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I guess I should make some sort of post in that thread, if it exists...

Easiest Way to Determine If A Thread Exists for a Restaurant:

1. Go to the Restaurant Guide forum (here).

2. Go to appropriate geographical area (DC, MD, VA or Multiple Locations).

3. Look for name of restaurant (or use "Find in this Page" function in your browser).

4. If name is present and underlined, click on the name and it will open a window with the existing tread.

5. Post under the existing thread and save DonRocks some time in having to merge threads. :unsure:

You can also use the board's search function, but the above method is usually quicker (especially if the restaurant name is common word such as "Dish").

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Easiest Way to Determine If A Thread Exists for a Restaurant:

1. Go to the Restaurant Guide forum (here).

2. Go to appropriate geographical area (DC, MD, VA or Multiple Locations).

3. Look for name of restaurant (or use "Find in this Page" function in your browser).

4. If name is present and underlined, click on the name and it will open a window with the existing tread.

5. Post under the existing thread and save DonRocks some time in having to merge threads. :unsure:

You can also use the board's search function, but the above method is usually quicker (especially if the restaurant name is common word such as "Dish").

Or:

1. Click the "search" button at the top of the page

2. Enter the name of the restaurant you are interested in in the "search" field.

3. Under the "search where" section, click "title."

4. Click on Search.

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The thing that I hate about search is that it just shows threads, not posts. Sure, if I'm searching on a restaurant name and it has it's own thread there's not a problem. But if, for instance, I'm just recalling that I remember saying something about a restaurant in the "So what are you doing" thread or someone made a passing reference to some restaurant in another thread, etc. then I have a hard time finding the post. Or if I remember someone saying something interesting about the risi bisi at Palena, searching on risi bisi only pulls up the Palena thread, but I don't want to have to go through all 26 pages to find the posts I'm thinking of... Am I missing something? It's about the only thing I've found that I don't like about the software that the forum uses.

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Or if I remember someone saying something interesting about the risi bisi at Palena, searching on risi bisi only pulls up the Palena thread, but I don't want to have to go through all 26 pages to find the posts I'm thinking of... Am I missing something? It's about the only thing I've found that I don't like about the software that the forum uses.

1) Go to the Search on the top of the page here

3) Enter risi bisi in the Search by Keywords box on the top-left of the screen

3) Click the "Show results as posts" button under "Result Type" at the bottom-right of the screen

4) Click on "Perform the Search."

5) When you see the post you want, click on "Post Preview: #....." to go to the actual post.

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Another easy way to look at the catalog of threads is in the low-fi version. Mostly, I just like to be anti-social and get exhausted of the blue. Go here and take a look at the various pages. You might not even know what you're looking for until you see all the back issues and what your competitors have done. If you see something with just two replies you can bet that there is room for discussion. Join me on the white pages!!

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Or:

1. Click the "search" button at the top of the page

2. Enter the name of the restaurant you are interested in in the "search" field.

3. Under the "search where" section, click "title."

4. Click on Search.

For all you lurkers out there wondering where to find the search button, it is only available to registered members. If you would like to take advantage of the Search feature take a moment to register by clicking here*.

*Please note that you will not be able to take advantage of this feature until you are fully registered, which requires responding to the membership email I will send you.

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For all you lurkers out there wondering where to find the search button, it is only available to registered members. If you would like to take advantage of the Search feature take a moment to register by clicking here*.

*Please note that you will not be able to take advantage of this feature until you are fully registered, which requires responding to the membership email I will send you.

This is the shortest distance between asterisks in the history of written language.

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Please tell me if the restaurants are listed in any particular order. Also, where can I find Don's own review of a restaurant?

They're listed in terms of personal preference within each geographical category. For the reviews, you'll need to go into the threads themselves with a machete; for restaurants in italic and bold, I put a little one-line description in the Dining Guide itself (which is meant to be an ever-changing, quick-and-easy reference tool, not a source of detailed information).

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Is the small font in the Washington, DC DIning Guide italic/bold restaurants large enough to easily read, specifically for cell phones? I can make it a notch bigger, but I really want to keep one line per restaurant for readability (although that's not critical).

This is a small, but important, issue. Please give me your feedback?

Cheers,

Rocks

Also, I found an example of a blatant error today: Simply Ayzen closed awhile back, and I had it listed as open. I REALLY need people to prod me when they see something such as this. Just send me a PM here - I read each and every one.

