Yes, it requires more moderation effort, and yes, it might require that additional personnel be involved in some way, e.g. assigning categories, denying posts until an appropriate topic is assigned, refusing posting until a proper search has been performed, etc.

How, exactly, to do this is not so simple. The search verification can be done by automatically perhaps by inserting a daily token into every search, but, perhaps, not explaining to the world just exactly how this is managed, and then requiring a token list in order to enable the post. The other two really do require human action. The quality and extent of such action would have to be worked out, but if the site search is to be genuinely useful, it has to have a relevant topic, and it has to be determined whether that topic and/or others are to be included, since threads do often wander from topic to topic, no matter how often the participants are exhorted to remain "on-topic."

These are matters common to all "discussion group" websites and, also, to newsgroup discussions. Surely there's some "prior art" that can be used as a point of reference. I'm persuaded that confining the subject matter of the "8052" forum to matters that directly involve the 805x-core MCU's and placing PIC, AVR, ARM, PC, and, in general, other-core topics to the "CHAT" or some other forum, would help quite a bit.

Now, I believe that it's unhelpful to a newbie who's been assigned to interface some "widget" to an 805x-core MCU by means of an 8255 to post an example of how it's done with an 8080, or, for that matter, a PIC. It's also unhelpful to the newbie to argue, repeatedly, that the 8255 is not an appropriate vehicle for his task, no matter how true that may be. After all, he didn't assign it. He's just supposed to figure out how to do it. He probably doesn't even have to perform the physical work, or, perhaps, he has merely to produce code to do the job on an existing board available in his lab. Likewise, I find it unhelpful to criticize the hobbyist who has, at his disposal, a specific selection of components, that he use different ones when that's not the approach about which he requested help. In such cases, I believe the first thing presented should be a relevant answer directed specifically at his question, and, only after that's been presented should an alternative path be recommended. It should be up to the O/P to make a decision based on his own decision variables, and not on what someone else believes should be the basis for that decision. There are, after all, people who want to build a one-off, and want to do it with what they've already got, or what the supplier down the street has in local stock.

If it's the intent of the owner(s)/moderator(s) of this site to be more generally helpful to 805x-core users, at whatever skill level they arrive, then this sort of thing must be considered. In the last analysis, however, it's their choice, and not ours.

RE