Hello,
I was just browsing the Gluten Free Restaurants section, and i found it prohibitively hard to use. More than any other forum I've used.

I have a suggestion that would make that section more usable; To separate it by location, specifically: Canada-east/west, US-Northeast/Northwest/Southeast/southwest. I'm not sure if any EU countries are represented here, but certainly these locations could be expanded.

And in addition, the number of "pinned" topics is unwieldy to view, and isn't all that great for the layout of the site. I'm sure some of those threads could be merged and others just unpinned. Only Very important topics should be pinned. All other topics drift down until someone finds them using the search function.

Thanks for your suggestions for the restuarant forum.

We feel that everyone's topics are very important.

On this board, the pinning of a topic indicates that a moderator has read the topic, and found that it is in compliance with the board rules, and that it is in the correct section of the board. In the normal course of events, every topic is either pinned or deleted.

An unpinned topic typically means it has not yet been reviewed. This is usually of short duration since there a number of moderators spread across four time zones. If an unpinned post is more than a few hours old, it has likely somehow slipped through the cracks--it does happen once in a while.

I, too, was at first surprised & maybe disenfranchised by all the pinned threads.

I ended up realizing it just doesn't quite mean the same thing as in other forums & actually works quite well for this situation.

Here, 'pinned' is more of an 'approved by management' for viewing/replying, as opposed to the usual purpose of 'pinned' on other forums.

W/out this system in place, the threads at the top (most recent) could often be stupid sales pitches or other bs that just doesn't belong.

It is admittedly quite different to see EVERYthing pinned, but it's a non-issue once you see that it keeps viewable threads relevant.
Spam & bs 'testimonials'/sales pitches are kept out of sight. One of the greatest attributes of this method is that it prevents celiac newbies from seeing such egregiously erroneous and potentially very harmful 'info' on this forum. (e.g. "miracle cures" that a newbie doesn't know better about yet) Seeing such bs on a respected forum gives it legitimacy, and THAT would disgust me.

So, despite initial misgivings, for THIS forum the pinning method works.

I don't know if you have another option to keep something in particular up at the top of the forum, but a list of restaurants that offer gluten free items would be very helpful. And maybe even a list of restaurants that don't (that way people could send emails asking them to start offering gluten-free options. If there's a lot of interest, the company is more likely to respond).

The search functions can be hard at times if you are looking for something with words that are used frequently in everyday language.

Thanks for the insight, this forum is pretty different, but i'm glad it works for the members.

As for another point in my previous post, I came here searching for a list of Restaurants in Winnipeg that have a celiac-friendly menu.
It is a very worthwhile goal, to try to compile lists for as many large cities as is possible, where celiac-friendly food can be bought.
atm, i could find very little data on my search, but im sure if we were to make lists, and notify the regional celiac associations, there would be people out there in the large cities who would come forward with the local celiac supermarkets.

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

Certainly a worthwhile goal.
I *have* seen lists of restaurants and stores for indiv cities at the sites of that city's own celiac group.
Phoenix & San Diego come to mind.

It sure would make the transition a TON easier for ppl getting started.