# Do users properly use categories?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424
**Category:** Community Building
**Created:** [January 3, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424 "2025-01-03T12:11:39Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@wellbing-go](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wellbing-go)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 12:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/1 "2025-01-03T12:11:39Z")
Hi!
In our forum, some users don’t read the category description carefully, they often just choose the first category.
Previously, we make the first category `Require moderator approval of all new topics`. It didn’t work well, mods spent a lot of time helping users select the right one.
I wonder how you organize the categories and how you help users choose the right categories.
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### Author:  [@ondrej](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ondrej)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 12:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/2 "2025-01-03T12:25:35Z")
Hi @wellbing-go :blob_wave:
Mmh an interesting one… Although I’d say users don’t read (I’m guilty of this too) in general, I’ve not had issues with other users choosing the wrong category unless they are new etc.
Are your category names short and obvious? For example #Support. And is the category description written well?
> [@wellbing-go](#):
>
> they often just choose the first category
I’d try and find out why maybe its just the users or perhaps its confusing. Reach out to them via PM or create a topic explaining that categories are there to help organise the forum and increase its searchability etc. So it helps everyone if topics are categorised properly and if they have any questions to contact staff.
These are just my ideas but I’d love to hear what other ideas / experiences others have here.
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### Author:  [@merefield](https://meta.discourse.org/u/merefield)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 12:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/3 "2025-01-03T12:29:43Z")
> [@wellbing-go](#):
>
> they often just choose the first category.
If they choose one at all! 😅 🤷♂️
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### Author:  [@wellbing-go](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wellbing-go)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 12:34pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/4 "2025-01-03T12:34:54Z")
Thanks for your sincere advice 🥰
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/5 "2025-01-03T13:08:54Z")
This topic makes me think of this post:
> [@What are the plans to improve the composer in 2024?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-are-the-plans-to-improve-the-composer-in-2024/303826/7):
>
> Just as general feedback, [Waterhole](https://waterhole.dev/community) has some patterns I really like. E.g. picking a category: Or this detail for replying to a specific user or in general:
An example of an app that forces a category pick before start writing.
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### Author:  [@Bas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Bas)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/6 "2025-01-03T13:11:57Z")
This:
> [@ondrej](#):
>
> Are your category names short and obvious? For example #Support. And is the category description written well?
and in addition to that, how many categories do you have?
Because we as community managers tend to have quite a few. Unfortunately, the nuances that are evident for us are less evident for first-time users.
I’ve been very enamoured by [Wix’s recent approach](https://forum.wixstudio.com) of _radically_ simplifying things, here’s their category dropdown in its entirety:
Or in meme format..
cc: @noahl I’m bragging about your work again 😛
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 1:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/7 "2025-01-03T13:13:56Z")
> [@Canapin](#):
>
> forces a category pick before start writing.
You can do that in Discourse.
When you disable `allow uncategorized topics` and have “no category” in `default composer category`, you have to choose a category before you can type.
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### Author:  [@Canapin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Canapin)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 1:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/8 "2025-01-03T13:18:31Z")
True.
Nolo’s example of a different flow with a mandatory, clear and free from distractions display of all the categories and their descriptions might help users pick the right category.
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### Author:  [@noahl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/noahl)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/9 "2025-01-03T13:29:46Z")
> [@Bas](#):
>
> _radically_ simplifying things
Thanks @Bas!
A few extra insights into how we got to 3 categories (only 2 of which users can create topics in). I know cutting back on categories can be hard! 😅
We had 16 categories when we first launched our forum—each based around a conversation style: “Ask a question”, “General”, “Feedback”, etc.
Not only was it frustrating to manage and make sure everything was organised correctly, but it was also frustrating for users. We saw a month-over-month decrease in engagement and activity—simply because topics were incorrectly categorized.
We moved from “conversation style” categories to “intent-based” categories and have seen significant increases in engagement and retention.
We asked ourselves why people came to our forum, and it all boiled down to asking questions and showing off projects. We then use tags to separate topics within categories (e.g., “code”, “design”, “cms”, etc.).
A little preview into our thought processes:
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### Author:  [@wellbing-go](https://meta.discourse.org/u/wellbing-go)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 1:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/10 "2025-01-03T13:56:52Z")
Hi, Noah. Your idea is awesome!
But I wonder how you manage the previously existing topics, that could be a lot 😂
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### Author:  [@noahl](https://meta.discourse.org/u/noahl)
#### Post date: [January 3, 2025, 2:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/11 "2025-01-03T14:13:33Z")
I guess you’re referring to moving the existing topics to new categories?
If so - yeah, it was a lot 😅 I think at that point, we had 45K+ topics across all the categories. Luckily, almost all of them were in the “Discussion\> Ask a question” category, which we moved to be a main category, renamed as “Ask the community” and then moved the other categories’ topics into it.
Overall, it took ~1 full day of work to make the changes, and then obviously planning in advance.
For example, mapping all of the old pinned topics, and the permalinks needed to redirect to the new pinned topics for each new category.
We also took the time to communicate in advance to users - [Studio Community Updates: What’s New - Be in the know - Community Support Forum | Wix Studio](https://forum.wixstudio.com/t/studio-community-updates-what-s-new/59696) - explaining the decisions and the timeframe, which was super important to ensure regular users wouldn’t be overwhelmed by the change.
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### Author:  [@haydenjames](https://meta.discourse.org/u/haydenjames)
#### Post date: [April 7, 2025, 11:45am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/do-users-properly-use-categories/345424/12 "2025-04-07T11:45:18Z")
Bookmarked. Thanks for sharing this. I’m thinking about the Wix audience/niche vs. other tech niches, but often “less is more”. Kudos. 😎