Updates for May 2009

Hi everybody, This month I have been exploring the concept of "interestingness." I can look at something and decide easily if it's interesting, but how does a computer do it? Perhaps it can watch the humans. If something is getting more and more attention, it is interesting. If something new is posted by somebody with a good reputation, it is interesting. The specifics of the formula (and definitions of words like "reputation") will change as I continue to tweak things. But that's the idea. Interestingness is being used to prioritise content throughout the site. Topic pages have been rearranged. The daily feature photograph is now on the Photographs page; tracks you have walked and huts you have visited are now listed on the Tracks and Huts pages. When you click the "More" buttons, you get listings arranged by interestingness, with a handy link at the top to find the newest content. The menu has been tidied up -- unnecessary duplicate links have been removed to reduce visual clutter. A new "You" page is designed to present useful information to you rather than being a page about you. This page will evolve in future. I hope you like the changes. Matthew.