Administrative Announcement - Use Email Address To Sign In

[DonRocks]

On 7/23/2017 at 10:57 AM, Pool Boy said:

I'm not sure of your traffic stats, DR, or if you have them broken out between registered users versus unregistered, but you could totally make a meaningful amount of revenue to help support, re-tool and grow the site without going overboard on ads or sponsored content. Believe me, I am not a fan of ads, but that is what drives the content business these days. Over the last 6 months at my current gig, I have learned an awful lot about content monetization. But it really depends on the scale of your traffic. Ping me if you want some details. I am sure I could connect you with some folks that could help you by a side contracting gig.

If/when I get over my injury, I'll worry about this, but right now, I just don't care about money.

But yes, I don't mind paying someone to do this - I've been waiting for an investor to get in touch, but it won't happen without my priming the pump first.

If I felt well enough to write daily reviews, traffic would double fairly quickly (weeks if not days) - it's a pattern I've noticed over the years.

---

Hey, just for shits and giggles, let's pretend that I were to evaporate. What would you all like to see happen to the website?

[DonRocks]

[I'm going to be changing all occurrences of "Verizon Center" to "Capital One Arena."]

[DonRocks]

2 hours ago, eatruneat said:

Evergreen comment.

Believe it or not, I had never heard of "Evergreen Content" until just now. I've been organizing this for twelve years without realizing it even had a name - I personally think peoples' viewpoints of a place "at a certain time" are relevant, historically, so I guess this website represents a type of modified Evergreen Content. To me, it has always been one, gigantic, hierarchical database that will hopefully one day be all indexed.

[DonRocks]

Ashville, NC has some sub-$200 rooms open for Sat-Tue, but I would book tonight (be sure they're cancelable until 4 PM tomorrow) - that way, you can sleep easy this evening, and do your digging tomorrow.

Please keep us abreast of what you find - how far is it from Ashville to the center eclipse line?

A public-service message from your public-service website.

Biscuitville, here I come! Oh, how I have missed you (Danville, VA)

Note also two 2017 Beard Semifinalists in Asheville: Rhubarb and Buxton Hall.

[DonRocks]

NOT eyeballs and NOT attention; engagement - the internet is a two-way street.

[DonRocks]

I made myself a List called "Restaurant News" on Twitter a couple of years ago, and I've checked the damned thing about twice - I even forgot it was there.

If I make the list public, would people be interested in it?

I could also *really* use one individual (or team of individuals - sometimes, things like this are easier with a buddy system) who will check it each day - it will only take a minute - and preferably start a new thread for any new restaurant that will open. This would really help our community a lot - any volunteers out there? You don't need to worry about getting the title and tags perfect, since I always standardize those anyway. I have the usual suspects in it, but there may be some in there that I don't need, or I may be missing some that I do, so I'll need your advice with that also.

Back in 2005, I could handle nearly all DMV restaurant openings, just by chance sightings while driving around in my car - my, how times have changed.

[DonRocks]

On 6/5/2015 at 7:46 AM, DonRocks said:

"Bay Bancorp Elects Pierre Abushacra and Michael Chiaramonte to Board" on citybizlist.com

18 hours ago, Tweaked said:

The owner of the Cleveland Park gift store Wake Up Little Suzie has announced her retirement on the CP List serve and mentioned that "Pierre Abushacra and the Firehook Bakery team will be starting a new business unique to Cleveland Park in my space". 

No other details were given...so TBD?

[It causes me a slow burn when links go obsolete, but I hope this example allows everyone to see two things:

1) This is why we use Wikipedia (et al) as often as possible, despite not always being "the best" or "the original" source.
2) This is one reason why we format links like we do (as opposed to like this) - they give proper citation, and if they break: 1) people can still know what they were about, and 2) I can have a fighting chance to find suitable alternatives (in this case, I couldn't - I can't even remember what the relevance was).]

[DonRocks]

[I believe in Spacetime (really, I do, even though it won't be exemplified in my lifetime). 

My overarching goal with this community has become to bride both Time and Space - the years represent wisdom; the distance doesn't separate us.]

[DonRocks]

[I recently had a PM from a user who was concerned about my deleting posts. I want to assure everyone that this is *rare*, and happens only on exceptional occasions:

* my posts account for probably 50% of the deletions
* duplicate posts
* duplicate threads
* authorial requests
* personal attacks
* threads that devolve into quarrels
* things that are so blatantly off-topic that they can't be moved into another thread

And that's about it. If anyone doubts this, and feels really strongly about it, I'll be happy to grant you temporary access to the Deleted Posts forum (which is just like any other forum, but is a repository for deleted posts - they can *always* be recovered, and they're never actually deleted). Believe me, it doesn't happen often, except to my own writings.]

