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bananastand

Help with general GardenWeb question please...

bananastand
10 years ago

I know this is a bit off-topic, but to keep it related let me explain. This is the growing tomatoes forum. I know it's active and there are people who check here and post here. I have posted questions about tomatoes here and I get good responses within a day or so. And I try to contribute to other conversations. But to illustrate my point, if I was a new person visiting this website, would I find this particular forum easily? There is also a Vegetables forum. There is also a Large Vegetables forum. There is also a forum for my particular state (where I'm sure people are growing toms and may have region-specific info.) There are probably a dozen other forums where a user might post a potential question........ but since not all the forums are as active as this one, a lot of posts might never get seen by anyone.

Do any GardenWeb veterans/pros have tips on the following? Have the people who created/manage this site ever entertained solutions to these issues or do you guys have thoughts on them?

1. Some way to know which of the MANY available forums are "most active" forums where people are checking/posting/answering questions regularly. It seems the bulk of them are so micro-specialized, that they are not used all that much and posts in them are rarely seen.

2. A way to winnow the list of available forums down to the few you visit most? I know there is a feature in the profile to pick your top two forums, but I am yet to find a quick and easy link when I log in to show me those two. Instead you have to scroll endlessly until you find the forum you want. I've gotten good at the mind map of how long to scroll and where to move the mouse to find this one. :-)

3. Knowing what questions fit in what category... if I have a question about tomatoes, I know to post here. If I have a question about basil that I am growing in a raised bed with Mel's Mix, there are at least three or four different places I can think to post that question. Has there been a larger discussion of winnowing of the sheer number of forums at all?

4. A post history for specific users? I hate to admit it, but sometimes I post a question first thing in the morning before leaving for work, and then it might be days before I remember to navigate back to that forum and check replies. Yes I know I can activate email notifications for every reply, but on other discussion forums I use, you can go to your profile page and see a quick and easy list of recent posts. I would love something like that here to stay on track!

Thanks and sorry for the slightly off topic post. Again to be back on topic, my tomatoes are doing great! :-)

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