Re: When to frontpage a node?

[tomhukins]

I don't yet have enough experience to place nodes on the front page, so my views aren't based on experience.

When I first discovered Perl Monks, I visited it by going straight to the home page. I assumed that all nodes would be listed there, as there's no indication that the topics covered have been deemed important. After a while I discovered Newest Nodes, and realised that nodes only appear on the front page after they have been approved.

So, if fewer nodes are approved on the front page, some newcomers might think that there isn't much going on at Perl Monks.

On the other hand, I like the idea of having something between Newest Nodes and Best Nodes, that contains the most interesting posts. If the front page serves this purpose, the front page should contain a notice clearly stating this, with a pointer to Newest Nodes for newcomers who want to read more.

Of course, all this is IMHO, and assuming that vroom and others have infinite time to modify this site according to users' whims. ;-)

[mpolo]

In theory, the various sections, Snippets Section, Perl Monks Discussion, etc., are supposed to take care of this. All the approved but not front-paged nodes land here. In practice, I spend all my time looking through Newest Nodes -- which includes dangerous unapproved material (ooh!) -- and almost never use the other sections.

On the other hand, things that land on the front page are virtually guaranteed to go stratospheric (or infernal) with the voting. One monk mentioned the time he promoted a reaped node to the Front Page and it promptly went from -6 to +1. As such, promotion to the front page is really like a super double pumped-up-on-steroids ++, so should be treated that way.

(I also, am speaking only from the receiving end of this, as I have miles to go before I can approve.)