I see a lot of these threads about water quality, filtration, plumbing, etc. Do these topics warrant their own forum?

In my opinion YES. I deal with water treatment and quality as part of my profession and you can not learn enough about the subject. Improper water can cause havoc with our equipment and taste, as many here already know.

Anyway...JMHO

I think so. I tend to get overwhelmed and frustrated when I try and research this topic.

I don't think so.
When you look at the list of forums up top, there is only one (brewing) that conversations about water would reasonably be found in.

Ah, I see you are including plumbing etc. in the category rather than just water quality, so maybe I'm a bit short sighted, but I think if you are going to add a forum for "water" then you have to add one for "beans" and one for too many other subtopics, but....luckily I don't have to make the call ))

To me "brewing" is about the process of making coffee, or "techniques" as the sub-title says. The mineral makeup of water and filtration systems doesn't neatly fit into that topic of discussion IMO.

I'm interested in the subject. But, given the nature of the existing fora, one on water would seem trivial in comparison. For this reason I suggest it is not needed.

tegee wrote:In my opinion YES. I deal with water treatment and quality as part of my profession and you can not learn enough about the subject. Improper water can cause havoc with our equipment and taste, as many here already know.

Anyway...JMHO

Neato! Would be great to hear from professionals who have to deal with water issues (industrial, hydrology, analytical chemistry, fluid dynamics, rheology....) like yourself. In the end-- it'a all connected--plumbing, water treatments, playing with mineral additives, effects on boilers, how water percolates through pucks and baskets, etc.....-> and what winds up in your cup and how it tastes.

To illustrate my thought process, I've collected some titles from threads that have been active in the past month. These seem to me to fall into a common category. I'm not saying that a new forum is the right answer, but I don't like the way these are somewhat arbitrarily distributed between various forums.

From the "Espresso Machines" forum

• OK - I'm plumbed. Do John Guest fittings need routine replacement?
  Flojet & filtration plumbing confusion?
  No Water Alkalinity. Good or Bad?
  RO plumbing tube size
  Reduce very high alkalinity/pH
  Yellow water out of Commercial Water Softener [not solved]

From "Tips and Techniques"

• Water TDS/PPM question
  Plumb in: PEX taste

From "Brewing"

• Water for Coffee- Quantifying Dissolved Mineral Content
  Mixing distilled water with mineral water

From "Knockbox"

• Another water question: Matching your water to a roaster's water for perfection?
  "Water For Coffee" book discussion thread
  Got an interesting email from La Marzocco "Water for Home Espresso"

I'd like to see everything like this end up in one place, whether a new forum dedicated to such topics, or an existing forum with an updated description. I don't think "Espresso Machines" or "Brewing" are the best places to post these. Water quality and filtration systems are not specific to extraction method. Of all of the forums I've included, I would most prefer seeing these threads in "Tips and Techniques," although "Knockbox" works too, I guess.

As to whether a new forum might be warranted, the only question I have is whether it would get enough traffic to be worth it. In my opinion, it's a very distinct topic, and it's very relevant to this site's objective.

vilseiprairien wrote: As to whether a new forum might be warranted, the only question I have is whether it would get enough traffic to be worth it. In my opinion, it's a very distinct topic, and it's very relevant to this site's objective.

It's not about traffic. If you have a pie and you cut it into 8 pieces or 80, you still have one pie. A major hurdle in this ever more mobile oriented world is viewing very tiny words on a screen. More subforums mean harder to read and navigate.

TomC wrote:It's not about traffic. If you have a pie and you cut it into 8 pieces or 80, you still have one pie. A major hurdle in this ever more mobile oriented world is viewing very tiny words on a screen. More subforums mean harder to read and navigate.

It's a good point. Adding another forum means more used space on the forums start page. That page is already quite populated, and it's right to be hesitant to add to it. I disagree, however, that having more forums necessarily means harder to read and navigate. The reason "subforums" are used is that, ideally, they make navigation easier by dividing content neatly into distinct categories. If I'm interested in coffee roasting, I read the "Home Roasting" forum. If I have no interest in it, I can simply ignore that forum. More subforums can make the site easier to read and navigate, as long as they are selected carefully and described in such a way that it's clear which content goes where.

To me, things get difficult to navigate when we have a distinct topic that gets spread out between four forums because people aren't sure which one it belongs in. Of course what I'm calling "one topic" is actually comprised of a few overlapping topics (water quality, water filtration, and plumbing), and some of the threads about these do fit neatly into an existing forum, but I do think that many of these threads that get spread around on various forums fall neatly into their own category.

Which of the existing forums is the most appropriate place for these discussions? I'd think that questions about water quality and water treatment systems don't belong in either "Espresso Machines" or "Brewing," as they could apply equally to either.