Posts
To Sort or Not To Sort
That is the question! Regular readers of The Thinking Blog will notice that I renamed the "Most Admirers" section in the sidebar as "Must Reads" and moved it down a bit. I used to link to the most popular 3 posts for new readers to check out but I think it doesn't serve any function for regular readers. So I decided to include all the quality posts in the new section that even you might have missed and would like to come back to read and comment on them when you have more time.Not everyone has the time to read all the posts in the archives and because only one post is published per day, there are posts like this one that are not necessary thought provoking for everyone. However, there is one thing I was thinking about today and I need your help to make a decision. I'm not sure whether sorting the links alphabetically or by date would be the most useful. Currently, they are sorted according to date published but I'm afraid to lose that order if I switch to A-Z and find out that it was better otherwise. It's a simple detail but being a perfectionist doesn't help me at all here.
Please choose either YES or NO for sorting alphabetically in the following poll:
11 thoughts:
Wow what a great blog! :)
R2K
Ordinarily, I'd say sort alphabetically so that we can more easily find subjects that interest us. However, since you have the search function enabled for TheThinkingBlog, I don't think alphabetizing serves a great purpose. So, I'm voting "No", for now. :-)
I say no, but only if you put your best to the top and go downward ;)
I voted "No"
I voted no because some are probably most relevant by date of publication according to what's going on in the world.
mouuuah!
I voted no because as this is a must read list I think it should be sorted by popularity. But choosing the right metric for stuff like that ain't easy. Maybe a weighted sorting based on popularity and published date will cut it?
I voted no as well. Alphabetizing would be useful if people were trying to search for a given title. But in this case, you are trying to list popular posts to get readers more interested in your blog.
I think sorting by popularity makes a lot more sense.
But if I sort by popularity, what will happen to the good posts that didn't get enough attention?
That makes sense. You could sort according to your subjective opinion of your greatest posts.
BTW, are there any studies to indicate if the order of post titles make a big difference? When I look at a new blog, if I like the latest couple of entries, then I will look for some kind of "most popular" or "favorite" posts lists. I will quickly scan and pick the one with the title that interests me the most. IF there are more than
a few such titles, I will probably click on the first one of my top choices. So for my use, order isn't
that important.
i voted yes because alphabetically is..... more organised
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