Number of sub-forums

I can understand the logic behind the number of forums we have, but I do question whether it actually benefits use users.

The more forums you have, the more you dilute the visitors on specific forums (eg if someone asks a question in the solaris forums about Samba on Nexenta. Nexenta might be fine and it might be a Samba problem but most Linux guys wont visit the Solaris forums to spot the samba thread.)

In fact, i could think up numerous occasions (like above) when questions could be relevant to several forums rather than specific to just the one.

Plus you end up confusing the hell out of n00bies to the site and having to move threads left, right and centre.

I've not looked into how many moderators and how active they are, but I hazard a guess maintaining such a complex division of forums can be a heavy process.


So is it worth having a less detailed division - instead just having groups like the following:
* beginner
* hobbyist
* expert
and, when you submit questions have additional fields like:
> platform [drop down list]
--> Ubuntu
--> Slackware
--> Solaris / OpenSolaris
-->...etc
> category [check boxes - thus more than one can be selected]
--> audio (music production, mp3 playback, system bell, etc)
--> graphics / video (media centres, web cams, XWindows, gimp, etc)
--> networking (internet, LAN, wireless, instant messaging, email, etc)
--> hardware (does Linux support my new sound card, etc)
--> file data (file systems, back ups, compression, etc)
--> security (SELinux, virus scanners)
--> server tools (MySQL, Apache, Samba, etc)
--> misc (any specific questions that all outside the above)
(there's probably some i missed)

this way, all, the guys instructing the answers know the skill level of the user and you still have database search-able fields should you want to do any reporting on the questions asked or have a set of read-only sub-forums that basically act as symbolic links to the 3 main forums (should you really be desperate to drill the forums down)

this way users like myself will browser the main forums and see the full range of questions without missing questions because they happen to fall in a random sub-forum.

and this way, if there are users with specific gaps in their knowledge (eg a desktop Linux user who's never built a server wouldn't check the server tools or security forums normally) can set an option in their profile to "hide"* questions related to 'security' and 'server tools'

and, finally, this way you significantly reduce the administration time take up with moving threads and deleting duplications (bar the development time building implimenting the changes to the forum and DB)

* by "hide" I don't mean completely hide from view, but give it less emphasis (smaller font face perhaps?) in the thread view so the questions are still visible (in case the user does, by chance, know the answer or decides he'd like the know learn the answer himself) but not as dominant on the screen - so said user can focus on the subjects he is familiar with.

I get what you are saying, but it sounds an awful lot like you are trying to turn LQ into some kind of a customer support site; where you file questions into specific areas so only certain people will look at them. This sounds more like something you would see on Dell's tech support page than an Internet message board.

While there is no question a lot of technical support goes on at LQ, that isn't really what the whole site is about. This is a general Linux discussion site first, and any help that people get here is just a benefit from the collected knowledge of thousands of Linux and Unix users. I have worked in tech support using help desk software, and that is exactly how it works. Requests and questions are funneled to you based on set criteria, and you just toil away at the queue all day. I certainly wouldn't want to do that as a hobby, I didn't even like doing it when I was getting paid.

The majority of people don't log into LQ and say "Alright, another day at LQ, let me focus on my areas of interest and see if anyone needs help with X, Y, or Z", and then hammer through topics in sorted lists. People come on any talk about a variety of subjects in different forums. I have answered many questions and discussed many topics in forums I never would have gone into if everything but my core interests were hidden.

For instance, I have never used SuSE, but that doesn't mean I couldn't help a user with an issue he was having with Firefox or Amarok on a machine that was running SuSE.

Compartmentalizing the site to the degree you are talking about would rob users of the attention their questions or topics deserve. What about a person who had a question about a relatively unique or rare application or situation? Instead of anyone being able to post their thoughts and work out some sort of a solution, the person's problem would go largely ignored because not enough people had those things listed as their interests or expertise.

If you want to see all of the topics on the site without having to go into separate forums, you can already do that with "View Latest Posts", "View New Posts", and of course "Zero Reply Threads".

Originally Posted by MS3FGX I get what you are saying, but it sounds an awful lot like you are trying to turn LQ into some kind of a customer support site; where you file questions into specific areas so only certain people will look at them. This sounds more like something you would see on Dell's tech support page than an Internet message board. While there is no question a lot of technical support goes on at LQ, that isn't really what the whole site is about. This is a general Linux discussion site first, and any help that people get here is just a benefit from the collected knowledge of thousands of Linux and Unix users. I have worked in tech support using help desk software, and that is exactly how it works. Requests and questions are funneled to you based on set criteria, and you just toil away at the queue all day. I certainly wouldn't want to do that as a hobby, I didn't even like doing it when I was getting paid. The majority of people don't log into LQ and say "Alright, another day at LQ, let me focus on my areas of interest and see if anyone needs help with X, Y, or Z", and then hammer through topics in sorted lists. People come on any talk about a variety of subjects in different forums. I have answered many questions and discussed many topics in forums I never would have gone into if everything but my core interests were hidden. For instance, I have never used SuSE, but that doesn't mean I couldn't help a user with an issue he was having with Firefox or Amarok on a machine that was running SuSE. Compartmentalizing the site to the degree you are talking about would rob users of the attention their questions or topics deserve. What about a person who had a question about a relatively unique or rare application or situation? Instead of anyone being able to post their thoughts and work out some sort of a solution, the person's problem would go largely ignored because not enough people had those things listed as their interests or expertise. If you want to see all of the topics on the site without having to go into separate forums, you can already do that with "View Latest Posts", "View New Posts", and of course "Zero Reply Threads".

I think you missunderstand me.
The way I see LQ at the moment is very compartmentalized as each topic has it's own forum.

The way I suggested was removing the category subforums and only have 3 subforums for skill levels, but having additional fields attached to each thread so, in terms of the database, the threads are still organised and can still be reverted back to the current method of a forum per category should you choose to.

The idea of hiding threads was only an example of how the additional fields could be used to extend LQs usability. It's not the back-bone of the suggestion and I did also say that i wouldn't recomend hiding theads entirely (for reasons you re-emphasised) - i was just saying that subjects marked as "hidden" would have less emphasis (maybe a different font colour or size) than the other subjects.
This would also be something that the users have to specifically enable (as you can't predict what users would want "hidden")

Granted the term "hide" was a poor choice of word and very missleading - but i hope you get the idea i was trying to explain?