Examples of great local (city) forums?

My next project is going to be a forum for the city I live in, and though I've got some general ideas on what it should look like, I'm still deciding what to do about the index page. Should I go the portal/CMS route and add everything under the kitchen sink, like weather and newsfeeds, or go straight to the forums? How do the best local forums handle things?

 

I've always been quite fond of this forum. It's changed quite a bit (both visually and structurally) over the years, but it has remained active and unique. I used to converse with the owner a few years ago on another administrative discussion community - good guy.

 

Chris, have you visited TalkVirginia? Very nice site, nice people.
I used to have another site called TalkOhio. I closed it after almost 2 yrs. Just didn't take off, main because there are so many other Ohio forums.

Here's a couple of nice examples for you, Soliloquy -
TalkBronx
TalkDelaware - this is a state forum, of course.

There used to be a TalkRichmond forum, but it too closed down after a couple of years due to lack of participation.

Good luck with your forum.

 

Personally, I think it would be neat if you were to set up a social networking-like city (or otherwise local) forum.

Tampa Forums - Home - has a homepage where they list Top Rated users, recent blogs, popular blogs, etc. I sometimes think of it as a mini-MySpace for Tampa. At least that's what it seems like they're trying to do.

I think it would be a neat way to put a spin on vBulletin as we know it, with more social-based aspects. Most of us don't use them that much on our boards, but you could take these features and make them the basis of your community.

At any rate though, whatever they're doing seems to be working. They have over two million posts. :ohi:

 

Well our local site seems more like a car forum than a community site. But it's a community forum for sure...just everyone owns a hot rod. Anyhow, it's nothing fancy but it's been up for close to 10 years. The current address is only a year old. The original got sold off to someone we thought just wanted to improve the site but he ended up closing it and reselling the domain name for a profit. So this one was thrown together over night to get us going again.

rowdyrides.com • Index page

 

Thanks for sharing - I'll have to check it out. I also believe that I ran across TalkOhio when it was up.

 

That looks great! I love the Tampa skyline on the header image. It's a beautiful view at night. I was born and raised in Florida, and at least 1/2 of that was spend living on the west coast of the state.

 

Very cool, Peggy! I was born, raised, and am, well.... still here. :lol:

 

I don't think I want to go as far as the Tampa forum went and have member pictures all over the front page, but I have decided I definitely want to show the thread starter's avatars on the thread index page. I think it encourages people to post, knowing their face or chosen avatar will be visible.

 

I just found this one out PuertoRico.com Discussion Forum

 

I like that header image, but... well, you know how I feel about Old Ugly

 

Oh, I hate how those forum look. Love the header though.

 

FS-Location.de » Community » Forum

It's HUGE.

And the mods are nazis. Irony.

 

I need a good New York forum.

 

That's a creative and unique idea, definitely try something like that. Other little modifications to the default vBulletin/forum look will probably make it more appealing to the not-so forum-savvy people in your city, too.

 

I may be a little partial because I mod here but it's nice forum with a great bunch of people, not everyone on there is from NY but there's still good people nonetheless.

Discuss New York - New York Forum

PS: The style was done by our very own Peggy!

 

I have yet to run across a fantastic Boston forum. This would be great, seeing as I am from Boston and I am in the area.

 

Hey Big Dan, mine will be a Staten Island forum. I'm sure my puny little forum will be no threat to Discuss New York, the rest of the city will avoid it like the plague

 

I'll come visit from Long Island.

 

Puerto Rico??? Anyone??? No one???