[RalphGuy]

Found a Cambridge development thread, under City/Metro Developments in World Development News? https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1776230

A Bury ST Edmund's thread... in Ukraine Forum? All by user Quicksilver https://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1435290 Whom also is regularly posting in the ,now, Essex Thread.

I might nick the top one but the bottom one is in a foreign language.

 

[Huge Erection]

RalphGuy,

First of all, I would just like to say what a great job you’re doing as a moderator with regards to reorganizing the forums and moving/merging/renaming/creating threads - must be one hellava task!

SSC is organized on a geographical basis (continent>country) so it makes sense to follow this through with regional based forums - as is happening - and either sub-forums or threads for individual cities/towns and/or counties.

Therefore, in the spirit of consistency, may I suggest an ‘East of England’ forum on the main ‘Projects & Construction’ page, separate from the ‘South East England’ forum?

The East of England is an official region of England covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

If created, the forum would have about 30 threads so wouldn’t require any sub-forums but these could be added if and when needed in future.

This would leave the South East England forum covering Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex (East & West) and Kent. This forum would have about 70 threads at present so probably wouldn’t require any sub-forums but perhaps ones could be set up for Portsmouth and Southampton in future.

 

[kraxx]

RalphGuy,

First of all, I would just like to say what a great job you’re doing as a moderator with regards to reorganizing the forums and moving/merging/renaming/creating threads - must be one hellava task!

Truer words have never been said kay:

SSC is organized on a geographical basis (continent>country) so it makes sense to follow this through with regional based forums - as is happening - and either sub-forums or threads for individual cities/towns and/or counties.

Therefore, in the spirit of consistency, may I suggest an ‘East of England’ forum on the main ‘Projects & Construction’ page, separate from the ‘South East England’ forum?

The East of England is an official region of England covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Hertfordshire, Essex, Norfolk and Suffolk.

If created, the forum would have about 30 threads so wouldn’t require any sub-forums but these could be added if and when needed in future.

This would leave the South East England forum covering Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex (East & West) and Kent. This forum would have about 70 threads at present so probably wouldn’t require any sub-forums but perhaps ones could be set up for Portsmouth and Southampton in future.

Do we need so much fragmentation? After all that is the idea behind the subforum option? And I would hesitate to welcoym a third move of the Bedfordshire threads around...

 

[geogregor]

I honestly don't see a need for so much fragmentation.

South East England shouldn't have been split. It's not like we have lots of activity or hundreds of threads. It was easy to find the way around without too much clicking.

 

[Huge Erection]

It would actually be LESS fragmented. At present we have one main forum (South East England) and three sub-forums (East Anglia, Home Counties and South Coast). Under my proposal, we would have just two main forums - South East England and East of England - with both being official regions.

 

[Huge Erection]

Furthermore, with southern England having its own forums, wouldn’t it now be more accurate to rename the ‘London Metro Area’ forum to just ‘London’ or ‘Greater London’?

 

[RalphGuy]

I've read the above posts several times over and initially I thought we'll leave it as it is but it may well be worth introducing an East of England forum. If we do bring in a new forum, then neither one would need sub-forums at present.

The point of the sub-forums is to start to flesh the existing South East forum out so that there is a main body with general threads to do with the wider region and then sub-forums for parts of the region because it is obviously a big geographical area.

I'll have a think. I must admit, I do think having Southampton and Portsmouth in the same regional forum as Cambridge and Norwich seems a little odd.

What do other posters think?

 

[RalphGuy]

To create an East of England forum would mean taking the three counties of East Anglia and adding in Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire. In total, that would be around 30 threads. Does that warrant a new forum? Will it grow quickly over the next 12-24 months?


Do people in Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire consider themselves to be the East of England or the South East?

 

[kraxx]

What I can tell you is that in Bedfordshire there will be no new major projects that will warrant seperate threads. If by any not so minor miracle we get the M1 - A6 link approced that would be the only thing. The rest can easily be fitted in general threads. The big projets in Luton where the significant development is located already have threads and there is nothing big in the near future...

And there is also the question where will you put Milton Keynes, wich has several projects and plannings, but nothing major on site right now..

 

[RalphGuy]

I've decided that it's best to keep it as it is. I think if there was already an East of England forum, we'd be looking at trying to absorb it in to other forums due to it getting very low levels of visitors.


Glad it's been discussed though.


What do people think of the three sub-forums?

 

[Huge Erection]

Fair enough. Perhaps one for the future then.

 

[J.W]

I think the 3 sub forums work fine, I just feel that, especially in the Suffolk/Ipswich forum, we dont have enough users and or large developments going on to warrant many threads. Ipswich has completely stagnated since 2008, and is now surrounded by huge conglomeration of proposed garden villages.

The only real large project bar Snoasis which hangs in the balance is the ill fated, Northern Bypass, which has filled every local forum and comment section of the local new sites. Could be worth starting a thread for this, even if just discussion and attract traffic. Despite a local forum, there is no real dedicated location for such a debate. Could be a way to drive traffic to the Suffolk forum. I'm not totally for the proposal, however, I know alot of Ipswich residents arnt too pleased all infrastructure improvements are going to Cambridge.

 

[RalphGuy]

It'll take years for this forum to fill out but it appears to me that there isn't a mindset for creating threads on this or the South West forum. Every time, it's bung the news in the Full Summary of Projects threads where the proposal details get swallowed up.

Threads are so important to help the forum grow. If it's a student development with a couple of hundred bedspaces or more, then create a thread - Planning Application Reference, general details of the scheme and a few renders from the planning app if possible.

If it's a small development of 50 flats with a shop on the ground floor, again start a thread. Even if there is no retail, just the flats, start a thread.

The mindset on both southern forums needs to change. Threads, threads, threads, threads.

 

[Huge Erection]

The practice of bunging everything in the ‘Full Summary of Projects’ thread started yonks ago when we only had the one ‘London Metro Area’ forum (can this name be changed now please) and every other town/city in the south east was given just one thread each within that forum. Old habits die hard.

 

[kraxx]

I think that will change now withb he new structure and Ralphs encouragement. Up to now I would hesitate to start a new thread for something I would not consider a project of significance. So let's try. I'm all for it and see where it goes. And if changes need to be applied I see we have Ralph, I see we have a new admin - Newcastle Historian (congrats), perhaps we still have MKTom as admin also, I mean there will be someone toturn to if changes need to be applied...

 

[RalphGuy]

The practice of bunging everything in the ‘Full Summary of Projects’ thread started yonks ago when we only had the one ‘London Metro Area’ forum (can this name be changed now please) and every other town/city in the south east was given just one thread each within that forum. Old habits die hard.

Best to pm SE9 as he is the mod for the forum.

 

[RalphGuy]

I think that will change now withb he new structure and Ralphs encouragement. Up to now I would hesitate to start a new thread for something I would not consider a project of significance. So let's try. I'm all for it and see where it goes. And if changes need to be applied I see we have Ralph, I see we have a new admin - Newcastle Historian (congrats), perhaps we still have MKTom as admin also,I mean there will be someone toturn to if changes need to be applied...

Good to hear. People are starting threads on the forums every day.

As for any changes that are needed, I'll deal with those.

 

[RalphGuy]

Just to let you know, I'm now officially the Moderator for the South East.


Any queries you have, either post them in this thread or pm me.

 

[RalphGuy]

Just want to say thank you to the people who've taken their time to create new threads on the South East forum over the past week. It's certainly made a big difference to the forum and it's helping us lay the foundations for a better busier forum. Thank you.

 

[RalphGuy]

You may notice that the 'Cambridge and Cambridgeshire' thread has disappeared. It will be returned shortly.