[NolaCaine]

I have had a post or two recently deleted and wasn't offended. It was the category of threads that devolved....Fair.

[DonRocks]

Please send a PM to thank Shaho for working on the Baltimore Dining Guide. Shaho came up with the excellent idea of adding Instagram links (as well as Twitter links), so the Baltimore Dining Guide will be the first to feature these. We'll also be atomizing the neighborhoods, instead of clumping them together - so, when Shaho finishes (and it could take awhile), the Baltimore guide will be complete and reliable. I appreciate this more than I can tell you, as I just cannot find the time to get this done myself.

To access the most-recent Baltimore City Guide, simply go to Shaho's bottom-most version in that thread.

[DonRocks]

Not only have Shaho and monsteriffs done a tremendous job with the Baltimore Dining Guide (now the first of our Dining Guides to include Instagram accounts), DIShGo has almost completely revamped the Washington, DC Dining Guide, having spent dozens of hours ensuring that it's up-to-date, including what's open and closed, and adding Twitter accounts and Google maps.

Our "Everything Else" Guide for Washington, DC now has a separate category for Restaurant Groups.

---

On 7/5/2005 at 9:50 AM, Nadya said:

Emoticons not working???

Well, I'd be blasted.

My, how things have changed in twelve years. Invision finally has its own set of icons which should be sufficient for every nuance of expression you wish to convey - no more relying on third-party websites which won't exist in five years.

---

When you're linking: *Think long-long-long term*, i.e., Wikipedia, NY Times, etc. - try not to link to websites that won't be around in twenty years, and if you do, cut-and-paste the relevant text in your post, so when the website disappears, we can at least salvage that.

---

Do quote your source in English instead of using "naked URLs," e.g.:

"After Facebook Scrutiny, Is Google Next?" by Ryan Nakashima and Matt O'Brien on abcnews.go.com

instead of:

https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/facebook-scrutiny-google-54630024?cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_headlines_hed

This way, both the article, the author(s), and the website receive full credit (and, it looks better, and saves me from having to change it myself!)

[DonRocks]

On 7/4/2005 at 7:25 PM, Barbara said:

None of Nadya's fabulous, animated emoticons are working. I miss them a lot.

Release 3.1 of Invision Power Board has its own emoticons - seemingly the same ones (or similar ones?) as you have on iPhones (he says, 12.5-years later).

---

But the reason for this post is a larger issue, namely, our Shopping and Cooking Forum, and I don't think it should be up to me to decide by myself (although from a database designer's viewpoint, I have a pretty good - if largely theoretical - idea of what should be done). 

Since the Forum was initiated in 2005, this community has expanded beyond Washington, DC, so the logical thing to do would be to put a Shopping and Cooking subforum inside of each city's forum, i.e., New York City would have one, Washington, DC would have one, etc. (and yes, there could certainly be one that's nationwide, or even worldwide, in scope).

We are, first and foremost, a Washington, DC community, and probably 95% of the posts in Shopping and Cooking are DC-based - so, like various other subforums (Hotels in Houston, for example), doing this would result in a lot of empty space - which isn't a problem on my end, but it might be irritating to some people.

I suppose I could insert the entire Shopping and Cooking Forum as a subforum underneath Washington, DC, and when I find threads that are applicable to another city (TrelayneNYC, for example, has posted about Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco), I could move them there.

Given that I want to grow the website, and am waiting patiently for Ed McMahon to come knocking on my front door, it seems intuitive that every major city should have a similar look and feel, but I don't want to make such a big change without asking our most important users first (and I won't, so don't worry).

Oh, what I wouldn't give to have someone take over the administration of this website, and free me up to write again.

There's also the adage that, "If it isn't broken, then don't fix it," and that may apply here, but that Ferry Building Marketplace thread is gnawing at me. The Shopping and Cooking Forum - and maybe even a couple of others - are an artifact of when we were purely a DC-based website. (Incidentally, the #1 comment I get when people see the website for the very first time is, "It's daunting and hard to navigate." There's no question in my mind that this is scaring off potential investors, but I'm not the least bit opposed to changing the presentation of things; it just takes time and costs money, and right now, you're reading a memo from the CEO and custodial engineer.)

