Are we doing Forums the wrong way?

[MrEyes]

Originally Posted by WiBu

......For the most part they're highly segmented, things being tucked away in separate categories, it doesn't really promote exploration or spontaneous discussion.....

When I originally set up my site one of the most frequent comments was "there are too many forums". Like most forums the structure of the site was designed to segregate subjects into specific areas, for example the sites subject is motorbikes so we have a forums for Mechanics, Riding Techniques, General Bike Chat, Off Topic Chat, Days Out etc, Motorbike Media, Off Topic Media.

Like any filing system, this segregation allows users to find threads on specific subjects easily. However I soon realised that a good portion of my active members would use some/all these areas and they found it annoying to have to click in/out of these.

So I found myself with a decision to make, go against internet tradition and mash everything together or leave the traditional segregated set up. Then I realised there there were problems with both these solutions, the biggest ones being:

• Lets say UserX is interested in subjects A, B & C - but UserY is only interested in subjects A & B. If I mash everything then UserY will be annoyed as there are loads of subject C threads clogging up there view.
• I would have to use tags/thread prefixes to allow at least some semblance of organisation, however these are user defined and we all know that you cannot rely on a user to do anything.
• Leaving things segregated would continue to annoying forum members that just wanted to see things in one place.
• Mashing together would annoy forum members that preferred everything in its own section.

These problems of course left me with something of a headache, so I was still at square one with a traditional segregated forum.

Then I found a perfect solution, that allows me to keep a segregated forum for those that want it at the same time as allowing members to mash together the subject that they want mashed together.

In summary I created a mod that allows users to select their preferred forums and then view all threads from their selected forums on a single page. This means that UserX can see all A, B & C threads in one place at the same time as UserY only see A & B threads, and UserZ can continue to use a traditional segregated forum.

This mod is available here:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=191770

This mod has been on my site for almost a year, and every single user loves it.