Hi all,
So in the past, we would add new categories to the forums as long as there were 5 topics on the subject. Looking back, that may be too few and it just results in people creating a load of new threads and those coming rather inactive once they’ve got what they want. So, I’m going to change the way that we get new categories!
Of course, it is still important to me that the forums adapt to the users. So, if we have a bunch of new users speaking about anime, we will create a category for them to sort their thoughts a little better. If a whole community of dressmakers suddenly joined the forums, I would definitely create a dressmaking category for them. We love the freedom that Discourse offers to chop and change: add and merge categories and just make the experience a better one for all of our users.
However, what I don’t want to see is a bunch of dead categories in General Chat with 5 closed threads. So, I’m gonna make the process of getting categories added a little different:
-
There needs to be at least 20 threads on the subject at hand. I think 20 is a good number of threads to warrant a separate category.
-
Each thread must have at least 10 on-topic replies. This will ensure that people are engaging with the threads and not just creating them to try to get a new category.
-
A user must then create a thread in the Site Feedback section, requesting a new category and linking us to the threads that were created.
Voila! You have a new category!
Of course, as always, I reserve the right to make new categories as and when I like regardless of this.