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Why don't you come up with top 10, top 20, or top 30 list?

I'm not that confident in my accuracy in terms of quantifying the unquantifiable. Even the Bold, Italic, Normal "ratings" are (if you think about it) quite presumptuous, and intended only as a quick reference guide for people in a hurry - sort of like "shelf talkers" in a wine store for people who need to make a purchasing decision in a few seconds. The greatest compliment anyone could pay me would be not to put too much credence in those ratings - because that means I'm writing for an intelligent readership that uses me merely as a reference tool, and not as any type of final arbiter of quality.

Honestly, I could make a top 30 list in about an hour, but I don't want to because I think it would be wrong to do so. (I'll be more than happy to completely discredit other people's lists, however, if you'd like. :ph34r:)

In order, I think the most useful things I could do to the Dining Guide would be:

1) Keep combing through, looking for closures, new websites, etc. so what we have is accurate. Every time I start making a pass through, I get sidetracked and never end up finishing an entire guide. Not sure if people notice, but I keep little place markers so I can pick up where I left off. I also like what Rachel is doing in NYC with the @twitter addresses.

2) Take a certain number of "important" restaurants in Multiple Locations and duplicate their entries in the single-location guides (this is the single most-requested feature that we have - I hate the thought of replicating information (this is the DBA in me speaking), but people (justifiably) hate looking in two different places for dining ideas).

3) Classify by type of cuisine, city-wide (like I do in the Multiple Locations guide, except for everyone).

4) List recommended things to order even for restaurants that haven't quite made the italic rating.

And obviously, revisit as many restaurants as I can. I'm going to be ashamed to walk into The Oval Room, Citronelle, or The Inn at Little Washington next time I go - the problem here is obviously one of finances. It would be *so nice* to have a dining budget. I really, truly believe that I can do "this" better than anyone else, and I keep waiting for angel funding which hasn't appeared. Think about it: a simple dinner at the 10 most expensive restaurants in the area, dining solo, is probably about $2,500. Then there are the other 1,000 restaurants to keep track of. Yikes!

I'm always available for questions off the record for anyone who wants my impression of "the best Thai," etc. I'm also aware of the inherent limitations of one human being trying to cover such a large geographical area both in terms of food *and* drinks, both of which can be 50% of the bill so I think a critic absolutely must have expertise in both.

Anyway, enough of my yammering. Thanks for the suggestion, Eric - it was actually very flattering.

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The proper name is Spacebar one word, and you'd increase the ability for users to find this thread if you added the tag. I doubt I'm the only one who has searched for it via "space bar"; it's a reasonable, understandable, and likely to be frequent mistake. If you want to leave a better trail of bread crumbs with a simple intervention, add the tag. If you'd rather the burden be on the user to recall the exact name, that's OK, also. Fortunately, someone typo'd in the Galaxy Hut thread, which is how I discovered this thread, but miracle of miracles I checked again this morning. I've typed "space bar" so many times now, this thread now rises to the top of the resulting listing. Muahahha issue resolved.

The sign on the door noted the policy is still 21 and over, opening time 5PM. And still all grilled cheese, tots, and salad. And mood-enhancing, not too loud, groovy music.

Not sure who the holding company is...

Can't you just go to the VA Dining Guide? This is not a facetious question - if you're not (for whatever reason), then other people aren't either.

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Can't you just go to the VA Dining Guide? This is not a facetious question - if you're not (for whatever reason), then other people aren't either.

I only visit the Dining Guide when I am scoping out a new place to try. Otherwise, I nearly always use the Search box to find a known topic or restaurant thread.

Make no mistake, the Index and Guide tools are outstanding (insertobligatorymultiplelocationsranthere). It's just quicker/less clicks/less time to Search if I have a clear sense of my target thread.

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I only visit the Dining Guide when I am scoping out a new place to try. Otherwise, I nearly always use the Search box to find a known topic or restaurant thread.

I agree, although I do something slightly different. I use the Dining Guide if I'm interested in finding restaurants in a general area. If I'm looking for a specific restaurant I use Google search and type in 'nameofrestaurant'+'donrockwell'. This search technique works really well and saves time.

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I agree, although I do something slightly different. I use the Dining Guide if I'm interested in finding restaurants in a general area. If I'm looking for a specific restaurant I use Google search and type in 'nameofrestaurant'+'donrockwell'. This search technique works really well and saves time.