Please feel free to discuss, either publicly or privately, and I can even begin a devoted thread for this topic. I'm also making a leap of faith that people care, and they may not care in the least - but when Pat is posting in the Dinner thread almost daily, for example, I don't think I have the right to make large changes without our members being onboard.

To be honest, I hadn't really given this much thought until about five-minutes ago, so it's not my most pressing concern (I could spend every waking hour for the rest of my life just trying to get what we have optimized), but mixing-and-matching local and national is just not the best design - things grew in a piecemeal fashion, and as a database specialist, that bothers me in an OCD, top-down sort-of way.

In general, any changes in organization must adhere to what we've always done: Additions are fine; replacements are not. There can never be any loss of content or functionality; only improvements (*) to how things are presented.

(*) That reminds me of a joke I once heard about editors. A writer submitted a piece to a publication, and the next day walked into the editor's office, only to find the piece on the floor, and the editor pissing on it. "What are you *doing*?" the writer screamed. "I'm making it better," the editor replied.

[Pat]

How about changing the Shopping and Cooking forum to the "Home Cooking Forum," and include something in the subtitle/description about shopping. Given the ubiquity of stores like Costco and Whole Foods, not to mention Google and Amazon for food purchases and deliveries, not everything is local. Then within each forum have a local farmers market and shops subforum. like the farmers market one for DC, but expanded to include local shops as well. If someone mentions buying something at XYZ, whether it's national or local, that still fits within home cooking. If someone is talking about availability of a certain food in a regional area, that could go in the specific subforum.

Hyperlinks to threads for Dupont Farmers Market, Lexington Market, Ferry Building, etc., could be included in posts in the cooking forum if people feel the need.

Or if it ain't broke, don't fix it. With that, I'm outta here and headed to the Nats' game 

[ktmoomau]

I like Pat's idea.  Or you could separate out the shopping forum and make one under each area (although honestly, so many places are national now), and then have home cooking forum for all cooking/baking.  Or you could leave it alone.  I spend a lot of time in that thread, I don't know how many other people do- but making it easier to find the cookbook thread for instance, might be helpful.

[DaveO]

I also agree with Pat’s idea and also spend considerable time in the cooking side of the cooking side of the cooking/shopping section.  99.9% of cooking (save for regional items) is not regional.  I wouldn’t break it up.

[DonRocks]

On 4/29/2018 at 12:10 PM, Pat said:

How about changing the Shopping and Cooking forum to the "Home Cooking Forum," and include something in the subtitle/description about shopping. Given the ubiquity of stores like Costco and Whole Foods, not to mention Google and Amazon for food purchases and deliveries, not everything is local. Then within each forum have a local farmers market and shops subforum. like the farmers market one for DC, but expanded to include local shops as well. If someone mentions buying something at XYZ, whether it's national or local, that still fits within home cooking. If someone is talking about availability of a certain food in a regional area, that could go in the specific subforum.

[I'm leaning towards this (although nothing is going to happen anytime in the immediate future). If I do this, I'll split/merge the Farmers Market Forum with the local Shopping <not Cooking> Forums, so what's local is local, and what isn't is worldwide.]

[DonRocks]

[I used to be *so proud* that our membership and active members were over 50% female - after about ten years of this, it no longer appears to be the case (at least not in terms of "active"). What is the reason for this? Since I spend so much time working with this community, I'm able to spot macro-trends and micro-trends, and this community is increasingly becoming dominated by the aggressive postings of what I'll call "2-3 males," and that appears to be driving away female participants, who tend to have more sense than to get into discussions where people talk *past* each other, trying to "win" the conversation; as opposed to talking *with* each other, trying to "learn from" the conversation.

This community MUST BE a polite group of people, friendly to one-another, who DISCUSS TO LEARN; and who don't ARGUE TO WIN. Look at this discussion about Hamentashen and So's Your Mom - this is the type of convivial atmosphere that we had, and that we're going to get back.

There is obviously the "Nuclear Option," but I've used that only twice in 14 years, in cases so egregious that in one instance, I genuinely feared for my safety. But the truth is: I'm sick and tired of working with such a small percentage of members behind-the-scenes - these people take up a disproportionate amount of my reserves, and the sheer content of this website now demands so much that I can no longer take time to nurture others (we actually have an employee now, but you'll hardly even notice her, as the primary thing she's doing is helping to make sure the Dining Guides are complete, correct, and current). 

