Is the Travel forum really a good idea?

[tuq]

Understandably, this site is about as excited as contracting forums as major sports are in eliminating teams.

However, I have a concern about the real value of the Travel forum. Tonight I accidentally clicked on the forum and, when in Rome, decided to peruse the forum. The same forum that NT! ships threads to or locks with prejudice for not belonging in OOT (and no doubt this happens in other forums too, like B&M).

My findings were pretty dismal: most OP's questions weren't answered in the timely fashion required ("going to be in XXX over the weekend, advice on XXX?"...first response is three days later).

The fundamental problem with that forum IMO is that it's off the beaten path and it's probably not in the forum rota of most people who could actually be helpful and it's probably the home forum of nobody. This last part is critical because if 2+2 is to view its communities as being among its most important forum assets, then people helping out on these matters is key to their success.

Two examples: respected poster oddjob posted days ago in Travel about where to eat in Palm Springs in the Travel forum, ostensibly the correct place for the post. Crickets. I tried to help as best I could, but no doubt his checking that forum multiple times/day has left him feeling like the forum is of no use.

On the flip, someone posted a thread in OOT today about where to get a good steak in Chicago. That was this afternoon and he has something like 20 replies. I don't consider these topics to be dissimilar, yet the guy who posted in OOT got way more and thorough responses because it's a much higher traffic forum and helping each other out is one of the implied goals of any forum community.

Anyway, that was long and rambling, but hope it's considered and not just drowned out by the small minority who bitches about how their "ask me" thread in OOT got buried and that somehow warrants a forum creation which seems to be the 2+2 equivalent of Siberia.