way more than just the US.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          For the first few years after I began posting on CH, I kept (correctly) trying to find "Canada" and "Mexico" and other North and South American countries under, "Elsewhere in America."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          If the management of CH really cares at all about accuracy (never mind hoping to make the board seem a little less "US-biased" and even frankly insulting to countries that actually ARE "Elsewhere in America"), the first thing you can do is to change the incorrect name of the "Elsewhere in America" board to "Elsewhere in the US."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                          11 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: Jaymes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                            nsxtasy RE: Jaymes Jan 23, 2010 11:18 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            If you look at the new structure, you will see that there will no longer be a board called "Elsewhere in America". They are being split up into their own new homes - a new Mountain States forum for Montana and Idaho, a new Hawaii forum for that state, and Alaska is being moved to the Pacific Northwest forum, which will no longer be dominated by the Portland and Seattle areas, each of which will have its own forum. Topics currently in the Elsewhere in America forum will be in a General Archive forum, available for moving to their new homes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            In other words, your suggestion that there no longer be a board called "Elsewhere in America" is already being adopted in the new forum structure.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Disclaimer: I am not a member of the Chowhound Team and do not speak for them.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Jaymes RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 11:25 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              If you look at the screen shot of the new drop-down board, under the "West" it still says, "Elsewhere in America."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I understand it's an "archive."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              But still it is incorrect and annoying and confusing for people that know the difference and even insulting and it should be changed - especially if CH is hoping to attract a more international membership.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I feel certain that most folks, while looking for an archived thread under that heading, would not even notice if it were changed to "Elsewhere in the US" as it should have been years ago.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              But as I said, folks in other countries that actually are "Elsewhere in America" certainly do notice it now. And find it ignorant and arrogant and irritating as hell.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Let me relate a conversation I overheard a few days ago in a restaurant in Texas. A young woman was speaking with a luncheon companion that was originally from Mexico:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              "When did you come to America?"
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              "I didn't 'come to America.' I was born in America."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              "I thought you were Mexican."
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              "I am Mexican [now with unmistakable irritation]. Do you really not know that Mexico is in America?"

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I'm telling you, I've lived in Central and South America, and it's a huge irritant. And in this case, it's a very simple irritant to fix.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              And there is absolutely no reason whatsoever not to.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Unless, of course, the rest of the hemisphere, who consider us to be unspeakably arrogant, are right.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: Jaymes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                grayelf RE: Jaymes Jan 23, 2010 12:55 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Perhaps it should be called "Elsewhere in the Americas" and include Central and South America too!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                -- a Canadian who does occasionally get grumpy when people from the USofA call themselves Americans as though nobody else is, but realizes it is a usage thing and gets over it purdy quickly :-).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: grayelf
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Jaymes RE: grayelf Jan 23, 2010 01:05 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Unfortunately, the "American" thing is trickier than when we refer to the name of the entire country.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  It just doesn't work to call us "U.S.-ians." Or "E.U.-ians."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Even what the Latin American countries call us - norteamericanos - lumps in the Canadians, probably unfairly.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  So I think we're stuck with usurping "Americans." Sorry.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  But we should make an attempt to reference the name of the country correctly. Especially on something that purports itself to be more literate and knowledgeable and worldly, like Chowhound.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: Jaymes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    grayelf RE: Jaymes Jan 24, 2010 01:47 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Totally hear ya, James. "I'm from the USA" is pretty short, though, and perhaps addresses Das Ubergeek's point that in fact there is another Estados Unidos in North America (though I've never heard it translated to United States of Mexico). I certainly don't consider myself an "American" though I do feel like a "norteamericana" FWIW!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2. re: Jaymes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  limster RE: Jaymes Jan 23, 2010 01:05 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The naming of the board is a huge irritant, but not having information where it should be is an even bigger irritant.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Here's a simple solution - pitch in, get others to pitch in, move all the threads out of Elsewhere in America to their relevant boards. When Elsewhere in America is empty, we can get rid of the board entirely.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Rather than just getting the name right, let's get the information right where it belongs. Win-win.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: limster
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jaymes RE: limster Jan 23, 2010 01:16 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Perfect. And I will. Assuming that the management of CH agrees that we can "get rid of the board entirely."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jacquilynne?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: Jaymes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Jacquilynne RE: Jaymes Jan 23, 2010 01:57 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I wouldn't count on that as a promise. Eventually we'll delist all the archived boards from the main menu and the front page (the posts on them will remain searchable), but it's not likely we'll eliminate them altogether, or do different things for some of them than others. I suppose it might happen if we well and truly got the board down to nothing, but again, no promises.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Jaymes RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 02:32 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Well then, any chance you could correct the name?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Honestly, it's embarrassing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: Jaymes
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Das Ubergeek RE: Jaymes Jan 23, 2010 03:00 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Wow... the pedantry is thick on the ground here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          If you're looking for food in Calgary, are you REALLY going to think "Hm, Elsewhere in America is where I need to look"?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          And, if I can be permitted to put on my pedantic snark hat, United States doesn't work either, because the country about 90 miles south of me is the United States... the United Mexican States (los Estados Unidos Mexicanos). It's about as relevant as your objection.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: Das Ubergeek
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            limster RE: Das Ubergeek Jan 23, 2010 03:07 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            No one is going to think of Elsewhere in America as the place they need to look, regardless of where they are looking for food. It doesn't matter if they're in Calgary or Mexico or Nebraska or Beijing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            When all the info in the boards are properly moved and classified under the right boards, whether Elsewhere in America refers to the entire continents from N to S America, to just the USA or to elsewhere in the universe, doesn't matter anymore.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Bottom line: let's focus on the relevant and important task at hand at getting information put in the right place.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Let's work on the more important issue of getting the right information to the right place. It's more embarassing, annoying and disappoint if people can't find delicious food.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. Scirocco RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 11:24 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Thank you, thank you for splitting up the south board! Eleven states was a bit much! :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. nsxtasy RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 11:37 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                If I could make one suggestion about the new structure... The board grouping that includes New York City and New York State should be called "New York" and not "New York Area", since its boundaries are being redefined to exclude those parts of the New York area that like in New Jersey and Connecticut.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  DGresh RE: nsxtasy Jan 23, 2010 12:25 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I agree; I might even hazard that "New York State" would be better, to distinguish from "New York City" which is actually covered by "Manhattan" and "Outer Boroughs". Otherwise we may end up with casual visitors asking where to eat in Times Square on the "New York" board. Edited to add: "oh that's what it is"

