"Good threads"
 

I run a busy board, but nobody uses thread rating (and who can blame them). So, I'm currently working on a way to create a list of "good threads": so that if someone wants to read the best threads of the day, they can quickly and easily find them.

I want to make this un-hackable, so people can't bump their threads to the top.

Currently, it bears the following in mind (in no order):
1. How many views has it had?
2. How many replies has it had?
3. How old is it?

Just this, so far, has worked out quite a strong algorithm for sorting 'good threads'.

I want to add, in future:

4. What is its thread rating?
5. How many people rated it?

...and...
6. Who has taken part
...we have three member categories: moderated members (mostly newbies), normal members, and 'real name' members (who are consistently posting well and also use their real names). That means I can add extra 'points' to the thread for postings by 'real name' members.

What does anyone else think about this... mad idea?

Sounds like a Pretty good idea to me...

Satan

Me too. I've added the "who's posted" thing, which has made quite a difference to the quality of threads it chucks up.

Now, to release it and see what people think on the board...

how much queries do you need for this hack?

Let's count...

1 for the forum title
1 to add up all the recent thread info
1 to look at recent threads info individually
->1 for each thread (to work out posters)

...so not too many. It's currently ignoring thread rate.

Now public... www.mediauk.com

Good idea for me :)

You need to add checking mechanism to make it "unhackable". A member can easilily reply to his own thread a few times to increase its "point". Same applies to increasing view count via refresh..

If I were you I would use a mechanism to encourage or force thread rating instead. For example you may consider making thread rating mandatory whenever user replied that thread.. My 2 cents..