Can we get device specific sub areas to help with the noise?

Devices & Integrations
1

Any chance we can get device specific or at least generic categories of devices to help with the support and community development of said devices.

For example, it would be great to have the following sub categories under devices:

Light bulbs
Switches, dimmers, keypads, buttons
Sensors, Contacts, Motion, Temp, etc.
Cameras
Locks
Thermostats
Alarms
Presence Devices
Shades
Audio, speakers, control
Video, control
Water, flood, values, control, detection
Remotes, IR, IP, Other
Fitness Trackers, wearables
3rd Party Hubs and Cloud to Cloud
Hacking and Maker Devices

This would help curate and keep the conversations about specific devices connected.

We could then use a tag system to indicate which manufacture / type in the header of each thread… ex:

[HUE] Issue with built in SmartApp

This could be in the Light Bulbs section of devices and Integrations…

5 Likes
2

Managing a large number of Categories may outweigh their benefits, but …

It’s my understanding that true “tagging” ability (with the appropriate filtering functionality, etc.) is planned for an upcoming release of Discourse (it may already existing in Beta)? Previous discussions on the Discourse Forum had dismissed “tagging” as unnecessary or supported by various degrees with plug-ins, but seemed rather inconclusive.

Hack-tagging via the arbitrary use of # symbols or square brackets, etc., is not a solution because the Search :mag: functionality discards and ignores these symbols. Tagging works well with a system that (a) suggests existing global Tags for a post, and (b) provides both filter (index) and boolean search for posts using Tags.

3

No doubt it adds a challenge, but frankly, the number of redundant posts on the same device is getting out of hand.

How many nest threads are there? Hue? Ge Bulbs, etc.?

We should really do something more like how XDA does things, IMO.

At least the forums for devices should break out the same categories the mobile apps do.

Looping in @Ben and @April for thoughts…

Searching is getting out of hand because of how many threads exist for the same device.

Plus learning from another thread of a related device is now almost impossible without some sort of deeper categorization by type of device.

Just my two cents…

3 Likes
4

I totally agree.

Redundant Topics and Topics that have diverged and should be split into distinct Topics make it difficult to find the latest and most helpful information (or best place to put new questions). One member suggested a Wiki (on Wikia), but that creates a whole other place to look and a new “format” for the information … guess it has pros and cons.

5

Yeah, the problem with wiki’s is maintaining them. This board actually has wiki like functions built in…

Anyway, I think at least for devices, sub categories for types of devices would help.

Merging topics would be great too, but don’t want to overstep mod controls…

It would be nice to grant certain “Subject matter experts” higher levels of access / moderation control for those specific areas.

This could also help support a great deal too. Pinned topics in those categories, FAQ’s, known issues, etc.

2 Likes