I'm seeing a lot of questions being automatically moved from one forum to another. I wonder if that is always appreciated? Might it be better to ask the person who started the discussion if they want their discussion to be moved? I wonder if this is why some new members don't come back after a first post - because some think their discussion was deleted if they don't see it where it was posted? If that happened to me, I would probably feel like this site is too much like FB to bother hanging around.

Think most are one and done, they just want that particular question answered. If they get a good or appropriate answer they may come back because of prior experience.

When someone posts on the Ask A Question Forum, asking for a Plant ID, I submit a proposal to move it to the Plant ID Forum because that's the most appropriate forum for identifying plants. When I make the proposal, I always comment that I'm moving it to the Plant ID forum where it will get more views and will likely be identified by one of our knowledgeable members.

I realize that some members who watch the AAQ Forum may recognize the plant and possibly be able to offer an ID but we may have many members who don't watch that particular forum.

That's a good point, Lin, but the questions I meant to ask about aren't ID questions.

Perhaps admin. is moving threads to a more specific forum that would be more relatable to the question?

I know that new members on occasion will post questions on very old (sometimes 3, 4, 5 year old threads) and an administrator will move/ split that particular post off into a thread of it's own, which is good because many members may not be watching old threads anymore.

I often move AAQ to relevant forums that are active, if they originated in AAQ and they added an email for replies, they continue getting notified. Moving them to active forums like daylilies, iris, roses, plumerias, etc. get those threads seen by members whose interest is in those related plants, thus a higher likelihood of getting more specific responses. Often I wait until there are one or two replies added before moving so that they see those responses in their email. They click on it from there and automatically get taken to that thread, no matter where it is now. They will most likely have no idea it was even moved because most start their AAQ question from an entirely different format than someone coming into any other forum and scrolling to the bottom to start a thread.
A large majority of AAQ new posters don't come back into a thread for whatever reason. Possibly they are not interested in forums with ongoing discussions, they just wanted a basic question answered and see no need to come back, even to thank members who do add their replies.

Yes, I'm sure those things occur. Thank you for your response! : )