I hate to be a downer about this forum because I really do love it and find it a huge resource that I am not sure I could live without now.
But, since the categories have been seperated and broken into even more sections and categories I find it a little time consuming to be clicking forward and back all over the place to cover all the discussions going on.
I like to be thorough and cover everyones discussions so that I may learn something I never thought of. But, now its like a huge house that has doors that open to more doors that finally open to individual rooms.
I think it could also hurt discussion and replys because some people may not get around to every discussion when they may have the knowledge someone needs.
I understand that some things need to be seperated, but also a lot can be joined back together again.
Believe me, large groups of topics are not a problem! People are usually in here once a week and it always shows them the new messages, so if they are bumped a few down than they will still be seen.
And I think it makes it easier to see everything that is going on and easier to respond.
My two cents

Have you tried the "View New Posts" link at the top of the page? That's how I keep up w/o having to enter all of those doors you mention (great metaphor, by the way!).

Here are my Ideas:
1. Getting Started - Setting up your store
1a. Accepting Credit Cards
1b. Shipping Options
1c. Bulk Product Uploads
1d. Design
The forum can be used for general discussion and then the categories for specific questions
2. MC Store General Discussion
This is the best example of what I am talking about, you go straight in and there are the discussions, they are varied, but easy to read and respond.
3. Search Engines, Marketing, and Affiliates
3a. Everything Google
3b. Overture
3c. Link Popularity and Site Maps
3d. Affiliate Programs, Newsletters, and Email Marketing (or called Other Marketing Techniques)
3e. Other Search Engines
3f. Titles, Keywords, and Meta Tags
This was the best Category that was broken down, I really couldn't change it much, in fact I might not even change it at all as it is warming up to me.
4. Storefront Reviews
This one could also be considered Design tips
5. Forum Ideas & Suggestions

I understand that you were aiming to make things more organized and specific. But, organization can only go so far, you can be too organized and have things spread out so far that you can't find what you are looking for anymore. Also, its good sometimes to have certain discussions mixed because that brings up new ideas and joins many people into one discussion.
That is my one goal of this post, I want to bring more store owners together so that everyones learns from everyone else.
When you seperate sections you also can seperate owners. They kind of become their own groups and may not migrate to other areas.
Alright, I have already wrote too much and my eyes are crossing
My two cents

Thanks, I like metaphors
I have done that, but I also like to be reminded of what was being discussed previously so that maybe I can add something new I learned.
Read my new post and at the end I explain more of why I think the categories shouldn't be spread out as much.

Strapworks...

I am not sure I understand your last post. Do you use the "posts since my last visit function"? Please explain what you mean by liking to read what was stated previously... do you mean the posts that came before the "new" posts?

Let me know so we can work something out. Thanks for the feedback.

What does everyone else think of the layout. My thinking was that after we have thousands of users and tens of thousands of posts we would need a clean layout...

I am up for making any changes clients think will make the forum better. Let me know what will work best for you and we'll make the changes.

I do actually use the "new posts" button, its quite convenient.
What I meant was that sometimes I want to review something that was said previously in another post, it is kind of hard to find if you know when it was posted but don't know which forum, than you kind of have to look in a lot of places.
I understand how organization is needed when you have a lot of posts and users. But, with my experience on large forums (with thousands of users), only a small percentage actually post messages, most just read. So, I wouldn't be too worried about getting overrun with messages.
I really don't have too much to complain about with this forum, its good and could remain the same, I am just the type of person that doesn't like things "too" organized. Its kind of like an organized attic, you know that you have something, you just don't know in which box and you don't want to spend all day opening all the boxes to find it. (I guess thats my best metaphor so far).
Just my two cents

QUOTE

I want to review something that was said previously in another post

Invisionboard software currently does not allow this as of yet. I do however suspect someone will write a modification to the Invisionboard software to run this feature in the near future.

Ultrashock,
To review old posts you just have to find them, I am not talking about searching for them with a "search" feature.
But, I am not sure how you could make a "search" feature that will find a post unless you know an exact date or name. But, most of the time you know the general area of the post and just need to weed through the other posts, that is kind of what my whole post is about "keeping categories simple so that its easier to weed through the posts".
But, the forum is alright, I haven't heard anyone else jumping on the bandwagon with me, so I guess everyone is happy and I can be happy also.
My two cents

Cool.

Actually Strapworks, I totally agree with you... I feel like the forum, although being more organized now, is starting to get too deep to browse. I would prefer a larger initial display of catagories rather than all the sub-catagories.

Dunno... Maybe it's just us Strap!

LOL, welcome to the dark closet KeyChain
I think if we were to come out in the light we may look like this
Ah well, the best rulers rule from the background
Were on our way to take over the world

I am out of town in Atlanta (meeting with GeoTrust)... When I get back I will spend some time revamping the forum based on your feedback.