Forum discussion boards has been around for a long time. It sort was born from an electronic format of a business bulletin board from what I correlate to and expand from there. The format of ice shanty may seem overwhelming to new users or users who are not familiar with forum discussions boards. The most visited topics, is typically at the top of the format. While others are usually found lower down. It's the topics found lower down that are useful information and generally focused on topic of discussion. It is these consolidated boards that are the true treasures of information. Even if there are good information in the "General discussion" board, it will be lost easily as new threads are posted.
Each community/website is different. Some will always refer to prior discussion, even if it was ten+ years ago and the information is relevant. Some will always prefer repetitive discussions, totally disregarding prior content. Some people think it's like chat, expecting a response withing 30 seconds. Some people get annoyed by useless chatter. You just never know who's personality or P's and Q's are conflicting with others.
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I will say, that ice shanty is the best community there is. It all depends on what one is looking for. As one gets familiar with the website, navigating it becomes simple.