Many times I've been sat on the main parent forum for example, 'web development' and have created a thread that was meant for the 'php' forum by accident.
As a result it doesn't really get noticed. I don't think the users should be able to do this. They should be forced to pick a relevant forum -unless their question doesn't include any of the sub forums - which, let's be fair happens at most 5% of the time.
Thoughts?
Jump to PostHow would the website determine if the user is in the appropriate forum? There are some posts that are general enough that they do not belong in a lower tiered forum. The forums are arranged in hierarchies. For example, you could put a post in
Hardware and Software Microsoft Windows …
Jump to PostThey should be forced to pick a relevant forum -unless their question doesn't include any of the sub forums
I'm having trouble thinking of a way to do this that isn't terribly intrusive for the average case of knowing which sub forum is most appropriate. Barring, of course, …
How would the website determine if the user is in the appropriate forum? There are some posts that are general enough that they do not belong in a lower tiered forum. The forums are arranged in hierarchies. For example, you could put a post in
Hardware and Software
Microsoft Windows
Windows Vista and Windows 7 / 8
If you find that your post has gone into the wrong forum you can always flag the post or PM a moderator to request that it be moved.
I see this as a UX issue rather than a 'let's bother a moderator' issue.
There are some posts that are general enough that they do not belong in a lower tiered forum.
Whilst that is a valid point I think the vast majority of questions asked can be categorized by a sub forum -we're talking 95% here. Well that is my opinion.
They should be forced to pick a relevant forum -unless their question doesn't include any of the sub forums
I'm having trouble thinking of a way to do this that isn't terribly intrusive for the average case of knowing which sub forum is most appropriate. Barring, of course, the full tag approach, which Dani wants to move closer to than separation by forums.
Suggestions are welcome, of course. I'd be surprised if I could think of every possible clever way to structure things that would work effectively and still be user friendly.
Topic will be meaningful
It's a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenerio. When we didn't allow new threads in the top-level categories, I was constantly being bombarded with, "Why don't we have a forum for topic XYZ?! I want to start a thread about topic XYZ but there's no where to put it!" At least now, as long as it belongs to one of our higher-level categories (which outlines the scope of the entire site) then you're good to go along with tagging. Since allowing I think the number of those types of complains dramatically decreased while the number of misplaced threads only slightly increased in comparison.
That being said, one of the things I made sure to include is a forum dropdown menu on the new thread page, where you can specify which category or subcategory is most relevant. It defaults to the one you started at, but everyone is encouraged to peruse the list, see where the currently selected forum falls in within the hierarchy, and choose the most relevant place.
OK I concede with that. I guess I just have to be more careful which forum I'm starting a new thread from. Thanks.
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