Geographical subcategories in forums?

Hello, what is the current thinking both from site personel and the public

about Philip Greenspuns mention of the possible use of geographical

subcategories in forums ?

 

Will there be an Irish photographers forum? or nudes from Russia? Homeless

from Vegas? Leica collectors over 50 of Texas.inc ?

 

Just kidding, but seriously, what's the plan?

 

Thanks.

I would think that as a community of artists, we are united by our art and geopolitical boundries are meaningless.

The geographical sub-categories idea was not mine! Personally I don't think it'll work, but then my opinion is absolutely meaningless on a privately run site.

 

Just curious to know what others think of the idea.

Really cannot see any benefit except for those who wish to be regionalists ( or worse ). Can see a benefit in people being asked for and showing their location when setting up their registration/workspace - was raised a while ago and received support from the ( now ) invisible man but sfa happened as far as I can tell although the "matched" forum has done a voluntary scheme on this.

I can see a benefit to geographically tagging the photographs (a la frappr), but the forums should be global.

Tagging photos would be used to identify, locate, or categorize?

I would like to geospatialize the entire site and will probably do so soon. We need to get a zip code and/or city/country from every user and then offer some services to help photo.net readers find each other in the offline world.

I opine that this geographical information should either be optional, or let them be as vague as they want (e.g., U.S.A., or, Earth, or whatever). Some web users are very open about where they live in real life, but some prefer to keep that part of their life anonymous, and I don't think that's an unfair preference.

I agree with Trevis about keeping it optional. I can understand some pros using it as it might boost their business, which is fine of course. At present, I'd prefer to just remain as I am now. (If I had to, I wouldn't object to having 'Australia' appended to my name, but that's about as specific as I'm comfotable with.)

<i>"I would think that as a community of artists, we are united by our art and geopolitical boundries are meaningless."</i> -- I agree. That's why I think that the brand related separation is flawed.

Travis & Neil - I agree that too much information is not desirable but town/city - county ( state ) - country would be good enough.

Thanks Philip, I see what you mean now. I think your idea will favour large centres, with zip codes etc. Probably good for your photo.net printing services, copyright sales and links, and online printing schemes.

 

Ireland has no zip or postal codes...I live near Bantry...I have been in correspondence with two other Irish based users.

 

If I were a pro-photogrpaher living in Boston? Perhpas I would be too busy using my camera to check in here...

In my country, it is not to hard to find someone if you know their town/city, or even their state. Being forced to do this would only encourage me to use a false name to tip the scales back the other way (not that I'm using my full name now, but it is at least my real name).

Neil, annonimity is something humans lost a long time ago. I think the geo-plan will be interesting for Greenspin but not sure I will benefit at all.

It will be of benefit to marketers and advertisers. I am an editor of a huge internet site comparable to Photo.net and can say with some degree of authority that the ad dollar rules every aspect of the business today. Modern fact of life.

Nice Idea Phil. I started something in the Wedding Forum for the same reason. I spent a good deal of time getting people's locations and adding the location to the names so we could have an idea of where people were located when discussing their market and for people to find others in their city/states. Your idea will be much better because I have to do this every couple of months to get newcomers into the fold.