Under Consideration The Prefix system SUCKS

[t2van]

I get wanting to clean up the forum or the menu on the left and or remove less active areas. But I got no bloody clue where things like ecommerce, design and computing is even located now.

I didn't really get the logic of removing them in the first instance as to me it just made sense SEO wise to have them and those sections would eventually grow.

There's at least 6-7 posts I would have shared over the past few weeks but I get frustrated to be perfectly honest trying to locate where to post the correct info, where do we go now? The Saloon?

I get if you want to keep it that way for what ever reason (personally I think as a user it sucks) but we need some clarity as to what prefixes are in each section.

Where's ecommerce, computing, design and so on those are probably the 3 sections I care more about and poof vanish.

IF you do decide to bring them back later it has to be a ball ache to move them all plus the SEO side of it.

Personally it wasn't broke before and it didn't need fixing.

A frustrated user.

 

[Zwielicht]

I remember you posted about this back in December in the forum reorganisation announcement thread.

In my opening post of that thread, I mentioned that the e-commerce section was removed and turned into a prefix for the Marketing section.

The E-Commerce section has been removed and a prefix for e-commerce has been created in the General Marketing section.

There were multiple design prefixes before the Graphic Design section was removed. They still exist, they're just disabled for now.

The Video & Graphic Design section has been removed. The existing prefixes and threads have been moved under the Tools At The Forge section. The reasoning for this is because the only threads we were really getting in that section were discussing tools for these types of media creation rather than the process itself.

Computing is now in Work Life after it was moved out of The Saloon. This was done January 10, 2026.

As for why this was all done, that was explained in the forum reorganisation announcement thread.

The reason @Impulse and I did this was simply because these sections were quite inactive and we don't want OO to become a cluttered list of sections everyone forgets has trouble navigating. Like really, these sections had about 13-17 threads at the most in them. It's like dedicating a whole bedroom to just having a single bookshelf in it with 2 small books.

On top of that reason, dead sections are off-putting to new users and having a forum where the bulk of threads are just in "The Saloon" isn't a great look, either.

The way it's set up, these prefixes are easy to move to a new section as is bulk moving the existing threads. I'm fine with moving them if they're difficult to find, particularly the Computing prefix since that's not really a "Work Life" thing, is it?

Looking into this, we don't even have anything for design. I wouldn't mind adding in a broad Design section under maybe the Support & Utility category. I'll see if there are any existing threads or interest for this kind of category and consider it later.

Anyway, here's what I'll do to make things easier in terms of navigation:

1. I'll rewrite the subforum descriptions to include what prefixes are in there
   • Example: "Marketing: Discuss Income, E-Marketing, E-Commerce, Copywriting, and Content Writing". Maybe something less bland, but you get the point.
2. I'll move the Computing prefix and associated threads to a different section since it doesn't fit Work Life anyway. Edit: I made a Technology section and moved it all there. See the post below.
3. I'll consider adding in a Design section.
4. I need to reorganise the prefix categories on the backend. This will make it clearer to know which section they're in when you do an advanced search.

No need for 7 upvotes on this since it's more of a complaint about usability that needs to be addressed anyway.

Update:
I mean, take this new Technology section as an example. https://officeoutlaw.com/forums/technology.111/

It's a broad section where it should be easy to remember that computers/computing goes there. It makes more sense than the prefix being in Work Life.

It also means we now have a more appropriate place to put the Automations prefix.

In case it's not clear enough that computing discussions and its prefix are meant to be discussed there, the section description says it.

This section is for technology discussions such as computing and automations.

This new section is on the menu bar already for easy access.

I'll post more about the changes in the changelog later today once I've finished them.

 

[t2van]

Sucks was probably too harsh first thing in the morning, my Wednesday is not going to plan at all. I apologise.

I don't think not having content in some sections is off putting.. I think its the other way around by using prefix in sections that dont make much sense I don't think id class ecommerce as marketing either

 

[Zwielicht]

Sucks was probably too harsh first thing in the morning, my Wednesday is not going to plan at all. I apologise.

Thank you.

I don't think not having content in some sections is off putting.. I think its the other way around by using prefix in sections that dont make much sense I don't think id class ecommerce as marketing either

That’s even off-putting for me. I’ll admit that I had look for the e-commerce prefix and with the computing prefix, I only knew where it was because I remembered where I moved it.

The prefix locations should make sense and members should intuitively be able to find them, so I felt the problem you brought up was valid.

 

[Spy]

I don't think not having content in some sections is off putting.. I think its the other way around by using prefix in sections that dont make much sense I don't think id class ecommerce as marketing either

Think of it from a new user’s perspective. When someone visits the site for the first time and sees sections with only a few posts or no posts at all, they are much more likely to leave without signing up. I experienced this myself when I ran a small hobby forum, which is why I can say this with confidence.

 

[t2van]

Thank you.

That’s even off-putting for me. I’ll admit that I had look for the e-commerce prefix and with the computing prefix, I only knew where it was because I remembered where I moved it.

The prefix locations should make sense and members should intuitively be able to find them, so I felt the problem you brought up was valid.

Yeah I can't remember where prefix are located to be honest. As a user and from a UX/UI It's clumsy.

Think of it from a new user’s perspective. When someone visits the site for the first time and sees sections with only a few posts or no posts at all, they are much more likely to leave without signing up. I experienced this myself when I ran a small hobby forum, which is why I can say this with confidence.

I can't understand how thats off-putting really.

Id get it if the forum was dead but what your not going to join because you got an ecommerce site and there was 6-12 posts inside that section?

Why would you join now as from a new user it looks like you dont discuss that here..