Wouldn't it be a perfect world if we could have a laissez-faire community, devoid of the need for rules to follow? But due to the actions of a few individuals who constantly dictate and dominate the conversation, I'm going to be making small changes to help ensure that this community is welcoming to all thoughtful, well-meaning members, and isn't the private playground of a minuscule percentage of members with Public Park Syndrome. Nobody wakes up in the morning, looks in the mirror, and says to themselves, 'I'm crazy,' and very few would say to themselves, 'I'm malevolent,' so they probably don't even realize they're doing anything wrong (or worse: They do realize it).

In summary: Cut the alpha breast-beating, because you're driving away our most valuable members, both male and female.]

[Pool Boy]

Everyone is welcome to talk, chat and stay awhile. Nobody is right and nobody is wrong. It is all about the discussion and earning about each other. We learn so and so like Gin. And whatsahozits loves sweeetbreads. If you disagree, be elaxed and acepting - we are all human, real and different. Learn to accept each other for who we are.

[dcs]

I tried to like a post this morning and I got a pop-up dialog box with an exclamation point in a triangle followed by text which read:  "Sorry, you cannot add any more reactions today."  I clicked the OX box to exit the message.  No heart.  It was my first attempted like of the day.  I swear!

[DanielK]

I don't see the value of the "likes" if they're anonymous. If you believe that the names with the reactions has been a source of harassment to individuals, can we just disable the feature altogether?

[DonRocks]

1 hour ago, DanielK said:

I don't see the value of the "likes" if they're anonymous. If you believe that the names with the reactions has been a source of harassment to individuals, can we just disable the feature altogether?

This can be disabled entirely, but there are obvious reasons for encouraging people to Like a good piece of writing, and also good reasons for not including the names (many large publications do precisely both of these things, and now I can see *why* they do) - also good reasons for limiting the number of times per day any individual can like posts. From a moderator's viewpoint, the difference is already evident.

(FWIW, I cannot see the names either, and have no desire to.) 

The switch can always be turned on again in the future - the names aren't lost; merely not displayed.

[DonRocks]

[I used to be *so proud* that our membership and active members were over 50% female - after about ten years of this, it no longer appears to be the case (at least not in terms of "active"). What is the reason for this? Since I spend so much time working with this community, I'm able to spot macro-trends and micro-trends, and this community is increasingly becoming dominated by the aggressive postings of what I'll call "2-3 males," and that appears to be driving away female participants, who tend to have more sense than to get into discussions where people talk *past* each other, trying to "win" the conversation; as opposed to talking *with* each other, trying to "learn from" the conversation.

This community MUST BE a polite group of people, friendly to one-another, who DISCUSS TO LEARN; and who don't ARGUE TO WIN. Look at this discussion about Hamentashen and So's Your Mom - this is the type of convivial atmosphere that we had, and that we're going to get back.

There is obviously the "Nuclear Option," but I've used that only twice in 14 years, in cases so egregious that in one instance, I genuinely feared for my safety. But the truth is: I'm sick and tired of working with such a small percentage of members behind-the-scenes - these people take up a disproportionate amount of my reserves, and the sheer content of this website now demands so much that I can no longer take time to nurture others (we actually have an employee now, but you'll hardly even notice her, as the primary thing she's doing is helping to make sure the Dining Guides are complete, correct, and current). 

Wouldn't it be a perfect world if we could have a laissez-faire community, devoid of the need for rules to follow? But due to the actions of a few individuals who constantly dictate and dominate the conversation, I'm going to be making small changes to help ensure that this community is welcoming to all thoughtful, well-meaning members, and isn't the private playground of a minuscule percentage of members with Public Park Syndrome. Nobody wakes up in the morning, looks in the mirror, and says to themselves, 'I'm crazy,' and very few would say to themselves, 'I'm malevolent,' so they probably don't even realize they're doing anything wrong (or worse: They do realize it).

In summary: Cut the alpha breast-beating, because you're driving away our most valuable members, both male and female.]

---

[It isn't as if I woke up one morning, and decided to take away functionality that everyone had; I've *never* had this ability - to see who Liked my posts - I didn't think anyone did, but by chance, I found out that everyone *but* me did - I never intended that to be turned on for anyone. If any member here wants to discuss this further, let's do this via PM - I suspect I can handle your issues in a way that will make you happy. No promises, but almost without exception, the people who spoke up about this AREN'T the reason it happened.]

[DonRocks]

Apologies to everyone for the extreme lack of activity lately - I didn't know why it was happening, but in April, we were being attacked by bots, and Invision (while fixing the problem) accidentally shut out Google - no harm done since this is a free website, and will be here for the long term. 