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2. rworange RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 03:29 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  For the sake of moving threads, San Diego will mean anything in San Diego county?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  For future consideration, give Baja California its own board .

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. g
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    gfweb1 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 23, 2010 09:30 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    putting DE in with VA and WVa makes little sense. If anything DE and NJ are reasonable partners.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. Ed Dibble RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 08:11 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Just a comment.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Whoever did the reconfiguration knows very little about Arizona. There is a reason why most of the Phoenix sports teams are called Arizona (Cardinals or Diamondbacks). The Phoenix area is like the hub of a wheel. Putting Yuma, Tucson, Sedona, Kingman, Flagstaff together with New Mexico makes no sense whatsoever.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      What you are doing is putting me, for example, in a board where I would have to drive 5 hours or more to get to any place discussed on the "Southwest" board outside of where I live. Having an Arizona board and a New Mexico board would make great sense. What is being proposed makes no sense at all and clearly was done with no feedback from those who use the board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. p
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        PitLab RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 11:00 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Las Vegas gets its own board. Hallelujah!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        You might as well just start with a permanent post titled: "Going to Las Vegas, where should I eat?"

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. kukubura RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 11:48 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Haha, Baltimore is still piggy-backed on DC. The story of our life. FWIW, Baltimore and DC may seem close together but the dining scenes are very different and it's hard to find Bmore specific threads when DC overwhelms the subforum.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. maplesugar RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 07:21 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            There is no way change of any kind is going to suit absolutely everybody however I'd say on the whole the changes will benefit the community. As much as I hate the idea of having to check a second "local" board my hope is the more focused purpose of each board will mean growth of both, which serves to benefit all hounds.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            A running theme here seems to be people bemoaning the fact that something is within their board boundary that's a 6+ hour drive away. There are places on my own board that are 12+ hour drive away. Other boards encompass entire countries.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Chowhound is chowhound and its free. Count. yourselves. lucky.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            3 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: maplesugar
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              heatherkay RE: maplesugar Jan 28, 2010 06:37 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              No kidding. Even with the new configuration, we're looking at a 23 hour drive time from one corner of the Great Plains region to the to the other corner, and that is with a shortcut across the Great Lakes region.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Of course, that's better than the 26 hours it used to be to drive from corner to corner on the Midwest board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: heatherkay
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                soupkitten RE: heatherkay Jan 28, 2010 06:55 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                but with heavy traffic/road construction/rush hour, it could take you 33 hours!
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                ;-P

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: heatherkay
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  debbieann RE: heatherkay Jan 31, 2010 10:35 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  well it does seem clear that distance driving has nothing to do with it since all of Australia and New Zealand are one board and it isn't even possible to drive from here to there AND all of China and Greater Asia is one board. So just for example all of Thailand with an amazing variety of Thai cuisine, well you have to sift through all Chinese cuisine to find it. So, I'm thinking your 23 hr drive looks entirely reasonable.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              2. b
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                boagman RE: Jacquilynne Jan 24, 2010 11:42 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                This is welcome news. I'm glad that the Great Lakes region is being further refined from just the Midwest moniker, as that covered too much territory, IMHO. Good stuff, Maynard!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. SteveTimko RE: Jacquilynne Jan 25, 2010 07:53 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Does this mean Reno and the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe will go to the Nevada board in the southwest?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: SteveTimko
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    n
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    NVJims RE: SteveTimko Jan 25, 2010 05:30 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    At least they are not considering Texas to be in the 'southwest'. Too bad they didn't have a Reno breakout which would include Tahoe, Carson and Douglas County.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2. chowser RE: Jacquilynne Jan 25, 2010 05:29 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Why is Maryland part of the Urban board Washington DC and vicinity but Virginia is not? Should Northern Virginia, close to DC be posted on the Mid-Atlantic Board? What about places like Inn at Little Washington which are often on the DC board?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: chowser
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      j
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      jeanmarieok RE: chowser Jan 29, 2010 03:02 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I agree with chowser, VA should be posted with states near VA, like MD and North Carolina.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: chowser
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        ktmoomau RE: chowser Apr 8, 2010 01:03 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        I just saw that Annapolis threads are being moved to the Mid Atlantic Board- they used to stay on the DC/Baltimore Board when posted there. I think it is a disservice to Annapolis not to let them remain on the DC/Balt board because of its vicinity and the number of commuters back and forth to and from Annapolis from DC and MD. People now seeking help on Annapolis now have to hope and pray some of the regulars on the DC/Baltimore board that eat in Annapolis all the time actually check the Mid Atlantic board in time to help them. Even the Washington Post reports on restaurants in Annapolis.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. Bill Hunt RE: Jacquilynne Jan 25, 2010 07:21 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Thank you for the H/U on this. It will be interesting to see the board breakdowns. Over the years, I have had some suggestions, but none have been approved. Maybe this time.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Appreciated,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Hunt

