Adding old/redundant posts that most active users will never click on because they’ve read them already adds almost a half screen worth of additional scrolling to the forum EVERY TIME YOU RELOAD THE PAGE. This makes for a horrible UX for any user who wants to see actual new and active posts and contribute to the conversation. I think the idea behind it was to curate posts that new members might be interested in, but most traffic on this forum is from people who have been here before so forcing them to scroll past that every time they want to look at the forum is really off-putting. Unless you can make it so people can close it out and it stays closed, my very strong vote would be to remove it. If you want a “featured posts” section, create it as a new forum channel that only admins can add to. But this layout will likely have me leaving as it’s way too inconvenient. The header with the giant image is already a huge waste of space and should hide on scroll and now you’ve pushed all new content below the fold completely so people actually have to work to get to it. Not the best layout for continued user engagement.
yeah, too annoying. i’m out. i’ll check back in a while to see if it’s been removed. happy sitting all!
Sorry to hear that you don’t like the new Featured Topics part of the homepage.
The topics will be updated regularly with new and interesting topics which will make it easier for new members to find a place to start, if they’re not here with a specific question. it also allows us to showcase great posts by other members.
As it’s just went live today, I’ve picked a few topics just to get started, but you’re more than welcome to ignore them if they’re not for you.
We won’t be removing the feature, but we will do our best to make sure to have a good mix of content to feature, for those who are interested in it.
Jenny 
Sorry, me again!
I was able to add a feature which will allow users to collapse the Featured Topics section if they don’t want to look at it.
Click the top left button and it will magically disappear
Here’s a screenshot just for ref.
Thanks for listening and adding this feature to hide these topics .
For those using the app I’ve screen shot how to make the feature topic disappear
Although members gave you the thumbs up when you suggested featuring topics useful for new members, I don’t believe this is what we were expecting @Jenny. These topics are reminiscent of the airy-fairy ones that we are subjected to in the Trusted Times!
It looks to me as though we’ll still have to be sharing vital and repetitive information to new members without any respite!
Hi @Silversitters - thank you for that! Appreciate you letting app users know how they can minimise the feature if they don’t want to use it.
@temba - Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the new featured topics carousel! We want this feature to be helpful and relevant for everyone, not just new members. When we implemented the carousel, we aimed to spotlight valuable discussions and resources, especially those that often get buried over time. The feature has only been live for one day, and therefore the type of content on there will change over time and will depend on what’s available on the Forum. As I’ve mentioned before, if any members aren’t interested in what’s on there, they’re free to use the feature I added to hide the topics
Regarding the information you’ve mentioned sharing that you find repetitive, the purpose of the Forum is for Trusted Housesitters members to provide peer-to-peer support, which means there can be an element of repetition as people will inevitably ask similar questions sometimes. You’re always welcome to share links to similar topics to help them and encourage members to use the search bar. If you’d prefer not to assist members with that kind of information, there’s no obligation to do so and you can always focus on replying to what you’re interested in, although it is very much appreciated when our members give newbies a helping hand.
We’re already looking at other ways to support new Forum members (e.g. FAQ, considering new categories, improving welcome messages), but it will take a little time for ideas to be discussed, and ways of implementing them to be decided.
@Jenny They actually can’t be ignored, not sure about mobile but on a laptop we now need to scroll down two whole pages before we get to the content we came on here for. The main THS image takes up the first page, then the new images take up the whole of the next page… people don’t scroll two pages in todays world, they simply click away from the site, that’s been proven by the marketing giants.
Hi @HappyDeb
Have you tried clicking the grey button on the top left of the Forum home page, under the Forum banner, to collapse the Featured Topics section? That will give you the option not to look at it on the Home Page
