Post #88841 by woofmutt on Thu, Apr 29, 2004 1:44 AM

I'd like to see a new series of subject threads on different cities and towns and what's cool to see and do there if you're visiting. Most of us seem to travel a fair bit and when we do it's common among our kind to seek out life beyond the endless beige boulevards of TGI Starbucks Garden Subways. Subject threads focussed on one particular town would help travelers by combining all the info into one easy to locate spot. The subjects would be added to as people remembered or discovered new things. This would make it a better source of info than a "I'm going to be in Tikiburg Aug 8-11" type post which may be missed by someone crammed full of good advice.

This idea is a little like the Locating Tiki forum but it would be less academic and focussed on all points of interest whether Tiki or not (Tiki places should be included to make the thread a one stop souce...And though the very excellent "Tiki Road Trip" covers the Tiki topic beautifully don't shy away from posting your opinions of a location). Anything you think is cool in the subject town should go in the thread...Restaurants, bars (Don't forget good Happy Hours!), motels, sculpture, gardens, guide books, shops, neon, and on and on.

Here's how I've been imagining this:

The subject lines would all be unified with something like: "What's Swell In Tikiburg" or "Cool City: Tikiburg" or something similar (suggest away below). This would make it easy to spot and easy to find in a search (just put in "Tikiburg" and check the "Subject" box).

The posts would have a "what where and why" element to them:

"Tikiburg's Falling Gardens of Rum are the best example of alcohol fountain architecture you'll ever see outside of Canada. They're located in the Tikiburg Municipal Dump and Meadows Park, near the Dairy-Go-Round."

If it's a shop or restaurant include address, phone, and hours if you can (most of this can be found via google or online directories...Which yes, people could do for themselves but the ideal of this idea is for the subjects to be good solid resources).

If you already once-upon-a-time posted something about the town it'd be more useful to re-post your info than just linking to it. (This doesn't seem like it'd go against Hanford's Campaign Against Redundant Posting as one of the purposes of this idea is to lessen redundant posts about various towns.)

If you live in the subject town and you want visitors to look you up post your contact info in the thread.

What would be nice to avoid are highly clever but information free posts such as "Tikiburg smells!" Or the "Me too!" type posts such as "Oh yeah, I love Tikiburg's Saturday Market!!!!!" As fun as all that may be it clutters up a thread, making it difficult to find solid information. If you're enthusiastic about a particular place or item already posted give some further info about it, a fond memory (for the armchair travelers who are never going there), or just put in a solid two cents of your own (some readers may give more weight to your opinion than to one already posted).

It'd also be really great to avoid the one liner inside joke one upmanship rounds many threads disolve into. Of course two and a half pages of:

"Not without your liver!"

"Hey- who said anything about dinner let alone liver!!!!"

"Dinner before lunch????"

"Egg McLiverMuffin???"

and so on makes for a riveting read and jolly good time for all, it doesn't help the lone traveler figuring out how to kill a long layover in Tikiburg.

So there's the idea.