broad forum topics breed more interaction. the flip side is that they can also make what you are looking for too hard to find.

the hardest part is finding the best balance between these tradeoffs so there is activity, interaction, things are on topic enough and easy to find.

it isn't easy and is the hardest part of running a forum. It is the reason most forums never make it to first base and then never thrive. The amount of breakdown is also a function of activity. I see boards copy RCU exactly from day one and they never fly. Too many forums for a startup board.

Anyway...give these tradeoffs a thought. I'm sure our current setup isn't perfect right now and needs some tweaking but we want to ensure interaction and not make it so those interested in certain things have to pop into 6 forums instead of 1 or 2 in order to see their threads of interest (but still easy to find stuff!)