Are we still a regional community?

[MarkAd]

This is tongue-in-cheek, sort of, but given the almost daily increase in new members from coast to coast I am wondering how this will impact our local flavor, so to speak.
I like being regional because I understand most of what is being said and how it relates to us in the northwest.

Becoming a nationally known forum is great, but is becoming a national forum the goal of NWFA?

[CAL30M1]

I belong to more than one national forum and joined this one specifically for the regional flair. I hope in the long term it stays regional but as I see more and more members from out of the area, I wonder.

[Doubletap]

The answer to the question is sadly..no.. I joined the forum for that very reason..to interact with local folks.. It would have been nice if it had stayed that way...

Speaking strictly for myself..I'd prefer an Oregon site..set up similarly...

[PDXSparky]

I belong to more than one national forum and joined this one specifically for the regional flair.

Same here. Getting information from local people is invaluable.

[drew]

I also like the local feel. There are some things that don't really matter where you're located. Others matter. We also discuss national issues. I've joined a couple other regional forums in areas I have family but am not active on them. Maybe these people are getting some revenge.

I think we're just showing up higher on search engines so more people see the site.

[darkminstrel]

We're the cool kids, all the rest want in! Personally the influx of 'foreign' members seems odd and may threaten the community feel. Though I do have to say that I haven't felt that at all and have enjoyed sharing and reading what's been posted by all regardless of geographical status.

[bmgm37]

I also like the local feel of the board an have made several deal as I travel a lot to Portland, but this is the Internet and there is no stopping it. For example I am starting a Mega Ma-Ten build, google searched for info and there was a thread on calguns, so I joined so I could see the photos. Another problem is ads, I have the Draco sling plates for sale, well if you google Draco sling, the ad I have on NWFA come up and now people are joining the board to pm me......please don't blame me for it

[dakaham]

the more the merrier i say! there is good info from all over. So long as spammers dont get ahold of the site!

[ZeroRing]

Most of the non-regional folks tend to be isolated to the classifieds, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. A lot of the "flavor" remains local... for now...

[chase]

I joined for the forums and classifieds. I enjoy reading things that interest others in the Northwest. While the site is always growing, many people hit the classifieds then leave and don't actually interact with polls, debates, and other parts. Are we a regional forum? No, but thats fine, with a larger group brings more things in classifieds, more topics to read, and more ridiculous debates to argue about...

[Trlsmn]

Just for practicality I don't think it is possible to exclude those not in the Northwest even if we wanted to. It's an open registration forum so not much is stopping anyone at the door. The only effect I could see is in the classifieds and since the seller isn't bound to sell to anyone he doesn't want to sell to it's not problem.

Since I've been here I've only had one out of state buyer complain that he posted "I'll take it" first and he thought he had a binding deal, well he was instructed that, no in fact he had no rights to the item regardless of whether or not the seller specified local sales only or not.

I personally like the regional aspects of the forum but the guys out of the area I have encountered here seem to be good guys too.

[Joe Link]

I've also noticed an increase in members from places outside the Northwest region, but I don't feel that we've lost our regional feel just yet. I think in order to maintain it we need to pull together as a community and really use our proximity to one another to our advantage. While I'd like the site to initiate many of these offline get togethers, it's also up to individual members to organize events which bring the community closer together.

It's correct that there is no way to prevent outside members from joining the site, and I wouldn't want to if such an option existed. The fact that people from all over the country want to be part of our community should be taken as a compliment, and any negatives should be eclipsed by our community activities outside and in person