That is "chastising" vs nothing at all. Why is categorization so critical? Who is benefiting? If 95% of the uses are viewing the default or "latest" then everything is mixed categories anyway. How many users only search a specific category?
Lets see some site stats for %age of users using the default or latest vs total visits, that'll allow feature prioritization.
Your definition of 'chastise' is not one I recognise. Please can you suggest alternative text that would inform a user that their topic has been moved but not chastise them?
I thank you.
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I explained it in the other topic where we discussed the subject:
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So you're saying the catagorization is for the mods and SME's (Subject Matter Experts) and not the user base?
Again, pro bono?
The responses were carefully chosen so as not to be too "chastising".
I still consider them as good responses.
Am sure somebody could open / split a whole new topic on this and beat it to death until it went away LOL.
As for stats.
No! I'll repeat what I told you in the other topic:
In fact, categorization makes a lot of work for the moderators.
"SME"s are part of the user base. And those "SME"s provide support for the rest of the user base.
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How about NOT moving crap around. Who benefits from the move? Staff or users?
As a noob posts, the first response they get is from a mod telling them, effectively, that they are too stupid to even ASK a question properly. Then, someone posts a two page lecture on "proper use of the forum". Still no help.
Make the FORUM smarter. Require drop down for major cats, hw, sw, ide, etc. Let the topic title say most of it. Use a fulltext index on the site contents so you can search for anything, screw keywords.
If the user can't tag, they get less help as others can't find it, its self correcting.
I am an SME (was one for NASA drawing project), and I read TITLES, not categories. I search for what's new.
Also, other than layout, why do we need both "latest" and "new"? Are not new topics, by definition, also the latest?
Maybe less stress on "training" users and more on cleaning up the site structure?
Let's have a "code only" block that auto formats? Entry required for "sw" issues.
Or a "schematic" field that is required if "HW" is selected? Put the smarts in the site, not the users.
Chastising ?
I think not
"Look you idiot, the Installation and Troubleshooting category is for problems with Installing and Troubleshooting the IDE, as plainly stated in the category description, so why did you post your programming question there ?"
That would be chastising !
Ironically, I agree with you up to a point. A drastic reduction in the number of categories (hardware, software, IDE maybe !) would still allow questions to be answered as I suspect that there are precious few users who monitor specific categories/sub categories although I don't know if specific figures are available
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I hope this isn't off topic, but fairly often, a conscientious poster will recognize the omissions, comply with the advice, and achieve a real solution within a few replies.
It's only no help, when the poster takes it as an attack, goes on the defensive, or launches a counter-attack.
Also, you exaggerate. The way you describe it happens only very rarely.
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Yeah, and why am I fed posts in forums that I can't even post in because they're not English language? They're just clutter.
There is a thread with the OP is 13 and, to me, his treatment has been brutal.
For a noob, any objection is a bar. Help first, then nag should be the rule. Answer their Q as best you can and only then mention.
Also, since mod's can edit (they can, can't they?) why not tag the code block once, then nag if they don't do it themselves. But a "code only" field would solve it too.
If they are a complete snowflake.
But my position is that it's far better for them to be guided by the forum machinery than by the other users who post on it. It would remove the feeling of being singled out by individuals.
Ive seen dozens of posts with the long lecture. count for yourself how many first posterxs 1st response is complaining about posting instead of a word of help, even if its a SWAG because the Q was "my stuff be broke".
You can call it what you like, "bitching" or whatever. Without corrective feedback, most posts would be impossible to help with at all, as first presented.
If you haven't suffered from that, it may be because you have let others do the "dirty work" for you.
Always remember that a certain %age of users (and you don't know WHO) are STEM kids and NOT adults. The default should be gentle rather than short ("If you had read ___!"), and not overwhelmingly generic instead of on point.
The smarter the site is, the easier for all concerned.
Maybe a pseudo user alias "sitebot" for posting "topic moved" posts, less personal?
I had an alias, the "LANphantom" that would post the MOTD, and daily cartoon, etc. Thus, users could reply, and any help desker could pick it up. Made staffing changes invisible since you reply to the office, not the person.
I thought about a "newb" sub forum ("beginner"?), but I'm sure it will get shot down.
I'd always like to help a STEM kid because I once was one. Just not the entitled ones that want to pass the course by passing off other peoples work as their own. The imposters.
Some of the dialogue I engage in, is aimed at uncovering which kind they are.
I suggest you start a new topic with that suggestion. Maybe people will agree, maybe not.
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Man, i was L3 help desk for Dell Server. Got a trouble call, "no meadow". Have had user type "startdotstar" instead of (cant type asteriks!) * . *. Had a user come to shop w/ flat brown mylar donut (insides of 5-1/4" floppy) because system wouldn't boot after the user read "remove outer protective jacket and insert floppy" and cut the black off!
Had users put ashtry in front of computer since fan intake draw smoke away. Cigarette burns thru floppies, etc. Once drove 150 miles round trip to close a drive door that I told them was the issue over the phone!
There is no end to user stupidity, but patience is called for. After all, is the site for the convenience of the SME's or the users?
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Heh. A relative of mine called me over to fix their monitor, which had "gone all dark". This was in the days of CRT monitors. I found, the static attraction of the screen had attracted the product of their continuous cigarette chain smoking, on to the screen until you could barely see the display. I wiped it clean with a cloth and isopropyl alcohol, made them guess what the problem was for a while... 
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