I have the power to frontpage nodes since some time already, but I still feel I haven't quite grasped when to do it and when not. Most of the time I don't do it, since I figure somebody else will be doing it anyway if it's a good node :). Other times, there are excellent nodes which aren't being frontpaged by anyone, and I wonder whether I should frontpage them or not. Searching also didn't really give me a definite answer (not even How to use the moderation system, which answers the question in a rather general way). The one rule I have come up for myself is that I take care not to frontpage nodes I reply to (in order to avoid a conflict of XP-interest).

So I guess my question is not: Which nodes should I frontpage? but rather: Why should I frontpage a node? What is the agenda behind frontpaging? Is it

For myself, I am leaning towards the second agenda. I feel that there is no need for every good node to be on the frontpage at some time. Most people that look at the Monastery Gates are probably anonymous monks or people just dropping by perlmonks, so the rational thing would be to display nodes that feature intelligent questions and discussions. I'd even rate a clever question higher than one that might be appealing to a larger number of people, also because I feel it is quite hard to guess what might appeal to everyone.

However, I am curious to see what other monks think about this issue.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by Ovid (Cardinal) on Apr 22, 2003 at 19:30 UTC

    If it's a well-stated question, has interesting answers or is just something you think is "cool", then feel free to front page it. I do this infrequently because that would negate the value, but for the most part, don't sweat it. As long as you're not front-paging everything or front paging egregiously stupid trolls, then no one will be overly concerned.

    And just to prove my point, I front-paged you :) I don't think your node needs to be front-paged, but even if a while slew of monks flamed me for it (or removed you from the front page), the monastery (and myself) will continue.

    Cheers,
    Ovid

    New address of my CGI Course.
    Silence is Evil (feel free to copy and distribute widely - note copyright text)

[reply]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by halley (Prior) on Apr 22, 2003 at 19:28 UTC

    I'm not to that caste yet, but I'd imagine there'd be one overriding rule that would tell me, damnit, front-page that puppy!

    The rule I'd go by would be, "Why in the heck has there been no responses yet?"

    Use sensible fuzzy definitions of 'heck', 'no', and 'yet'. If it's not getting the attention you think it deserves, green-light it.

    --
    [ e d @ h a l l e y . c c ]

[reply]
      Hear, hear! Excellent answer. The question should be "When shouldn't I front-page a node?", not how you put it. The goal is to increase exposure, but it's easier to give than take away and people would consider removal of their node from the front page to be a penalty (which it would be). Better to let people feel they're being promoted. :-)

      ------
      We are the carpenters and bricklayers of the Information Age.

      Don't go borrowing trouble. For programmers, this means Worry only about what you need to implement.

      Please remember that I'm crufty and crochety. All opinions are purely mine and all code is untested, unless otherwise specified.

[reply]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by Abigail-II (Bishop) on Apr 22, 2003 at 20:27 UTC
    You'd frontpage a note soon after it was posted and you replied to it. Early replies to frontpaged notes are the surest way to get xp, even if you tell nonsense.

    But more seriously, I don't bother myself with this frontpaging stuff. But if I were, I'd frontpage notes that asked or discussed interesting topics that aren't FAQs or discussed recently, and that had gotten interesting replies. Articles without good replies shouldn't appear on the front page - the people answering the questions read "Newest Nodes".

    Abigail

[reply]

      re: Articles without good replies shouldn't appear on the front page - the people answering the questions read "Newest Nodes".

      Ooh! I like that idea! I've see this issue discussed several times (before I was able to do so), but I don't recall seeing this factor mentioned before. Good idea!

      Wally Hartshorn

      (Plug: Visit JavaJunkies, PerlMonks for Java)

[reply]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node? (why not?)
by tye (Sage) on Apr 22, 2003 at 21:31 UTC

    The voting patterns show that most of our voting visitors use the front page as a primary navigation point. So you'd front-page a node whenever you are pretty sure that the node isn't bad enough to warrant hiding it from most of our visitors (and I'm not counting our anonymous visitors which probably swings the balance even further).

    Or just read the PMD nodes asking about front-paging (that appear roughly monthly of late). Perhaps the SiteDocClan will continue their fine work of late and improve the standard documentation to help address these recurring questions. (:

                    - tye
[reply]
      Our guiding light in documenting seems to have been "Document the facts, and that which has reached the status of unwritten law", so it seems that we'll have to stretch our stylistic legs to provide documentation which showcases the diverse opinion which is moderation.

