Like others, I wouldn't want something like this automatically starting to EMail me. Especially if I didn't opt-in to it beforehand.
On the other hand, I like the idea in theory, if it could be done well. There have been a few periods where due to 'things' or 'life', I've not been here for a while. If someone were to build something like a weekly digest that would show the statistics you've mentioned with a curated list of interesting nodes and made it an option where you could opt in through one of the settings pages, I think that would be a cool thing. I might even use it ... if I remembered to do so before 'things' and 'life' got in the way.
The biggest difficulty would be finding an editor who would have the time to curate a list of 'interesting' nodes -- I personally wouldn't just want to see something like "weekly best" as that's just a list of high-scoring nodes. Many of the most interesting nodes I've seen wouldn't even make that list, and most items on that list (when I've checked) are decidedly uninteresting. The problem with a "weekly best" is that it would be dominated (IIRC--I've not monitored it in some time) by well-written questions with a solid well-written reply about an essentially mundane topic. Those, however, are often very commonly asked questions that have been repeatedly answered, which are uninteresting.
I explicitly didn't say "who would have the taste to curate..." because different monks would have different ideas on what would constitute an 'interesting' node, making it more difficult to find an editor. Some monks will be very interested in threads that are rooted in the curious dusty corners of perl syntax where you might have to dig into the optree to see just what's happening. Others may be interested in posts that introduce them to new (to them) topics. (One case I remember is when BrowserUk posted a question that introduced me to Bloom filters, which consumed an entire weekend of time (IIRC).
Other monks will be interested in obfuscation, JAPHs or golf. While I find the discussion of techniques used in those topics interesting, I'm not interested in the topics themselves. I've also seen a lot of discussion about "making XYZ a one-liner". I understand that it's interesting to the people who may ask and answer it, and if I see a clever technique in there, I'll ++ the appropriate node(s). But as I can just stuff the code into a bash function or (more commonly) a script, I feel that trying to force such things into a one-liner (especially at the expense of readability) is pointless.
So the best monk to find the 'interesting' nodes for me would be the very one who would be missing them due to being on walkabout or such. I'm sure that (many|most) other monks would have the same problem.
...roboticus
When your only tool is a hammer, all problems look like your thumb.
In reply to Re: outreach to inactive users
by roboticus
in thread outreach to inactive users
by adamcrussell
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