You could, for example, do as I have done, and put the following in your Free Nodelet:

[link://?node_id=6364&user=planetscape|planetscape's writeups] | 
[link://?node_id=6364&user=planetscape&showqa=on|planetscape's Q&A]<br
+>
[download]

Adapting it as needed to track the Monk(s) of choice. (You can see what else I have in my Free Nodelet by looking at planetscape's scratchpad.)

Other fun Free Nodelet tricks may be found here (and there are probably others):

Free Nodelet freed
Free Nodelet gets templating features
Free Nodelet Hack: RAT collapse all

HTH,

And you can use Free Nodelet templating to make yourself a link that adds a person to your "buddy" list that you keep in your Free Nodelet. You can even make a link in your Free Nodelet that takes you to Super Search to look for any recent nodes by any of your buddies. If only you could embed HTML comments in link URLs and specify more than one at= to the op=_freer, then the same link that adds people to your buddy list could also update this BuddySuperSearch link.

Well, here is an approximation given the current state of things, that lets you maintain a list of buddies for Super Search but requires minimal manual labor after you've added a buddy or few... (fully tested)

<a href="?node=3989;a="><!--buddysearch-
%5bid://`_u`%5d">-->Recent Buddy nodes</a>;
[href://?node_id=492700;op=_freer;at=buddysearch;_u=`author_id`|
Add `author_name&`].
[download]

Paste that into the Free Nodelet Settings and enable the nodelet on Nodelet Settings. Then, visit a node written by your new buddy (such as their homenode), click the "Add Paco" link now found in your Free Nodelet. This takes you to Free Nodelet Settings where you remove the three characters (", >, and newline) from between your old "buddy search" link and the new stuff that was added. Press "Submit". Now you've got a "Recent Buddy nodes" link in your Free Nodelet that takes you to Super Search with all your buddies' IDs filled in. Make any adjustments to the search parameters and then Submit to see their nodes (please don't make links that pre-submit the SuperSearch, though).

Not perfect. Gives me at least two ideas on how to enhance op=_freer...

- tye        

Way cool! I have added this (and a few other goodies) to Re^2: Free nodelet templates make scratchpads _freer, where I have tried to maintain a comprehensive list of Free Nodelet Hacks. :-)

HTH,

planetscape

You can put this kind of info on your homenode. In fact, many monks already do this.

You could also use your scratchpad (the public one) or your private scratchpad, or your Personal Nodelet.

Thanks for the suggestions! Those are good ideas. I was hoping to have something even easier, like a button or link to click that would auto-add the person to the buddy list, as well as a page that would aggregate new posts from the buddy list members.

---
It's all fine and dandy until someone has to look at the code.

There are buttons (links) in the Personal Nodelet that will add a page — it could be a user's homenode — to your scratchpad or Personal Nodelet. With some additional scripting in your Free Nodelet, you could probably add the extra bits you're talking about.

We're building the house of the future together.