TMC is an independent, primarily volunteer organization that relies on ad revenue to cover its operating costs. Please consider whitelisting TMC on your ad blocker and becoming a Supporting Member. For more info: Support TMC
  1. TMC is currently READ ONLY.
    Click here for more info.

local focus

Discussion in 'Americas -' started by doug, Mar 21, 2012.

  1. rabar10

    rabar10 Model 3 >> Focus Electric

    Joined:
    Dec 3, 2010
    Messages:
    1,455
    Location:
    Indianapolis, IN
    I tend to agree with what doug has alluded to earlier -- we can start regional or local threads, and as activity grows new sub-forums can be made to accommodate that and threads moved there.

    Otherwise, we could end up with several empty or nearly-empty forums, which just adds to the clutter...
     
  2. bonnie

    bonnie I play a nice person on twitter.

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2011
    Messages:
    16,427
    Location:
    Columbia River Gorge
    I agree with Doug, also. I put out a call for Sacramento folks (rather than being lumped in with SF) - and one reply, from a forum member who will be in the area on occasion once he receives his Model S. Doesn't make sense to have a Sac forum at this point in time.

    If you started each name with the GMT time zone, it would be easier to keep sorted. Ignore daylight savings. -7 San Francisco Bay. -7 So Cal. etc.
     
  3. doug

    doug Administrator / Head Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2006
    Messages:
    16,843
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Well I had hoped that this could grow more organically. But it looks like I need to start with a basic regional frame work. Also I don't want our international members to feel crowded out.

    Still working on it.
     
  4. bonnie

    bonnie I play a nice person on twitter.

    Joined:
    Feb 6, 2011
    Messages:
    16,427
    Location:
    Columbia River Gorge
    I think it can grow more organically, just enforce a common naming convention (like the GMT offset), so people can quickly find possible matches and it's easy for you to keep it sorted in an order.
     
  5. JRod0802

    JRod0802 Member

    Joined:
    Dec 15, 2010
    Messages:
    675
    Location:
    Boston, MA
    #25 JRod0802, Apr 2, 2012
    Last edited: Apr 2, 2012
    I don't know if this was intentional or not, but I just noticed that Florida is listed twice. It's listed as a state within the "Southeast" section and it's also listed as its own "Florida" section.

    Perhaps it should be removed from the list of states for the Southeast section so that all Florida posts end up in the same place?

    Edit: Now that I look at it, it would probably make sense to remove Florida from Southeast considering that California (which also has its own section) isn't listed within Southwest.
     
  6. joefee

    joefee Active Member

    Joined:
    May 29, 2011
    Messages:
    1,290
    Location:
    CA
    San Diego,CA group would be good!
     
  7. doug

    doug Administrator / Head Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2006
    Messages:
    16,843
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Thanks for pointing that out. Now fixed. Was left over from this discussion: Change Florida forum name?
     
  8. MarkR

    MarkR Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2012
    Messages:
    893
    Location:
    N. Scottsdale, AZ
    #28 MarkR, May 3, 2012
    Last edited: May 13, 2012
    I've formed an Arizona Tesla Group. If interested, please go to "Community" and then "Groups" to sign up.

    Come to think of it, it might be a good idea for each community to form a Group to advocate for common interests like charging stations, EV incentives, solar options, etc. Thanks.
     
  9. MarkR

    MarkR Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2012
    Messages:
    893
    Location:
    N. Scottsdale, AZ
    #29 MarkR, May 17, 2012
    Last edited: May 17, 2012
    It might make sense to try to promote Tesla member communication within the metropolitan areas that are most apt to have the population density to allow a group to exist. Maybe with Threads for each area or maybe with Groups. I have to think that the needs of Tesla owners in my community will be different than those in Maine so it just makes sense to band together.



