Default category for new discussions

Chris Miller

Most of the users on our board don't seem to pay any attention to what category they start a new discussion in and every new post ends up in the first category. Is there any way to:

A)Set which category is selected by default when the user starts a new discussion?

Force the user to choose by making the default category selection empty?

Thanks.

Editted to place discussion in Add-On Requests

Chris Legend

I've also been wondering whether or not doing something like this was possible. Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance...

snowcrash

Yes, (B) forcing user to choose a category would be useful - maybe make this an add-on request

garvin

Uhm, you could also just change the order of your categories. If they forget to choose a category and you want those to go into the "random" category, then put "random" category at the top of the list.

barl0w

@ garvin - Good idea! I've changed the order of my discussions to achieve as you've suggested. Thank you -

outbreak

Force the user to choose by making the default category selection empty?

i would really love this as an extension too!!!

Chris Miller

The problem with changing the order is that while it does make the first category default, it obviously changes the order of the category page. I have a catgegory called "Headlines" that I want to be the first category displayed but I want the category called "Anything goes" to be the default for new discussions and the last category displayed. It would still be useful to set a default category that doesn't depend on the category order. I'd still like to see an add-on that forces the user to choose by making the default blank because that would help lazy or stupid users categorize discussions appropriately. Either one or both of these features would be a useful add-on.

MySchizoBuddy

A) means that ur discussion will still be in the wrong category. U don't want music talk ending up in the "anything goes" category, but rather in the music category. B) is the best option. force users to select the appropriate category. if you have too many categories then users be allowed to arrange their fav ones on the top. for eg a person who usually posts on the music talk category should be able to quickly select it, rather than having him scroll through the dropdown list every time he makes a new post.

mis-one

Does anyone have a solution for this yet? I have a lot of users just posting in the default category. Possible some way to set the default category to Null ?

WallPhone

I posted a workaround here: http://lussumo.com/community/discussion/3811/#Item_4

jimw

You can sort your Categories in the Categories Settings by dragging them into the order your want. Whatever you have first will appear first in the Category list when you create a Discussion. Is this what you wanted?

mis-one

Thanks Wallphone for the quick fix. Jimw, thanks for your feedback as well.