I strongly agree with tye that virtually all approved nodes should be front paged. The front page of the Monastary is like the front page of a newspaper: it has to remain dynamic and interesting or it's easy for newbies to lose interest. The first time I visited PerlMonks (through the Front Page, of couse) I thought it was great... there were questions, discussions, new code, etc. I read through the front page and came back the next day only to find that nothing had changed. It took almost a week for any new nodes to show up (at the time... this was within 6 months of PerlMonks opening shop) so I thought "good idea... wish it were more active." It took me a year to come back, and discover the joy of the Newest Nodes. I don't want that to happen to anyone else.

I would also stress that it isn't important that the nodes be unique. You never know when a new visitor will "join the conversation." It might be old hat to those of us who've been around for awhile, but that doesn't mean it isn't new to the Monk who signed on last week. Sure they can use Search, but I think most people only resort to search when they have a specific problem or interest. I read PerlMonks like a newspaper, not because I only want to read one thing, but because I want to see what's going on in the world. Remember that magazines like "Bride" and "Home and Garden" recycle the same content over and over again, to make sure that when someone needs to know about something it's there on the front cover.

Just my two cents. :-D

Gary Blackburn
Trained Killer

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