Are sub section topics necessary?

[anotheoldgit]

Although it seems a certain number of ABers obviously use the sub sections of the various topics, are they really necessary?

And how many open them up to enter a question etc?

[cathfromsaron]

i agree with canary42!

[Jonathan-Joe]

Either have a simple list of topics, each one clickable or have clickable sub-topics under non-clickable topic headings.
The present arrangement where both Topic and SubTopic are clickable is poor style.
If there were non clickable Headings eg "Sport", users would have to use the appropriate Sub Topic eg "Football".

[boxtops]

I don't see why we can't see all the subsections, all of the time - it's not helpful when they compress. There is nothing on the main Topic heading to say "click here and you'll see the subsections" - why not?

[vivandorron]

Canary....I am going along with you. The best tweet so far in this thread :-)

Ron.

[anotheoldgit]

Afternoon Ed.

/// Which would you put on the block AOG? ///

Well I can only speak for the three that I mainly use.

All those under Technology

All those under News

And all those under Media & TV

I personally think that those three headings take care of all their sub topics.

[AB Editor]

Not sure about Media & TV - there's some who want a separate Soaps section.

The others sound fairly reasonable.

[anotheoldgit]

AB Editor

/// there's some who want a separate Soaps section. ///

Can't understand why, the soaps are on TV so why shouldn't they also come under TV.

[MarkRae]

I would heartily welcome a Soaps sub-section, Ed, if I thought for one minute that people would actually use it, as I could then simply avoid it... :-)

[cathfromsaron]

yes, like mark, i want to breeze over things, in my case probably sport and technology questions!

i would like latest posts to be 10 posts long though ...

[MarkRae]

It's really down to the Ed, though, and how much he really cares whether people obey the rules or not. Other sites are much stricter on this, and moderators will more often than not simply remove posts which are off-topic...

[vivandorron]

I feel sure there are still a lot of ABers who do Not realise that a click on 'Topics' will reveal the full list. Perhaps the heading should read "Topics...click for full list." and, as suggested by Canary, have main headings inoperative, if a sub-section exists.

Ron.

[ladybirder]

Reality TV has got one question in it and yet we get BB and Celeb BB posts all over the place, anywhere but where they should be. So some way to ensure (FORCE) people to post in the right section would help or to stop (not allow) an off topic post to be posted.

[netibiza]

I usually don't bother with them and then I feel guilty.

[bibblebub]

Next to the submit button have a drop-down list of topics / subtopics from which one must be selected before the submit button is enabled.

[yogasun]

aog I certainly don't think there's any point in having a separate 'Crosswords' sub section as loads of people just post under 'Quizzes&Puzzles' anyway, I've always thought it a waste of time.
Same applies to some other sections.

[AB Editor]

"some way to ensure (FORCE) people to post in the right section would help"

Near enough impossible in the current system.

"Other sites are much stricter on this, and moderators will more often than not simply remove posts which are off-topic... "

Unless we started doing this. It is an option I suppose. It may be better to offer mods the ability to shift posts about.

[ummmm]

The old Ed used to move threads.

Then we got 'where has my thread gone' questions.

[anotheoldgit]

vivandorron

/// I feel sure there are still a lot of ABers who do Not realise that a click on 'Topics' will reveal the full list. ///

I was one of those, thank you so much for the tip.