FWIW, I, too, would not like posts to be removed (apart from mistaken double-postings and that sort of thing).
As time goes by, the amount of experience and knowledge and opinion expressed in postings will grow and become ever more valuable as a research resource. Sometimes divergent opinion can be worthy in its own right - showing that the issue is not clear cut, perhaps worthy of more research.
As regards moving posts, this is tricky to do consistently and usefully. Potentially, any post 'ought' to be in multiple topics at once. And topics could be added (or revised in scope) as time goes by, meaning that already-moved posts could warrant being moved again. Etc.
Also, with multiple threads under one topic, they can get confused because the 'subject' lines don't always reflect the intended thread (you have to remember to change the 'subject' line while replying).
These sorts of complications are inevitable when trying to structure a collection of bits of information that are inherently multi-category.
I think it is important to realize that the structure (like this forum) provides a framework, within which postings may be made (input) and which gives the site a sense of organization. But when it comes to discovering information (output), although navigating the structure hierarchically can be useful, one should realize that the best way is often to use the search facilities. Doing a search means:
- you don't have to waste time and brainpower trying to decide or guess where something might have been posted
- if it exists, you will find it even if it has been posted in the wrong place
- statistics can show the most common searches, most common typos in searches, what things that were searched for returned no hits, for example (and those stats can help improve how well data repository works).
Concerning searching: site admins please note that the search box and button (under the 'Mediterranean Garden Society' box) is, in my opinion, counter-intuitive. It is in the same panel that has 'News: Welcome to the MGS forum!' on the left hand side, so I would expect its scope to be forum-wide. But its scope is actually limited to the current position in the topic-subtopic hierarchy. That is, if I happen to be in 'Perennials>Alstromeria' and then decide to search for 'Viola', it finds no hits. You have to remember to position yourself in a suitable part of the hierarchy before doing a search. (Yes - in many cases, it is useful to be able to search within your current part of the hierarchy, but in that case, the search box and button should be on the same line or in the same panel as the text that shows where you are in the hierarchy.) I realize that is under the control of the SMF developers not the MGS forum admins. But that does not diminish the importance of understanding how the basic search facility works today. It is very easy to search for something, get no hits, and falsely conclude there are no relevant postings.
