Some of the Recent Questions, although valid, are not questions that encourage much debate. They are either questions about results of writing competitions, future competitions, or people asking for comments on their shared work.
These types of question push more interesting questions out of the order of the first three which I see when I click on Community/Recent Q & A 's.
I would like to see a popular Recent Questions system introduced, but unlike the Popular Questions option where questions go way back in 2012
A fortnightly timeline seems reasonable for a popular Recent Question.
I believe the best Recent Questions, should occupy the first three positions on merit of having received the most replies.
The first thing that has to be asked here is - what is the validity of this question?
This isn't just being "clever" or "witty".
There are in I think a number of issues.
Possibly the most significant is the structure of the site and, more than that, its costs for the providers. I use a number of forums on both sides of the Atlantic and they all have a far more diverse structure than this one. They are, however, either provided by enthusiasts who are prepared to cover the costs or supported by large amounts of advertising revenue.
This site is provided free to us by a commercial interest - which also provides us with rewards. In my experience that is unusual. I can see why they choose to do it though and I am therefore happy with both what they provide and the opportunities it gives both to them and to me. I would say that I am grateful for this resource.
Then there is an issue of how we use this site.
It is true that a lot of questions recently have been about the details of competitions. They are, however, questions and entirely reasonable. People want to know the answers - how else are they to get them?
Perhaps there could be a seperate section for questions of that kind - but that would mean a more complex site and more cost. Would we want to contribute to that ourselves, to accept a quantity of advertising or to lose the rewards?
The level of interest and/or validity of questions.
The big question would be "who would decide?"
None of the forums that I have mentioned avoid issues about moderators' decisions. Moderators also either give up their time voluntarily (sometimes rewarded with abuse) or (again) cost money.
I agree that some practical questions might be shuffled into a feature with an automatic trash bin after a set period - but that only takes us back to the original main issue.
There might also be a question of the dreaded word "censorship". Who decides what is interesting and appropriate and what is not. This is something that moderators rarely go near except when things clearly become very innappropriate or might run foul of the law. Again though - this depends on active moderation - and money.
So. What are we to do?
The material that we find really interesting may easily get cascaded down the pile. This is a little frustrating - but I don't find it particularly difficult to scroll down to rediscover it.
I would like to be able to hit a "New Posts Since Last Visit" icon. I don't know whether this site could support that in a cost effective way.
For now I just try to recall what I have looked at recently and how many posts there were on it the last time I looked. I have even thought about keeping a sheet of paper with some assisting notes on - but I would probably lose it :-(
There is a rather different issue of sharing work and getting feedback. This might be two issues.
First - that if the Q&A section is used for this it does get round both the problem that shared material only lasts until you want to share something else (which is disappointing) and second, that until/unless we learn how to clear previous responses out of the system, these earlier comments not only clutter the sytem but can cause considerable confusion.
Second - a number of questions effectively ask "has anyone noticed that I have shared something" and/or "could I have feedback please". These really tend to be the same problem as the competition questions. They are valid - but they have limited shelf life.
Experience on other sites tells me that rating any topic by the number of responses would not select the best topics. There are always some that run away with either feuds or silliness. These may be entertaining at times but they do not necessarily make them the "best" topics. Who would determine what is best and by what criteria for any other provision? Even the topics that received "Likes" would be prone to people forcing them to stay at the top of the pile.
So what is my overall opinion on this matter?
Mostly it is that I am grateful to Bloomsbury for providing the facility.
There are limitations here - but I can live with them.
David