Cheers,
Rocks

[DonRocks]

The website is back online after several days when a simple backup request by me wasn't being answered - I kept trying and trying to get an answer, and took the website down because I didn't want any members to lose their new posts (not everyone reads these Administrative Announcements); however, I heard from the President of Invision last night, and everything is going to be fine.

Bottom line for everyone: The "Unread Posts" feature for people is going to be reset to where it was as of June 23rd. I could have it reset to June 27th, but that will cost me $150, and I don't see that being much of an advantage. So, in a couple of days, you may notice that your "Unread Posts" will be reset to everything written here since June 23rd - you can easily solve this problem by clicking on "Mark Everything Read," but then there's the opposite problem: Everything on the website will be marked as having been read. The only "correct" way to do this will be to go in and churn through the posts individually. I hope this doesn't inconvenience anyone for more than a few minutes (they're sorted in reverse-chronological order, so the new ones will be at the top).

Happy July 4th everyone - it's nice to have you back, and I hope you enjoy the holiday!

[DonRocks]

On 7/13/2018 at 1:53 PM, DonRocks said:

Sigh. Sometimes I think there's no conspiracy; the other times I'm awake.

On 7/13/2018 at 2:09 PM, Rovers2000 said:

What a joke.  They won't be, but Eater and the City Paper should be embarrassed.

I have a question: Am I paranoid? Jeez.

I don't think I'm going to be able to rest silent much longer - there's a fine line between being deliberately optimistic (which I always have  been), and ignorant: I am most certainly not the latter, never have been.

Request to all members here: Please continue leading by example. When possible, find the original source (no need to examine government documents), and quote in the form:

Jul 17, 2018 - "Nice Guys Finish Last, or Do They?" by Ben Dover on DiceyDining.com

Or, if you don't want to break up your writing, you can put it in your text like this. <--- Warning, NSFW!

[DonRocks]

On 7/4/2018 at 8:47 AM, DonRocks said:

The website is back online after several days when a simple backup request by me wasn't being answered - I kept trying and trying to get an answer, and took the website down because I didn't want any members to lose their new posts (not everyone reads these Administrative Announcements); however, I heard from the President of Invision last night, and everything is going to be fine.

Bottom line for everyone: The "Unread Posts" feature for people is going to be reset to where it was as of June 23rd. I could have it reset to June 27th, but that will cost me $150, and I don't see that being much of an advantage. So, in a couple of days, you may notice that your "Unread Posts" will be reset to everything written here since June 23rd - you can easily solve this problem by clicking on "Mark Everything Read," but then there's the opposite problem: Everything on the website will be marked as having been read. The only "correct" way to do this will be to go in and churn through the posts individually. I hope this doesn't inconvenience anyone for more than a few minutes (they're sorted in reverse-chronological order, so the new ones will be at the top).

Happy July 4th everyone - it's nice to have you back, and I hope you enjoy the holiday!

My backup request still isn't being addressed. Something is very, very wrong, and I have a feeling I know what it is.

[DonRocks]

Anyone going to London in the near future?

Andy Hayler is the greatest fine-dining critic in the world - more experienced, and every bit as talented, or better, than I could ever hope to be - even if given unlimited resources.

Why should we trust anything less than Andy?

We shouldn't. This guy has my total respect.

Are there any volunteers out there who will help me make this a better world for American diners traveling to London?

[DonRocks]

If you're the best in the world at your sub-specialty, write me here, and we'll work out something where we'll link to your website for all the threads we have in your area of expertise. It'll be a win-win-win-win for you-us-readers-diners. Anyone out there the best in the world at your specialty? donrockwell@donrockwell.com is the email address you seek for a ton of PR and web traffic to your website.

Burghound? Want to do Burgundy?

[DonRocks]

Would everyone like me to do with DC what Andy Hayler is doing with London? I'm painfully aware that we had an "On Demand" review section here, which I simply couldn't fulfill - not because I didn't dine at the restaurants (I did, multiple times), but because I was simply too badly injured to be writing restaurant reviews (if y'all only knew what I've suffered through over the past ten years, you'd understand, but I doubt that anyone will truly ever know). Anyway, I'm perfect capable to write "dcdining.com" - style reviews for what are supposedly the most important openings in the DC area - we could do this by vote, or I could use my judgment - either way is okay with me. Please chime in here and let me know - don't worry about the costs: Dining costs are my burden, and the only reliable reviews are ones written by someone who pays their own way. 

