I'm just trying to be altruistic. As i understand these website thingys, the only way to support and effort like this one is to sell ads. The only way to sell ads is to promise eyeballs. the only way to effectively deliver eyeballs is to be sure that you can say N number of people saw _this_ page this month and probably will again next month. From my experience with net ad agencies ( I have had personal dealings with Doubleclick ) they like you to be able to say, "everyone who visits my site for any reason will see _this_ ad-space, garunteed."

With that all said, if we all have our own bookmarks into the site, we defract the traffic that comes through, therefore by having the system assign us a 'home page' vroom can always be sure to plop an ad in a space where _every_ monk will see it, and therefore increase the sales appeal. Therefore ensure a long life to this wonderful stuff :)

Maybe it's just because I work closely with a sales organization, but I think about this type of stuff...

-- I'm a solipsist, and so is everyone else. (think about it)

I would hazard to guess that 98% of the people who do not use The Monastery Gates as their "home page" use the Newest Nodes page. Why would anyone use anything else? Maybe some use SOPW as another 1.5% (got any stats, webmaster?) As far as the advertising goes, my philosophy has always been to please the viewers, and not the advertisers. I rarely see the ads anyway, as the browser I tend to use does not handle the IFRAME tag. :)

shhh...now saying you don't see the ads at all would be _really_ bad :)

-- I'm a solipsist, and so is everyone else. (think about it)

BUT..
perlmonks is here - as far as I can see - in a much better situation, thus they can say - relying on access logs- how many different people for sure have seen the ads on top.
Therefore there's no reason at this andvanced state of technique to force anyone to visit an "entry page" anymore.
mmh, just two cents, :-)

you would think the server logs could help, but if they only show that people are coming but not showing any predictable traiffic pattern being enforced by a site, then it can be a problem...

but, of course, this is not a for-profit venture. the rules are different here. I'm to used to my clients and their needs. It's just been my experience that by having control over the _first_page people are going to see, or, at least, the first ad-space you have more appeal to the ad-guys.

-- I'm a solipsist, and so is everyone else. (think about it)