The‘Bakery is fascinating because it buzzes and fizzes and pops unceasingly as fresh intellectual yeast arrives almost every second.

Except for the “Best” section, which neither buzzes, fizzes or pops but boringly squats there, seldom changing.

I think the heading “best” misleads; the items are instead, “interesting pop-vote receivers”, voting being skewed by culture of origin, [cheese rings]; or have been technically over-run [panic pin].

Hence this nervously proffered proposal: replace “best” with “pop vote” or whatever, and monthly, retire #1 of the ten to a ”former leaders” panel in small print on the same page.

A newly qualifying item would appear as #10.
-- rayfo, Mar 15 2001

Same idea. http://www.halfbake...20the_20best_20list
[jutta, Mar 15 2001]

A bit like the tradition of retiring a players shirt in sport? I'd go for an initial retirement list of, say, the top ten and then quarterly or six-monthly retirements of single ideas. Monthly retirements would get rid of the good ideas quicker than they were being posted.

Welcome back, by the way!
-- DrBob, Mar 15 2001


I would prefer to discontinue the "best" list altogether. Competing with other, topically unrelated ideas for sympathies isn't all that of a meaningful activity, even if I spend time and storage to make the contest more animated.
-- jutta, Mar 15 2001


I like the "best" section because a new visitor, or someone who's been away from the site for a while, can go there for a concentrated dose of halfbakage.

To reduce the competitive aspect, perhaps the page could select, say, the top 50 ideas, and then randomly pick ten from those? It wouldn't be as tempting a target for competition, and it would still serve the purpose of being a sort of showcase of the site.
-- wiml, Mar 16 2001


But, jutta, what would go on the shirts if not the top eleven list?
-- absterge, Mar 16 2001


I feel much the same way as Ravenswood. I vote on things that I may or may not feel like annotating, and sometimes I annotate as well to make a point. I've never looked at the 'best' list, and honestly forgot it was there, so I wouldn't miss it if it were gone. I do like the voting, though.
-- StarChaser, Mar 17 2001


This is just penalising ideas which no-one has been able to 'beat' yet. Keep the top 10.
-- Germanicus, Mar 05 2005


I don't know about the top ten but with the crash and all, the top hundred or so sure took a tumble.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 05 2005


[UB]'s offer was rather prescient.
-- wagster, Mar 05 2005


'Twas, wagster, 'twas.
-- dbmag9, Jan 24 2006


What 'best' section? What on Earth are you talking about?

Sometimes I get the feeling that everyone else is look at a completely different UI.
-- moomintroll, Jan 25 2006


Up top under "recent"
-- skinflaps, Jan 25 2006


I think of it not as "best", but as "least worst". ;-)
-- coprocephalous, Jan 25 2006



random, halfbakery