Proposal for the "Where to buy, find, or fix...?" subforum

Right now, several subforums have a single thread titled "where to buy." People use it to ask about shopping, finding items, or getting repairs. The issue is that everyone posts in that one spot. It gets cluttered fast. Questions pile up, get buried, and most people never even see them, let alone answer them.

I’d like to suggest we create a dedicated subforum called "where to buy, find, or repair...?" (similar to how things are organized on Reddit). This would allow everyone to start their own individual thread for their specific needs. That way, every question stays visible and has a fair shot at getting a response.

I'm starting a poll so everyone can weigh in. If there's enough support for this idea, I hope the admins will consider it. Thanks in advance! 😉

Here’s how I’m picturing it:
"where to buy studded tires"
"where to buy an XXS bodysuit"
"where to get a motorcycle exhaust fixed"
"where to buy green Orbit gum"

It still feels like a total mess to me. I mean, who actually wants to scroll through all that just to find a topic they actually care about?
Don't take this as a dig at you, I'm just saying the clutter is real. I think we'd solve the whole mess if we just linked those "where to buy..." posts to their specific PDF instead (like having a Fashion PDF for the bodysuit stuff, etc.).🤷

Fair point. In that case, there should probably be a dedicated sub-forum within the "fashion" section—similar to how the "Designers" section works now—called "where to buy." That way, anyone could start their own thread to ask for specific recommendations. Or, we could just allow threads titled "where to buy (...)" to exist within the main "fashion" sub-forum. Given your arguments, though, it might be best to create "where to buy" sub-sections within certain specific forums so people can request exactly what they need.

EDIT: Alternatively, we could just launch one primary "where to buy" forum. We could then break it down into categories like "Clothing," "Tech," "Groceries," and so on, just to keep things organized and easy to navigate.

So how many PDF threads would we actually need to start on Reddit for something like this? Maybe 30?

I don't see why it's an issue to start a thread like this on a specific PDF if it's actually needed and doesn't exist yet.

For instance, the Gastronomy group already has a dedicated thread for this kind of thing.

The issue arises when there’s just one single thread for every "where to buy (...)" inquiry. If I post my question there, I expect an answer. I see activity in the thread and assume someone finally replied to me, but when I check, they were actually answering someone else. A dozen new questions get piled on top of mine instantly. My post gets buried, nobody notices it, and I'm left without an answer. (I'm using myself as the example here, but this applies to everyone.) The second issue is about subforums. When you have a dedicated section with a list of individual threads, you can scan the titles, see exactly who needs help, and jump in. It allows others to see that you're the one with the answer too.

Also, I assume if a subforum already has a massive, catch-all "where to buy" thread, the moderators will give me grief if I try to start a specific one like "where to buy (certain items)?" At best, they'll just move my post back into that main thread, where it'll be completely ignored once five more people post their own questions right after mine.

For those reasons, I think the "where to buy" questions need a more organized approach. 😉

I get what you're saying—things definitely could've been handled differently, and yeah, leaving a ton of questions hanging like this isn't ideal. But honestly? I’m drawing a total blank on how to actually fix it. 🤷

There isn't a solution here. It’s just not feasible—given that we’re a massive forum with huge daily traffic—to actually pull an idea like that off. We’d just end up with a mountain of threads containing zero, one, or two posts. Threads would be popping up at lightning speed, and honestly, most people don't even venture outside of their specific subforums anyway, so any "specialized" questions would likely go unanswered regardless.

From what I've seen, "where to buy" threads within individual topical subforums work perfectly fine, and I've never actually had a question left unanswered. It's much more likely that someone who exclusively hangs out in, say, fashion will pop into the fashion "where to buy" thread to provide an answer, rather than scrolling through a completely different subforum and digging through a sea of random thread titles just to find that one specific topic they might actually know something about.

Look, I know for a fact I wouldn't want to do it that way. I participate in the "where to buy" threads within my own subforum and I'll answer if I know the info. But am I going to head over to some other subforum and sift through a ton of threads just to find one or two things I can help with? Probably not. I don't have the time, and frankly, I don't have the desire.

Emily Fowler52 said:There really isn't a viable way to make that work. The simple truth is that we're such a massive community with huge daily traffic that trying to implement an idea like that would be a nightmare. We’d just end up with a mountain of threads containing maybe one or two replies, and they'd be popping up faster than we could track them. Plus, a lot of people rarely venture outside their specific sub-forums anyway, so those "specialized" questions would likely just sit there unanswered.

I'm on the same page as the moderators here—this probably isn't the best move. It mostly comes down to what was highlighted above; we'd just be looking at a bunch of empty threads with barely any engagement. At that point, what kind of useful PDF would we actually have left?