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. louuuuu RE: Jacquilynne Jan 26, 2010 05:06 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Why not a Suburban NYC board to replace the Tri-State rather than divorcing Westchester and Fairfield Cty. Ct. and Long Island and nearby NJ.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Marrying Westchester with Albany makes us much sense as marrying Fairfield Cty with Boston. We're all suburbs of NY.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          8 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: louuuuu
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Karl S RE: louuuuu Jan 26, 2010 05:59 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I think the ticket is North & East Suburban NYC board (covering Long Island, Westchester and Fairfield Counties at least - that is core suburbia east of the Hudson - sorry, Rockland Co.); it seems the NJ suburbs are tickled pink to have a NJ board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: Karl S
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              HillJ RE: Karl S Jan 26, 2010 06:07 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              it seems the NJ suburbs are tickled pink to have a NJ board
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Understatement. And all of the valid discussion happening here now in response to the Jan 28th announcement reflects the very same discussions NJ CH's had. It is great to be heard but how can everyone be happy? CH serves so many diff tastes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: HillJ
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                MGZ RE: HillJ Jan 29, 2010 06:47 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Count me out - The new "New Jersey" board is making it quite difficult for me to maintain the illusion that my home State stretches along the Atlantic from Sandy Hook to Holgate with the GSP as its western border.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                It's like summer at the Shore all year long now.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: MGZ
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  HillJ RE: MGZ Jan 29, 2010 06:49 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  It's no illusion. Now if we could just see all of NJ on the new NJ Board that would be wonderful but the Mid Atlantic Board still hosts plenty of NJ posts (at least at the moment) so seeking CH-ish rec's for NJ remains a 2-part solution.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              2. re: Karl S
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                TongoRad RE: Karl S Jan 26, 2010 06:09 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Well, put your crayolas away and don't color me tickled pink. I'm quite happy with the Tristate board as it is because my regular haunts cover Bergen County NJ, Long Island and Rockland County. But, hey, the worst thing for me will be having to comb through an extra board so I guess I'll just have to do it, you know, if it'll end horror.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: TongoRad
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  HillJ RE: TongoRad Jan 26, 2010 06:13 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  As a NJ lifer, I found the Tristate Board very confusing.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: HillJ
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Passadumkeg RE: HillJ Jan 27, 2010 11:42 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Especially if one was from Middlesex County.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: Passadumkeg
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      HillJ RE: Passadumkeg Jan 28, 2010 05:32 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Passa, the counties in the "belly" of NJ suffered the most from Board-confusion.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Having read thru this thread several times, when the new format is rolled out, including NJ counties or specific town in the new post heading as a marker makes sense. I am going to take that suggestion and apply it to my NJ posts from now on.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. nsxtasy RE: Jacquilynne Jan 26, 2010 05:14 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I'd like to make another suggestion about the names used for the new boards. All the current boards for specific cities include the word "Area" in their name - Los Angeles Area, Chicago Area, Boston Area, etc. I think this is a good idea, as it makes it clear that posts for the surrounding towns belong there, too. For this reason, as well as for the sake of consistency, this practice should be extended to the new boards that are for a particular city: Philadelphia becomes Philadelphia Area, Atlanta becomes Atlanta Area, etc. This would clarify questions like the one above regarding whether the San Diego forum applies to San Diego County.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. m
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                MichaelG RE: Jacquilynne Jan 26, 2010 07:18 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Rather than boards for Portland, Seattle, and NW including Alaska, you should just have Oregon, Washington and BC / Alaska separately. A lot of posts bleed from Seattle into Kitsap, Olympia, Tacoma, etc. And likewise, from Portland to Wilsonville, Woodburn, etc.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I think you're making a big mistake.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. n
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  normalheightsfoodie RE: Jacquilynne Jan 26, 2010 09:06 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Thank you for creating a San Diego board!!!!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. e
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    emmaAmethyst RE: Jacquilynne Jan 26, 2010 03:31 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I assume that you mean "Phoenix" to be "Metro Phoenix Area"? Right? Phoenix/Scottsdale/Mesa/Chandler/Queen Creek/Glendale. That's directly analogous to SF Bay Area & Los Angeles Area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Also, doesn't make sense to me to have Texas plus its 3 urban centers lumped under Southwest at the same level as Phoenix Metro Area & Las Vegas. I would expect it to be set up like California & Pacific Norhwest are -- i.e. Austin, DFW, Houston & "rest of Texas" all under a Texas header; Phoenix Metro, Las Vegas, & "rest of the Southwest" under Southwest header (with the possibility of expansion including breakouts for Abq/Santa Fe &/or Tucson.)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Am also very happy about San Diego getting a promotion as well!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: emmaAmethyst
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      silverbear RE: emmaAmethyst Jan 27, 2010 08:53 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      On the first point, I would certainly assume and hope that "Phoenix" does indeed mean the entire metro area. Since many visitors are confused about which city they're actually staying in and often cross municipal boundaries in pursuit of good food, it would be a nightmare to say post here for Phoenix, post here for Scottsdale, etc. Many other urban boards have the word "area" appearing after the name of the core city in order to make their scope clear. I wonder if this will continue tomorrow.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Nevertheless, even with the new board covering the whole metro area, there will still be misplaced inquiries from visitors who mistakenly think that various suburbs, especially Scottsdale, are actually standalone communities outside the Phoenix Metro Area. It will be interesting to see how long it take for posts to find their way to the right boards.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: silverbear
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        nsxtasy RE: silverbear Jan 27, 2010 04:25 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        >> I assume that you mean "Phoenix" to be "Metro Phoenix Area"? Right?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        >> On the first point, I would certainly assume and hope that "Phoenix" does indeed mean the entire metro area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        This speaks to my recommendation above, that the new boards for individual cities use the word "Area" in the name of the forum, just like the current ones already do.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2. s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      starbucksbrew RE: Jacquilynne Jan 27, 2010 02:19 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I like this new setup! I really like that Miami is getting its own board . . . since I live in a part of Florida that is not Miami. LOL

