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I've never seen a question from Meta included in the "Hot Network Questions."

I'm talking about the site I'm posting this very question to, not site-specific Metas.

If Meta SE is currently excluded, then I suggest that it should be included.

(Edit: Or Patrick's suggestion in his answer, which may be even better, IMO.)

My reason for this view is that users from all sites should be encouraged to participate in Meta, as it concerns them all. Some users may not even be aware that Meta SE exists. (They may thus post general, technical questions in their particular site's meta instead.)

If they can be shown questions about the details of Darth Vader's personal life (which I personally enjoy, btw) then I think they should also be shown "hot" questions from Meta SE. Questions on Meta SE also concern whatever other site(s) they are using.

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  • 3
    Related. It could probably be rethought again. At least, when it was MSO, SO users visited the hot meta questions via community bulletin, now even this doesn't happen.
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:33
  • Actually, they were never legitimately included. It was a short-time "bug".
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:38
  • This is not a "Meta" site. "Meta.SE" is confusing. It should be called "Stack Exchange", with code "StackExchange.SE"
    – EKons
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:44
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    It is a meta site. We don't talk about the subject of a site, but how the site works and how to behave. That is 'meta'. MSE is just meta-meta.
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:45
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    @PatrickHofman We should have a meta site for Meta SE. And a meta for that meta. And possibly a fourth meta. Otherwise, how to decide things?
    – Fiksdal
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:59
  • @nicael It's funny, the question that the close-vote refers to is actually the complete opposite (in two different ways) of this post. It was from a time when questions from Meta SE were featured in a "hot" list, and suggested that they should be removed.
    – Fiksdal
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:19
  • @Fiksdal There was never such "time". It was a short-time bug.
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:27
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    @nicael Oh, I see. Didn't get that. Anyway, the two posts are still kind of opposite to each other.
    – Fiksdal
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:29
  • 1
    Yep, it's barely a dupe.
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:38
  • The section you were referring called Community Bulletin :)
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:49
  • @nicael Oh, OK. Never heard of that :)
    – Fiksdal
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:51
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    That's because it's no longer titled since this change (the first point), but in fact it's still the community bulletin (and that's what I did mean in my first comment).
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 19:53
  • @nicael Is it this section that was once called the community bulletin? imgur.com/G9pNN7s
    – Fiksdal
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 20:04
  • Exactly, it is. The answer suggests to display the post in that community bulletin.
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 20:05

2 Answers 2

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+50

I think it is very useful to show MSE posts in the side bar. However, I don't think we should see MSE as any other site and bury it somewhere in the Hot Network Questions list.

Instead of that, I propose to add hot MSE posts in the list of Hot meta posts, like it does on any site already:

enter image description here

This will also raise the understanding that MSE is 'another' meta site where you can post good suggestions for the entire network.

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    Great idea, Patrick!
    – Fiksdal
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:44
  • 1
    You too :) @Fiksdal
    – Patrick Hofman
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:44
  • 2
    I proposed this in 2014, but got a bit of anticipation. (Had small-to-no rep that time, so deleted the answer, undeleting back now :)
    – nicael
    Commented Jun 22, 2016 at 7:52
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Patrick's approach is an improvement on putting these posts in the current HNQ side bar, but I think further refinement is possible. I'd argue that MSE posts are most relevant to those who are already interested in the inner workings of their respective sites; less so to casual readers.

So, my recommendation would be to include MSE posts only on the per-site metas, not the main pages. That is, show the "hot" MSE posts here:

Meta

But not here:

Main

This reduces the "noise" in a premium space, the top of the sidebar, for casual users, while increasing awareness of MSE-happenings among those who are more likely to be interested in the first place.

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