My concern with all this is, that asking people to do this or encouraging them to do this or that doesnt work well unless they have an incentive or reason to do so. So a predefined hashtag related link for eg geometry nodes, like it would be a subforum on the startpage would work much better IMO to convince people using hashtags. ( under a new category like “Popular hashtags topics”). If its THE way to look for geometry node related problems people will try to align with it for their own problem.
Btw. adding such a link has the benefit that the tag is set automatically for a new topic.
I understand task-based, but one can argue that proceduralism is a task that does not fit neatly in any of the categories we have now (which has become a rather hot topic amid the debut of Geometry Nodes and the recent additions to the Shader Nodes).
Regarding categories in general, the forum software already allows you to click the section heading to lump every topic into a single feed. In my opinion, removing many of the categories for tags sounds like a lot of ‘modern’ web features, which is replacing a feature because it is trendy and not because it is actually more intuitive and easier to use.
Proceduralism isn’t a task. It’s a means to an end. Rigging, simulation, modeling, textures/materials, animation… those are all tasks that can be accomplished procedurally. Of course, by that definition, scripting isn’t a task, either, and arguably the Python Support category should be dissolved. That’s not likely to happen (but it’s not off the table) since add-on development is a task.
And regarding this:
Tags stopped being trendy over a decade ago. They’re a viable and useful means of classifying content that fits in multiple places. As evidenced by experience with this forum and many others, more categories doesn’t make things more intuitive or easier to use. It’s the opposite, because it introduces choice fatigue just trying to figure out where to make a post. Tags allow you pick a general category that makes the most sense and then get more specific across multiple classifications.
The theming for tags could certainly be more prominent… definitely something we could suggest to @bartv… especially if you have a recommendation or CSS style already in mind.
I also like the idea of a link to currently active or popular hash tags. I think this is something that Discourse may support natively, but I’ll have to look into it to know for sure.
I am not sure why choice fatigue would be that much of a problem if the sections are clearly labeled, and especially if you do not even have to scroll to see all of them. I mean if one can work in a 3D DCC app, then a member should be able to tell that a modeling question goes in the modeling forum and not lighting and rendering.
As I also mentioned, users can just click the header and have all of the support threads in one feed, at least one should be allowed to start a new thread while in feed view and pick the section to insert it to in a dropdown.
I’m quite open on how to realize it. Its just that with its current layout its almost invisible. A simple change like a blueish tint for the grey cube could already be enough and would definitely put some attention to it, but an analogous color to the orange dots like yellow would work aswell. I think a new category on the mainsite could reflect the colorchoice aswell to make clear its not just another subforum.
I think a mixed mode of dynamic and static entries would be nice. To have a bit of control that intentionally important topics dont disappear if more shortterm but trending tags come up.
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