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. m
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        mrsdebdav RE: Jacquilynne Jan 28, 2010 07:00 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Suggest that all posts be in chronological order. Esp difficult to find latest post on a 3 year old board. Easy enough to do @...to respond to other than OP.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: mrsdebdav
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          The Chowhound Team RE: mrsdebdav Jan 28, 2010 12:16 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Because Chowhound is a "threaded", not "flat" forum, it's not possible to do that. On our site, unlike many others, it's easier to follow the flow of conversation between posters, but it does come with the drawback that it's harder to see what's new. If you are logged in, you ought to see previous discussions "collapsed" and only see new posts.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2. k
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          krs828 RE: Jacquilynne Jan 28, 2010 03:23 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Hi,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I like the new mountain states board. Now could you do something to improve the restaurants in Aspen? Thanks, /Kathy

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. e
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            equinoise RE: Jacquilynne Jan 28, 2010 03:27 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I appreciate the efforts to subdivide the former Pacific Northwest board, but the division used begs the question:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            What is "Greater Seattle"? I suspect that most would consider it to include "the Eastside", e.g. Bellevue, Renton, Kirkland, etc., and probably also suburbs to the north like Shoreline and Lynnwood. Those cities are certainly included in census-based descriptions of the Seattle metropolitan area such as the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            If so, some of the posts currently in the "Pacific Northwest" board should be relocated.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Any thoughts?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            3 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: equinoise
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Das Ubergeek RE: equinoise Jan 29, 2010 03:59 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I'm not an expert at Washington geography, but it seems like you could restrict it to the 206, 253 and 425 area codes. Or not?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: equinoise
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                bbqboy RE: equinoise Jan 29, 2010 05:15 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Sound to Cascades, Olympia to the border? Too big?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: equinoise
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  nsxtasy RE: equinoise Jan 30, 2010 01:40 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  >> What is "Greater Seattle"?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  At the top of the new Greater Seattle board is a stickied post by the Chowhound Team titled "About the new Seattle board". It says, "This board covers the urban area surrounding Seattle from Tacoma to Everett, including Kirkland, Redmond, Bellevue and other cities in between."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The Chowhound Team is welcoming help with moving topics to the new boards where appropriate. See http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/682192

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Disclaimer: I am not on the Chowhound Team and I don't speak for them. These are my own personal observations.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2. h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  HillJ RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 06:38 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  ? re NJ Board and new Mid Atlantic Board-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  A good number of NJ posts are still appearing on the Mid Atlantic Board.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Is that intended or are posts still being moved into the new NJ Board?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Txs.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: HillJ
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Jacquilynne RE: HillJ Jan 29, 2010 07:52 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Threads are still being moved. They're probably also still being created in the wrong place by people who haven't noticed the change. If you'd like to help move them, I've given your account that ability.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      jfood RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 08:13 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      J - you need some help in Westchester...none are being moved to NY. You should reach out to some of the Westchester Hounds

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2. RickL RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 06:53 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    How about adding a link from the original board to the new board(s) and vice versa?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Now that I have to read two boards to follow posts for South Florida ("Florida" for Palm Beach county and maybe North Broward county (or maybe not) and "Miami/Ft Lauderdale" for Central-South Broward and Miami-Dade counties) it would make it easier to move between boards.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    4 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: RickL
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      nsxtasy RE: RickL Jan 30, 2010 01:36 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      You don't need to read two boards for Palm Beach County; it is definitely included in the new Miami-Fort Lauderdale forum. At the top of the new Miami-Fort Lauderdale board is a stickied topic by the Chowhound Team called "About the new Miami - Ft. Lauderdale board". It says, "This board covers the urban area surrounding Miami from as far South as Homestead to as far North as Jupiter, including Miami Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach, Coral Springs and other cities that fall within that range."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        RickL RE: nsxtasy Jan 31, 2010 04:39 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Thanks Nsxtasy. I found out about that from a post by Frodnesor on the Florida board the same day as my request. I've been tagging PBC threads ever since.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Jacquilynne - how about updating the description on the board for people that don't read the sticky? It currently says "Tips for Dining, Eating and Food Shopping in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale".

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: RickL
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Kajikit RE: RickL Feb 5, 2010 06:14 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Yep. it should really say 'tips for eating (etc.) in miami, ft lauderdale & PBC.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: Kajikit
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            nsxtasy RE: Kajikit Feb 5, 2010 09:38 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            This is why I suggested that the city boards should include "Area" in their names, like the existing ones for "Chicago Area" and "Boston Area" do.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2. m
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      mgarland RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 08:33 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I really wish you'd break apart DC and Baltimore. I get tired of how people don't specify which city they are referring to in post titles, and I don't want to read about DC when I'm looking for a Baltimore restaurant, etc. Each city is big enough to warrant its own board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. c
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        cakennedy RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 10:44 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        I love the new boards! Looks like the mobile site needs to be updated too.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        3 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: cakennedy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          grayelf RE: cakennedy Jan 29, 2010 12:32 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I'm officially confused. If the old boards are "closed" how come I can still post to 'em?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: grayelf
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Jacquilynne RE: grayelf Jan 29, 2010 12:47 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            You should be able to reply to existing threads on those boards, but you shouldn't be able to start new threads.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: Jacquilynne
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              grayelf RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 01:43 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Got it, thanks for putting up with my clueless queries :-).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2. buttertart RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 12:54 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I am thrilled with the changes to the China board - it's so nice not to have to go looking for the Taiwan threads, I can luxuriate in the postings on what was my home for a glorious and all-too-short period and dream of meals to come on visits there.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. Curt the Soi Hound RE: Jacquilynne Jan 29, 2010 06:20 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Does it all really matter boys and girls?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: Curt the Soi Hound
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              soulimar RE: Curt the Soi Hound Jan 30, 2010 03:59 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I see the other California Board issues were not addressed. That's great San Diego finally has it's own board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              California is so big with so many urban areas it REALLY needs to be broken down into 3 main boards:
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              CENTRAL CALIFORNIA
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              SOUTHERN CALIFORINA

