Proposal: Rename "Uncategorized Category" to "Do Not Use"

Community Website and Forum
1

Hi,
@pert
@PerryBebbington
@Coding_Badly
Do you think renaming the Uncategorized category to Do Not Use is a good idea?
It might make less people use it.
Thank you
I have Locked the poll because there is an updated version at : Proposal: Rename "Uncategorized Category" to "Do Not Use" - #14 by v205
Poll about this:

  • Rename it to Do Not Use
  • Keep It this way.

0 voters

2

My proposal is the forum has to rejects the post until another category is selected simply. This way you get the author to think about what they want.

3

The users who select the "Uncategorized" category now are selecting it only because it is the first available category on the list, without making even the slightest effort to check whether that is the appropriate category for their topic. If we take away the ability to select the "Uncategorized" category, those users will just select the new first category ("IDE 1.x"](IDE 1.x - Arduino Forum)) instead, polluting that category with topics not directly related to Arduino IDE 1.x.

If this quick explanation doesn't make the reasons for the current configuration clear, please read the detailed explanation, discussion, and evidence that is provided in the dedicated topic here:

4

My concern with this name is that I feel it has a more harmful effect on the aesthetics of the forum for those browsing the forum who will see this unpleasant "Do Not Use" message shown prominently near the top of the forum home page.

Note that it is already marked as "DO NOT USE" in the menu where the user selects the category when creating a topic:

image
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And also in the category itself:

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image595Ă—518 26.8 KB

5

I do not know if users use that approach. I normally navigate to the category and the only indication is the pinned topic. And knowing myself (and I think that that applies to new forum users as well) I either don't notice it or unknowingly ignore it.

6

My hypothesis is that it is the typical user path to creating the topics that are miscategorized using the first category. I think the sequence goes like this:

  1. Open forum home page.
  2. Click the "New Topic" button.
  3. Compose a topic.
  4. Click the "Create Topic" button.
    The "Category can't be blank" dialog appears:
    image
    (this is because no category is selected by default in the topic composer)
  5. Click the "OK" button.
  6. Select the first category from the "category..." menu (ignoring the "DO NOT USE!" in the description) simply to fulfill the prerequisite for topic creation with the absolute minimum effort.
  7. Click the "Create Topic" button.

I think it is less likely this type of miscategorization would happen via the alternative path:

  1. Open forum home page.
  2. Select "Uncategorized" from the list of categories.
  3. Ignore the ":warning: DO NOT CREATE TOPICS IN THIS CATEGORY :warning:" topic pinned at the top of the category.
  4. Click the "New Topic" button.
  5. Compose a topic.
  6. Click the "Create Topic" button.

The reason is that I think the type of user who starts their topic creation sequence by selecting a category to post in would be more likely to select one of the relevant categories listed on the home page at that step (2).

It seems to me it would be quite difficult to miss.

7

The human brain acts in strange ways :smiley:

8

I guess those are valid concerns @pert.
Maybe Uncategorized could be locked?
But that may cause more wrong categorizations……
Thank for the info @sterretje
Sometimes I even almost accidentally select Uncategorized for my topics. :dizzy_face:
@paulpaulson
That is a good idea but what if the author doesn’t know where to post the topic.
Sometimes the About____ The Category is not exactly clear.

9

The purpose of the "Uncategorized" category is to serve as a collection point for the topics created by users who arbitrarily select the first available category. Its utility depends on people being able to use it.

If this isn't clear to anyone, please perform the thought experiment of performing the first topic creation sequence I described in post #6 (don't actually create a topic; just run through the sequence up to the final step). The key to understanding is to pretend you are the sort of user who would create a topic in a category marked "DO NOT USE".

Now perform it again, except imagining the scenario where the "Uncategorized" category was locked. Something you should be aware of is that "category..." menu used in the first sequence described in post #6 only offers unlocked categories, so in this scenario the "Uncategorized" category is not included in the menu.

After that, ask yourself some questions:

  • Which category would the topic have been created in with the second scenario where the "Uncategorized" category was locked?
  • Will it be as easy for the forum maintainers to identify the miscategorized topic in that category?
  • Was there as much communication to the user about selecting an appropriate category?

I am very interested in this.

My impression is that the category is used for one of the following reasons:

  • The user is making the absolute minimum effort to get help, without the slightest care for responsible use of the forum.
  • The user doesn't have enough English language skills to understand the description of the category and didn't make the effort to do an auto translation.
  • The user is a spammer or spam bot who is copy/pasting something to arbitrary categories in many forums as quickly as possible (the "honey pot" effect).

But I know none of those apply to you. Please provide some more information to help me understand this:

  • What is the "user journey" you followed to get to the point where you almost select the "Uncategorized" category for your topic.
  • What caused you to stop before actually creating a topic in that category?

I agree and this is something I definitely plan to work on. However, I think in the case of the "Uncategorized" category it is quite clear, so even though some of the others aren't clear, I still can't imagine that the sort of user who pays attention to the category descriptions would ever create a topic in the "Uncategorized" category.

10

@pert
Some things that are interesting. Sorry if there are some missing answers.

All of those are good points. Let’s look for an alternate solution.
Maybe by naming it “ Getting started with this forum.” Or “About this forum”.

The name of the Uncategorized category suggests that it is a place to put topics in that you are not sure where to put.
Some people just want to get help so they may select Uncategorized without reading Do Not Use.

Wow, that’s a hard question.
At first I just wanted to help other people at this forum.
I started doing this by flagging Uncategorized topics.
@pert You probably know this as you have moved about 7 of my requests.
Later, I had some problems, so I started to post.
When I made my first few topics I almost posted it in the Uncategorized category(you know this already).
What stopped me is I noticed(I like to read fine print :slight_smile: ) Do Not Use.
I also noticed that I had previously flagged quite a lot of Uncategorized topics.
Which made me rethink about where to post.
The font of the Do Not Use in the category subtitle was not helpful.
It was easy to not notice it.

Yes, there is quite a lot of stuff that was automatically generated and still needs editing.
I’ll let you know when I find some of those.

PS: Going to edit the poll

11

In a related Q.
Did you track how many spammers were using that section and do you have any stats ?

12

@Ballscrewbob
Spammers as in advertising?
If so I have only noticed one so far.
But, I am not an 24 hour forum watching robot.
Maybe ask ChatGPT to do that. :laughing:

13

Was meant for @pert

14

New poll with more options.
@pert I can’t edit the poll anymore.

  • Rename it to Do Not Use
  • Keep It this way.
  • Rename it to something else
  • Other if so let us know

0 voters

If you chose Rename it to something else post a reply to this saying what you want the category to be renamed to:

15

Yes:

16

Oops sorry.

17

Interesting that Uncategorized catchs the most of the spam…….

18

But 45 made it elsewhere.
Would agree it does catch a good amount, but it looks like there is still some work to do.

19

A poll option "Rename to something else" doesn't make much sense if the voters don't tell what this "Something else" should be.

20

That makes sense. I will add a note at the bottom because I can't edit the poll anymore.
Thanks!