Yes. I know we have already a large number of categories. However, I believe a new category could help maintain some sort of order here.
The title has to be thought about but principally it would be a container ("bin") for problems of a basic nature from new or less experienced users. Is should be quite prominent (say at the top of the category list).
The justification is that a new user cannot anyway always accurately assign his/her problem to one of the existing categories and then those existing categories may be less cluttered with basic or incorrectly assigned problems. Another advantage is it would add, for other forum users, the possibility to filter out (mute) this category since its content could be less interesting and probably quite repetitive. Also, it at least partly addresses the issue here: Move "Programming Questions" to the top - #5
Of course, if a thread in this new category turns out to be something of general interest, then the thread could be moved into a more appropriate category, possibly on the suggestion of another user on that thread but, otherwise,it should just stay there.
Initial suggestion for the category name:
"Post here first, or if you can't find a relevant section!" (cribbed from https://www.stm32duino.com/ . Maybe add "unclassified" somewhere)
I agree entirely. I was hoping that there could be some consolidation of topics when we migrated to Discourse but my suggestion fell on deaf ears and, to be fair, there was lot going on at the time
I would say that there would be no such thing as a wrongly categorised post if there was a forum for (effectively) uncategorised posts as I suggest.
As I said, I agree that there are too many categories. This makes it even worse for a new user to correctly assign a post to the correct one.
The question is then, who benefits from the categorisation ?
A user seeking information does a key word search so does not benefit from the categorisation.
A more experienced user may wish to see "what's new and interesting" in a particular area so hunts around in specific categories.
Certainly a new user does not. It simply makes it harder to find somewhere appropriate to post in.
Again, I agree. A user posts in the wrong category because the choice of categories is bewildering.
But a general "catch all" category would have another benefit. If a user, especially a new user, is unable to categorise a problem, it is likely that that problem is a basic one (possibly one seen many times) and would, anyway, not be of great benefit in one of the existing categories, even if an existing category fits. That is, such a "catch all" category would also have a sort of filtering effect.
Currently, if a new user posts in the wrong category, generally a moderator will move it into the correct category. This has two purposes. 1) it comes to the attention of those site volunteers who specialise in specific categories and 2) it keeps the contents of the category consistent with the category title. If, however, posts of a basic nature are left in an "uncategorised" or "catch all" category then who cares ? There will be enough site volunteers who will look into this category to see if they can help and, further, there is no point in carefully curating the Nth post requesting help about, for example, a CH340 Arduino clone not recognised by the PC. Just let it, and any possible responses, stay there and keep that sort of clutter in one place.
So how adding one additional one, regardless of its title, will do the job... ? I see your point, just don't think it will help (will add to the clutter) but that's just a personal opinion.
they end up in "Introductory Tutorials" usually as it probably felt like a correct choice for the poster...
Well, that the trick. The title of the (sub) forum could be something like:
"If you are overawed by the bewildering number of categories, just put your post here and someone will find it"
It has been occurring to me lately that the information density in the forum has been getting steadily lower and have been thinking of ways of how it could be managed.
I attribute this in part to school activities now mainly done at home where the teacher has simply given the students a few "Arduino" exercises to do remotely. It may, also in part, be due to the new forum layout, which is quite inviting for new users.
But, anyway, it is not something that I'll be spending too much time pursuing.