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              with existing sub-boards for San Francisco, San Diego, & Los Angeles

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The Los Angeles board currently includes: "LA, Orange and Ventura Counties and Southwestern San Bernardino County"

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              It is ridiculous not to include Riverside county, it borders on Orange County and is closer and more relevant than far flung areas of LA, Ventura, & OC counties.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I see they added part of SB county as some cities border on LA County and members vocalized this. I hope the rest of California will soon have the logical and necessary changes made to it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              harry_sparrow RE: Jacquilynne Jan 30, 2010 01:48 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              It's probably asking too much, but wouldn't it be great if each member could select his/her state(s) of interest. Mine would be MA, NH, and ME.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              For me, in northeastern MA, it was bad enough that the NE board included CT and RI (and yes, VT). But, now I'll have to visit 2 boards.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: harry_sparrow
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                b
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                bmore_flavor RE: harry_sparrow Jan 30, 2010 06:48 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Baltimore and DC need to be separate!! Baltimore hounders like myself are more so concerned with good eats in Baltimore, both city and county. Even Maryland in general, but not including the District of Columbia which has its own scene that too deserves its own forum, but out of the usual travel distance for us Baltimore natives. Anyone agree?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              2. p
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Peter Cherches RE: Jacquilynne Jan 31, 2010 06:21 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Where did Korea end up?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: Peter Cherches
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Jacquilynne RE: Peter Cherches Jan 31, 2010 07:02 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  The old Greater Asia board and China board were merged into one: http://chowhound.chow.com/boards/46

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2. d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  demifast RE: Jacquilynne Jan 31, 2010 02:08 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Honestly, I think it's stupid to have a NY board. I live in westchester county. I am not interested in postings that are 400 miles away in Buffalo. I am interested in Fairfield County or the Bronx. This site is becoming too cumbersome to be of any worth.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  14 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: demifast
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    GIOny RE: demifast Jan 31, 2010 07:07 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    The board consisted of Buffalo/Albany/Syracuse/Lake George etc when it was the tri-state board. So that is still the same only they have eliminated New Jersery and Conn. so there are a lot less threads to muddle through.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: GIOny
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      surman RE: GIOny Feb 12, 2010 01:32 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Great... so they "improved" it by taking away Fairfield County, but didn't fix the real issue -- upstate lumped in with NYC suburbs. Demi is correct.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: surman
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        DGresh RE: surman Feb 12, 2010 01:41 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        the number of posts north of the Hudson Valley (say north of Rhinebeck) has always been quite small, so having Buffalo included really doesn't dilute the southern NY focus (and clearly implies that an "upstate NY" board does not really make sense at this time. I'm not going to venture into the FFC in or out argument.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: DGresh
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Karl S RE: DGresh Feb 12, 2010 03:16 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Particularly since real upstate NYers always find the definition of "upstate" by downstaters hilarious (that is, downstaters tend to think of even Dutchess County as "upstate" when it's "downstate" in the minds of real upstaters).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: Karl S
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            DGresh RE: Karl S Feb 13, 2010 01:51 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I have heard Hawthorne NY (in mid-westchester county, 30 miles or so north of Times Square) referred to as upstate NY. In a newspaper article no less.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2. re: demifast
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      s
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Scotty100 RE: demifast Feb 13, 2010 10:27 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      You are so right demifast...the new "Southern New England" board is awful for those in FFD county who, along with Westchester, are the suburbs of NYC. A big pain-in-the-ass having to switch between boards to find out what's going on in the likes of Port Chester/Scarsdale/White Plains and having to wade through threads on Buffalo or Albany or Rhode Island or Mass suburbs et al...the CH team dropped the ball big time on this one. NYC suburbs should have their own board - end of story.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: Scotty100
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        nsxtasy RE: Scotty100 Feb 14, 2010 03:54 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        >> and having to wade through threads on Buffalo or Albany or Rhode Island or Mass suburbs et al

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Suburbs of Boston are in the Greater Boston Area forum, not the Southern New England forum.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          jfood RE: nsxtasy Feb 14, 2010 04:27 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Chi-dude

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          FYI - there are more cities in Mass than Boston, i.e. the state capital is Springfield. And they have suburbs to which the FFD CTY resident Mr 100 refers to above. Those of us in FFD county have been isolated from our eating brethren a few miles to our southwest and have been traded to Massachusetts, . [insert pouting sad eyes]