    [TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Rank[/TH]
    [TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Metropolitan Statistical Area[/TH]
    [TH="class: headerSort headerSortDown, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]2011 Estimate[/TH]
    [TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]2010 Census[/TH]
    [TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Change[/TH]
    [TH="class: headerSort, bgcolor: #F2F2F2, align: center"]Combined Statistical Area[/TH]
















































































































    1 New York–Northern New Jersey–Long Island, NY–NJ–PA MSA 19,015,900 18,897,109 +0.63% New York–Newark–Bridgeport, NY–NJ–CT–PA CSA
    2 Los Angeles–Long Beach–Santa Ana, CA MSA 12,944,801 12,828,837 +0.90% Los Angeles–Long Beach–Riverside, CA CSA
    3 Chicago–Joliet–Naperville, IL–IN–WI MSA 9,504,753 9,461,105 +0.46% Chicago–Naperville–Michigan City, IL–IN–WI CSA
    4 Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington, TX MSA 6,526,548 6,371,773 +2.43% Dallas–Fort Worth, TX CSA
    5 Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown, TX MSA 6,086,538 5,946,800 +2.35% Houston–Baytown–Huntsville, TX CSA
    6 Philadelphia–Camden–Wilmington, PA–NJ–DE–MD MSA 5,992,414 5,965,343 +0.45% Philadelphia–Camden–Vineland, PA–NJ–DE–MD CSA
    7 Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV MSA 5,703,948 5,582,170 +2.18% Washington–Baltimore–Northern Virginia, DC–MD–VA–WV CSA
    8 Miami–Fort Lauderdale–Pompano Beach, FL MSA 5,670,125 5,564,635 +1.90% primary census statistical area
    9 Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Marietta, GA MSA 5,359,205 5,268,860 +1.71% Atlanta–Sandy Springs–Gainesville, GA–AL CSA
    10 Boston–Cambridge–Quincy, MA–NH MSA 4,591,112 4,552,402 +0.85% Boston–Worcester–Manchester, MA–RI–NH CSA
    11 San Francisco–Oakland–Fremont, CA MSA 4,391,037 4,335,391 +1.28% San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA CSA
    12 Riverside–San Bernardino–Ontario, CA MSA 4,304,997 4,224,851 +1.90% Los Angeles–Long Beach–Riverside, CA CSA
    13 Detroit–Warren–Livonia, MI MSA 4,285,832 4,296,250 −0.24% Detroit–Warren–Flint, MI CSA
    14 Phoenix–Mesa–Glendale, AZ MSA 4,262,236 4,192,887 +1.65% primary census statistical area
    15 Seattle–Tacoma–Bellevue, WA MSA 3,500,026 3,439,809 +1.75% Seattle–Tacoma–Olympia, WA CSA
    16 Minneapolis–St. Paul–Bloomington, MN–WI MSA 3,318,486 3,279,833 +1.18% Minneapolis–St. Paul–St. Cloud, MN–WI C








     
  10. clea

    clea Member

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2011
    Messages:
    836
    Location:
    Laval, Quebec
    column headers please
     
  11. ElSupreme

    ElSupreme Model S 03182

    Joined:
    Jan 13, 2012
    Messages:
    4,303
    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    I guessing

    Population Rank / (in US, Metro Statistical Area) / This year population / Last year population / Growth / (Combined Statistical Area)

    It looks like his numbers are actually coming from the MSAs not the CSAs. For some locations they are very different, most of them are the same. Washington having Baltimore in the same CSA but not MSA is an example having a 2,000,000 plus person swing. Atlanta, and Dallas aren't really too different CSA vs MSA having only a few hundred thousand different..
     
  12. doug

    doug Administrator / Head Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2006
    Messages:
    16,843
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Historically no one's ever really used the Groups feature of this site (which can be found here: Groups - Tesla Motors Club - Enthusiasts & Owners Forum).
    I spent some time evaluating Groups when I was trying to decide on regional forums.

    The benefit of Groups is that they are member driven. Whoever makes creates a group owns it and kinda moderates it. They also have a nice compact format.

    The down side is that there are very few moderator tools, even for admins. Basically there's only the option to delete and undelete. There is no moving of "messages" (the equivalent of posts) or merging of "discussions" (the equivalent of threads), nor is there any option to split discussions. So if a discussion goes off topic, it is permanently so unless you delete a lot of stuff. There are also a bunch of technical things that work in "forums" that don't work in "groups". Unfortunately, there is no native functionality to convert group discussions to forum threads or vice versa.

