Hi Ryan, Bo:

Currently, my members can post a new topic only within a category that I have pre-established. But I want them to feel that they can start a conversation themselves.

So ... Is there any way to allow members to create a category? Or is there another workaround that you can suggest? For example, I suppose that I could create a "General" category or "Other" category, but that would not be as user-friendly.

Many thanks,

Marty

Hi Marty,

I would say posting a new topic within a category *is* starting a new conversation. iGrOOps has the Admin create the categories, and I think there's a pretty good case for keeping it that way. Otherwise you could end up with dozens of member-created categories containing a single post. The more 1-post categories pop-up, the less of a chance a member will ever see them. Other members may or may not be interested in starting another conversation on that topic.

Think of the admin providing the categories as creating categories as giving them lines to color within-- within the lines, members can be as creative as they want. It's not needlessly restricting them, it's providing organization and structure so your members can get the most out of it. If you do provide or General or Other category, as with all categories, you can define what that category is inteded for. (From glancing at your forum, it doesn't look like you've done that yet-- within the dicussion boards, go to Admin Options - and you'll see the instructions for adding category descriptions). With General, or Other, or Misc, you can define it as "This is the place to post anything that does not fall under any other category on this forum". You might also consider an "Off-Topic" category for your members. Finally, you could offer a way for your members to suggest a new forum category-- that way, if you agree it should be added, you can control the naming, description, etc. of that category.

Thanks, Ryan. Great advice, as always.

Two additional questions: Is it possible for me to ...

a. change the name of an existing category?

b. delete a category

(The category in question does have some posts in it.)

Thanks in advance,

Marty

There's a rename category option under Admin Options for this app. To delete a category, you must first delete or move all posts within it. Then go to Admin Options, and delete the category name from the list of categories.