I'm at your service, my brothers and sisters.

Kind regards,
Rocks

[curiouskitkatt]

8 hours ago, DonRocks said:

Would everyone like me to do with DC what Andy Hayler is doing with London? I'm painfully aware that we had an "On Demand" review section here, which I simply couldn't fulfill - not because I didn't dine at the restaurants (I did, multiple times), but because I was simply too badly injured to be writing restaurant reviews (if y'all only knew what I've suffered through over the past ten years, you'd understand, but I doubt that anyone will truly ever know). Anyway, I'm perfect capable to write "dcdining.com" - style reviews for what are supposedly the most important openings in the DC area - we could do this by vote, or I could use my judgment - either way is okay with me. Please chime in here and let me know - don't worry about the costs: Dining costs are my burden, and the only reliable reviews are ones written by someone who pays their own way. 

I'm at your service, my brothers and sisters.

Kind regards,
Rocks

YES, please!!

 These reviews, IMO, are the most trusted. They are not paid for, and enlist more objectivity which translate in trust. 

Bring back your reviews, as I do enjoy reading them and will use them as a beacon for visiting spots in the DMV.

[DonRocks]

A request to all our posters, which will make everyone think I have Tourette's (or equivalent):

1) Please try not to leave blank lines at the end of your post. Just hit FWD-DEL and hold it down to eliminate blank lines. Same thing when using quoted text - one double-space is great, but please don't leave too many blank lines.

2) Please try not to leave "naked links" such as this: http://nationalgeographic.com, and put them inside of words like this: National Geographic Website

Thank you! This will make my life much easier.
Rocks

[DonRocks]

3 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

A request to all our posters, which will make everyone think I have Tourette's (or equivalent):

1) Please try not to leave blank lines at the end of your post. Just hit FWD-DEL and hold it down to eliminate blank lines. Same thing when using quoted text - one double-space is great, but please don't leave too many blank lines.

2) Please try not to leave "naked links" such as this: http://nationalgeographic.com, and put them inside of words like this: National Geographic Website

Thank you! This will make my life much easier.
Rocks

Here's an example of the above with both problems: http://washingtonpost.com

 

[DonRocks]

3 minutes ago, DonRocks said:

A request to all our posters, which will make everyone think I have Tourette's (or equivalent):

1) Please try not to leave blank lines at the end of your post. Just hit FWD-DEL and hold it down to eliminate blank lines. Same thing when using quoted text - one double-space is great, but please don't leave too many blank lines.

2) Please try not to leave "naked links" such as this: http://nationalgeographic.com, and put them inside of words like this: National Geographic Website

Thank you! This will make my life much easier.
Rocks

Here's an example of the above with neither problem. Washington Post Website

[DonRocks]

There are probably about two people who care, but I'm thinking of using the Calendar to act as a surrogate Events and Gatherings Index.

[DonRocks]

7 minutes ago, Bob Wells said:

I had not heard of Takumi until it came up in a Yelp search this very afternoon.

And now you know why this website may not be around a year from now.

[Bob Wells]

On 3/2/2019 at 8:52 PM, DonRocks said:

And now you know why this website may not be around a year from now.

Hope that's not the case. DR.com is one of the first sites I go to when I turn on my laptop in the morning. Not sure how I've missed the excellent Takumi thread.

Regarding Yelp, the key is that it's an app. When I am on the go and on my phone, I used mostly apps to conduct business. Yelp to find a restaurant (and it got me to the right place in this case; you don't see people mocking Yelp much these days); Fooducate to find out deets on a new food at Costco; MyFitnessPal to find out the calorie hit for something I'm thinking about ordering, Amazon to get reviews and prices on something like an unusual chocolate bar that I'm considering, etc etc. That's how my world works now.

[DonRocks]

2 hours ago, Bob Wells said:

Regarding Yelp, the key is that it's an app. When I am on the go and on my phone, I used mostly apps to conduct business. 

The dining guides are easy to add as a one-touch, home-screen bookmark (which isn't an app, but it's quick and easy to use).

1) Bring up the second post (make sure it's the second post) in the VA dining guide on your cell phone: 

https:// www.donrockwell.com /topic/2342-virginia-restaurant-guide-best-restaurants-in-virginia/?do=findComment&comment=342444

2) Click the bottom-center icon (the square with the up-arrow), then click on "Add to Home Screen." 

