Subforums pros/cons, usage?

HI All:

My evaluation of this product and the features we require continues.

I'd like some input on subforums.  What are the pros and cons?

Let's take a straightforward example.  Say I want to have a forum for my sales people.  Let's say I have some salespeople in every state.  And say I have divided these states amongst four division managers: west, south, midwest, northeast.

I could organize like:

1. Sales
2. Sales
     West
     South
     Midwest
     Northeast
3. Sales
     West
        California
        Oregon
        Washington
        (etc)
     South
     (etc)

I suppose where you draw the line is based on localizing posts?   I.e. I would go with #3 if I only wanted California sales people to only see what goes on in California, right?  For the DM of West, does having (say) 8 subforums under West present any challenges that wouldn't be there if I had gone with #2?

If anyone has any thoughts or practical experiences with subforums I'd appreciate the input.  I did do a search, and found the thread where a guy had close to 250 subforums, obviously mass overkill. I would never do something like that, just looking for input.

Thanks... Bob.

Yes, you would want create subforums based on location, but shouldn't make it too "fine".

It is advisable to start with 2), and once discussions within a certain state grow to the point that warrants its own sub-forum, then you create one subforum for that state under the division.

Start small and grow gradually is generally a better idea than to start with everything so "complete".

I've built a framework of forums and sub-forums that I feel is reasonable. Take a look at http://CommuterClub.org/forum

In my case I have local forums for local relevant topics, and other forums to cover topics that apply to larger regions, i.e. states.