too many forums

I think there are too many forums, many topics don't get many views. If you guys could condense it a bit, more people will read more topics.

I find the best way for me to read the forums is to select 'View New Posts' from the Quick Links dropdown menu at the top of the screen. By doing this right away each time I visit the site, I'm sure to see all the latest threads in every forum on LQ.org. Then I just pick whichever threads from the list that I think are interesting, and/or I may be able to help out with.

PS--That's how I found this one.


sleepy

There use to be only a dozen or so forums in the beginning. Over time, Distributions started expanding when we started adding forums for specific distro's where a representative was involved, which is still the case today.

As the questions grew, so did the forums. Questions started getting more detailed and more specific. This created a demand for more specific forums to be created for the masses.

Personally, I think there are too many as well, but if you look at it by another approach, it makes sense to start having forums that are more specific.

It currently has it's ups and downs. Some find it nice to browse a forum where all of the topics/questions/threads are all sort of related, but then in other circumstances, some don't know where to place their question, that's why there are still the default and generic forums if a member is ever unsure where to place their thread.

If you're worried about missing some yourself, SleepyEDB (#2) has the solution. If you're worried about your own not being seen, that's a little more tricky. Some forums never have unanswered questions hanging out there, and some have quite a few. Also, there is a difference in the general quality of answers received in some forums over others.

The real answer to the ubiquitous "Which distro?" post is to read thru the various distro specific forums, and see which are getting the best support in terms that are meaningful to you.

The Programing Forum is killer. You could hardly imagine a question that won't be answered quickly and thoroughly.

The "right" number of forums is basically a subjective call, and it's always a balancing act to come up with a list that separates/distinguishes between topics in a useful way, without becoming overly narrow. As trickykid mentioned, due to LQ's policy of supporting distro-specific subforums (as long as that distro agree to participate) the actual number of subforums within Linux-Distributions is pretty big, but personally I think the current major categories are just about right. Keep in mind that for some questions, it's a judgment call as to which forum is appropriate, and by having some flexibility in the forum choices, just about every question will end up in the right place. To illustrate, if someone had a question about installing the latest version of Firefox, it ordinarily should go into Linux-Software, but depending on the particular member's situation, it may make more sense to put it into a Distro-specific subforum, or Linux-General, or Linux-Newbie. Overall, each forum has its own audience and its own purpose, and to me the current breakdown is well suited to the LQ community. Just my 2 cents

In a huge community like LQ, it's inevitable that some sections receive more attention than others. We do have a lot of forums, but I don't think there are an unusually high number of forums... it's still manageable.

I think we can review one or two of the existing forums which receive little to no activity though... (e.g. the LUG forum)

Beyond a point, subforums tend to have a diminishing marginal utility.

in case some mods want to condense, not saying they will mind you, please do not

me thinks it is sometimes easier for a newbie to scroll thru particular forums by inference by rickh.