3) Title it whatever you wish (in this case, "VA Dining Guide.") 
4) You'll now have an icon on your home screen. 

I have all three local dining guides (DC, MD, VA) clustered in one folder. 

You'll have thousands of restaurants, all ranked within neighborhood, that you can access within a few seconds - threads, websites, Twitter and Instagram pages, and a Google map for navigation.

Can't beat the price.

---

If someone wants to turn this into an app, get in touch with me - I can sketch out the logic for you, but I don't know the programming language.

[Bart]

Don -

 Here's a suggestion for the Dining Guide.  Can you just list the geographical areas without the restaurants below them?  In other words, instead of having the heading of Penn Quarter and then having 15 restaurants below that, and then a Chinatown heading and 20 restaurants, etc, you would just have:

Penn Quarter

Chinatown

Federal Triangle

etc.

The problem I'm trying to solve by suggesting this is the endless scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.  Especially on a phone.   I sometime burst out laughing at how many restaurants there are and how much scrolling I do.  Often only to find out there there's a "page 2" that I have to start scrolling through!!  ;-)

I see the value in having the geographical headings and all the restaurants listed below them because that would eliminate one click.  (You wouldn't have to hit Chinatown and then Bantam King.  You'd just click on Bantam King).  But only have to scroll through 20 geographical areas instead of 2000 restaurants is appealing as well. 

Any way you can do both? 

[DonRocks]

23 minutes ago, Bart said:

Don -

 Here's a suggestion for the Dining Guide.  Can you just list the geographical areas without the restaurants below them?  In other words, instead of having the heading of Penn Quarter and then having 15 restaurants below that, and then a Chinatown heading and 20 restaurants, etc, you would just have:

Penn Quarter

Chinatown

Federal Triangle

etc.

The problem I'm trying to solve by suggesting this is the endless scrolling and scrolling and scrolling.  Especially on a phone.   I sometime burst out laughing at how many restaurants there are and how much scrolling I do.  Often only to find out there there's a "page 2" that I have to start scrolling through!!  😉

I see the value in having the geographical headings and all the restaurants listed below them because that would eliminate one click.  (You wouldn't have to hit Chinatown and then Bantam King.  You'd just click on Bantam King).  But only have to scroll through 20 geographical areas instead of 2000 restaurants is appealing as well. 

Any way you can do both? 

I know what you're talking about: an index to an index. It might be extremely clumsy and slow, because a separate post would need to be made for each neighborhood - still, that might be better.

I could also put closed restaurants in a separate area, which would condense the sheer size of it.

(Even in the best of circumstances, it won't happen in March, but I won't forget this.)

[DonRocks]

46 minutes ago, astrid said:

Depending on your patio set up, might something like this work?  https://www.amazon.com/Bootstrap-Farmer-Gallon-Raised-Handles/dp/B074LMX69B/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?keywords=bootstrap+farmer+bag&qid=1552959791&s=gateway&sr=8-6

Quick note to everyone, given that this website is designed for the long, long, *long*, *Long*, *LONG*, *LONG* term: If you would, will you please make a screenshot of whatever link you link to, and upload it as a screen shot? For example, this:

... because one day, it will no longer be on these other websites such as Amazon.

[DonRocks]

Sorry - the domain name expired at midnight on Friday, and I've been out of town this weekend for Matt's senior recital. There wasn't much I could do about it once it happened, but I'll make sure it doesn't happen going forward.

[DonRocks]

Folks, most people here probably don't know that the Dining Guide - in its current format - has outgrown Invision's capabilities, i.e., it's just too big, and there are just too many links, for it to be reliably updated. (Whenever I update it (which is often), I save it, and wait, and wait, and wait, until I get an error message - despite the error message, all the changes are accepted, but this is no way to be living.)

So, instead of formatting the Washington, DC (and other) Dining Guides like regular posts, I got a consultant to use a built-in Invision feature. She has given it a first cut, and there are several things about it I don't like (it will be obvious when you see it). Nevertheless, absent spending $10K on gigantic custom programming, this appears to be about the only quick-and-relatively-inexpensive way to tackle things.

As an example, Esther (our consultant) took the Los Angeles Dining Guide, and put an alpha version here at donrockwell.com/dining-guide. 

Please don't say how feeble it looks; I *know* how feeble it looks. What I'm looking for are ideas to make it workable. For example, we can have photographs and Google maps for every restaurant (obviously, it will take a great deal of time to get all the photographs, but we have to start with the capability to do it). 

