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I mean, a way to "follow" a especific user (an analogy could be mark a tag as "interesting"/"ignored").

Is this possible?

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  • 7
    I would love to see this feature in the system. RSS feeds don't cut it.
    – davidcl
    Jul 9, 2009 at 20:18
  • One of the first times this was suggested, the OP referred to it as a "friends list," which I suspect led to its downfall. Naming/word choice is important.
    – Pops
    Oct 18, 2010 at 17:55
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    I would love to see this feature, framed exactly as the questioner describes, like a "favorite question". I don't read the front page of SO using an RSS aggregator, and I don't want to have one just to track some specific users I find insightful. (And agreed on the abhorrent "friends" notion...)
    – andersoj
    Oct 18, 2010 at 18:46

3 Answers 3

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You can follow their RSS feed. Scroll all the way to the bottom of their user page. The RSS link is on the right.

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    It's almost hidden! :P
    – Eliseo Ocampos
    Jul 11, 2009 at 4:29
  • @Eliseo: It's definitely not obvious, especially on a page with so many badges and tags. :)
    – Bill the Lizard
    Jul 11, 2009 at 15:23
  • I still want this feature, what is the right way to re-promote? Using an RSS feed on a set of sites emphasizing "the canonical" is some very weak sauce.
    – downwitch
    Jun 13, 2012 at 5:44
  • @downwitch I don't see how RSS feeds and "canonical" are mutually exclusive.
    – Bill the Lizard
    Jun 13, 2012 at 10:59
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    @Bill Just that needing a second tool to optimize is a less-than-canonical operation.
    – downwitch
    Jun 13, 2012 at 17:09
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Reputation System would become a Popularity Score

A way to favorite or follow track users would only be a way to inadvertently game the reputation system solely based on subconscious human nature.

People with lots of followers would get even more up votes from the acolytes no matter how flippant, trivial, complete and incorrect their answers might be.

People with no followers would most likely get ignored even with better more complete and accurate answers.

This would turn the reputation system into a popularity score, more than it already is.

Social isn't always Positive

The inverse is also just as true, create an enemy and they could more easily follow you and serial down vote everything you answer or ask. That will make the sites better how?

I don't want to have to manage yet another list of people I don't want tracking me, I don't want to manage yet another list of people I have to constantly respond to requests either.

It would just encourage newbies to think that stackexchange sites are FORUMS!

There is already this tendency for new users to treat all the stackexchange sites as discussion forums. Nothing should be done to encourage this behavior and increase the load on the community and moderators especially to police questions that clog up the works.

It would also signal a similar shift in policy to long existing members as well.

Use an existing Social network and leave me out of it

The RSS feeds already do what a favorite would do.

Use an existing 3rd party aggregation site like Delcicous.com to bookmark these feeds and aggregate them and publish and share them. Use Pinterest or Bo.lt as well?

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A long-time-dead question, but I think it's worth the mention:

Unlike the others around here, I still think the usage for this is sound and well-founded, so I created a browser addon that highlights posts by your favorite users.

addon in work

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    This doesn't actually follow them, and sounds more like a shameless advertising than anything else.
    – WhyNotHugo
    Jul 12, 2012 at 2:32
  • Huh. I really haven't thought about it this way. It doesn't literally "follow" them, that's what the RSS feed is about. However, I think the feeds could actually count more as a "watch-somebody's-every-single-step-closely feature". I tried to explain the rationale behind the idea, because it works for me for over three weeks and it's being really helpful - when I'm looking at a question, I directly see when my favorite users have posted. Anyway - it's an annoucement of an opensource sw (no ads, no anything) that tried to address the given problem. I'm sorry if it came out too instrusively.
    – Petr Janeček
    Jul 12, 2012 at 7:05

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