Should we add a "Help! Plant Problems" section to the forum?

[NebulaHaze]

We're working behind the scenes to get the forum tuned up, and something we get asked about from time to time is to add more sections to the forum.

Right now everything goes on one main list, which is nice to have all in one place, but starting to get overcrowded with all the new members. The site is basically run by just me and sometimes Sirius (with a LOT of help from you all, it would be impossible without all the amazing forum users), and so we're really worried about expanding it beyond what we can handle, because we want to make sure it stays friendly and focused purely on growing, but here's what we're considering now.

We're thinking about adding two new sections, to start. One we plan to add for sure is "Completed Grow Journals". We'll move completed grow journals over to that section if the grower wants, so all their hard work gets extra exposure I'll have more info in that soon!

The second idea is for a Plant Problems section for growers to post about urgent problems. So the good part would be it would be easier for growers with urgent problems to get exposure, because they wouldn't be mixed in with anything else. My one concern is that people might not see the section (it would appear next to the current Tutorials section in the forum), and I worry people might be less likely to see and therefore answer. I'm afraid people would stick in the main forum without realizing they're missing a section. The one cool thing about just one section is you can't accidentally miss a whole part of the forum.

What do you think? If we added a new forum category next to "Tutorials" called "Help! Plant Problems" do you think the posts inside would get more or less exposure?

And please definitely feel free to reply in this thread with any other thoughts or suggestions about the forum, big or small, as well as any problems you're having. We know the forum works better on desktop than mobile and we've finally got someone who says they can help us start getting everything tuned up so you all have a better experience Don't hesitate to contact me directly about problems as well. I may not be able to fix it right away, but the more information to pass to the programmers, the better!

[Green75]

I think each members profile should contain a list of every thread they personally started. Make it easy to reference back and forth...its to hard trying to find old threads...

[bobsakamoto]

for real? dang, that's good to know!

[OzBud]

Nebula I can't believe you only just found that function. I found that not long after I joined 6 months or so ago. I did try and investigate all the different sections of the site that I could find though.
I also found the page where you can see what others are doing on the forum http://forum.growweedeasy.com/online

[NebulaHaze]

Wow! That one is new to me, too, that's neat! I need to get more prominent links to these places!

[Newf]

I agree that help diagnosing problems is a big enough topic that it deserves it's own space. I don't know the best way to highlight it so it doesn't get missed, though.

[Potted]

U just said it,highlight it with a different color,color code the sections easy to use with each post what do u think there Mrs. Haze?any Merrit . Just spitballing lol

[Marley]

I like the idea of the archived grow journals. I'm split on the help section because I can see your concern too.

As for managing the forum to keep it friendly, I used to be apart of a car forum with a pretty good amount of traffic and the guy that owned it eventually asked some of the trusted members to be moderators to help keep it under control. I'm not sure how customizable this forum is as far as you making moderators and setting their parameters, but usually they're limited to being able to move, close, delete or sticky threads as well ban members (or spam bots) violating rules. They can't make any changes or screw up anything with the forum itself.

[Marley]

I love cars. My current affair is with a 2015 VW GTI.

[Jeg]

My current project is an 02 Mini Cooper. Tried to post a picture but it's been a total rebuild.

[Potted]

Mine is a little old BMW Z3 rag top Did the redue my self couple years ago.

[NA420]

Yes Nebz we do need a "help" section but that will get flooded with double topics and repetitive scenarios. Make some OG members forum moderators, that way they can delete double posts and move topics to their proper section when misposted.

I too have noticed the spike in activity on this forum, lots of new topics to keep up with and help on but some are the same. Traffic will only get bigger and grow as "we" grow, the best thing to do now is come together and manage the heavy flow of traffic.

My .02 cents, peace and positive vibes!

[DrPhoton]

Yes i think a seperate forum for help is a good idea, i dont think it will get missed much because of its location. I quite often use the main website header link to redirect me to the top of the hierarchy, where all main subforums are show.
I still also think that the thread list count should be increasred to 15-20 threads.

If you control the amount of people who are accepted as a forum member, you could control the influx. Creating a partially closed based community. Id think that would be the best outlook to prevent the place from being too crowded.

[NebulaHaze]

I upped the thread list count to 20 threads, let's see how that works! We've thought of a partially closed community, but the idea behind this forum is to answer new grower questions, so we're trying to make it as easy for anyone to post questions as possible, without hurting the integrity of the forum. It's tough to find that balance!

[DrPhoton]

Yea 20 looks good.

[bobsakamoto]

i like most everyone's suggestions so far, and i agree with newf about how it's a tough call on how to address the problem of keeping a person's particular help post from getting lost. looks like the worry is will it get lost in the help forum or will it get lost on the main forum, and if that's the case, it seems to me it would prolly be better for it to get lost on the help forum since there it would stand a far better chance of getting replied to eventually/sooner. just my thoughts...

