I'm not the smartest.....

OK I'm not the smartest guy using a forum but it seems like the only place you can start a new topic is in the "tinkering with this site" section.

I was actually wanting to post in both the Homesteading & in the Energy sections.

Anybody?

Don't worry Eric it's not natural for many of us .
Are you on a computer or a phone ?
As the screens can look different .
If you click on the forum you want you should see a button entitled new topic

David

These links might be useful.

how permies works
how to post on permies

I'm not finding a post specifically about how to start a new thread.

At first, I was a bit confused between category and forum. We can only start a thread in a forum, if we're viewing category, there's no option to start a new topic.

So for example, homesteading is a category. To start a post, we choose which forum we want to use. Depending if you are useing new view or old, or a phone, or blablastuff I don't know much about, it will look different for you. For me, when I go to Homesteading, the list of forums are on the right. I could pick Farm income and near the top of the screen there is a button saying "New Topic". Click that to start a new thread. If you don't see the "new topic" button, you are probably looking at a category.

If you would like a topic to be in more than one forum, and you don't have pie privileges, then the easiest thing to do is "report" the post asking the staff to put it in the other forum as well. If they think it belongs there, they can make it so that the same thread appears in more than one forum. This prevents duplicate threads cluttering up the site.

Thanks for the quick replies.

I'm using a Windows 7 desktop & I'm also using the "new" forum design.

To the left are buttons with each different forum listed IE: Homesteading, Energy, Growies.

Now if I click on the button it opens the correct forum but there is no place within the forum at the top of the page, bottom of the page or on either side to post a "New Topic".

Going back to the opening page that tells me I am on the "New" forum there is a bar that says:

Note: You are currently viewing our new look. If you have any feedback or want to report any issues then please create a new topic in this forum.

The word "this" at the end of the first sentence is a link that opens a page allowing you to start a new topic but defaults to "tinkering with this site" I see no way of selecting which forum you wish to post to.

I guess I'll try going back to the old forum & see if it allows a new topic to be posted.

Growies is a category. On the main category screen in my view (New view but I always forget which windows version) there is another menu on the right hand side. It lists the forums within the growies category (followed by a number that I assume is number of topics) Click on one of those and it will put you into a forum where you can start a new topic.

Sorry, that's where I spend the most of my time so the word growies jumped out at me in your last post. The Homesteading and Energy categories will have the same set up. Categories on the left, Forums on the right.

OK Thanks I'll try that. Cheers!

GOT IT! It works! Sub categories on the right, choose the sub cat then you can start a new topic.

Wonderful & thanks again.

I wonder if we need a 'create new thread' button on each category page, which then guides you to select an appropriate forum.

Would that help?