Using the dining guide (assuming it's bookmarked) takes exactly one Click + one Find: less than five seconds.

1) Click

2) CMD-F (on a Mac)

3) Type text

4) Return

And you're there - no way a search is faster than that. Plus, you have both the thread and the website at your fingertips.

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You have to go into the individual (DC MD VA multiple) area first. That's an extra step.

Not if you have four bookmarks. :)

Are you really saying people don't know what state restaurants are in? If so, then Rich, I've got some bad news for you. I can see the Multiple Locations argument, but without duplicating data, there's nothing to be done about it.

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Not if you have four bookmarks. :)

Are you really saying people don't know what state restaurants are in? If so, then Rich, I've got some bad news for you. I can see the Multiple Locations argument, but without duplicating data, there's nothing to be done about it.

Then I have to go searching through all my bookmarks. Far easier to go into the restaurants forum and search, especially since I know results come more or less in reverse order..

I can't claim to be representative of other people, but there are plenty of towns/neighborhoods whose names I recognize but don't know if they are MD or VA. If one has only vaguely sort of heard of a place but has a name, it's more work to go through the restaurant guides to look. The guides are certainly very useful but, in my own case, I find them most useful if I am searching for a place in a bounded geographical area.

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Then I have to go searching through all my bookmarks. Far easier to go into the restaurants forum and search, especially since I know results come more or less in reverse order..

I can't claim to be representative of other people, but there are plenty of towns/neighborhoods whose names I recognize but don't know if they are MD or VA. If one has only vaguely sort of heard of a place but has a name, it's more work to go through the restaurant guides to look. The guides are certainly very useful but, in my own case, I find them most useful if I am searching for a place in a bounded geographical area.

Well, obviously I would advise everyone to do what's best for them. It sounds like the Search feature works well for you, so that's great.

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Well, obviously I would advise everyone to do what's best for them. It sounds like the Search feature works well for you, so that's great.

The search feature is much improved over what it was a while back. There was a time it was abysmal.

I just have a sense what is better searched one way (restaurant forum) vs. another (the dining guide) in terms of what I'm looking for.

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Speaking of the DC Dining Guide, there are currently three subsections of "Downtown" (using 16th and K Street as the primary boundary). Would it be more useful to break it up around Metro stops instead, e.g., McPherson Square, Farragut North, etc.? It's getting a little "cramped" as it is, and I think the Downtown sections should be broken out more.

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In DC Dining Guide, Downtown is currently broken up into five sections, roughly by Metro station:

Downtown/Farragut Square (Farragut West)
Downtown/McPherson Square
Downtown/Metro Center
Downtown/Midtown (Farragut North*)
Downtown/Thomas Circle (No Metro)

*The Farragut North station is right on the border between what is called "Farragut Square" and "Midtown," and has entrances in both. Currently, that border is L Street, rather than K street, so that (aside from Farragut North) the metro stations are roughly centered in each section. The border could be moved to K Street without much trouble, making Farragut North entirely in Midtown, but restaurants on one side of K street would be listed separately from those with similar addresses on the other side of the street (e.g. 1901 K St. and 1902 K St.).

I plan to add information regarding Metro stations into the guide soon.

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I changed the Dining Guide back so that it's available only to those who are members and signed in.

However, it should be available to *all* members who have signed in.

Even if you're shy and haven't posted, you should still be able to see it. But please post anyway, maybe here? We don't bite! Except for things like tuna tartare. And vegetables. Always vegetables. Preferably organic and farmer's market, but yes, vegetables. We embrace vegetables and those who are fond of them.

I found a bug yesterday (not an insect on an organic, farmer's market vegetable, but an e-bug) because a member said she couldn't see the Dining Guide, even while signed in. While looking for that bug, I found a second problem - they are both fixed now, and everything else should be, too.

Please write me directly (via PM, or email) if you're having problems. And do not worry - my goal here is not to extract money from anyone, ever; rather, it's to increase membership and (hopefully) participation. Expect other things to follow in terms of being available only to members. But they will remain free. For the billionth time, our members are our backbone, and I will never forget it.

And yes, my proud friends (you know who you are, and so do I, but nobody else does), you can even sign in anonymously and still be able to see the Dining Guide. So if you're really so ashamed to be seen being signed in on dr.com, yes, you have this option, too. BTW, I do read *your* stuff; why is it such an abomination having the world know you read mine? [valleygirlvoice] what-EVerr [/valleygirlvoice]

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