Category creep and information overload

I have tackled some of theses issues by

  • making categories restricted to certain groups, except for a top level Welcome category for users not logged in
  • setting main site categories to viewable by TL0 so logged in users get the content common to all users
  • using the groups page to allow users to “follow” restricted categories
  • suppressing subcategories on hamburger menu
  • adding a groups icon to the nav

This works ok for me, including creating a curated email summary for the groups that each user follows. See https://community.talkbaq.org for an example.

At scale, the menu and groups page gets unwieldy. Some ideas to consider

  • group page enhancements to help with order and arrangement, “My Groups,” group categories, show group description/dated added, search, orderby (clickable) options, etc.

  • simple category overview page that shows all categories and subcats on one page like a sitemap

  • The new changes are great but further enhance the preference page for Categories to add a “check the box” interface.

  • Show groups on profile in more pretty way and under separate tab

  • Preference page for categories or groups page could be part of registration flow to let users pick their groups/categories.

  • Allow generic invites not tied to an email so communities can be transitioned in more easily with group assigments when you don’t have a user’s email or you want the invite to be shareable (used with caution)

  • As an alternative to groups approach. allow categories to be private but not hidden, so users know the categories exist and can get instruction in the about topic on how to join.

  • Above all else–should work on mobile.

The downside to all this for me is it takes everything out of search because categories are restricted. Also users have to jump through a couple steps.

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