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: jfood
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            r
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            rjka RE: jfood Feb 23, 2010 02:27 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Um, you should check your state capitals. Boston is the capital of MA. Ironically, Springfield is the capital of Illinois.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            BTW I fully agree the board split is stupid. I noticed recently a post in which a diner visited Tarry Lodge in Portchester NY and a burger place half a mile away in Byram CT. It makes no sense at all to write them up on separate boards. It's all one dining market.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: rjka
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              jfood RE: rjka Feb 23, 2010 05:20 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              -5 for jfood in US Geography. Just another reason they should not let people from CT poat on he same board as MA.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. re: jfood
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              nsxtasy RE: jfood Feb 24, 2010 09:57 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I am well aware of the geography and demographics of Massachusetts - apparently, more so than at least one other person here (LOL!). And the fact is, there are virtually no topics about non-Boston-area "Massachusetts suburbs" on the Southern New England forum; there's no way anyone would need to "wade through" them.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                jfood RE: nsxtasy Feb 24, 2010 03:11 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Hey, jfood already took the bullet for that dope-oh statement, no piling on allowed.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Confusion one...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/690247

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                This is a Boston suburb on the SONE Board

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Topic 1 - http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/680146 asking for help around Springfield MA (not the capital

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                )

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                :-))

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: jfood
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  stuck in Hartford County RE: jfood Feb 24, 2010 05:19 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Not to mention wading thru the Rhode Island posts...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    hungrykids RE: stuck in Hartford County Feb 25, 2010 06:47 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    and said wading made more complicated by the multitude of threads that do not list city and state in the topic title...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Dave Feldman RE: Jacquilynne Feb 1, 2010 09:59 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Jacquilynne,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Just wanted to thank the powers that be that redesigned the board. I'm sure there are justifiable quibbles, but most of the additions and subtractions make lots of sense to me and make Chowhound a better place.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: Dave Feldman
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Cookiefiend RE: Dave Feldman Feb 2, 2010 03:30 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Ditto!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Thanks Jacquilynne!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2. m
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          MMaineroe RE: Jacquilynne Feb 2, 2010 04:18 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          This whole thread makes me laugh, particularly the whole "TriState Area" flap. Where I grew up going to my best friend's house in the 'burbs was a two-hour drive, and you folks are complaining about separating things by county? Come on!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I currently live in the middle of a big state, but sadly a large majority of our dining options are national chains. This area does not need to have its own board, whether it's called Central Florida, Orlando Area or Middle of a Long State. I'd rather have better restaurants around here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. Bill Hunt RE: Jacquilynne Feb 2, 2010 06:20 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I've only spent a short time with the new breakdown, but things look good to me. Time will tell, and I'll comment, when I've had more time to navigate the new scheme.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Nice job, so far.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Hunt

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              lmnopm RE: Bill Hunt Feb 3, 2010 09:56 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              The combination of South America with the Caribbean is just horrible. I know neither board got a whole lot of traffic, but it is nonsensical and there isn't much similar about this grand new region except that it is "generally south/southeast of the US, and stretches for several thousands of miles." I really dislike it.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: lmnopm
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                rworange RE: lmnopm Feb 3, 2010 11:05 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Ditto. It should be at the least
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Central America / Carribean
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                South America

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Though actually the only change here is the title of the board. I was posting about Gautemala months prior to the change an the posts were always moved to the South America board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. buttertart RE: Jacquilynne Feb 4, 2010 04:55 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              OK this is done to greater or lesser acclaim - now how about sharpening up your mobile app? ;-)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. steve h. RE: Jacquilynne Feb 8, 2010 02:29 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                I've given the Southern New England header a shot. At the end of the day, it just doesn't work. Connecticut's Fairfield County and New York's Westchester County are friends and neighbors separated only by disparate real estate taxes. Sou'west Connecticut is not Southern New England. Never has been and never will. The old Tri-State board, despite its flaws, recognized this.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                A shout-out to jfood for calling attention to this silly gerrymandering. Leff knew this stuff. Chowbots should have consulted with him and us before the fact.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1 Reply
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: steve h.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  michele cindy RE: steve h. Feb 9, 2010 05:44 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Totally agree - bring back the Tri State Board!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2. nsxtasy RE: Jacquilynne Feb 9, 2010 09:24 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I must say, it does strike me as terribly odd that the suburbs of New York City don't have their own board, separate from the states that they are part of. The suburbs of Philadelphia are part of the Philadelphia board; the suburbs of Boston are part of the Boston Area board, and so forth. So I don't see why Nassau County is in the same board as Buffalo and Albany. Huh?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  I can understand why there was a need to break up the Tristate forum; there were just way too many posts there. Splitting off Jersey was a good start, and those who live there are very happy with that. Of course, Jersey is small, so most of the people live in the part close to NYC (and those in the Philly suburbs are part of the Philly board). But they should have split the rest of the metro area up while they were at it. (Just look at how much activity there is on the NYS board, for example, and how wide an area it covers.) If it were up to me, I would have given Long Island its own forum, too; the Island is really separate from the rest of the city's suburbs (because you have to drive through the city to get there). If there's another shot at re-doing the forums, I would think it ought to look like this:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - Manhattan (as is)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - The Outer Boroughs (as is)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - New Jersey (as is)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - Long Island (new forum; call it Nassau/Suffolk if you prefer)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - Other NYC Suburbs (new forum; call it whatever name you like, but it definitely ought to include Westchester, Fairfield, and Rockland Counties, and possibly Orange and Putnam Counties) EDIT: If those on Long Island don't feel they need a separate board, then also include Nassau and Suffolk Counties in this one.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - New York State (change to: exc New York City and suburbs)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  - Southern New England (change to: exc Fairfield County CT and Boston Area)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  All of these forums would still get plenty of traffic, but this would enable people in the NYC suburbs to keep an eye on restaurants in their own area without being distracted by places they never go to.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    mcf RE: nsxtasy Feb 9, 2010 09:50 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Long Island doesn't have the posting volume/activity to warrant its own break out at this point.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    We've been trying of late, but it's pretty limited. It makes no sense to send us off, detached from the metro area.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      h
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      HillJ RE: nsxtasy Feb 9, 2010 10:33 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Although the new MidA Board offers tips for Dining, Eating, and Food Shopping in Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and Maryland, sans NJ now (& I'm equally happy for the folks visiting/contributing to the new MidA Board as I am for NJ having its own state Board) I'm still confused by NJ suburbs remaining as part of the Philadelphia Board. And, are CH's still contributing to archived Boards or did this option end Jan 28th?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: HillJ
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        nsxtasy RE: HillJ Feb 9, 2010 10:57 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        >> are CH's still contributing to archived Boards or did this option end Jan 28th?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        People cannot create new topics on the general archive boards, but they can post to topics that are already there, and have been doing so. The Chowhound Team has requested that such updated topics be moved from the general archive boards to the appropriate boards in the new structure.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Disclaimer: I am not part of the Chowhound Team and do not speak for them. This is simply my understanding of what they have posted here.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    2. l
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      LoveaFair RE: Jacquilynne Feb 12, 2010 01:53 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Long Island (Nassau/Suffolk County), NY has a population of 2 MILLION people. Isn't that enough to merit a separate board?