[NebulaHaze]

I think that makes a lot of sense.

[Burny]

One main section is enough for me. I would probably not even go to a different section.

[Ergot]

I agree with your suggestions Nebula, a little structure to the forum will go a long way to improving the user experience. Working in IT and having ran my own forum before, my first time visiting this forum was quite surprising seeing all the topics going into one big section, as mentioned above, the chance of topics getting buried beneath new ones is quite high.

I don't think you'll have much of a problem of highlighting to users the new sections of the forum if the links at the top of the forum (clicking the logo and the link 'GWE Forum') both take a user to the main page where they can see the different sections of it (grow journals, tutorials etc etc)

I don't recognise the forum software your using (and that's a good thing for security measures) but I know the more popular forums usually will have 'mods' released by users where you can start customising it. I don't have the example to show you but I have seen some forums have the ability for a user to showcase a few select topics made by that user in their signature, something in my opinion that would be perfect for showing off grow journals.

Thanks for dedicating so much time to building & maintaining this site, I wouldn't have made it this far in growing without it

[DrPhoton]

Yea quite agree.

[OzBud]

You can already add things in a signature under account setting

[oldjarhead100]

Nebula the biggest problem I see is trying to find the threads you either started or replied to , I dont have a solution but maybe if you could search the dates or assign numbers to them . I try to respond to threads that have not been responded to because when you have a problem its an emergency to you. especially to new growers. So yes I think a plant help section would be great

[oldjarhead100]

so I just followed you instructions to find all the threads I started. I noticed that I started 3 or 4 threads about my current grow . how would I start a grow journal and be able to return to it daily and update it,this would cut down on the number of threads

[Marley]

Jarhead, I added a link to my grow in my signature so every time I post it's sort of an advertisement for it, plus I can use it to easily get back and update the thread.

[OzBud]

If on a computer, make a favourite/bookmark when you create a thread so you can return to it easily.

[Jeg]

I am a new grower and new forum user. My thoughts are that a help section would be great! Sticky note? I'm just going to start writing and see where this goes, it's in my head if I can get it out.
I am your average joe and somehow chose your website to teach me. I say that because I think if I'm just a regular guy who is trying to grow weed? I'm not the only one. I'd imagine your site will be growing leaps and bounds right now because of people like me.
I love your site and like most new comers to the forum, I spent weeks reading your articles and typing in problems in the search engine.....(search engine to find threads related to a problem?). Is that a potential? On your site you direct us here through an Ask a Question button. Maybe a button that takes you straight to a "I need advice" page. It appears we all started a thread when we first joined along those lines, most of them start with "HELP!" or "new grower". With that in mind you could possibly group all help threads into a section like old grow journals. The helpers and teachers on here would just have to subscribe to it and then get notified when someone has a problem. I personally have questions out there now that I don't need answered anymore but at the time they were SO urgent! I ended up doing it the old fashion way....google! I know how to do that but at this point I'm looking for real people to give me advice.

[NebulaHaze]

Thanks for the write up, I really appreciate your comments

[Formernuke]

I think seperated sections would make it easier for people to find post and get questions answered not just for plant help bit also equipment experiences, lights, fans tents etc.

[NebulaHaze]

Thanks for your opinion! So far it's seeming like people want to try a separate plant problems section, but I'll just see what people have to say today, too You all have really great points and perspectives!

[Tika]

A side note: I think if newbies could/ would be encouraged to refer to the GWE site before they post a question ( have you done your homework?) it would thin some traffic as well as be encouraged to bring their plant problem into natural light and photo it.
Also: not sure possible but; categories ( maybe color/font coded) where to post the question i.e. Medium or Coco questions, light questions, pH questions, Water hydro questions , etc. so that I could view Coco questions and hopefully answer in a timely way ( for example) other than searching the many threads to see if I can help as well as view responses for myself.
It takes time to go to GWE web to find the link(s) to refer basic answers back to question poster.
That said emergencies could be thinned in basic issues like over watering, light distance, leaf issues and pH - which I consider to be a major start here issue if homework was done first then Qs posted to categories for help.

[Jeg]

Agreed. Well said.

[NebulaHaze]

Great ideas in here! Today I added a rudimentary Plant Problems section to start, and after seeing how it goes we'll see how we need to break it down further! I'm going to make prefixes for Soil, Coco and Hydro to start, as well, so people can easily tag their post if they want!

[Formernuke]

Sorry to post twice, I can't believe I forgot to mention this before... I think we need a new members introduce yourself section also.

[Guest]

What if you add a "FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS" post. Some one here said the same question keeps being asked so just make sure we get those frequently asked questions on there and try to add it where we can't miss it like the first post always no matter what.. not sure if you understand what I mean but I'm just saying and I think it will work that way we are all together not missing out on anything..