Geography update

[archman]

Yes, the overlapping descriptions should go. I think it just got forgotten to be fixed back when you originally commented on it. I seem to faintly remember this.

 

[hdtran]

I've always thought of Belize as Central America. Hes' right, tho - there will be a lot of cross posting. As long as they don't put their Ambergris Cay report in the Canadian forum. :silly:

Belize is in Central America. But the Belize coast borders on the Caribbean Sea.

Costa Rica also is in Central America--and its East coast borders the Caribbean Sea.

If you look at historical postings, though, most Belize posters posted posts in Caribbean, while most Roatan posters posted in Central/South. Geographically, they both belong in the Caribbean Sea.

We accept that Cancun & Cozumel, even though they are lapped by the soft waves of the Caribbean Sea, belong in the Mexico forum. Gotta draw a line somewhere. The would-be-mathematician in me really dislikes Fuzzy Logic (even though I've worked with fuzzy logicians ), so the overlapping boundaries in the descriptions of the forums (fora?) bother me.

Again, off-topic, if you are an old-school control systems nerd, you can PM me, and I'll rant to you about why I think "fuzzy logic" is a poorly thought-out discipline.

 

[DandyDon]

I don't mean to be arguementative - I just naturally seem that way. :blush:

Belize is in Central America. But the Belize coast borders on the Caribbean Sea.

Costa Rica also is in Central America--and its East coast borders the Caribbean Sea.

If you look at historical postings, though, most Belize posters posted posts in Caribbean, while most Roatan posters posted in Central/South. Geographically, they both belong in the Caribbean Sea.

Yes, I know. I know I tend to be black & white about my approaches to things, but wiht Belize, Honduras, and Costa Rica being in Cent America, I just see it that way, regardless of how many mistakenly post their threads in the wrong forums - a common problem on SB for the member searching for information.

Central America....

 

[archman]

If you look at historical postings, though, most Belize posters posted posts in Caribbean, while most Roatan posters posted in Central/South. Geographically, they both belong in the Caribbean Sea.

Well, you may be correct about Roatan being mostly in central/south, but there's still heaps of postings about in the Caribbean forum. Whenever we run a "best place in Caribbean" thread, Roatan always pops up.

We accept that Cancun & Cozumel, even though they are lapped by the soft waves of the Caribbean Sea, belong in the Mexico forum. Gotta draw a line somewhere. The would-be-mathematician in me really dislikes Fuzzy Logic (even though I've worked with fuzzy logicians ), so the overlapping boundaries in the descriptions of the forums (fora?) bother me.

Yes, they're not exactly exclusive delineations. But the public isn't all informed the same way, and they have different opinions regarding divvying up of spaces on a map.

You can think of the "ScubaBoard system" for the Caribbean forum to closely follow that which travel agents, and therefore most scuba divers, use. Which for the most part makes special allowances for Mexico.

 

[archman]

So, one possibility would be to have a "Caribbean Sea & Bahamas" forum, which would include Bahamas, Cuba, Puerto Rico, all the Caribbean Islands, Belize, & the East coasts of Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Columbia, & Venezuela. Then, the Central/South America would be the Pacific coasts of the Americas South of Mexico (Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua, Columbia) & the rest of South America (Guyanas, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, etc.)

I'm pretty sure this'll work just peachy. Posting overlap will be inevitable (since a lot of folks don't even read the forum descriptors), but it's not a major concern by any users or moderators as far as I know. That roatan thing is weird; people should be mostly posting to the Caribbean forum. There must be some rainforest ecotourists that visit the boards.

 

[hdtran]

Let me make a modification to my proposal, then:

For Central/South America, let's call it

South America & Pacific Coast of Central America. (Description as previously posted).

Then, for those who want to scuba dive the Panama Canal & the mountain lakes of Nicaragua, they can cross-post to their hearts' content

 

[archman]

A bit wordy, but accurate. Looking fine.

 

[El Orans]

Don't forget to include the calendar as well.

 

[hdtran]

Don't forget to include the calendar as well.

"Greater Caribbean & Bahamas"

Including the Bahamas Islands and destinations in the Caribbean Sea, including Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, the Caymans, and the islands in the Eastern Caribbean Sea.


"Central and South America"

Dive destinations including Honduras and the Bay Islands, both coasts of Costa Rica, heading south to South America.

 

[DandyDon]

"Greater Caribbean & Bahamas"

Including the Bahamas Islands and destinations in the Caribbean Sea, including Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands, Aruba, Curacao, Bonaire, the Caymans, and the islands in the Eastern Caribbean Sea.


"Central and South America"

Dive destinations including Honduras and the Bay Islands, both coasts of Costa Rica, heading south to South America.

:jpshakehe I see that Belize is currently listed for both forums...?!

Put Belize in the Carib and Bay Islands in Cent Amer? Nah. I'm sticking to actual location geography...