I think there are too many sections in the forum. Regularly we see posts in "Programming Questions" which relate to I2C, LEDs, LCDs etc.
I tend to browse the Programming section, being a programmer for more years than I care to remember. But often enough there are questions there about motors, which probably should be in the motors section, or I2C, etc.
But if you have a problem Programming a Motor, which section should you post in? Programming or Motors?
Or if you have a Program that Interfaces with a Motor and drives an LED and a Display and which involves Electronics, then which section?
If you can't easily answer that, I don't see how someone new to the forum can.
When we changed the forum over a few months ago there was a discussion about having too many topics. I think at the time it was decided to let it run and see how things worked out.
Being both HS and SW I just click on "unread posts" and scan them all, there's often quite a lot but I only look at the title and drill down if it sounds of interest.
So as a reader it hasn't affected me, however there has been a couple of threads I've started where I had trouble deciding where to put them.
I don't think you can ever really resolve this because of the sort of examples you state.
Rob
I can't say deciding as a poster is easy - +1 for it not bothering me as a reader though - my RSS feed shows me all of them no matter what they're in.
I, too, was originally awed by the many forums, but if anyone can take the few seconds to read the excellent heading description, then I think the forum spread makes good sense. I'd also risk the opinion that it seems there are fewer badly placed posts, the choice appears to make (new'ish) members post more accuratly.
And then I browse everywhere, sometimes by forum group, sometimes by "most recent", sometimes by "all unread" ...