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Based on user's previous answer history and, especially, reputation gains assotiated with each tag, provide an automatic selection of recently asked questions which "you may have an answer for".

Of course the method would be heuristic, but it would help users to discover interesting questions. This is not based on their "interesting" tags, but rather on their past upvoted/accepted answers. (I may be "interested" in learning php, but know almost nothing about it.)

Edit by Ivo Flipse

Sorry for hijacking this post but didn't want to duplicate it

With the new Stack Exchange sites it becomes increasingly harder to keep track of interesting questions to answer.

Yes, tags solve this problem partly, but I believe that with our new Statistics guys should be able to come up with an algorithm that uses the data we already have available to do a better job of suggesting than tags currently do.

As Jeff previously asked what we could learn from Quora, I think we can learn from their front page. It gives me an overview of questions I'm possibly interested in from all the different topics.

Now that the Stack Exchange page has been pimped to show hot questions over all Stack Exchange sites, I think it would be useful to show questions that a logged in user might find interesting. Especially since I don't need hot questions if I already answered half of them or am a regular user.

Any suggestions are welcome!

Oh and I would love a Netflix-like challenge to come up with the best suggestions!

And attribution to Lance, since his question asks for something similar

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  • 2
    I'd like something like this. (Yes, "my tags" under "unanswered" is a bit like this, but we could definitely have something better.) Specifically basing the list heavily on "reputation gains assotiated with each tag", like you suggest, would be interesting.
    – Jonik
    Aug 6, 2009 at 15:06
  • See this link for something related, though in your case My Tags is closer, since you'd want unanswered.
    – Lance Roberts
    Aug 12, 2010 at 15:28
  • Well I don't care what it is they end up implementing, as long as it's better than 'nothing'
    – Ivo Flipse
    Aug 12, 2010 at 15:53
  • @ivo we already have unanswered, "my tags" which does 90% of what is requested. not a smart bounty IMO
    – Jeff Atwood
    Aug 13, 2010 at 6:22
  • Why would you want me to fill in tags on a dozen of sites, while this information is already available? Furthermore, I would want to have these selected question from all SE sites in one spot, so I don't have to keep bouncing back and forth. Explain to me how "my tags" does that?
    – Ivo Flipse
    Aug 13, 2010 at 7:47
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    @ivo "My Tags" uses either a) your favorites or b) the tags you already participate in measured by your questions and answers. So, yes, this already exists..
    – Jeff Atwood
    Aug 17, 2010 at 7:29
  • You might as well add that as an answer @Jeff, so I can give the bounty to something useful
    – Ivo Flipse
    Aug 18, 2010 at 15:54

3 Answers 3

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This already exists. It's called "my tags" under "unanswered questions".

EDIT

Wait a minute... My tags used to be based on a heuristic of what you've received upvotes for in the past, but it's not anymore. At what point was this changed?

EDIT 2

If you have interesting tags, and you're active in those tags, "my tags" favours the ones that are interesting. Otherwise it goes by your 6 most active tags. I'm pretty sure it used to use a different algorithm, but it's still sorta what you're asking for.

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    These are my interesting tags, not the ones I got upvotes for. As I explained, I may be interested in reading questions about x, because I'm learning x, not because I know much about it. Also, in my suggestion there was no need for the questions to remain fully unanswered. You may be able to provide a better answer. The filter should specialize in the tags you're best in.
    – Daniel Daranas
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:30
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    I just checked it out. You're right. It used to be based on a heuristic but it's not anymore.
    – Welbog
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:34
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    They changed it because you should never use a heuristic: it makes a he out of u and ristic.
    – Hilarious Comedy Pesto
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:35
  • It's funny, I hadn't noticed that "my tags" were heuristic once.
    – Daniel Daranas
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:35
  • Someone complained about it awhile back, I can't find the thread
    – Ian Elliott
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:36
  • Hunt that thread down, Ian. It's the most important thread in the history of this question!
    – Welbog
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:39
  • In any case, the part where I say "no need for the questions to remain fully unanswered" will still apply. It's not very hard for an answer to get a +1 or +2 which will take the question totally out of the filter you are discussing.
    – Daniel Daranas
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:41
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    I agree. This certainly used to be a feature, and though I obviously never use it (otherwise I would have known it was changed), it certainly seems like it would be helpful, especially if it let you look for questions that have answers, too. I think it's a good idea.
    – Welbog
    Jul 30, 2009 at 14:44
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Although I initially hated the idea, I just got caught on this same exact problem. I have been gone for a while, and now that I am back the list of questions to go through is well, long. It would be nice if there was a way the system could suggest questions I could potentially answer, without me having to read every single one.

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    Hey, nice to see you back. Are you planning to stay?
    – mmyers
    Aug 12, 2010 at 15:33
  • @mmyers That's the plan so far.
    – BinaryMisfit
    Aug 12, 2010 at 16:01
  • use the unanswered section on the "my tags" tab.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Aug 13, 2010 at 6:21
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There is a chrome plugin to do what you want here..

There is a web app for doing what you want here. - this one is a little different. It was originally meant for stalking Jon Skeet's history however if you stalk yourself you should get what you want.

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  • Trying the Chrome extension as we speak
    – Ivo Flipse
    Aug 13, 2010 at 4:46

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