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The software this site is running (Postmill) lets us put forums into categories. What do y'all think of these options?

Submitted by devtesla in meta

Currently we're not categorizing things at all, which is probably fine because we can't do much with em. All they would do is make this forums sorted by category page a little bit nicer to look it, but I don't think anyone stumbles across that. Maybe we'll get a feature that lets you sort posts by forum category, which would be cool but not essential.

That said, I do think having categories around would help clarify what the site is for. Currently the site is about "Everything", which is accurate but not really helpful lol.

Good categories are easy to understand and don't overlap, so when yall make a forum you know exactly what category it goes in. Let me know if these are understandable enough.

None of these have been implemented yet, this is just my proposal.


01 - Main
general, Just_Post, ask, me_irl, meta

The catch-alls! We have the more neutral sounding "general" (I'm using the name of the default channel in discord), the more casual Just_Post, and a couple other important forums. The "01" is because these categories display alphabetically, and I want this at the top.

Doing Things
imadethis, just_eate, just_drawe, itookthisphoto

This is a broad category, not just for food, hobbies, and art like it is now but for like, writing and travel or whatever else.

Learning Things

We don't have any forums in this category yet cause I'm not qualified to make em lol. This can be about history, science, book stuff.

Media Arts
killallgames, anime4unme, Yuri_hut, cartoons, post_music

Other places call this like Arts or Entertainment. I think Media Arts strikes a balance between being respectful while also not being too pretentious? Maybe I'm over thinking it lol.

Politics
vote_satan

Currently there's just my silly politics forum, but if you want to do more serious forums about specific subjects or theory or whatever please do! If you want to do other silly forums please do! This may overlap with Learning Things in some ways, but I think grouping things this way makes sense.

Tech
technology, programming

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Sharing Things
spookyskeletongifs, memes, pictures_of_dogs

For sharing cool things you found! I like putting all subs like this into a big pot instead of separating them into "funny" or "cute" or whatever because it doesn't put in an expectation of behavior or reaction. I almost made it "Sharing Cool Things" or "Post Your Favorite" but even that was too much lol. Let me know if this is too vague!

Support
venting, selfcare

For topics like selfcare, mental health, and places specifically to vent.

I think it's okay to vent just about anywhere on jstpst, my intention is to be tolerant of it, but there's value in having a specific place for it. I also know that some topics people get a benefit from posting about are disturbing for others, so it's good to have a place for those kind of subjects.


There's a few category ideas I have that we might need as we get bigger, but are okay under uncatagotized for now. Ideas: "Regional" for geographically relevant posting, "Chitchat" for casual conversation forums, "Vanity" for forums like /f/devteslainaction that are really just for the person making it, and "Group" for groups of people on here who just want a place to post together. If you're into any of those, or want them under a different name, let me know!

Thanks for reading this post! Thank you for posting!

Comments

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3

musou wrote

"news for nerds, stuff that matters" made me screm internally. but this seems like a good list of categories

1

Moonside wrote

I have a simpler scheme that probably didn't get read by anyone (hyperbole), because I posted it so late. Justifications, a bit outdated since this is a living site, in original comment: https://www.jstpst.net/f/meta/28/comment/248

  • Arts and entertainment: killallgames, anime4unme, post_music, itookthisphoto, imadethis, just_drawe, Yuri_hut. This could also be named Arts and media.
  • General: general, just_post, ask.

or the former split in two:

  • Crafts and creative pursuits: itookthisphoto, imadethis, just_drawe and (maybe) just_eate. (I'm not entirely sold on the name.)
  • Arts and entertainment: killallgames, anime4unme, post_music, Yuri_hut.

I think these cover your 01 - Main, Doing Things, Learning Things, Media Arts in a better way than your categories.

Also, media arts aren't all arts, I think that Arts and Entertainment is strictly superior replacement for Media arts since not all arts are media arts.

Otherwise, I think that Learning Things and Sharing Things are both premature at this point of time and too vague. And in my book me_irl is memery that ought to go with Sharing Things things, the format is restricted enough not to warrant being in general category.

Politics, tech and support are great categories.

Last thing: I think that arbitrary 01 sorting is bad and shouldn't be done. I'm sure the postmill person could implement sorting by subscribers if we ask nice enough and when there are less than 20 categories, they're all visible enough.

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devtesla wrote

You seem to be rewriting your categories over and over so I'm not sure what your final proposal is. Some of them seem a lot like mine but are too specific, and might end up causing us to overflow with categories if we head down that route. Let me know your thoughts on this.

Also note that these aren't super important, we're not going to make some big change to the website just so we don't have to put "01 -" before a category.

And in my book me_irl is memery

This is not the case.