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

[ontdiver]

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....

 

[ColoDale]

I suppose it matters why. If it is for research then the search and existing forums structure works well. I can set the search to Search this forum only. If it's for continuous reading of reports then maybe a subforum works. If someone is looking for new comments then Recent Posts link will have it. If someone has posted in a thread then Your Content under the profile will show those.

I have found that giving choices allows the submitter to choose. While this sounds like Yogi Berra, members will put reports in the main forum while a Trip Reports forum exists because either they forget or it may only be about a locations restaurants, beaches, a service, a particular thing, and not be seen in the subforum. Further, questions and answers like "Where/what is the best..." would be main forum topics but have answers that would never appear in the Trip Report subforum. I will also go so far as to say that a few trip reports will be in the wrong geographic location forum as all subforums are named Trip Reports. Searching the community for keywords like trip reports will yield every geographic location. This means the member has to go to the geographic forum or subforum anyway.

In my experience with large knowledge databases with unrestricted input by users (which this is one), too many sub containers makes it more difficult not easier. However I can see the argument for not having a large flat container with everything - browsing is more difficult.

I dare say both the geographic location and trip reports subforum will have to be browsed or searched anyway depending on what someone wants.

 

[Akimbo]

@Akimbo & @Wookie What is the approval process for something like this?

I think it is fair to say that we are still in the brainstorming phase. A valid suggestion has been made and it is more about exploring the pros and cons of the options available than having something to implement at this point. I doubt that anyone debates that it is desirable to make it easier to find trip-reports for specific dive sites. To answer your question specifically, ScubaBoard Staff discusses suggestions. Those that pass the gauntlet of functional and technical constraints get implemented. We're always looking for good ideas.

I just did an experiment to find this thread using Google. Scubapro MK25B EVO/S600DB First and Second Stage, Nice!

I first entered: site:scubaboard.com Scubapro MK25

I didn't position the target thread close to the top of the list. The I entered: site:scubaboard.com for sale Scubapro MK25

It put the target thread at the top of the list (below ads). The point was to determine if title prefix tags are included in search engine criteria, which apparently it is — I never actually tested it before. Unfortunately, this somewhat obscure search solution requires some education to be effective. The color of the prefix tag will help visually but I am not aware of a tool to sort the display of threads by tags, but it would be cool.

There is an option in the planned upgrade to the software that ScubaBoard runs on that supports searching on tags, along with forums and key words. Unfortunately we don't have an ETA on the upgrade at this time.

What do we do when a trip report becomes a mud slinging contest where it would normally be moved to the thumbs down?

Would a sub-forum or title prefix change how it is done now? Unless I am missing something, just move it. I have found that moving a thread with a title prefix to a forum that doesn't support the tag just removes it.

All this said, using a title prefix was a "first impression" suggestion. The most elegant solution may not have revealed itself yet.

Ping: @The Chairman and @Miyaru

 

[Jake 10]

I like this idea/suggestion. There could be a sub forum for reports with each travel destination.
I also like the idea of "no response" in order to eliminate the mud sling mentioned above. - just my $0.02 (imho)

 

[Miyaru]

I'd suggest creating a subforum in Dive Travel (in the new setup that @Akimbo has been working on).
As for labels: technically there's no restriction - come up with ideas!
There's also the option of changing a trip report into an article (new setup), as far as keeping the mudslinging out.....there's no technical fix and will remain the task of the community to report and the modsquad will react on it.

 

[ontdiver]

To answer your question specifically, ScubaBoard Staff discusses suggestions. Those that pass the gauntlet of functional and technical constraints get implemented.

Makes sense. Regrettably, I don't have any useful technical skills and know from past work experience that these things can be somewhat labor intensive.

 

[lowwall]

If I'm thinking about taking a trip somewhere, then I want the trip reports for that destination to be in the appropriate geographic forum. It's absolutely worth my time to do some browsing through the forum to find the reports. After all, there's usually tons of useful info about the destination in the non-trip report threads.

If I just like to read trip reports, perhaps for inspiration about a future trip, then a specific searchable tag would be ideal. If that's impossible, then having all the trip reports in one subforum would work, with the understanding that not every report would end up there as many members would continue to post in the geographic forum. And you would potentially lose valuable comments from local divers who keep an eye on their local forum.

IMO, unless and until there's a way to implement a searchable tag, then I think the ability to find everything by browsing geographic forums is much more important than making an incomplete set of trip reports easier to find. Most people will have at least some sort of idea about where they will want to go, so it's not that much extra work to do the additional browsing.

 

[Akimbo]

I'd suggest creating a subforum in Dive Travel

What about trip reports in what are considered "local diving" destinations? Looking for trip reports is especially common in places like California, Florida... along with cities around the Med. I would guess that most people begin their search in the geographic forum that they are interested in.

FYI to others:
We have just under 500 forums now. There comes a point where more forums inhibit finding and posting threads instead of helping.

 

[mcohen1021]

I think it should remain as is under their respective destinations.

Better question is should old reviews be sunsetted as they may not be relevant 12+ months down the road.

 

[lermontov]

under a trip report forum have an interactive map where you click on a location and all posts related to that location come up - it may be that you have say a 300km radius on those locations otherwise youd have too many - it would also allow a holiday to be planned with some minor travel to visit multiple dive spots

 

[Akimbo]

Better question is should old reviews be sunsetted as they may not be relevant 12+ months down the road.

That would require manual intervention by staff. However, you can do a search based on date range.

under a trip report forum have an interactive map where you click on a location and all posts related to that location come up - it may be that you have say a 300km radius on those locations otherwise youd have too many - it would also allow a holiday to be planned with some minor travel to visit multiple dive spots

Nice user interface idea but that would require pretty exten$ive cu$tom programming.