When I go to my “Category” (trying to get used to this instead of Group) the posts are listed by title/subject line only and I have to click on it to see any of the content of the post. The problem with this for me is that many people use titles that are vague. For instance “Mineral Rights question” Well, that pretty much applies to most posts on this site, so doesn’t give me any clue as to what the real question is or whether I’d have any interest in reading it. In the old forum, the content was visible and I could see at a glance for instance that it was about a property section nowhere near mine, or and issue regarding filing of wills, etc. Since my “Category” is not a particularly active one, this isn’t quite as bothersome with new posts, since there are never many new ones on a given day. But if I want to try to look back at a response I recall someone posting once, it’s going to be a real nuisance having to click on a lot of posts.
I didn’t intend to be this long-winded here. Thanks for you patience. And thanks for the new site, even though some aspects may not suit me at this point.
This is a good point. I think that some things can be done to encourage people to create useful titles, but until then, this seems like a problem.
I’ve installed a plugin that’s designed to help with this. It has to be enabled on each of the (700+) categories, but Have a look at this category:
Reeves County, TX - Mineral Rights Forum, which looks like this:
Pardon me for saying so, but if you think encouraging people to use relevant, descriptive and/or searchable titles for threads they start will work? Well, it never has on any of the dozens of forums I have been a member of over the last 15 years or so, perhaps yours will be the first?
Hi RW, We’re understanding of your note. We’re taking in everyone’s comments and adjusting as needed. Thanks for weighing in.
Perhaps, though I understand your disbelief. This forum software does a few things to help with this. One (that’s not in effect here, yet) is that “regular” users (as determined by an algorithm that might not be perfect for this community) can edit the title and category of any post, so those who don’t have the wherewithal to come up with a meaningful title can get helped out by those who do.
It’ll require a few folks to be diligent, however.
And having meaningful titles really helps with getting stuff to be ranked in google.
Do not misunderstand me. I really wish you well. MRF is I believe unique as an OGM forum and was instrumental in my transition from simple mineral owner to someone who has successfully invested in oil wells and negotiated the release of leases where wells were producing oil in excess of 2,700 barrels of oil per day, not once, but 4 times.
Unless traffic remains very low, as I believe it is right now, changing titles is going to become a full time job for someone. As user friendly as the forum was before, people still did not get it. Dozens of times I posted instructions how someone could private message. A handful of times I suggested a better title would help a poster. Many times I suggested that people post in their county or other applicable group. I don’t know where I would start now.
Hi, r_w, I actually managed to follow this thread. It’s nice to see an old friend. I don’t see (hear) many any more. If I lose you, it was nice knowing you, while it lasted. You helped a lot of people on the MRF, me included. So thanks, good luck, and take care. Linton
Only regulars will be able to re-title and recatagorize other people’s posts. I don’t think you’d want just anyone to be able to do that. Since automatically becoming a “regular” requires reading a bunch of posts and getting likes and so on for a period of weeks. It may make sense to hand-assign some “regulars” who’d be willing to help keep things in order.
People can easily find their original posts. They’ll get notifications if anyone replies to them.
We’ll see. The software tries to identify titles that are really bad, so it might not be as bad a problem as we’d think. It’s not perfect, of course, but it can encourage people to take another few seconds to come up with something descriptive. Also, if what you see when you come to the site is a bunch of titles that make sense, you’ll be more likely to create one yourself. Most of the titles that have been created since we’ve moved look pretty decent, so maybe it’s working.
I do need to see about getting that topic preview plugin turned on for more categories, though.
Part of the problem is that new members often do not read or search for answers, they post a new thread. Most do not browse other threads. Posting a new thread is a two edged sword, there may already be a perfectly good answer to the person’s question but in a new thread, someone who has never answered the question before might come up with an even better or more easily understood answer.
Indeed that’s true! I have interacted with people for over fifty years, thirty of which I was teaching people to use computers (or teaching people to teach with computers), and I’m pretty sure we can’t fix that. 
In the forums that I use what happens is that people, with varying degrees of sarcasm and vitriol, say something like “well, if you’d searched for XXX” you’d find this post: [IMPORTANT] How To Manage Your on-site Notifications (and emails about activity) (which in this example is chosen mostly at random). Posting in the full URL of the post puts its title in, so its easy to read.
The problem of having multiple topics about the same issue is mitigated because the summary at the top of the topic includes those references—and other topics that reference the current one— so it makes it easier for folks to find the useful information. It doesn’t make up for people not search or reading, but it helps.
You can see those links at the topic I mentioned at the bottom of the first post:
Hmm.
https://www.mineralrightsforum.com/ should show you all the stuff that’s going on, including General, but perhaps what you want to do is to visit, which might be more than you want to see.
General Mineral Rights Discussion - Mineral Rights Forum and then