How do I customize my user experience on Stack Overflow?

Question

I've put off using Stack Overflow for quite some time. When I have a question or problem, I often start my search with Google, which then takes me to Stack Overflow.

I do not have a lot of time, but I am considering to designate a certain amount of time out of my day to answer questions. However, I find that the home page for Stack Overflow overwhelms me. It contains a lot of questions which are not relevant to my skill set.

Can I add a specific tag as my favorite? Can the home page (or the Questions) display? Is there a page that lists all my favorite tags? From this page, when I click on a tag, I want it to display only questions (not just my questions) with this tag. Can I customize my preferences so that the logo URL points to the page that lists my favorite tags?

Answer 1

To add a tag as a 'favourite' or 'ignored', just enter it in the text box as shown in this helpful screenshot:

You can view your current preferences under the appropriate header (if there are any).

Favourite Tags

Basically when you mark a tag as a 'favourite', any questions tagged with it are highlighted in orange (like the 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th questions.

They're helpful to find questions within your area of expertise quickly. (I think I may have gone overboard with so many, though...)

Ignored Tags

When you add a tag as 'ignored', and questions tagged with it will appear faded and be less prominent in your questions list. There's also an option to hide them completely.

Use this for stuff you hate or don't want see in your question stream (as you can see, I haven't added any right now). Here's a screenshot (the 4^th question is ignored):

Documentation

Here's the official FAQ question and the blog post.