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: LoveaFair
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        stuck in Hartford County RE: LoveaFair Feb 12, 2010 06:26 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        CT has a population of 3.5 million and we have to share our board w/RI and MA. Not that I mind b/c I get to hear about some great places that I might not have discovered w/o the mix...

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: stuck in Hartford County
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          bbqboy RE: stuck in Hartford County Feb 12, 2010 06:32 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          You guys are funny. the Midwest board had about 75 million folks until the split; the California board still encompasses about 15 million folks or so, and on and on.....
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Not sure population is a determining factor.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: bbqboy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            stuck in Hartford County RE: bbqboy Feb 12, 2010 06:43 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            You're correct! That's the point I was trying to make (although i didn't do such a great job).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            75 million?! Wow. Here's to hoping the new breakdown works better for you.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      2. surman RE: Jacquilynne Feb 12, 2010 01:26 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Buffalo, Brookhaven and Bronxville on the same board? That is INSANE.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          DGresh RE: surman Feb 12, 2010 01:29 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          just to be clear, Buffalo and Broxville *always were* on the same board. The tristate board got smaller (removing NJ and part of CT), not bigger.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: surman
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            jfood RE: surman Feb 12, 2010 04:49 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I see your 3B's and raise you Greenwich CT and Provincetown, MA. Maybe the Vineyard or Nantucket, but P-Town?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          2. nsxtasy RE: Jacquilynne Feb 13, 2010 06:22 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            I don't make the rules, but I can only guess that the decision on whether or not an area deserves its own board depends on how much posting would take place. They probably don't want to create a board which wouldn't have much posting activity.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            For example, right now the NY State board has had 32 topics updated since yesterday morning. Most are for Westchester, but I also count 8 of these for Long Island and 5 or 7 of them for upstate (depending on whether or not you include the Hudson Valley). I think there's an excellent case for a separate board when you have a separate area with 5-8 current topics in a little more than a day. I really do think Long Island deserves its own board; there's quite a bit of posting activity, as you can tell by skimming the post titles on the NYS board. And I think the same thing is true of Upstate, regardless of where you draw the line between it and the NYC suburbs. Both areas have enough posting activity on their own, and are separate, well-defined areas.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Similarly, if you scan the topics on the Southern New England board, you can make a very good case for splitting it into three separate boards:

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Fairfield County CT (either on its own or in the same board as Westchester)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Connecticut exc Fairfield County
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Massachusetts-Rhode Island exc Boston Area

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Each of these areas has sufficient posting activity to justify its own board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            By way of contrast, someone earlier in this topic suggested a separate board for the state of Indiana. The total number of topics about Indiana updated during the same period is zero (it's 2 for the past week). So based on the frequency of posting, I don't think there's a case fo Indiana having its own board.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Again, this is just my opinion.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            1. re: nsxtasy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              grayelf RE: nsxtasy Feb 13, 2010 06:50 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              "I don't make the rules, but I can only guess that the decision on whether or not an area deserves its own board depends on how much posting would take place. They probably don't want to create a board which wouldn't have much posting activity."

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I'm not part of the Chowhound team either, but I'm not sure this is the case. In our neck of the woods, BC and the Territories just got their own board. I've never seen a post from the Territories, and BC (which is dominated by Vancouver and Victoria talk) doesn't have that many regular posters. It's early days still but I haven't seen traffic to indicate that we "needed" our own board. Though it's been more focused it's also been pretty quiet since those Prairie folk moved on to their own board :-).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: grayelf
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                nsxtasy RE: grayelf Feb 13, 2010 07:56 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                >> BC (which is dominated by Vancouver and Victoria talk) doesn't have that many regular posters.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                In the same time period as I referenced above - a little over a day (yesterday plus this morning), five topics have been updated on the new BC board. That's a fair amount of activity - enough that I would think it justifies a separate board. No, it's not the most active board, but it's not the least, either. By way of contrast, it's significantly more activity than the board for the area immediately to the south, the Pacific Northwest board, now that both Portland and Seattle have been given their own boards. (And even the Pacific Northwest board has more activity than the board for the other end of your country.)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. a
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              avasmom RE: Jacquilynne Feb 14, 2010 10:06 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I know other people have said this, but I wanted to let you know how dissatisfied I am w/the new board arrangement. Moving FFD county to Southern New England makes no sense in terms of how people actually go out to restaurants. It's made these boards much less user friendly. I'm assuming that the goal of the board changes was to make them more user friendly and therefore encourage more traffic. This has not been accomplished at all and makes me much less likely to come here. I really hope you'll fix this problem. People who live in FFD county generally eat in FFD county and Westchester. I live in FFD county and NY is 5 minutes from my house. I really hope that the chowhound team is looking into this and considering fixing the problem. Thanks!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              4 Replies
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              1. re: avasmom
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                louuuuu RE: avasmom Feb 15, 2010 12:42 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                And anecotal evidence points to the fact that traffic on the NSE and NY boards is less than the old tri-state. A board called Metro North makes more sense. This is where we in the NY northern burbs dine, not in Southern New England. That makes as much sense as calling this area Southern Red Sox Nation..

