Any value in Creating New Forum Subjects?

[Mtnviewer]

While I'm very new to cpaptalk forum and really like and appreciate it, I'm wondering if it might be useful to reorganize the forum into Subjects such as "Machines>Resmed>Puritan Bennett>Inellipap..." etc.. Also to my thinking it would be useful to have a Subject for Masks>Types>Solutions>Leaking etc., and another Forum Topic for Software>Resmed>Sandman Therapy ... etc..

Other topics that come up could be:

Newbies
Oral Appliances
Chin Straps
GER
Aerophagia

and so on. The vetrans here would likely be best to reorganize the forums.

Right now it's a bit complex to follow threads or to quickly find info via Search when threads are all over the place in topics and time.

If this has been thought of before and discounted for some good reason, my aplogies.

[Goofproof]

That's what the Search function is for, to find things people that don't want to read the threads to find out. Also we have the bulb at the top of the page. But more can be learned by reading all the threads that interest you. Jim

[araminta]

ditto - I've benefitted enormously by using the search feature.
and enjoy the organic ebb and flow of discussions in a thread.

[Hawthorne]

If the forum was changed to that form we would still be "all over the place" and many things would be MISSED. There would be so many categories ( you have already suggested, what I consider to be, too many to be useful). It would only complicate, in my opinion.

People using forums tend NOT to put things under the right subject headings and some very helpful information could never been seen by someone who could benefit from reading it. A lot of things raised on this forum just don't fit neatly into a category. This has always been my reason for not wanting various categories when it has been raised in the past. It has been raised before. I have also been on forums that do have subjects. Those forum just confirm, to me, that cpaptalk, in it's present format, has a better way to allow people to read everything they want to read.

I like it this way! I can pick and choose the threads that appear to be helpful or interesting and ignore the others. The only category I really like its the "OT - Off Topic" category.

[Paul56]

For an alternative search you can always use Google:

For example: "site: cpaptalk.com quattro" entered in the search field without the quotes will return everything from on here with "Quattro" in it.

[rested gal]

Right now it's a bit complex to follow threads or to quickly find info via Search when threads are all over the place in topics and time.

If this has been thought of before and discounted for some good reason, my aplogies.

No need to apologize, Mtnviewer. That's a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

Quite a few people would like categories. Quite a few wouldn't.

It never hurts to ask. I kind of like the forum as it is, but then I'm pretty used to it. I can well understand how it is for people who have recently come here and are trying to find something specific.

There've been some good pro/con discussions from time to time.

Topic started by forumadmin -- Should cpaptalk Be Divided Into Categories or Subsections?
Aug 2005
viewtopic/t4149/viewtopic.php?p=33395#p33395

Any chance of sub-forums being added?
May 2006
viewtopic.php?p=80429#p80429

Do you think adding some forums to separate content would make this site more user friendly?
May 2007
viewtopic.php?p=169484#p169484

Please Rethink The Big Pot Design
Sept 2008
viewtopic.php?p=296770#p296770

Board suggestions
Feb 2009
viewtopic.php?p=340618#p340618



This next thing isn't about categories, but might help:

A suggestion about doing searches (thanks to blarg and CollegeGirl) -- if the Advanced Search button at top of the forum's main page doesn't find what a person is looking for, or comes up with such a mish mash of things that it aren't useful, another way to search this board is to do a Google search.

In the Google search box, type what you want to look for, written as in the examples below. Be sure to include the words that are run together (and the colon) in that final emphasized phrase:

oral mask site:cpaptalk.com

Cflex A-flex EPR difference site:cpaptalk.com

DME definition site:cpaptalk.com

oops, was typing and before submitting, I see that Paul56 covered the Google search tip.

[GumbyCT]

Right now it's a bit complex to follow threads or to quickly find info via Search when threads are all over the place in topics and time.
If this has been thought of before and discounted for some good reason, my aplogies.

No need to apologize, Mtnviewer. That's a perfectly reasonable suggestion.

Quite a few people would like categories. Quite a few wouldn't.

Given that this is the second time this has come up in less than a week. Tho it does seem more like the 3rd. It seems more & more people seem to read ONLY their posts

I vote for TWO Categories -
Read and UNRead

I think this falls into the UNRead category.
search.php?st=0&sk=t&sd=d&keywords=%2Bforum++%2Bsubject++

[roster]

I propose two sections:

I - Why cpaptalk.com should not be in sections
II - Everything else

Everybody happy now?

[OldLincoln]

Just for the heck of it, I tagged a bunch of posts the other day to see if that would work as a quasi grouping tool. Of course I started with mine (it is a test after all). The problem is I don't know if I see only my tags or everybody sees everybody's tags. Anyway, at the bottom of the index page, if you click on the tag "aerophagia", it should pop up 17 posts related to that. I also tagged them with "bloating, gas, gastric insufflation". Same for the tag "DME" with only a few tagged, including the name of the DME when provided (we really should give the names in posts).

I thought it would be a good exercise putting order inside the bubble as an option. If we were to be consistent with tag naming, it could solve the need for order and the need for chaos - a win-win.