Everytime I check into the Lending forum, it's filled with flood topic after flood topic. Wouldn't it make sense to to create a seperate forum specifically for Flood like we have for HMDA, FCRA/FACT Act, etc.?

Just a thought.

Noticed a lot of flood posts last week myself.

Gotta be an aggie with that ring? Cheers from a Texas native.

SWTSU alum

Guilty as charged.

Gig 'em right back at you Wyo!

I'd rather have LESS forums to open than more. I'd really like to not see a flood insurance forum.

I agree, David. A general practitioner could spend hours a day digging through the volume of discussion here. A better solution is for posters to indicate the reg in the subject line--as is the case in this thread. Descriptions like "I need answers fast!" don't help the reader and will most likely get little, if any, attention.

I agree. Flood is a hot issue right now, but wait until the final RESPA revisions come out and you will see nothing but RESPA posts. It's very cyclical.

Well, if you're already an expert, experienced, or fluent in Banking (lending in particular) and your use of the forums is to generally provide the answers or responses to questions raised, than maybe it makes sense for you to have all/most lending topics in one forum such as the Lending forum.

If, however, your a novice, upstart, inexperienced or new to lending, and your use of the forum is to find answers and ask regulation specific questions, then it makes more sense to find that answer and ask that question in a forum dedicated to that topic or regulation so that it doesn't get mixed, sidetracked, minimized or lost in the mix of other non-related topics. Frankly, it would make it much easier for those wet behind the ears individuals to search for detailed regulation specific topics in a Regulation specific forum (e.g. HMDA) opposed to a general lending forum. IMO.

I understand what you're saying Glutes, but the answers comes from experienced personnel. What you're asking is those of that answer questions to be more burdened (opening more forums) so the inexperienced can be better served. I answer dozens of questions nearly every day (along with many others) and would not like to see the burden to do so increased. There needs to be a balance between the convenience (or inconvenience) of all involved. If you're suggesting BOL increase the burden on those that answer questions, you may find the answers decrease. We already have more forums then I feel is necessary.

I rarely go into the "newbie nook" and "need to remain anonymous" forums because it's more of the same. Also, most people that post here could easily find answers to their questions if they would spend a few minutes searching the existing posts in the General & Lending forums.

I'm also very much in favor of Richards suggestions. Please clearly label the subject line. This makes it better for all involved.

Just my 2 cents worth.

And do not for a minute believe that all flood questions would go into a flood forum. They simply won't. Users aren't sure where to post, or don't look for another forum or ask multiple questions at once, and they all end up in one place. Yes, it could help, no it wouldn't be a complete answer.

You can always search on key terms or, as we recently put in our Guru Newsletter:

Active Topics
Want to get a real sense for the hottest topics in the banking industry? Log in to Bankers' Threads, then click on the "Active Topics" menu item at the top. You can then choose to see the active topics in the past 24 hours, 48 hours, or the past 7 days. When something new and buzz worthy occurs, you can bet you'll find it there. The posts appear in reverse chronological order and you can quickly scan the titles of the threads, which forums they're posted in, who started the thread, and how long ago the last post was. When we've been out for a few days, the Active Topics link is the first place we head.

I hear where some of you "gurus" are coming from, I guess we're just speaking from two different paradigms.

While the clear labeling on the subject line would indeed make it better for all involved, the reality is that this isn't occuring and it likely won't happen, so in the absense of this ideal subject label approach, you can count me as one that actually welcomes the creation of more regulation specific forums. I think forums like the HMDA forum, the FCRA/FACT forum, the Article 9 forum and SCRA forum are great. It makes it much easier to search for and find a topic in those topic specific forums and you have the benefit of knowing that forum is dedicated to that subject or topic regardless of whether other questions and responses on the subject are asked outside of the forum. It's not much different in spirit than how you've organized your Bankers Tools list (which is great by the way).

Either way, your responses and time addressing our many questions are certainly appreciated.

Glutes, the subject lines can be improved and have been better in the past. Periodically, there are reminders sent out to have detailed info in the subject line, but as new folks find BOL - they missed the reminders and the vague subject lines start over.
I don't know if this is something that a moderaotr could clean up when reading a vague one or not. When I first came to the BOL World, I too thought it could be broken down into more forums, but over time I have found it to be better not to have more - for the same reasons the others have mentioned. Hopefully that will be your experience in time too!

I'm not too familiar with the options provided by a UBB.thread forum, but an alternative to adding additional forums would be to add an additional field containing a drop down list on top of the subject line. The dropdown field would contain a preset list of the main or popular subtopic items within the specific forum topic (subtopics could be by regulation).

For example, if that option were available, if you wanted to eliminate all other lending related forums you could and BOL could create a list of preset subtopic items that contains perhaps TIL, RESPA, HMDA, FLOOD, ECOA, Article 9, Other Lending, etc. This list would be a selectable item that a user wouldn't have the ability to edit. They could select a subtopic that their question or post relates to and then input a little more descriptive info in the subject line.

As far as searching for topic material, a user looking for a lending related topic could then filter his search by searching solely in the Lending forum (or any other forum for that mattter), selecting a subtopic category (created for that forum, such as HMDA, TIL, or perhaps ALL Subtopics) and then typing in a key word or phrase found either in the subject line or in the post itself as you normally do now.

If this option were available, it would eliminate the burden on the providers of answers in having to open multiple forums. Instead, they could simply open one forum and choose to see all posts in that forum or only those tagged by a subtopic category (e.g. Flood).

Not sure a forum powered by UBB allows for this, but if so, that may be worth looking into.