Prefixes

[MisterBobbyPin]

Do you add prefixes to your forum. It's a nice way to sort out threads. What do you think?

 

[Reverie]

I truly enjoy prefixes! In more recent years I've been able to think about more uses for them and helps users find things they have more of an interest in. Does help organize forums, but I think it helps find specific information you may want or need.

 

[Tracy]

Do you add prefixes to your forum. It's a nice way to sort out threads. What do you think?

Nope.. I refuse to use prefixes! 😈

I've only got about 120 defined for the forum areas, and we won't go int XFRM, XFMG, the Link Directly, AMS, ShowCase, Classifieds or the Reviews sections.

These in in one node



These are in another


And I could go on with (as shown) a LOT more. 🤣

Prefixes are probably one of the BEST features of XenForo that I could tell others about. Instead of having 30 different nodes under a master of Telescopes I have one and then multiple pertinent prefixes.

 

[Reverie]

Nope.. I refuse to use prefixes!

This made me laugh xD

 

[Tracy]

This made me laugh xD

I'm actually a BIG proponent of prefixes and when I was using IPS it was one of my major gripes with it, as the prefix capability of XF FAR exceeded what they offered (back in the 4.3 era).
Prefixes are what simply allowed to to narrow my site down to having roughly 16 areas (not counting the I am banned and the RSS Feed nodes).
And what's really great about XF is that in a topical node, you can click on the prefix you are interested in and it will filter down to ONLY those prefixes.
I literally have at least 120 forum prefixes, 4 resource manager ones, 9 AMS ones, 18 Classifieds, 22 Review, 28 Link Directory, and 5 Showcase Prefixes configured.

 

[Oblivion Knight]

Yes, but I've cut back a little on how many we use as part of reducing bloat.


Suggestions and feedback:
Completed
Pending
Rejected

News and announcements:
News
Community
Review
Event


My next add-on to be to be released soon involves prefixes.. 🤓

 

[Tracy]

Yes, but I've cut back a little on how many we use as part of reducing bloat.

It really depends on your topical area. If you are "chat' type site (even a game genre related), then no, they aren't as useful. But if you have a specific niche of equipment styles/toys, they alleviate the necessity of extra nodes, yet give the users the ability to narrow their searches/reading down to what they are interested in. Prefixes definitely are not handy for every forum niche though.

 

[Cory]

The only prefix I currently use on my forum is "[Solved]" for solved support topics. There's not too much usage for prefixes on my board since there are archive forums for a couple of forums.

 

[Shortie]

When I realized that prefixes had come to Xenforo, I was over the moon. It makes things so much easier to be able to label and keep organized and it also allows you to be able to have prefixes for different things such as announcements, important information, and even staff changes.

How we went on without prefixes amazes me as they make things so much better and easier to manage.

 

[guyyanthony]

I want to create alot of these prefixes to LENSwellbeing.org,

especially in the mental health section to help guide people to the right direction, if that makes sense.

 

[ClicketyKat]

Prefixes are okay, but I'm getting kind of tired of seeing them and being forced on some sites to put my thread into some category that may or may not exactly fit. That's my conundrum with prefixes.

If you have a service site, it makes sense to use them for progress.

As for other discussions, I think that they CAN be annoying and seeing all those little rectangles at the top of my screen is just an overwhelming blur that makes me want to log off.

 

[Arantor]

being forced on some sites to put my thread into some category that may or may not exactly fit

Isn't this the exact same problem with forum boards though? Every topic must live in one (and only one) category, it's still a way of classifying topics under some taxonomy. Same problem as prefixes if not properly thought out, just on a bigger scale.

 

[Reverie]

Prefixes are okay, but I'm getting kind of tired of seeing them and being forced on some sites to put my thread into some category that may or may not exactly fit. That's my conundrum with prefixes.

If you have a service site, it makes sense to use them for progress.

As for other discussions, I think that they CAN be annoying and seeing all those little rectangles at the top of my screen is just an overwhelming blur that makes me want to log off.

I can't imagine it would be enjoyable to be forced to use a prefix! I think they are helpful as an option - and if it fits with the prefix - great.

 

[Tracy]

I can't imagine it would be enjoyable to be forced to use a prefix! I think they are helpful as an option - and if it fits with the prefix - great.

And that's why you don't "force" them in most areas... even with the lists of prefixes I have in the Telescope area, this is what you get when you go to enter a post.

It's a "forced" default one that one does not have to select. In some areas, I simply don't have any default prefix defined, so it stays blank. In both cases, it makes it easy for me as I'm reading through to see if a post with either no prefix or a "general" one could be better addressed by an appropriate one and make moderation change to it.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I currently only use prefixes on one of my communities and it's only in the promotional section. I have a prefix for forums, websites/blogs, and youtube channels.