Umm, okay. So if as a new poster(TL=0/1), or if I haven't posted in 6 months & TL>1, and I post in a category where I've blown past three warnings "not to post here", perhaps I should get an automated rejection that tells me to "wake up, choose a better category, or simply bugger off"? And yes, I get it, for the snowflakes that could be phrased more gently - without changing the message.
If I'm at TL>1, an automatic hour in the 'penalty box' would be in order, with a message to the effect that our behaviour is being "supervised".
Too much bandwidth wasted on this topic already, folks. Try it for a month or two, get rid of it if it doesn't help, causes new issues, or burdens the mods.
Cam
I like the idea as an idea, but on balance I don't think I'd want to implement it, it feels like punishing every newbie who posts in the wrong place for the failure of the newbies before them who did the same thing. Maybe review when the name of the Installation and Troubleshooting category has been changed and when the other changes have been implemented.
That takes us back to the age old topic of "onboarding" and shows that the current method is still lacking in many regards.
No "Onboarding" is NOT a seperate topic to be obfuscated further.
It is part and parcel of the whole idea.
Sort out the onboarding and you also help alleviate many of the other now "sub topics"
Again a road I have been down and another T-shirt I own.
There's only so much on-boarding you can do. There are people who will click by everything you throw at them, then the act all surprised when they get grief in the forum for not doing the things they couldn't be bothered to read about.
Put in better drop downs. If you have to scroll the list, it's too long. Keep the topics broad and just move the miscatorgorized items silently.
Require a CPU selection to post, Same for OS or whatever.
Add an text entry field for "code only" that autoformats to get rid of all the "format your code" replies.
Sorting the Q's is for the convenience of the STAFF, not the USERS. Perhaps the site should be more USER focused? Put in some AI to automatically categorize based on the body of the Q instead of nagging?
Maybe have an age range or experience flag. I saw a 13yo get chewed out for not formatting and getting hints. For an adult, the comments would have been ok, but for a 13yo, it was harsh, basically berating the poor kid over not spotting syntax errors that he obviously didn't have the skills to notice. The childs frustration was palpable.
Keep the topics simple, HW/SW/IDE instead of a 100 item drop-down.
We agree on that and reducing the number is being considered.
Flag it, I won't always be the mod who sees it and I won't always agree, but I will consider it. Make sure to add a suitable comment explaining the reason for the flag, don't assume it will be obvious.
too many categories means that EVERYTHING is "misfiled".
Of course, the converse is true, if everything is filed under "misc.", nothing is ever misfiled.
If you want less categories, I recommend adding your feedback to the dedicated topic on that subject: Restructuring forum categories
So far, the feedback there has been a split between support for less categories and support for the counterproposal that is essentially a rearrangement and renaming of the existing categories. The reduction in categories will only be done if there is evidence of significant support from the community for doing so.
Brilliant. Just brilliant! Love it. How can this be wrong? Even if it has an "other" selection, it would at least trigger a few milliseconds of thought.
The solution doesn't have to be finessed. It only has to catch the abundance of low hanging fruit.
The organization of Anatidae in rank and file is important, but I'm against rejecting a post just because the author refuses to put their duck in the correct row.
I would instead suggest routing all special ducklings back to the general holding pen for all new posts.
The Orwellian un-category could be referred to as uncategorized.
I'm so sick of all this restrictive bullcrap that I need a beer just to calm my jitters.
I know it is a freeking forum, but newbies are babies and have no conception of categorizes ... they just want "give me a code" or "can I power my ESP32 from 12 Volts?"
Microsoft's SharePoint server back before 2010 had a "template" mechanism that forced users into a formatted input methodology. Users could not deviate until the Admin put them into a group that had a less restrictive input template.
These dissussions, IMO, have less than zero value... maybe I'm too damn old to continue my forum presence as the backend politics are not pretty.
