Sunday, April 26, 2009

PromoteGo.org open for new club listings

I've finished up the basic functionality to take in new club listings. This took a while because I also needed to add the ability to pull in new AGA listings with duplicate detection. As a club listing site, PromoteGo.org aims to be fill out the capability of the AGA chapter listing site with helpful features like:
  • Geographic radius search
  • Google maps directions
  • Email obfuscation to protect addresses from spam
  • Display search results on map
  • Ability for you to manage your own club info
I also plan to add features for seeding new clubs: When there are no clubs within your search radius, one of your options will be to sign up to hear about new clubs in your area. Then, when a new club opens near you, you'll automatically be notified. Also, users will be notified if they want when people near them express an interest in forming a new club. The last major feature, and my original idea for the site, will be to help people arrange games to play in person. If we can move a fraction of Go games from clubs and online venues into public places like coffee houses, pubs, and parks, we'll raise awareness of the game dramatically. If you're a club owner and your club is listed on the AGA site, please try to find your Go club, or send me a note (my contact info is on the site) and try updating your club information. Most clubs don't have addresses on the AGA site, so we could really use that data to improve the quality of the search! If you're a web developer and you're interested in helping me out (the site is 100% open source), drop me a line! Promote Go in Your Community