I have to agree with jofjonesboro. I cannot see how a national directory is of any use, when you quickly want to look up a class the internet is easier than just trying to locate something in a database.

A database putting local classes together would work, but a national database seems costly and useless.

To anyone to whom it would be useful.



Your opinion that it would be meaningless to 99% is just that: you are seeming to represent it as a statement of fact. That's a bit unfair.

I have made plain my own reservations about the practicality of such a project, and will leave you to argue with your own shadow....

Your response is a truism, which is no response at all.


Well, let's see. dance-partner.com claims that it has more than 72,000 members. With no other indicators available, we'll take that number as a measure of the ballroom-dancing population of the US or North America (I suspect that the true number is greater). dance-partner.com lists dancers for all types of social dancing.

1% of 72,000 would be 720 dancers, which one could easily interpret as 360 couples.

No competition in the country draws anywhere near that number of couples, meaning that there are not that many folks willing to travel nationwide for a COMPETITION, let alone a class.

So I stand by my 99%. If you wish to dispute it, please provide some substantiation instead of insults.

jj

A nationwide web directory is quite the undertaking. I've noted that many web pages for a garden variety of ballroom dance classes offered via studios or independents rarely get updated. I suppose this will be (dare I say) similar to "walking the fingers through the yellow pages." It's a great project and kudos to anyone who can keep it updated on a regular basis.

If kept updated with current information, a national listing might be of greater use than a generic internet search. I have used search engines in an effort to locate dance studios only to find numerous, outdated listings for the same business. You don't learn the listings are outdated until you call and waste a lot of time. Often, a generic search via the web is one of the worst ways to find a dance studio. You're often better off looking in the local yellow pages. The real problem will be if the site hosting the information will take the steps to keep their data current. There are studios listed here on this site that are outdated or no longer exist. Many of those studios are missing out on a good thing by not staying current. You can't expect the webmaster to keep you up to date when they are giving you free publicity.

When I first started dancing, I used the Yellow Pages to find studios. At least of third of the listings were for studios that either no longer existed or had relocated.

You use the phrase "kept updated with current information" as though doing so is a simple matter. Even moderately sized corporations require staffs of professionals to keep complex websites current.

Also, maintaining their listings in such a directory would put a real burden on the (usually small) staffs of most dance studios who are already busy with their own sites.

Web searches are certainly not "one of the worst ways to find a dance studio."

jj