Maybe it's due to the fact that PM notifications about topics being moved aren't working since the new site launched, but users posting every single topic into General Discussion has reached pandemic proportions...again. Please, for the sake of the mods' sanity and to help your fellow users better utilize the site, start posting your topics in the correct forums.
This is especially important if you want to discuss a certain game, or one of the new consoles. If you put it into General, it will be on the third or fourth page within hours and never seen again. Then, someone else will look in the PS4 forum to see if any has posted that new piece of news that just came out, won't see your topic because you put it in General, and now we have a duplicate topic (or more likely, duplicates) on our hands. Now, a moderator not only has to close at least one duplicate topic, but spend time drafting a response as to why it's being closed, provide links to the existing topics, and often field complaints from users whose topics have been closed down or deleted. All of this can be avoided by simply not putting every single topic into General Discussion. Another way that posting your topics and blogs in the appropriate forum can help the site is that your topics will be easily found forever. A couple of years down the line if someone is looking for topics on Hotline Miami, they aren't going to be looking on page 1739 of General...they're going to be looking in the Hotline Miami forum.
Remember that almost everyone views the forums through the Newest feed. A common misconception about the forums is that your topic won't get many views or responses unless you lump it into General with everything else. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Topics in General get lost in the fold quickly and are usually never seen again, but if you get them into the appropriate forum, users from that point on will always be able to see your thread when they go looking for topics on that subject...and since most people view the newest topics first, when your topic is new, the forum it's in is not a factor when it comes to initial exposure.
I know it sounds like common sense and I want to thank those of you that try to use the most appropriate forum for your threads and blogs whenever you can, but lately the moderators have been spending a huge portion of our time on moving topics out of General. For example, I just moved almost a third of the topics on the first page of General Discussion to other boards. This can all be avoided and you can help save us a ton of work by taking those few extra moments when you're creating a new topic. It's a different system than most of you are used to, but it does work if you would just put a little effort in. Thanks everyone.
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