    So I decided to set up regional forums and assign moderators as needed. The activity in some regional forums is still rather low, but that may change over time as membership grows. I guess we'll see how it works out.
     
  13. MarkR

    MarkR Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2012
    Messages:
    893
    Location:
    N. Scottsdale, AZ
    Perhaps it would make sense to kill off the groups rather than split the action between the Groups and Local Threads. Actually my preference would be to add functionality to the Groups to permit group moderation and group emails to promote meet-ups and better coordination of local activities.
     
  14. Larry Chanin

    Larry Chanin President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2011
    Messages:
    4,900
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    #34 Larry Chanin, May 30, 2012
    Last edited: May 30, 2012
    Nigel and I were thinking about setting up a Florida Group to facilitate meet-ups. We were looking for a feature that would permit only Group members to view the content. This functionality is needed to permit members to post home addresses, contact information, etc. without exposing this information to non-Group members, and the public in general. However, I found that I could view the Arizona Group content even though I wasn't a member.

    Mark: When you setup your Group did you make it public, or did you choose to moderate who could join or did you make membership by invitation only?


    Doug: If the content can not currently be limited to viewing by Group members, it would be very helpful to add this functionality, assuming its not too difficult.

    Thanks for your efforts.

    Larry
     
  15. dsm363

    dsm363 Roadster + Sig Model S

    Joined:
    May 17, 2009
    Messages:
    18,278
    Location:
    Nevada
    Google groups also works. A moderator can be set up and invite members. E-mail alerts are sent out to new posts but settings can be adjusted.
     
  16. doug

    doug Administrator / Head Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2006
    Messages:
    16,843
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Ok, I went through the admin control panel on Groups and there is an option to allow private groups which was disabled. I've now enabled it.
     
  17. Larry Chanin

    Larry Chanin President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2011
    Messages:
    4,900
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    Hi Doug,

    Thanks very much.

    Will this private group feature work on newly created Groups? I can still access the content on the Arizona Group even though I'm not a member.

    Larry
     
  18. doug

    doug Administrator / Head Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 28, 2006
    Messages:
    16,843
    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    Yeah, I think it's an option when you create the group. There is a "test" category where you can try things out. But anything there will be deleted after a bit.

    I still think public stuff is better done in the forums.
     
  19. Larry Chanin

    Larry Chanin President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

    Joined:
    Aug 22, 2011
    Messages:
    4,900
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    Hi Doug,

    Thanks, we'll probably give it a try.

    If this works it will be superior to the commercially available Meet-ups application in some respects. Meetups charges a monthly subscription fee to the moderator (it's free to the members) and the content is completely public to the entire Internet. It just make perfect sense to use TMC to assist in arranging Tesla meetups rather than resorting to a generic meetup application.

    I agree that there is still a good reason to continue with the local forums for the majority of public communications.

    Larry
     
  20. MarkR

    MarkR Member

    Joined:
    Mar 24, 2012
    Messages:
    893
    Location:
    N. Scottsdale, AZ
    #40 MarkR, May 30, 2012
    Last edited: May 30, 2012
    Larry, when I set up the Arizona group, there wasn't a private vs public option, but I probably would have opted to make it public anyway. I'm pleased that we have 6 of 9 AZ res holders in the group and are planning a meet up at the site of the new AZ store next month. Wish that we could do group email broadcasts to gp members, but respect the site's limitations. Doug's efforts to improve TMC are always appreciated!

    The TMC members who have joined the AZ group were all invited to join, but it's open to all. Moderating a group isnt much of an issue due to the near absence of moderation tools.
     

Share This Page

  • About Us

    Formed in 2006, Tesla Motors Club (TMC) was the first independent online Tesla community. Today it remains the largest and most dynamic community of Tesla enthusiasts. Learn more.
  • Do you value your experience at TMC? Consider becoming a Supporting Member of Tesla Motors Club. As a thank you for your contribution, you'll get nearly no ads in the Community and Groups sections. Additional perks are available depending on the level of contribution. Please visit the Account Upgrades page for more details.


    SUPPORT TMC