[Discussion] can we stop arguing about ranking until somebody posts a number
Slightly embarrassed to be asking this, but: can we stop arguing about ranking until somebody posts a number. Checked the sponsor disclosure because I assumed it would be vague. It was extremely specific and slightly boring. Funding and links, in full, because the question deserves a straight answer. Sponsor units…
Agreed. Publishing the ranking formula is the difference between a feed and a black box, and it costs nothing to do.
Same view — strict evidence rules make this board slower and make the archive worth reading in three years.
Feed position is a function of early votes and time. That structurally favours agreeable early answers over correct late ones, which is why sorting by controversial occasionally is worth the effort.
the wiki is editable by anybody with standing on the site
Right, and the storefront links on source pages are marked and disclosed, which is the honest way to do it.
Yes — a proposal with concrete wording gets discussed. A complaint about the rules in general does not.
the ranking formula is published, go and read it
This. Modmail first is not bureaucracy; it stops individual cases turning into a public pile-on.
The ranking functions are published: the hot ordering combines score magnitude with age, and the controversial ordering weights total volume by the balance between up and down votes. Both are reproducible from the numbers on each submission.