As I posted on another thread earlier today, my understanding is that Stickies are for listing specific guidelines and important information about the particular forum, as well as offering information on frequently asked questions. Being prominent at the very top of the page makes them easily visible and easily accessible so that we don't have to wade through every single thread on a forum trying to find information. But ... shouldn't stickies be informational, rather than chat like threads? I've been wondering about this for some time on our Florida Gardening Forum but keep forgetting to ask so as I was browsing the forum just now and before I forget again, I thought I'd make a point to post my questions.

We haven't had a moderator for the Florida Gardening Forum: https://garden.org/forums/view... in a long time (about 4 years) and there are currently 5 stickies on the forum main page but most do not seem to cover pertinent information about the forum. I wonder if those stickies might need tweaking a bit; possibly removing a few from the sticky status and allowing them to be regular threads? These are the Florida Gardening Forum Stickies that could use a little "tweaking":

#1 - The thread "Quick tutorial to use the site" in Florida Gardening forum
The text refers to and pertains to when we were All Things Plants.

#2 - The thread "Florida Gardening" in Florida Gardening forum
This is the original post when Dave set up the forum. It still states that Budgielover is the moderator and she hasn't been on the site in a long time.

#3 - The thread "WELCOME" in Florida Gardening forum
This one only has 5 pages of chatting

#4 - The thread "New Member Intro" in Florida Gardening forum
This one should be a keeper; a thread where new members might like to pop in, introduce themselves and say hello.

#5 - The thread "CHITCHAT" in Florida Gardening forum
This one appears to be a chat thread that maybe should be a regular thread rather than a stickie?

I apologize if this isn't the correct place to post my question. I wasn't sure if I should send a tree mail to an administrator or post on the Fla. forum but since it is forum/site related, I decided to post my questions here.

@dave
Looks like it definitely needs some cleaning up and perhaps a post for all the moderators to clarify what a Sticky should be and what it should not be.

Yeah really we're trying to phase out stickies altogether, and use them extremely sparingly. Ideally, eventually we'll be only using stickies as temporary situations. It's possible I may remove the feature altogether at some point.

We have the right side infobox that we use these days for the kinds of threads that we want to be visible to everyone when they come. That's where this stuff should be.

Lin, I'll check your post more thoroughly soon and will deal with it soon.

Dave, thanks so much!

In the Daylily forum stickies are used sparingly, there currently are two, links to other info is in the box on the right hand side. I find having the ability to occasionally sticky a thread a valuable tool for a moderator.
The "Wanted" sticky is updated once a year so members can list specific daylilies they are looking for. This way their individual wanted daylily thread is not lost in the thread shuffle. The other sticky is for me to post links to members daylily sales in the Classifed forum or trades in the Plant Trade forum. Without the ability for me to sticky a thread for sales the many members who sell daylilies on this site would be listing their sales within the Daylily forum. Sales end, threads remain, mixed in with the informational threads that folks want to read. The ability to sticky when needed helps to keep the Daylily forum organized. Please do not take my sticky button away.

Char, You DL forum is done very well! I think stickies can be a good thing for forums with moderators who can edit and make changes when necessary.

What I'd like to know is ?🤔???
Why ? Aren't new members informed, where to go for help navigating website, when they join ?
Wouldn't that eliminate stickies ?

I'm still saying !
Eliminate Stickies !
There little flavoretts to teachers pets.
The, Teacher's are the Administrators.


😎😎😎

Philip, only the administrators can make the 'stickies'. No other members can do it. There's no favoritism involved. They are just good information that should be up front and available for all who come to the forum. It's newbie help, and appreciated by most.

I only say ! What I can see !

Philip, all of those stickies were made sticky by Admin. No members can do it.

I'm not fond of lists of *stickies* appearing at the top of the forum home page, but that's just my opinion. If I remember correctly, I think in times past someone could request a particular thread be made into a sticky and those threads had helpful information but there were also comments, questions and chatting going on ... which may still be the case with some of them.

I really like the idea of the neat and clean "Informational Boxes"on the right side of the forum home pages - and I'm hoping that all forum moderators will compile the important information that's held in the current stickies and place it in the information box before @Dave removes all the stickies from the site. Some forums do not currently have moderators so hopefully the pertinent information in stickies on those forums without current moderators, will get moved over by someone in admin.

I also like that the informational boxes are locked, with only the forum moderator or administration having the ability to access and add or delete information when needed, instead of everyone being able to chat. It sure keeps things more professional in appearance.

I sent you a thumbs up and some acorns because I did not know how to put my feelings into words and you said it just fine. Thanks. Let's hear it for the informational boxes on the right and zero stickies in the (hopefully near) future!

Aww, thank you @greene!

I'm neutral on the stickies, but a proponent of more info in the right hand box.

Philip, there is a Welcome Forum where new members go for help with navigating the site. It's been there since shortly after this site was first launched.
https://garden.org/forums/view...

I think stickies are a good way to keep track of good information, as long as they're not overdone. And, Philip, you'll be happy to know that the Welcome Forum has a special sticky with the heading "Help with site navigation".

Karen

Since stickies can only be posted by admin, maybe they could be locked to avoid chatting on those threads and keep them succinct. I also prefer basic information to be posted on the right side where it's easily read and right where you can see it.