A thread may derail from an OP's original question because it may not be clear that they have thought through what they are asking, and aren't aware that more information applies to the answers they think they are seeking. And sometimes we have to ask more questions to flesh out what the OP is really asking.

As to this forum, versus a different one, this forum will be 9 years old in two months. I created it because there was no place for newer artists, especially print and entertainment-oriented artists, to actually talk to one another about any aspect of the industry. There were three other forums in existence at the time. One was Crystal's, totally business-end. The other was for FX artists. The third forum was run by the owner of a school who abused the membership, and deleted any thread that was deemed helpful. There was a wide open hole for this forum to exist.

As to reorganizing this forum, I don't really see the need, at least not yet. There were only 20 pages allowed here under the old software, and there is FAQ for all truly informative threads that can be helpful. Now, there's close to 60 pages, still not that difficult to navigate.

MM has had far more posting traffic, and yet somehow people manage to make it work to find threads they want. I'm not worried about people being able to use this place effectively, if they put just a little effort in.