When you want to join the Arduino forum's community you go to arduino's web site and in the community section you select forum
EDIT:
This takes you straight into a complex page with clickable areas doing various things which most people will get confused about and a non obvious one to select would be to click on "Categories"
Indeed although next to it you see "all categories", reality is that the page you are looking at is composed with the latests posts from all categories
clicking on Categories will actually take you to a better place where you can see all categories
EDIT: if you have never visited nor configured your account, you actually arrive here
but reality is half of the real estate is not dedicated to seeing all categories but are the latests posts again and I have to scroll to see the categories (and see very large icons that do not convey really information but use up lots of real estate)
and I still have no guidance on where to post, what is really a category or subcategory, what are the rules and best practices etc...
long story short I feel we need a better landing page accessible from the main site with information about the forum, the dos and don'ts etc and deep linking to the common entry points for new users like where to ask a general question, how to discuss in a non English language etc
What that page looks like and the key information it conveys would need to be discussed. If that idea raises interest then that thread could be where this is being discussed
The benefits would be
- clearer guidelines and onboarding path
- ensure new comers read the basic rules and best practices and understand their way around
- expose non English speaking sub-forums more prominently
β overall the hope would be to minimise the chances of a new comer to post in the wrong place and in the wrong way β which triggers the usual "use code tags" or "read the rules" or "I moved your post" type of answers (sometimes by more than one frequent poster) which are not so welcoming for your first interaction with the forum.
Any interest ?