with the addition of QT next year applications will be multiplatform capable.

i like the idea of having applications not as a sub category to the OS,
reason being is that their may be multiple platforms supported. having an OS specific sub category in applications would be cleaner. then you can have general application posts and specific application posts. also means if there is something that is relevant to multiple platforms in an application the poster doesn't have to make multiple posts but can put it in the main applications category.

That doesn't really solve much. If we have say:

Software/Applications
-Maemo 5
-Maemo 4
-Old Crap

And I write a piece of software that works with both Maemo 5 and Maemo 4 but not Old Crap, I still have to make separate posts within the categories for them. I can't just put the application in "Software/Applications" because that would also imply support for "Old Crap".

The reason I choose the OS route is because even though one application will support multiple operating systems.. the problems and bugs related to the applications will vary greatly based on the Operating System they are running on. Two people running Maemo 5 will have a much greater chance of having similar problems than Two people running Maemo 5 and Maemo 4, for example.

However, due to the fact that any application could support any combination of operating system, library, hardware, etc.. is one of the hurdles of this type of discussion. In such a multi-dimensional area there will never be a 100% perfect solution.

Your solution does have Merit, of course, and though I don't think it solves the problem you've specifically mentioned - others may prefer it like you. Draft up a good layout of your vision and make a Solution at the Brainstorm for it.. at this point that's what we've got.

As far as a process to speed all this up for the N8x0 guys (which I guess technically includes me) - I have no idea how we're to do that.

ETA: Your solution is very similar to Solution #2, just in his solution he's using Tags - instead of categories. So you could vote his up instead of creating your own, if you prefer.

@fatalsaint

i agree with what you say. There is no 100% solution as it's mainly based on user preference. I decided not to create another solution as there are already many different solutions and taking a leaf out of some and others would work.

i don't think there's a solution for reading my mind and doing things for me :P which would be my 100% solution, skynet on happy pill's FTW

Ah, the multidimensional aspect strikes again!

maybe some type of im. Or the ability to put your im id in your profile

Talk profiles have fields for AIM, ICQ, MSN, Skype, and Y!M. maemo.org profiles have fields for AIM, Jabber, and MSN as well as IRC.

I'm all for this.... Where's Reggie... lets get him working on an AI (actual intelligence) forum .

you know it's not a bad idea when ya think about it. it's something like google would do except not use it to take over the world.
log user data and display most relavent information based on what they look at the most and search for on the forums. Have those subjects and tags etc on the side and allow the user to delete them from their interests. i might be interested in n900 rebooting bug if i have it and then not interested when it's fixed. so those threads are lower down with the rest of the stuff i'm not that interested in yet.

Sure.. the type of thing we're talking about can be emulated quite realistically enough (not SkyNet, not yet anyway) - but the amount of work we're talking about at this point is so astronomical that I certainly wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a complete relational and dynamic system; including some kind of weighted search system, a memory, a similarity calculator, keyword matching... etc.

Would be cool though . All you do is come on and hit "new posts" and your entire search history, including time spent reading/replying to threads, is taken into account and every single posts is analyzed in a "like/dislike" process and it hides the ones it determines you have no interest in. The forum of tomorrow, today!

can you imagine the trolls lists

flame flame flame! troll troll, search for iphone eats babies etc hahaha