The new newsletter features a "Top 7 Threads" section, based on how 'popular' they are. I don't know how exactly popularity is being judged, but "Ranking a DIY Film making website? Suggestions?" certainly doesn't fit my definition. There are 5 replies - 2 of which are the OP bumping his thread and complaining that nobody is answering him - and the resolution is far from groundbreaking. Not to mention it started and ended on the 22nd of February. As of right now it has 6,844 views, but I imagine that number has been inflated due to the thread's inclusion in the newsletter. I'm not complaining. I like the idea of a 'top threads' section in the newsletter. Maybe even a 'most helpful posts' or 'best of' would be cool to add in occasionally. I'm just reporting a small anomaly that I'm sure others have noticed too. EDIT: This thread also doesn't seem worthy of a 'Top Threads' spot. Summary: sell spun articles on Fiverr. I haven't read all of the threads on the list, but some are verifiably good. PHPbuilt's authority thread, for example.
I'm sure this sounds like a stupid question, but I'm sure a lot of other users reading this thread are wondering the same thing: How do you get the newsletter?
That question really made me think... I thought, "I don't know how to get onto the newsletter... I've always just... been. Maybe it's an elite club. Maybe I'm special and some BHW mod saw my glistening potential as decided to sign me up for it, as to foster my blossoming talents and to keep me among the elite, newsletter-receiving overlords." Then I scrolled down to the bottom of the left sidebar and saw "BHW Newsletter." Ah, well. Next time. http://forms.aweber.com/form/58/1959156258.htm
See I knew it was a stupid question! But in 5 years we never would have seen it . But seriously though, thanks buddy.
Hey Porphyrogenitus to receive the newsletter you sign up on the form in the footer of every page on BHW. We send a maximum of 3 mails per week.
Hey ArtVandelay The Top 7 were selected by visits ie number of people both logged in and guest views. Pulled from back end stats.
Ah, I see. Thanks for elucidating that for me. While the logic is there, I don't think sheer amount of visits to a thread necessarily always correlates with noteworthiness. Perhaps 'most thanked' threads would help avoid these kinds of mishaps? Or a formulaic combination of views, thanks, and replies. Or even manual selection, be it by an individual or by a periodic BHW-wide poll. Just throwing ideas out there! Again, I like the feature.
Indeed ArtVandelay there are many different metrics that we could use. But we've gone with good old fashioned votes by visits for now. Bounces etc have been removed so this reflects what people are actually looking at on BHW in the last week. Noteworthy or not it's what most people are looking at right now and people power is what forums are all about. TIP: An analytical mind would look at this and see what the attraction is then create something out of the posts most popular threads.
