Popular criteria

[CJR]

Hi there,

What makes a story enter the Popular category? Is there a certain number of upvotes required, a random algorithm, manual tagging or other systems? Please tell us the machinations behind the Popular category.

Cheers!

[Stephen]

I think it’s down to how many trees are in there; whether or not it’s just the one, about a copse worth, or even an entire forest.

[Stephen]

… oh, sorry. That’s the poplar category.

[PublishedAuthor]

Groan

[Kenneth_Vendelboe]

Stephen, you son of a birch.

[PublishedAuthor]

He needs to respect his elders.

[Stephen]

Oakay…

[Istvan_Kiss]

Way to derail the thread
But actually, I thought “Ask The Editors” threads only got created once an editor answered the question – so far, I always saw an editorial answer along with the OP (and I know when I made such a thread, it was in limbo for a week or so, apparently because it was waiting for an editor to look at it). I wonder why this changed.

[Kenneth_Vendelboe]

@Istvan_Kiss

Way to derail the thread

It’s what happens when this lot are board.

[Istvan_Kiss]

(Fittingly, a pun/tiresome joke, in Hungarian, is called a “favicc”, literally wooden joke )

[PublishedAuthor]

Maybe we should start fencing. Lol

[Kala]

I misread, and for a moment wondered how many trees made up a corpse.

[Stephen]

If the corpse is cremated: ash

[CJR]

As poplar as this thread has been can either @The_Red_Pen or @KillerTomato elaborate on the Popular machinations please? I think that we can’t see the wood for the trees…

[KillerTomato]

Hey all!

So this isn’t really a question for the editors, as it’s a mathematical algorithm that determines what ends up in the ‘Popular’ category. I’ve asked some of the techy peeps, and they’ve informed me that it’s a set number of the top-voted stories randomized. The number is somewhere between 5,000 and 10,000 but I’m not too sure.

Hope that helps!

[CJR]

Computerical Sorcery. Cheers for that! That suits me…