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                There are nearly 3 million people serviced by Metro North -- and thousands of chow worthy resto's. This isn't Board-Worthy?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1. re: louuuuu
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  steve h. RE: louuuuu Feb 15, 2010 07:35 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Metro North - brilliant!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  1. re: steve h.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    jfood RE: steve h. Feb 15, 2010 07:43 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    +1 for the title and the theory. cross our fingers for the next go-round.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2. re: louuuuu
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    nsxtasy RE: louuuuu Feb 15, 2010 11:09 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    >> anecotal evidence points to the fact that traffic on the NSE and NY boards is less than the old tri-state

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    If you're comparing numbers of posts, old vs new, wouldn't it make sense to include traffic for the New Jersey board in the new numbers, since it was formerly part of the old Tri-State forum? :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Anyway, I like the name Metro North for the NYC suburbs including Westchester, Fairfield, and Rockland Counties (and possibly Putnam, Dutchess, and Orange Counties).

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I still think Long Island should get its own board, because there is no shared border except with the outer boroughs, which already had their own forum all along. And Long Island shares its name with its commuter railroad, just like Metro North does. :)

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    I hope the Chowhound Team considers these suggestions in the next go-round. In the Midwest, it's great that they added a new board for Minneapolis-St. Paul, but they really need to also add new boards for Detroit and St. Louis, and probably also Cleveland and Kansas City. And as noted above, also for the Triangle area of NC.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                2. cheereeo RE: Jacquilynne Feb 16, 2010 09:50 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  While this comment may not be popular for those faifield county-ites, but those of us who live in the New Haven County area (south central CT) are so very happy that Fairfield County was combined with the rest of CT into Southwestern NE. I realize that Fairfield County folks will drive over the border into NY and NYC, but many others in CT will venture "ALL THE WAY DOWN" to Fairfield County in search of great food, so I think it makes total sense and am so happy we are all together. No segregation on CH. I'LL even drive or train to NY from time to time and will willingly search that board for great CH advice. Nothing is 100% perfect.

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Scotty100 RE: cheereeo Feb 16, 2010 10:55 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    A fair point cheereeo but you are very much in the minority with your opinion.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    1. re: cheereeo
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      steve h. RE: cheereeo Feb 16, 2010 11:09 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Hi cheereeo,

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      While I think it's a lazy management decision to lump Fairfield County into a Southern New England catch basin, I also think there is great merit in giving chowhounders the ability to order-up disparate boards, with a single search command, according to their tastes.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      Specifically, I would like the ability to concatenate the Metro North Board, the San Francisco Board, the Rome Board, the London Board, the New Orleans Board and the Manhattan Board into a single search. I would make my selections from a simple pick list. This would allow (require?) more boards to facilitate the selection process.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      I think everyone wins with this concept since it allows individual boards to be fine-tuned to local habits AND it gives us the chance to customize search results according to major areas of interest without denying the ability to search out a single board when necessary.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      It's a pretty simple concept. Why impose arbitrary and unvetted geographical designations like we are currently saddled with when you can do something really great?

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      1. re: steve h.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        meatn3 RE: steve h. Feb 16, 2010 05:32 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        This would be tremendously helpful! And would trump the problems the boundaries of geographic areas creates.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Great idea!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        1. re: steve h.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          jerryc123 RE: steve h. Feb 20, 2010 03:49 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I think having a "check-box" feature to select boards to view, would be an excellent feature for users.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I doubt it would be difficult or expensive to implement, and would give Chowhound a competitive edge over other sites.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. re: steve h.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            stuck in Hartford County RE: steve h. Feb 20, 2010 10:08 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Yup- an excellent idea. I'd like this feature.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        2. l
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          lukeinva RE: Jacquilynne Mar 1, 2010 09:38 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Why do you lump Washington DC with Baltimore? My only instinct is, you have never traveled to either city and must think they are across the street from each other.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          1. misspastina RE: Jacquilynne Mar 6, 2010 07:35 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            Whoever had the bright idea to eliminate the Tri-State board and lump Westchester county in with the rest of New York State knows nothing about our area. While I appreciate that New Jersey and Connecticut are more different than similar to the NYC suburbs, Westchester county has more in common with them than with the rest of New York State. In other words, I'm much more likely to drive to Long Island, Westport, or Hasbrouck Heights for a hot dog than to Liverpool, New York. This is a bad idea!

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              d
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              DGresh RE: misspastina Mar 7, 2010 02:00 AM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Just to be clear, Westchester *always was* lumped with the rest of NY state. The change was to remove NJ and CT.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            2. c
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              CyndiA RE: Jacquilynne Mar 7, 2010 07:48 PM

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              I live in the South, and I can't make heads nor tails of the new divisions. Guess I will just Google food questions and hope Google figures it out. I doubt that the big G will figure it out either though, unless my keyword search terms are really good.
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