I have been progressively adding new thread prefixes since adopting Xenforo instead of vBulletin a few months ago. Thread prefixes announce the topic category. This allowed me to reduce the number of subforums while keeping everything organised. For example in the European News & Hot topics section, there used to be several subforums (crime, economy, politics, immigration, wacky lane, etc.). Now all the threads are listed within the same forum section, but prefixes show in which category each thread belongs. You can click on the thread prefix to list all the threads belonging to that category.
I went further and added categories for which there were no subforums before. For example, here in the Life Science section I added prefixes for health, neurology, nutrition, cancer, Covid, evolution, addictions... I tried to add prefixes to as many existing threads as possible, but there are so many of them that it is quite time consuming to review each and every one of them. Some threads are titles that were not descriptive at all, so I had to check the thread and sometimes find a better title for them.
In the Autosomal Genetics section, I got rid of most subforums (Dodecad, Eurogenes, 23andMe, FTDNA, etc.) and just added prefixes instead. I also created prefixes for specific calculators (G25, K12b, K15, K36, etc.) so that it is immediately clear what the thread is about and also faster to list all related threads by clicking on the prefix.
Here is what happens when you click on the thread prefix K12b (for example):
I went further and added categories for which there were no subforums before. For example, here in the Life Science section I added prefixes for health, neurology, nutrition, cancer, Covid, evolution, addictions... I tried to add prefixes to as many existing threads as possible, but there are so many of them that it is quite time consuming to review each and every one of them. Some threads are titles that were not descriptive at all, so I had to check the thread and sometimes find a better title for them.
In the Autosomal Genetics section, I got rid of most subforums (Dodecad, Eurogenes, 23andMe, FTDNA, etc.) and just added prefixes instead. I also created prefixes for specific calculators (G25, K12b, K15, K36, etc.) so that it is immediately clear what the thread is about and also faster to list all related threads by clicking on the prefix.
Here is what happens when you click on the thread prefix K12b (for example):