My inclination here is, if we really want to do this right, we should do this correct asap, and not just patch things up.

Solution #4 by fatalsaint or #6 by Dave I think are the best ones as they lets you target the the specific platform on any discussion. Plus, searching will be easier since it is easier to filter a search based on a specific platform (parent forum category).

If we implement solution 4 or 6 however, there will be a massive move of older threads to bring them to the correct platform, under the same category. Although tedious, it can be done.

Yeah.. and this is why I was hoping for a little more discussion and ideas. I don't want to have to revisit this in another 6 months and constantly be making you forum mods do the same work over and over. But I can understand some people being overly frustrated ATM with being unable to find what interests them.

#6 seems, to me, a little less dynamic... it already has one merger evident (N800/N810) because the two devices run the same OS's.. should this happen again it requires a category change - not that that's that big of a deal. If two different devices run one same OS, but can also each run a different OS, as another example (although more unlikely), wouldn't be taken into account.

I'm sure either option would allow people to better see what they want to see. But so far #6 and #4 are tied in the votes.. how would we proceed on those?

If Solution #1 can be done, and eventually will be done, why not do it first and now? It seems to me that the functionality of Solution #1 (enabling the filtering of New Posts) is completely independent of Solutions #4 or #6 (or any of the other solutions), yet it would immediately greatly help some people, specifically including N8x0/770 users.

This might not be done since this means changing the underlying code of the forum system and not just templates. I am against changing code unless really necessary since it makes it really difficult to upgrade the forum to the latest version.

If the forum categories is properly constructed, you can easily just go to the parent category, and do a search there, encompassing all the child forum categories, without even going to the 'advanced search' page.

Here's an example. In this case, if you are in the Software parent category, the 'Search this Forum' option will automatically search all its children categories.

Well, if it's a matter of changing the underlying code, I see why it's not happening. Thanks for letting me know.

For me, it has never been a matter of Searching (as in results you get from entering terms in the Search Box) but about New Posts. What you're saying I can do by searching within a Software parent has always been possible through Advanced Search. The problem is that you can't search for a null field in Advanced Posts.

Hence, without the requested change (Solution #1) being made, what I would have to do to see all New Posts without drowning in N900/Maemo5 posts, is:

Open each Category in which I'm interested, one-by-one, so as to see all the New Posts in each such category.

I can't actually make any use of "Parent Categories" for finding new posts either, since, for example, if I click on Software, I'm not shown any posts at all, just subcategory titles.

This means that to review new posts comprehensively, in the categories I care about, without drowning in N900/Maemo5/OffTopic threads, I have to independently, one-at-a-time open:

General
Brainstorm
Community
Applications
Multimedia
Design
OS2008 / Maemo 4 / Chinook - Diablo
Development
Alternatives
Nokia N810
Nokia N800
Nokia 770
Accessories
and Competitors.

Additionally, I have to keep track of the last time I looked at the Category since (without the functionality built into New Posts) there is nothing that will announce, "The threads below have not been updated since your last visit but still contain unread posts."

It's a big pain in the neck, and will probably mean I won't be using the forum much anymore ... or rather, it means I'll use it when I know what I need and can search for my answer or post a question about it; but I won't be generally keeping up with the platform and I won't be scanning the forum to help other users who have problems.

I've liked providing that service -- helping people who have problems for which I have answers -- but I can only provide it to people who are using the older hardware and software; and I'm not going to wade through all the N900 posts to find those occasional N8x0 posts where I may be helpful.

If you could have implemented filterable New Posts, I'd stick around to be helpful. But if you can't because of coding issues, then you can't. I believe lots of other N8x0 people have left because of this problem. The forum can still have limited utility for N8x0/770 users, but it's pretty much the end of it as a community; I believe it could have been saved if New Posts could have been filtered.

It's arguably not just a Maemo <5 vs. Maemo 5 thing. Since the volume of posts has rocketed up, my own workflow (checking New posts) takes a significant chunk of time. The number of useful threads I read hasn't increased though :-(

gerald, thank you very much for all your efforts! at this point forum changes are no longer important to me since the os2008 community that flourished here has pretty much vanished. obviously it was in the way of nokias business model. while this does not bode very well for maemos longterm future, i can't really blame anyone else but myself for this; after all, i was always free to start up my own tablet site/forum, and didn't. let's look at the bright side and be grateful that the archives still exist!

Ok, New Posts for user-specific forums... here's a workaround. I created a custom search that will show the latest posts on all forums that you are subscribed to.

Steps:

1. Subscribe to each forum you want to follow. To do this, visit a forum that you intend to follow and then click on 'Forum Tools' and hit Subscribe to This Forum'.
   
   
2. Select "No email notification" as the Notification Type
   
   
3. Do this to all forums you want to subscribe to or follow. Note that you only have to do this once.
   
4. Now bookmark the following (note that you need to book mark this exact URL and not the resulting page once you click it):
   http://talk.maemo.org/newsub.php
   I will be adding this link maybe under the Quick Links at the right once it has been tested well enough.
   
5. Results should show up, with forums you have subscribed to listed at the top:
   
   
6. To unsubscribe from a specific forum (you can click on any forum listed from step 5) and perform step 1, but choose 'Unsubscribe from this Forum'
   

Reggie, Thanks!!!!!! After adding my desired "Forums" to the subscriptions I can now monitor just the forums that are of interest to me. Then I save a link to http://talk.maemo.org/newsub.php to view only my favorite forums on my N800.

In addition, on my desktop, I saved the link http://maemo.org/subscription.php to view my subscribed "Threads". This way, when I monitor "threads" I can view only those OS2008 applications that interest me without viewing all the N900 apps.

If there's an award for best Talk tip ever, I'd nominate this.

Now if we could just change the Software category to OS specific rather than subject specific, I'd be happy.

Okay, happier, I'm just too much of a natural grump to get all the way up to happy.