Forum Cleanup

[TerryL]

This is radical. I expect push-back, especially from Paul, but I'm putting it out there for people to ruminate on for a while until the appropriate time.

As we are hoping to attract hobbyists, educators, and grade 5-12 students, the forum is an excellent way to introduce OpenXTalk. It should welcome new coders with a clearly labeled, safe, respectful forum.

o Categories. I suggest simplifying forum categories to: OpenXTalk Downloads, General Discussion, Workshop, Opinion & Editorial. No sub-categories. Unlike LC with bewildering forum choices, fewer is better. Paul, you set up the forum and original categories. Would you be willing to change them as we transition from club startup to public help & resource.
o Category Content. Are postings older than four months still relevant? Delete or move to an Archive category.
o Bots/Spam. I also suggest Paul give forum keys to Richmond who has offered to monitor and remove unwanted inappropriate posts.
o Ease Of Use. Maybe I'm forum-challenged, but a post always takes two tries. I can attach one image, but must submit (twice) and immediately edit the post to attach another image, repeating as needed. I can't attach a zipped folder at all, yet others seem able. And the Edit option for a post disappears. These may turn off many new users from this valuable resource. Can these be fixed?

The way the forum looks and works reflects heavily on public perception of OpenXTalk.org.
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[FourthWorld]

...bewildering forum choices, fewer is better.

a post always takes two tries.

IIRC that was a temporary workaround for spam abatement. Moderation that encumbers a few of much better than a feature impediment that confuses everyone.

[richmond62]

I do get 'fizzled' fooling around uploading images {which, as you are aware, I like to do], so something like the Functionality of that 'other' forum would be much better.

We can also restrict some sections to 'mages', 'orcs', or what-have-ye, so that newbies don't have to look at Richmond's obscenities.