I created the General topic as a catch-all for iNat-related posts that were separate from bug reports or feature requests. However, the title “General” is probably misleading as people understandably think pretty much any nature related topic is a topic of “general” discussion. So sometimes posts that would better fit Nature Talk are posted in General.
Would it be good to change General to something like “iNaturalist Discussion” to make it more obvious that the category is just for iNat-focused topics? Let me know if you have other suggestions for a name.
I kinda like #general (or something equally generic) since it underscores that the intention of this forum is principally for talking about iNaturalist whereas #nature-talk is the outlier. And I don’t mind moving topics to the right category.
The issue with general or iNaturalist + modifier (including my suggestion) is that iNaturalist is broad: Is it the app, the forum, the store, the community, etc.
I think “using” is a narrow enough modifier to capture most of the questions I see there.
We hear @tiwane that “General” does not necessarily guide users among the different categories. We feel similarly about the name.
We hear what @bouteloua is saying, in that the other categories aren’t named iNaturalist Forum Feedback, iNaturalist Bug Reports, iNaturalist Feature Requests.
We appreciate the specificity and clarity in the suggestion by @vreinkymov with “Using iNaturalist.” We think the clarity and guidance provided by such a name could benefit posting. “Discussing iNaturalist” is similar and inclusive. How do people feel about standardization of the category names, which might be disrupted by “xyzing iNaturalist,” vs potentially enhanced usability of the category?