I was talking about how to make an effective search system for the posts created on a forum I was on, and I got linked here. Since it’s probably better to talk to the developers, I’m okay with that.
I spoke about having multiple layers of sub-categories in order to find answers without searching, if you are able to understand what you are looking for, then you will be able to use the structure with ease, and many people come to forums because they have the same interests or issues, if we have hundreds of posts with basically the same question, how are you to find out the answer if the titles are all different and only one holds the solution? Sub-categories is my proposition, but when I stated it, I got the answer that the platform is limited to two layers and not multiple of 3-5 that I was talking about.
Is it difficult to add in the feature to unlock multilayered categories.
Ex. AMD >> GPU >> VM >> PASS-THROUGH >> AMD RX580 or RX5600 XT etc. nVIDIA >> GPU >> DRIVERS >> OS/DISTRO >> RTX2060 etc. nVIDIA >> GPU >> ISSUES & FIXES >> OS/DISTRO >> GEFORCE GTX1080 etc.
The words in bold are the forum structure, this is me being innovative with future proofing and using less resources, also newbies can probably find what they are looking for faster and mostly without searching, I was mostly thinking of the possibility of having up to 5 layers instead of 2 for forums & intuitive learning, like if you activate that something is fixed it then switches from a “NEED SOLUTION” layer to a “GOT SOLUTION” layer, so that you could flicker through solved problems and learn about how to fix them if you ever got in that kind of problem. I also think that Discourse would future proof their forum base if this was added. Devs and creators work so that others can reap what they have sown, and the time put in gets real value when it’s used by many and also gets a reputation for the most complex functionality. ;D
That’s all from me. I want to test out making my own forum btw, for the lulz. How can I do that? I’m going to check. Thanks on beforehand though!
Easy if its
GPU’s >> ISSUES
GPU’s >> DRIVERS
but it’s not like that, it’s bam everything and titles that doesn’t really feature the card and some haven’t used tags etc. Google was told to be an answer, as in search the forum via the biggest spyware on earth.
And I was more or less thinking of how to future-proof the forum structure. Later on you can force archive a whole GPU model as an example. Right now, you archive the thread, because archiving a whole sub-category could be devastating since there’s new and old posts everywhere.
If you search for something that you don’t know anything about. Say, you have an issue, you don’t know what issue it is, if you have a multiple layered category for just your card, then it simplifies, and when you kind of find something that is similar you can search for it globally for an answer. You can’t do that with searching from the beginning. I suppose that you as many others that use sofisticated forums have been using them for years and since it’s like second nature for you, it’s probably as easy for everyone else too. Nah. You know I ditched the whole reddit scene for years on end because that forum is so extensive and mostly based upon trials and errors till you learn how to use it. Now it’s fine, I’m a fast learner when I’m interested, but if it feels overwhelming, it’s probably overwhelming, and I can tell you, if it’s about something they aren’t interested in. They will ask for help. >> ME << usually and if people need others in order to understand how to use things, then it’s not for the end-user, it’s for the one that have been there since the birth of the thing. When I have to ask for help in order to find stuff, fine, I don’t have that big of an ego that I can’t ask for help, but I usually just want to find a quick solution, not read 500 posts or watch 50 videos in order to get an extensive guide. It usually ends up with me making new guides that implement everything that I myself had to go through in order to get my answers.
If I need to do that, isn’t there an obvious problem to be fixed there then? Totally missed by those that are used with it… Oh I want to create a dynamic Operating System… Well, It’s going to have to stay in my head till I forget about it. haha.
I would love to have multiple layers of sub-categories too.
Our forum is supposed to be a forum for many sub-communities and they each have their sub-category in the “Projects” category, but it would be cool if they could add sub-sub and sub-sub-sub categories to use their category like it’s own little forum.
It’s possible if you enable the hidden site setting as I recall. We discourage this because it’s almost always bad for users, but site owners “think they know better”.
Jeff, there is a setting that enables sub categories within a sub category?? If so please tell how to enable this. it would be incredibly useful in some specific use cases (like the OPs and the community I administer too with multiple separate working groups)
Dr Spock’s Baby Care is a best-selling owner’s manual for the most complicated ‘product’ imaginable – and it only has two levels of headings. You people have 8 levels of hierarchy and I haven’t even stopped counting yet. No wonder you think it’s complicated.
