Talkyard Limitations & Custom Forum Requirements
This document captures known limitations of Talkyard discovered through active use, and the requirements each limitation implies for the custom forum that will eventually replace it. This is a living document — updated as new limitations are discovered.
Subcategory Depth Limit
The Limitation
Talkyard supports only one level of subcategories. A top level category can have subcategories, but those subcategories cannot have their own subcategories.
Discovered
While attempting to create Chat Import Pipeline as a subcategory under THE FABRIC, which was itself a subcategory under DEVELOPMENT.
Workaround Applied
THE FABRIC was promoted to a top level category, allowing Chat Import Pipeline, Structure & Organization, and Talkyard API & Integration to exist as its subcategories.
Custom Forum Requirement
Unlimited subcategory nesting depth. Categories should support as many levels as the content naturally requires, without forcing structural compromises.
Tag Scoping — Flat Global List
The Limitation
Tags in Talkyard are a flat global list across the entire forum. While per-post tagging IS supported (tags can be applied to individual posts within a topic), there is no way to:
- Restrict a tag to a specific category or subcategory tree
- Define tags that only appear as options within certain areas
- Create tag namespaces or groups that map to category hierarchy
- Prevent a tag relevant only to one domain from appearing as an option everywhere
Discovered
While planning tag strategy across multiple top level categories with very different concerns — tags relevant to THE FABRIC appear as options in APPS and NEIGHBORNET and everywhere else.
Workaround Applied
Use tags only for genuine cross-cutting concerns. Accept that the global tag list will grow and become noisy over time. Naming conventions (e.g. prefixing tags) can reduce confusion but do not enforce scoping.
Custom Forum Requirement
Tag scoping as a first class feature. Tags should be definable at any level of the category hierarchy and optionally inherited downward through subcategories. A tag defined at THE FABRIC level appears only within THE FABRIC and its subcategories. A truly global tag is an explicit choice, not the default. This allows different domains to maintain clean, relevant tag vocabularies without polluting a shared global namespace.
Model/Version Metadata Missing from API
The Limitation
Talkyard's API and data export do not include which AI model or version generated a response. No way to automatically tag imported conversations as Sonnet vs Opus or track model evolution over time.
Discovered
While examining the Claude conversation export JSON for fields to use during import pipeline design.
Workaround Applied
None currently. Feedback submitted to Anthropic requesting model version be included in conversation exports.
Custom Forum Requirement
First class metadata support on posts — arbitrary key/value pairs attachable to any post. Model version, temperature, context size, and other AI generation metadata should be storable alongside the content.
Notes
Each limitation documented here represents a deliberate design decision by Talkyard's developer. These are not bugs — they reflect tradeoffs made for simplicity. The custom forum being designed as part of NEXUS has different priorities and can make different tradeoffs.