Solved: Should There Be A Forum Dedicated to Trip Reports?

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ontdiver

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I ask the question because there are so many great trip reports that get buried in various forums. The recent contributions by @Trailboss123 and @drrich2 come to mind. I don't know about others, but with the volume of material on SB, I find that it is harder to keep track of a particular trip report and who might have posted it.

Is it feasible to have a forum dedicated to trip reports, or would it just end up being another bucket? Or perhaps this has already been hashed out and put on the back burner....
 
Nice user interface idea but that would require pretty exten$ive cu$tom programming.

ok so instead of an intercative map how about a map showing areas covered and a pull down tab ( to post)
 
I like this idea/suggestion. There could be a sub forum for reports with each travel destination.

I think a very nice idea.

I also like the idea of "no response" in order to eliminate the mud sling mentioned above. - just my $0.02 (imho)

Yes but folks may have questions. No comment means no discussion. Mud slinging should not be tolerated.

Thank you for your suggestions @Jake 10.
 
I prefer the trip reports to be in the geographical forum they are relevant to. A searchable tag on them would be terrific. I could just search for all trip reports, or those from the last two years, or those for all liveaboards, etc.
 
ok so instead of an intercative map how about a map showing areas covered and a pull down tab ( to post)

ScubaBoard runs on software named xenForo. For all practical purposes, we are limited to the features built into xenForo and a few selected add-ons. I'm not aware of any functionality like you are suggesting. For now at least, we are limited to the textural organization similar to the ScubaBoard forum list.

Regional Forums and Dive Clubs and Travel Related Discussions are the two sections or groupings of forums that most likely apply to Trip Reviews. It "might" make some sense to combine these two groups, especially since there are only four top-level forums in Travel Related Discussions.
 
We (ScubaBoard Staff) are working on this suggestion. All ideas are welcome.

The sub forum under destinations is likely to be more relevant and visually identifiable for users rather than having a forum specifically for trip reports. But that's just me and probably indicative of my 60+ demographic. A case in point is that I would never have thought of looking for a "Suggestions" forum.

In any case, many thanks for taking this under consideration.
 
The sub forum under destinations is likely to be more relevant and visually identifiable for users rather than having a forum specifically for trip reports. But that's just me and probably indicative of my 60+ demographic. A case in point is that I would never have thought of looking for a "Suggestions" forum.

I'm not sure I understand this statement. We moved this thread into the Suggestion forum because it is a suggestion... and an interesting one. We try to keep suggestions here because it attracts the attention of more of ScubaBoard's Staff, who have to evaluate it, and to provide some record of member suggestions.

As for a Trip Report forum, the dilemma is where to locate it and if locating all reports there would be less useful than leaving them in the geographic they apply to. Please correct me if I am wrong or missing some points but I think the objective of your suggestion includes:
  • Make it easier for members to locate and identify trip report threads, mostly for planning future dive trips.
  • Consolidate trip reports so they don't get deeply buried in the forum that they are created (as they get older).
  • Encourage members to write useful trip reports that stay at the forefront of a forum.
One one hand, a diver looking for where in the world their next dive vacation should be would benefit from a dedicated Trip Report forum. On the other hand, a diver interested in information on a specific geographic location is far more likely to look in the existing forum.

We are also trying to meld the intent of your suggestion with forum capabilities in future releases of the software that ScubaBoard runs on.
 
I'm not sure I understand this statement. We moved this thread into the Suggestion forum because it is a suggestion... and an interesting one. We try to keep suggestions here because it attracts the attention of more of ScubaBoard's Staff, who have to evaluate it, and to provide some record of member suggestions.

As for a Trip Report forum, the dilemma is where to locate it and if locating all reports there would be less useful than leaving them in the geographic they apply to. Please correct me if I am wrong or missing some points but I think the objective of your suggestion includes:
  • Make it easier for members to locate and identify trip report threads, mostly for planning future dive trips. Correct
  • Consolidate trip reports so they don't get deeply buried in the forum that they are created (as they get older). Correct
  • Encourage members to write useful trip reports that stay at the forefront of a forum. Correct
One one hand, a diver looking for where in the world their next dive vacation should be would benefit from a dedicated Trip Report forum. On the other hand, a diver interested in information on a specific geographic location is far more likely to look in the existing forum.

We are also trying to meld the intent of your suggestion with forum capabilities in future releases of the software that ScubaBoard runs on.

My apologies for any confusion. I was not criticizing moving the thread, I simply did not realize there was a Suggestion forum. I was trying to compare this to not realizing there was a Trip Report forum and placing a report in a geographic location.
 
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