@TechnoFino @bhavyegoel
Categorisation of threads is a much needed move, but it needs to be complimented with another one, to keep engagement at par.
What a usual TFian does is - click on the ⚡ and read whatever post is currently replied to, or being discussed.
This causes a few issues
1. the whole community
miss out on "new" threads
2. It
restricts the content that a member is viewing, since earlier everyone posted everything in the "general discussion" - so everyone read everything - infomative posts, troll posts, random credit cards etc.
Now they must specifically browse into that section to read about a card. Or be lucky to find something that interests them in the ⚡ section
3.
Reduces engagement. New threads are not promoted in this model. So a new thread might just end up never receiving any comments from other members. This is specially true for threads that may be niche (imo each category is a niche in itself)
4.
Reduces interaction - the "general discussion" tab used to be the "lobby" or "hangout" place for all members. With new threads coming up, the members were more interested in posting their replies. Whereas in the ⚡ section, often it happens that the members have already replied earlier, or are unwilling to read 10 pages of posts to gather context.
Possible solution
Create a "lobby" area, where all threads, irrespective of their category are shown, or posted. All the members can post their new threads in the lobby section, as well as categorise them. New threads are not lost, and thus it can also compliment the ⚡ system
Create a chatroom - but this might create more uninformative chat than actual content that everyone loves.
Create a "general" thread where all members post, introduce a system where.other members can suggest a category to the threads, and mods do the final approval. The number of approved categorisation can be used to collect more points.
While categorisation is good, it also adds barriers to information - not everyone may be willing to manually scroll through each category to see what's new being discussed, thus reducing engagement
A place where all online members can connect, and interact with new post can significantly drive up the enjoyment of every member