[LBengtsson]

I guess I am not the only one to notice this, but there was always a link to some posts on BBO Forums on the main BBO page as "News". Over the last few days this has seem to have disappeared. I know, I know, most players and commentators login or look at the forum pages by accessing the BBO Forums icon on the opening BBO page.

However, by having one or two entries on the "News" page seems to generate a lot more interest in topics as sometimes I have seen 20-25 players online reading the forum entries, instead of the usual 2 or 3. Has BBO ditched interesting BBO Forum posts on the "News" page, and if they have what, if any, is the reason(s) behind it?

Or is it a temporary thing, and they will return soon?

[themarc]

They obviously posted this one; and if they did so to gauge interest in continuing to post forum links to the news page, I would vote to continue.

[LBengtsson]

 themarc, on 2023-May-18, 13:28, said:

They obviously posted this one; and if they did so to gauge interest in continuing to post forum links to the news page, I would vote to continue.

When I looked earlier, there were 31 players reading this including us. I find it a bit crazy why BBO has put my forum comment on its "News" page. How are the forum comments picked for this page? AI? I would have thought that forum posts containing bidding, play and defensive problems would be the best to post on its "News" page, engaging players beyond the actual Forum pages in possible discussion. Anyway...

Many thanks for stating that you would vote for forum posts to be included on the main BBO site. I have learnt so much myself from the forum pages, and there seems a small hardcore of forum posters who contribute regularly with the occasional comment made by players outside the forum structure. A few new faces would be welcome, that is for sure!

[jillybean]

It is probably automated, I doubt that a human would pick this thread.

[smerriman]

 barmar, on 2017-August-09, 09:53, said:

It's done automatically, by looking for the thread started the previous that has the most activity.

[jillybean]

There's a flaw in the script

[pescetom]

 jillybean, on 2023-May-19, 00:50, said:

There's a flaw in the script

Probably not... for each person who actually contributes here there are tens who just read in silence, and the newest / most sensational / least technical topics will attract more attention.

[pilowsky]

 pescetom, on 2023-May-19, 02:37, said:

Probably not... for each person who actually contributes here there are tens who just read in silence, and the newest / most sensational / least technical topics will attract more attention.

At least we now know the algorithm has a sense of humour.

[barmar]

Yes, it's automated.

Each morning it selects one thread that was started the previous day from a limited set of forums. Some days there aren't any new threads, so nothing is added.

And when there are multiple candidate threads, it has a formula for ranking them and selects the best one according to this criteria.

Occasionally it will select a thread we don't consider is appropriate, then we'll remove it from the news.

[pescetom]

 barmar, on 2023-May-19, 13:12, said:

Yes, it's automated.

Each morning it selects one thread that was started the previous day from a limited set of forums. Some days there aren't any new threads, so nothing is added.

And when there are multiple candidate threads, it has a formula for ranking them and selects the best one according to this criteria.

Occasionally it will select a thread we don't consider is appropriate, then we'll remove it from the news.

Thanks.
Which getting back to OP, means that we are struggling to generate posts that meet the algorithm (probably linked to limited number of readers).

[barmar]

The other point I forgot to mention is that these news items only last 2 days. If we find a candidate every day, the new one replaces the one 2 days old, and there will always be posts from the previous 2 days.