Active Threads : What is the real criteria? (as it is NOT activity)

[Ta1kinPeace]

If I click on Active threads I would expect to see the threads with the most posts in the last half hour
but I don't

there are INCREDIBLY active threads (running at a couple of hundred posts a day)
that hardly ever appear there

so what is the criteria?

And why do MNHQ actively keep certain topics away from quick links?

Just to apply Hanlons razor, there's something dodgy about MNs systems anyway. I've noticed a few times that even though I've posted on a thread, sometimes there can be new posts on that thread but the thread doesn't appear in "Threads I'm On".

I queried it a while back, and decided it was best left at that (likewise to the fact that not all MN pages are secure ... they weren't quite sure about that either ...)

There have been loads of posts on the Brexit forum today across several threads and only one of those threads is currently in "most active" - unsurprisingly given the existence of this conversation it is the latest Westminstenders thread. But several other threads which have been just as active today are not in "most active" even though they have had many dozens of posts - and I can see threads in "most active" with post numbers in the low single digits.

I never hide threads or forums, so what I'm seeing in "most active" is whatever the algorithm has chosen for me.

Hi again, OP.

We're not really sure what more we can say. We've been clear that, as we said before, Active threads are not moved out of Active by us. You may find that hard to believe but, as we said, there are thousands of threads running at the same time. Active changes all the time, which you can see if you refresh the page.

We think we've commented already on our criteria for moving threads out of trending. But to make clear, there's no hard and fast policy. It happens for many reasons, but rarely. As you say though, you aren't interested in those 'trending' threads. With Active threads there is no moving them in and out. They're there if they're the most posted on at the moment you click on 'Active'. That's really all there is to it.

We're sorry if you feel you can't trust us but we've been open and honest here, so we aren't sure there's much more we can say to convince you. This is a talk forum, rather than a news source, and we hope our users do trust us, but ultimately the chat boards are a bunch of people expressing their opinions. Our job is to moderate that as best we can to facilitate conversation. We are sorry if there was confusion early on but we think we've been pretty clear now about how we do that and that it doesn't involve moving threads in or out of Active. Hope that reassures you.

Ta Hebe

Give Michael a quick rap on the knuckles as that is not quite what was said first.

@HebeMumsnet

Why did Michael post what he did about reporting yesterday?

This thread had been open for 20 hours when he made that comment so its not like it was done in a rush or at the weekend.

Please could you confirm what the current MNHQ policy is for moving threads off the AIBU and Chat boards?
as an example
US politics seems allowed to stay
but UK politics gets shunted .....

Brexit is the most important issue facing our country in the next three months
climate change will take back over later in the year
there is No good reason for hiding discussion of it unless HUNDREDS of people report

there is No good reason for hiding discussion of it unless HUNDREDS of people report

or the reverse: if hundreds of people are "reporting" maybe the whole site needs to know ?

fair point

Active changes all the time, which you can see if you refresh the page

Out of interest how do you test and validate the "Active" algorithm? It could be as simple as a flaw in the algorithm calculating which threads should appear in the most active 50.

The selection algorithm has a series of exclusions and other criteria, its easy to make a change and miss something

This thread amuses me in light of the MNHQ thread asking if MN should back a Citizen's Panel around Brexit.

Yes, Pesty. We have sent MichaelMumsnet to bed with no supper tonight and reduced his screen time for this week.

OP - Michael was mistaken. Sorry - we thought we'd been clear about that. Apologies again for creating that bit of misunderstanding. He typed 'active', he was thinking of 'trending'. Hope that clears it up.

With moving threads out of AIBU and Chat, again there's no hard and fast policy. We just try to keep things tidy and keep conversation flowing.

We know that there are some subject areas that lots of users get fed up with when AIBU and Chat are full of them. Christmas threads in July, for example. And at times when it's in the news, Brexit threads. So when it seems like having lots of threads on one topic in Chat or AIBU is hindering conversation rather than helping it, we move them over to their respective topics.

When we do have dedicated areas for folk to discuss those things it seems counter-intuitive to have them elsewhere. But as we say, we're pretty fluid with it. It does depend on many factors. We don't move Brexit threads out of Chat as a matter of course, always. But when it's discussed a lot, as it is at the moment, we do feel it's best for the whole community if they're moved over so that Chat is freed up to carry a wider range of discussions. Some folk love to talk Brexit, others have understandably had more than enough, so we think the way we moderate is a good compromise.

Hello all,
I've just stumbled across this and thought I'd wade in briefly!
Active isn't really complicated enough to have an algorithm - it's simply a list of the threads most recently posted on at the moment you refresh the page.

We don't exclude any conversations for the Active page - but users can do so by electing not to see certain topics in your preferences.

We do occasionally exclude threads from the Trending box on rhs of desktop/ half way down screen on mobile site. Typically that will be when a thread is getting very bunfighty and we want to try to dampen it down because for instance the OP is a bit upset. We can't think that we've ever done that for a Westministenders thread.

We definitely don't make any kind of censorship judgements based on a politics and our position is very much to stay politically neutral.

We don't exclude any conversations for the Active page

A while ago FWR threads were being excluded from Active (rather than trending) and other subjects such as SEN topics are hidden from Active.

It may not be complex but it isn't solely a list of the 50 most active across the site. Anything which can be tweaked/calibrated also needs testing and validating.
If active doesn't seem to reflect the most active threads then it could be perception but it could equally be inaccurate hence wondering how its tested.

You should be able to check what's in Active compared to other threads by the posting time eg Tue 22-Jan-19 18:06:47, if posts have a time falling between some of the times of Active posts, and aren't on that thread then there is a problem.

it's simply a list of the threads most recently posted on at the moment you refresh the page

Ok. That actually makes sense.

Just to apply Hanlons razor, there's something dodgy about MNs systems anyway. I've noticed a few times that even though I've posted on a thread, sometimes there can be new posts on that thread but the thread doesn't appear in "Threads I'm On"

Yeah, I have that too. Brexit, Education and Style & Beauty threads seem to be particularly likely to fall foul of this, but I haven't done any more analysis beyond, "Huh, that's happened again and is annoying"

Thank you Justine
Knowing more about how the pages work is useful.

I presume within your advertising stats you have the page view figures.

It would be interesting to know how many lurkers there are on different top topics