Interesting?

Before checking any other section, I go through the notifications, followed by the discussions written by those I follow and usually this takes all my time.

I have often been distinctly disinterested in the interesting section. I have also been left cold by the hot section, found myself being nostalgic in the most recent section and, most fun of all, responded in the no responses section. I don't go in the new users section because I'm old!!

My personal preference is the Most Recent page and I have this set as one of my Home Pages in my browser, so that is the one that comes up by default when I open the browser. Interesting is driven by the tags that you have used most often in your discussions. If you don't use tags at all or haven't used them particularly descriptively, the page is likely to show some rather odd and random discussions. Hot is also a little difficult for many to understand. The official description (slightly modified so that non-programmers can understand it) is that it is ordered by the number of responses a post has had (most at the top), then by the date it was created on - (with the most recent first). It may only include posts from the last 24 hours but I haven't checked to confirm that recently. Top Rated lists those topics which have received the most "Likes" overall. Again, it might be limited to discussions posted more recently. It is sometimes worth looking at the "New Users" and "No Response" pages if you are looking for something to respond to. Admin told us some time ago that there is some advantage in responding to new users:

The 'interesting' is supposed to be based on your tags - for instance I did a post about 1940s toys a couple of months ago, and the top 4 in my list are about toys. Sheesh - I'm not really interested in toys as such. I'm thinking of going back and removing that tag.

I have seen those options, but never investigated them. It would be interesting to find out how they decide what is interesting. But I guess that is subject to opinion. What one person finding interesting another may not. maybe hot or new would be more interesting areas. who knows.

Interesting is rarely interesting and is built for each user on the basis of the tags they have used. This is one reason I removed most of my tags to avoid them.

I guess that I am not too picky.

lol was that my 13 post or an inspired spinoff

Usually I just stick to those commenting on my posts and then visit with friends not seen in a while. Once in a while, I'll look at the most recent and about twice did I do any exploring. Sometimes I look for ones with no comments, but I've found that many belong to a person that writes more than anyone else here.

I usually try them all - most recent first, then no responses, new users then hot. I might go to 'People' then discussions but sometimes it seems I might as well go and do some housework and come back in an hour or two.