Forum Category sections like vb.org and SEO

[ibaker]

I would like to break my forums up like is done at vb.org...in my case by subject matter and for the purpose of this post I will use the example of Trains, Planes and Automobiles.

I would have a user option in their settings to select a default category...options being:
All
Trains
Planes
Automobiles

There is also a "General" category that contains forums of "general Discussion", "Site News" etc

When a user selects Forums in the navbar it will look up their default option and display the General category plus the category of forums the user has selected as their default (either All, Trains, Planes etc). However, the navbar sub menu will list the 4 separate options so a user can view the other non-default categories. The same will go for the What's new, Search and other areas of the site.

Guests default will be the "All" option which will show all forums from all categories. Maybe a bit distracting for Guests as there will be a huge number of forums being displayed so I guess have to put some king of Notice saying that Registered Users can select a default category so all forums are not displayed.

My question is will this hurt SEO of my site in any way at all...thanks

[Brian Cummiskey]

Bots are guests. If you're not changing anything for them, there are no implications involved.