When I load this Forum the first thing I do is go to Categories and select FS2020 so I don’t waste time reading topics that don’t pertain to the sim I use.
But 50% of the time 2024 users start posting and the thread ends up having tons of posts that aren’t relevant to the tags in the original post.
Same deal with the PC tag. If someone starts a post who is on PC and a bunch of console users ( or vice versa) start posting on there it becomes pretty much useless to the person following the original post. I don’t know if there’s any way to prevent this except to really reiterate to topic creators to make sure that they tag their new topic properly, and those that reply to not post about the other sim (2020 or 2024) or platform.
We need a separate MSFS 2020 area that will be enforced by moderators. I also click on 2020 only to see most posts are about 2024. OP thank you for bringing this up.
The way I interpret the tags is they represent the platforms that are experiencing the issue. If a PC users raises a bug it’ll get a PC tag. If the bug is also present and reported by an Xbox user it should then get the Xbox tag added.
If a topic OP wants the topic to be limited to one platform they should state that in the Thread/Bug title. ie PC Only.
Likewise MSFS2020 in the title to restrict it to a particular sim.
I do notice a lot of posts that are tagged both 2020 and 2024 which leads to the problem of trying to filter out one or the other when going to categories on the form. I think that happens because the poster has both Sims, but people should not tag their posts based on which Sims they own but which sim the issue relates to.
I realize that some issues will pertain to both 2020 and 2024. I wish that the Forum was smart enough to put that type of post into both categories.
And that is the obvious solution. it’s amazing and lazy that MS did not do that. I do not know of any other forum that shares 2 different pieces of software. The only tags that are needed are PC and Console.
The idea of separate forums for MSFS 2020 & 2024, was discussed some time ago, and the CMs have stated that there will not be two forums (You can read the discussion here).
Tagging is a tricky problem to solve within the constraints of the forum software design. It is far from perfect, and as a volunteer moderator who uses the tagging feature every day in my forum duties, I know how difficult it can be to find a specific topic or post.
First, we rely on the original poster to tag the topic correctly. Most users are good at this, a few - not so good. Topic templates for some categories provide guidance that most users follow - but some do not.
There are over 1,000 tags to choose from, so to be fair to all you users out there, we know that just finding the right tag can be difficult. We have learnt, over the years, that just creating more tags does not equate to easier searching, so we now only create new tags after careful review and consideration of the impact to users. The last “big” add was when 2024 was released, when we added a few 2024-specific tags.
FYI, we have written a guide to help you with tagging, which you can read here:
Folks will often start adding posts about 2020 into 2024-tagged topics and visa-versa, so the topic becomes tagged with both msfs-2024 and msfs-2020
This is not necessarily bad - a bug in the Bug Reporting Hub that impacts, say, msfs-2024 and msfs-2020 and xbox and pc can be in a single bug topic, as the developers can immediately see that the same issue is impacting multiple platforms & editions. The CM’s have the ability to separate the topic into different topics if the development team wishes to track the same issue on different platforms or editions independently on the forums. Plus, a single topic prevents splitting votes, so in this case, the higher vote count is a better indication of the effect the bug is having within the user community.
Likewise, a wish in the Official Microsoft Flight Simulator > Wishlist can be for a feature in a particular edition of MSFS (e.g. when requesting an improvement to the user interface on a PC), when the tag should only be msfs-2020 or msfs-2024 (as the user interface is not the same), or it could be valid for both versions (e.g. a world update for, say, Africa), when adding both msfs-2020 and msfs-2024 would be appropriate.
Discussion topics can span multiple platforms and editions of MSFS. It is in the nature of free-flowing discussions that users often post responses without checking to see if their response fits within the tags shown at the top of the page.
We Volunteer Moderators can change, add or remove tags as appropriate, but the volume of topics and posts means that this is not done on every post in every topic on the forum.
So, in summary, we know that the tagging system is not perfect. It is constrained by the forum software design, and requires whole community to do their best to tag correctly when creating topics, which at times can be time-consuming and not so easy, while we moderators also do our best to correct tags when we see omissions or errors.
I hope this post helps, at least in part, explain why tags are the way they are.
Don’t even try to fight users or tags who, for example, having an Xbox post in PC topics and vice versa. And if you point it out, they’ll reply that maybe someone will find the post useful. This will never change.
However, I don’t think that tagging both 2020 and 2024 should be allowed by the Forum software. Same thing with PC and Xbox . While it is true that some posts and wishes do pertain to both, it really screws up the Forum and it would be better if the wish or post was just posted in the Sim or platform that the user is using… that is the lesser of two evils when it comes to organizing this forum .This of course isn’t perfect but I think it would make it much better. And that is something that the software could be programmed to do that would prevent people who don’t follow the best practice .
I agree. There have been many many times a topic starter has tagged his post 2020 only. And it never fails that someone will come along and give their 2 cents worth and say they are on 2024. I purposely click on 2020 topics. I am not interested at all in 2024. I use 2020 and a sim by another developer. I think the moderators should delete the posts about 2024 if the topic was started with only the 2020 tag.
Totally agree. I wish the moderators would focus on and enforce that more instead of moving topics to this and that category constantly which is a minor offense compared to reading a whole bunch of posts about a sim you don’t use after you clicked on the sim category you do use.
Possibly a daft, impractical or non sensical thought, but one which would still allow the use of just one forum. Here goes…
The top bar of a post, the one containing the avatar, name and what have you, could be coloured, depending on that particular users platform. Something like green for 2020, blue for 2024 or if a user has both, the right hand half could show this too. If this user had a console as well, then some other visual device could be used, such as a contrasting line at the base or similar. All it would need is for users to set this up, hopefully via their forum user settings and of course for the idea to be accepted and embraced. A quick skim through the colours could tell you whether a post was less or more likely to have relevance to your trawl through the thread . Yes, I know. It is all a pipe dream…
Interesting solution but I think a bit too complex. I think it would be easy for the Forum Developers to program it in such a way that you can’t choose both platforms or both Sims. That sounds very simple, programming-wise. Now, as far as people replying to the Post, that is more tricky but I think my idea would eliminate at least a lot of it.
I have stopped starting any topics. It is too hard to figure out where the moderators want new topics. It seems everytime I started one it would be moved. I’ll reply to topics but not start one.
