Sorry for yet another "meta" post from me. But on the subject matter of frontpaging I am aware both of What nodes should/should not be FrontPaged? and the classic discussion referenced there, yet I'm asking here because I was specifically thinking of a thread I recently stumbled upon: under the fairly common and totally uninformative name of Regex help it started with a badly posed question which got deservedly downvoted. By all means, according to those readings, that particular node should not be frontpaged. But after all the question behind the mess was interesting, and even more so (some of) the answers that were given. So if it were not just for the root node... the thread in and of itself IMHO would have deserved being frontpaged. What can one do in these cases?

Update: thread referenced above now frontpaged out of apparent general consensus - albeit on a limited statistical sample. Still taking into account of extracting useful info and expanding on the subject in a separate meditation as hinted by halley and graff.

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: How to frontpage the unfrontpageable?
by grinder (Bishop) on Jun 26, 2007 at 16:50 UTC

    Frontpage it.

    It's a good thread, you say so yourself. The fact that the question was poor doesn't really matter, what came out of it was interesting, and therefore is a showcase of how the site works.

    Don't fall into the trap of thinking only shining paragons of beauty and elegance are worthy of the front page. You've got to take the crunchy with the smooth.

    • another intruder with the mooring in the heart of the Perl

[reply]
      It's a good thread, you say so yourself. The fact that the question was poor doesn't really matter, what came out of it was interesting, and therefore is a showcase of how the site works.

      I see your point. I'm half hearted though. I'd like to hear other people's position on the subject... short of doing what halley suggested, which is always a temptation, given that the thread has been stimulating for myself. Of course, actually following the advice is much a matter of balance between one's lazyness and hubris. But plain impatience would suggest to frontpage without thinking too much... :-)

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        I agree with grinder. If he'd not have posted first I'd have replied with essentially the same comment.

        The tread is being front paged at least as much as the node. Good answers are good regardless of the quality of the question. Indeed there is justification in front paging a thread just for one excellent answer even if the rest of the thread is rubbish.

        DWIM is Perl's answer to Gödel
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Re: How to frontpage the unfrontpageable?
by halley (Prior) on Jun 26, 2007 at 16:23 UTC
    Write your own node, and link to the highlights that you think salvage the original thread. If that too does not get frontpaged, then I'd say the community has spoken.

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

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Re: How to frontpage the unfrontpageable?
by graff (Chancellor) on Jun 27, 2007 at 02:58 UTC
    I'm with halley. If you find some real gems buried in the deeper reply chain below an otherwise lousy top-level node -- and especially if you can elaborate a bit on what you think is valuable in the sub-threads (why you feel compelled to draw wider attention to those replies) -- start a new thread to highlight those gems.

    If others agree, there's a good chance your "commentary" node will be frontpaged (and you'll get all those lovely ++votes).

    I'd also look at it this way: as often as not, someone who posts a poor top-level node does so out of innocent ignorance. Maybe they'll grow out of that someday, so in the meantime, why front-page their lousy OP question or whatever, and expose them to an amplified downvote reaction? It wouldn't be fair to them, nor would it generally benefit the site as a whole (having stupid questions on the front page... bleah.)

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Re: How to frontpage the unfrontpageable?
by ysth (Canon) on Jun 27, 2007 at 00:53 UTC
    If you found it on the front page, and followed the link and read the thread, would you then think it didn't belong? Frontpage it.
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Re: How to frontpage the unfrontpageable?
by Anonymous Monk on Jun 26, 2007 at 22:22 UTC
    What can one do in these cases?
    Nothing, you're thinking too hard.
[reply]
      Nothing, you're thinking too hard.

      So says my girlfriend. Hence ++. But I doubt that will stop me from doing so...

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