Incorrectly-placed posts and forum rules

[Deddly]

I noticed that there are quite a lot of people posting in "General KSP Discussion" instead of the relevant subforum. The moderators appear to be quite busy moving these threads, but there are quite a few that remain there for a while before someone notices and moves it. It's probably a mistake most of the time, but sometimes I see people complaining that "now nobody will read it" once it's been moved, which means that there are some people deliberately posting their threads in the wrong subforum just to get more views and/or replies. 

Just wondering if there's anything that can be done about it, because it does clutter the forums a bit? Is the layout not clear enough? Do people not read the forum guidelines? Rule 2.4(a) says:

"Users must make an effort to place a new thread in the right forum section. Posts deemed to be in an incorrect section will be moved to a proper one"

Is it that there are no infractions for deliberately putting it in the wrong place? The way I see it, if I deliberately place a post in the subforum with the highest readership, I'll get more views. Eventually someone will probably move it, but I basically get a free advert in the high-traffic forum that tells everyone the thread has moved, and they can click to view it. 

I'm not suggesting that this function is removed, and it's really not a huge deal, so it's not a big complaint on my part. I'm just wondering if I'm the only one who's noticed it and if there's anything that can be done about it? Feel free to also tell me if you think I'm bringing up a non-issue.

 

Thanks for reading.

[sal_vager]

Nice post @Deddly, I would like to see peoples suggestions regarding this, I won't call it an issue as such and I do not believe that mis-posting is ever serious enough to warrant an infraction, a PM or a post is usually enough.

You are right though that it may be a while before a post is seen, we moderators can't see everything all of the time (though we will see it) and many threads are general enough that they don't fit in a more specialized thread, though the ones that are not really about KSP are best suited to the Lounge.

General Discussion forums are very common, and usually they are for everything regardless of the topic, the KSP forums are a little different in that we like our GD to be for KSP stuff.

Perhaps the prominence of General doesn't help, as people will see this forum fairly early, and post there.

While moving it might help a little I doubt it would be enough, and perhaps it is just poorly named, General Discussion should be KSP Discussion and the Lounge renamed to the General Lounge.

[Deddly]

As you say, @sal_vager, renaming it and moving it to the bottom of the list might help. Another suggestion could be to have a pop-up question when making a new post in that particular part of the forum that says "Have you checked that your post doesn't better belong in a different category?" with a short list of the most common ones that are missed. The user could click on the relevant part of the list to automatically open a new post in that part of the forum.

[Vanamonde]

This is where you, the forum member, can play along at home, by reporting mis-placed threads. 

[Deddly]

Hmm, not so many replies. Maybe I should have posted this in "General KSP" instead

[Guest]

Maybe rename it to KSP discussion, basically removing the "General" part.  I think that throws people off making it seem more like the lounge.

[Deddly]

It might be too early to tell, but to me it looks like @CliftonM's suggestion worked, nice!