      That being said, we'll probably throw it in the todo wiki and give it the old college try.

      Perl programming and scheduling in the corporate world, as explained by dragonchild:
      "Uhh ... that'll take me three weeks, broken down as follows: 1 day for coding, the rest for meetings to explain why I only need 1 day for coding."
[reply]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by demerphq (Chancellor) on Apr 22, 2003 at 23:32 UTC

    Lately I havent been here much, but one rule of thumb for me is to frontpage stuff if the front page is stale and the node is decent and not long. I think its better for the front page to be fresh than to worry about the XP related effects. And I dont necessarily think FP'ing a node youve replied to is wrong either. Im somewhat reluctant to do it I agree, but if the original node is particularly good I will.


    ---
    demerphq

    <Elian> And I do take a kind of perverse pleasure in having an OO assembly language...
[reply]
[d/l]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by crenz (Priest) on Apr 22, 2003 at 21:25 UTC

    Thanks for the replies so far! They have certainly been somewhat controversial, ranging from "frontpage if no replies" to "frontpage if there are good replies". That just confirms my suspicion that there are a number of different agendas at work :).

    To add to the discussion, I just took a look at the current frontpage, and I guess I'll add another rule for myself:

    Don't frontpage unless the code contains readmore tags (or consider it for an editor to add readmore tags).

[reply]

      If it has good replies, that is a good reason to front-page it (so lots of people will see the good replies). It it has no replies, that is also a good reason to front-page it (to increase the odds of it getting answered). There is no conflict here. If it has replies but none of them are good, then you should also front-page it (to increase the chance of a good reply being made).

      Long ago I recall reading about when to front-page and the only hard rule was related to "length". Doing a quick check, I don't see that in the site documentation. So I suspect the good documentation on when to front-page is not in the standard documentation (and most of it is outdated; being from before we realized that the front page was being heavily used to navigate the site rather than as just a splash page for casual visitors).

                      - tye
[reply]
        If it has good replies, that is a good reason to front-page it (so lots of people will see the good replies). It it has no replies, that is also a good reason to front-page it (to increase the odds of it getting answered). There is no conflict here. If it has replies but none of them are good, then you should also front-page it (to increase the chance of a good reply being made).

        Aren't you just saying, "frontpage everything"? That's a process that could be automated.

        Abigail

[reply]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by DigitalKitty (Parson) on Apr 23, 2003 at 19:06 UTC
    Hi all.

    In my humble opinion, a node should be placed on the front page if it illuminates a particularly interesting topic / concept that could help expand the collective knowledge of all monks. Of course, what qualifies is entirely subjective. The monastery is a microcosmic, dynamic reflection of the perl community itself. The wide, diverse array of posts and personal exchanges can be viewed as a virtual entity. Moving and swaying in response to various stimuli. Many monks possess a relatively unique set of skills / abilities and that fact can only enhance the experience for all.

    Thanks,

    Katie.
[reply]
Re: Why should I frontpage a node?
by Necos (Friar) on Apr 24, 2003 at 16:42 UTC
    As most people have said, the decision to frontpage a node is not written in stone. Personally, I would also have to agree with the others and say that we should try to "keep it fresh." A lot of questions can be answered with a reference to an FAQ, or even another node. However, there are some topics that are so frequent, yet so interesting, that they should be frontpaged more often than not. If you think you should frontpage either type of node, we're not going to hang you for it. Some of us might wonder why you frontpaged it, but that's about it. Then again, if you don't frontpage it, somebody else probably will.

    I guess one thing that we should take from your question (and quite interesting discussion sparked from it), is that we should all be (ab)using our level 6+ powers more frequently. There's only so much space on the front page. Let's make it look nice to new users (so they'll join... *wink, wink*) as well as try to put some light on some nodes, that while interesting, go almost unnoticed. This is one of those things that we'll never get perfect, so let's just try to find a happy medium.

    Theodore Charles III
    Network Administrator
    Los Angeles Senior High
    email->secon_kun@hotmail.com
    perl -e "map{print++$_}split//,Mdbnr;"
[reply]
[d/l]

Back to Perl Monks Discussion