I don't like the "subforum look," and I'm not sure what can be done to improve it. However, this at least *works*, and hopefully Esther can chime in here and reply to your suggestions and questions (she'll be monitoring this thread). There's no rush, but we have to get this done, eventually, so if you could please leave your feedback here, it will be greatly appreciated. This will eventually be "The Format" for every single dining guide, but there's no reason that things can't be sorted by "type of cuisine," e.g., instead of neighborhood. 

I'm still not certain what is possible and what isn't, because I don't understand how this Invision feature works, but we have to start somewhere, so ... please have at it.

Use your imagination, and ask yourselves how you'd do this if you could do anything you wish.

[ktmoomau]

Question- So under DC- we would have all the neighborhoods listed like you do here, correct?  Could we do a subforum that is in that list for all non-neighborhood things- like for example in LA the Cuban subforum there?  I don't think it is so bad.  I assume then we would break out- DC, MD, VA, Multiple Locations (or are we deleting multiple locations?) and each of these would be like the main forum with the sub-forum neighborhoods below?

The thing I will miss the most, and maybe we can include it somehow- is the list of all the restaurants and what neighborhood they are in- sometimes I just scroll that to get ideas.  Maybe we could have after the forum- the first subforum be:  Neighborhood List Guide- which would just have a list of all the restaurants in each neighborhood for that forum and their current rating?  

[DonRocks]

43 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

Question- So under DC- we would have all the neighborhoods listed like you do here, correct?  Could we do a subforum that is in that list for all non-neighborhood things- like for example in LA the Cuban subforum there?  I don't think it is so bad.  I assume then we would break out- DC, MD, VA, Multiple Locations (or are we deleting multiple locations?) and each of these would be like the main forum with the sub-forum neighborhoods below?

The thing I will miss the most, and maybe we can include it somehow- is the list of all the restaurants and what neighborhood they are in- sometimes I just scroll that to get ideas.  Maybe we could have after the forum- the first subforum be:  Neighborhood List Guide- which would just have a list of all the restaurants in each neighborhood for that forum and their current rating?  

I'll need Esther to field questions about what is, and isn't, possible, but listing the neighborhoods is currently the way it works.

One shortcoming I see is that the way we have it now, we can go into the dining guide, and do a "Find" on any restaurant in Washington, by name; that is lost in this new scheme, and we've got to get around that somehow.

But in addition to that, this new method can have things listed by, I think, "Thai," for example, so I think you may be able to cluster all Thai restaurants in DC (although I'm not sure).

Yes, we'll have one of these for DC, one for MD, one for Baltimore, one for Multiple Locations, etc. Things like Shopping and Cooking will have their own version, but they won't be quite like this - Esther will need to customize how those are formatted as well. I do know that this problem only happens in the DMV (whose Dining Guides are *much* bigger than any other city's) - still, if this website is going to continue growing, we'll eventually have this problem with every city.

If I could just figure out *why* the current Dining Guide format is causing the system to "break," we wouldn't need to do this at all, but nobody can tell me why this is happening, other than that "the entries are too big." I don't know *what* is too big - is it too many links? Too many bytes? I don't know, and nobody at Invision can tell me.

[squidsdc]

Whenever I find myself searching, it is by location first, then i can see what is nearby and what I am in the mood for... if neighborhood or area listings are lost, I don’t see it being as useful for me.

[RWBooneJr]

Don't use Invision for the dining guides. Code them as HTML pages and link to them from the board (they can still have the root donrockwell.com). You can link to them from the board a number of different ways. The best looking may be as a sidebar on the home page, with a graphic link for each city.

[DonRocks]

2 hours ago, RWBooneJr said:

Don't use Invision for the dining guides. Code them as HTML pages and link to them from the board (they can still have the root donrockwell.com). You can link to them from the board a number of different ways. The best looking may be as a sidebar on the home page, with a graphic link for each city.

Talk to Esther, please.

[TedE]

What would be really awesome?  A google maps overlay with filtering based on category tags in the existing restaurant threads.  This would probably require some serious work to get the address data synced to the threads, and the tagging probably isn't nearly consistent enough, but it would be great to pull up a map, zoom in on a general area and check "ramen" or "DR Highly Recommended" or "great cocktails".  Once the framework is set up it should be easy to update the feed with new data.

[DonRocks]

Am I correct in assuming that nobody can see who voted in this poll? 

Readers should be able to see the results, but not who voted.

(Please feel free to reply via Direct Message instead of by posting here.)