i've got a lot of great ideas for forums to add to my site but im afraid the list is growing LONG and i dont want to overwhelm new users with multiple pages worth of forums. i'm not a huge fan of sub-sub-forums because the displayed titles are so small.
does anyone use a general rule of thumb for this or is this not really a concern for others?
It depends on the topic. I have a forum for "everything" and just give each topic their own forum. I'll post up my site in a few to show you what I mean...
Hitting 25+ is too many if your site is new, not counting Categories.
As your forum grows, that number will probably grow as well.
My forum has two categories and two forums per category. That's where I start. Then with more users I would, naturally, add more...
Just start a thread for each of your ideas in your off topic section then if the thread takes off, make it a forum.
I think you could have a lot if you've done some organizational tweaks.
Otherwise, I'd say Ryan Ashbrook's guideline is fairly reasonable.
My forum is let's say 5 years old?
And I have:
Category1
Forum1
Subforum
Forum2
Forum3
Category2
Forum1
Subforum1
Forum2
And then one more category with 2 forums for staff.
It really depends on how active your forum is. If your forum is active and the forums are filling up with posts at a higher rate, it makes more sense to create more... but it's better to have broader topics in the beginning so as to not scare new users away.
for instance, does anyone think i have too many? i will be expanding in the coming months and i'm coming to terms with having to use subforums