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There is something nagging on my mind for some time now, which was again poked by this recent question:

On Puzzling SE we're more and more creating a great collection of good, topically sorted puzzles, mixed with (maybe more) mediocre or simply, hmm, not-great puzzles. The voting system together with the tagging (if properly done or edited) allows for nice searches, but I still thinking that something is missing.

If you're more or less a 'follower' on site, it's fun and good stuff is hardly missed, but if you're a 'Googled-in' or 'surfed-in' user, then it is by far not so easy to get a good overview of the 'gems' on site. Personally, I would love to see a sort of digest version of Puzzling SE done in a regular - but not too frequent - manner.

By this, I mean a commented summary of some of the more interesting posts, not repeating the questions, but rather linking them. I don't mean a simple link-collection, but something which is worthwhile reading on its own, which puts individual puzzles/posts into some context. Such a digest would pretty much fulfil the purpose of what was asked here, but it could also fulfil other purposes.

Now, I'm very much aware that Puzzling SE is not meant to be either forum, a repository of puzzles, or blog-spot, and I'm be no means suggesting to turn it into one. But I think right now we have the ingredients together for extremely valuable digest collections: good examples and experts in the field

So my actual question / point of public discussion is:

How could we best 'create' such a regular digest?

And where should it be hosted?

I could imagine a regular post on either main site or meta site would work, but I think it is far from ideal in many ways.

A blog with links to the according postings would certainly work, but is such a parallel-site something which is liked or hated by SE? Also, blogs tend to be very personal by nature, and I envision something more community based, i.e. a place where multiple site-users co-author the digest, or where different users take turns in creating a digest of their favourite flavour.

A Wiki page could potentially be better, as it offers extensive editing and hence can be used for both one-time digests and on-going updated digests/collections. Is the SE wiki a suitable place?

Also, during the restless period a month ago, it became apparent that quite a few of the site-regulars are very capable of setting up new sites in a very short time. Maybe something similar could be done here?

I'm curious what others here think about the idea - and if somebody is maybe already doing something similar to this?

Or do you think it's a useless idea and site-XY is already doing this anyway?

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  • $\begingroup$ I think finding the cream of the crop is indeed an area where the SE framework is lacking for a puzzle site, by virtue of not having been made for it. Upvotes and downvotes are too coarse, and the favorites feature is underdeveloped. So I think it could help to extend outside of SE for this. $\endgroup$ – xnor Dec 29 '14 at 1:23
  • $\begingroup$ Are you looking for something like weekly digests? $\endgroup$ – user20 Dec 29 '14 at 9:18
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    $\begingroup$ @Emrakul No, really something more edited. I.e. a digest "best mathematical logic puzzles", with links, comments, additional info.Rather like one would write a summary or an academic review publication (in mini-form). Something where the digest-author(s) add value by context. $\endgroup$ – BmyGuest Dec 29 '14 at 9:35
  • $\begingroup$ @BmyGuest In case of mathematical puzzles, Penguino's "Ernie" series is extremely interesting. $\endgroup$ – For I In Range Dec 29 '14 at 15:21
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    $\begingroup$ Relevant. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 16:44
  • $\begingroup$ @BmyGuest There are also lots of relevant posts on meta.scifi.SE - see my comments on AE's answer - which, given your link, is more immediately applicable than the blog post. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 18:48
  • $\begingroup$ @BmyGuest Maybe create a chat room to discuss further. $\endgroup$ – For I In Range Dec 29 '14 at 18:52
  • $\begingroup$ @randal'thor would you mind typing this with some more extensive ideas as a regular "answer" to this question? Would make it easier to pick it up for others than endless comments... $\endgroup$ – BmyGuest Dec 29 '14 at 18:53
  • $\begingroup$ @BmyGuest And I knew you meant maths to be an example, that was just a suggestion if a page goes up $\endgroup$ – For I In Range Dec 29 '14 at 18:54
  • $\begingroup$ @ForIInRange I've only a lousy connection and iPad at the moment, so chat is not a good option for me right now. Also, I think we should at least have 10+ positive answers to this suggestion before jumping into action. $\endgroup$ – BmyGuest Dec 29 '14 at 18:58
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You've got a good point. I agree that we should do more to pick out the very best challenge questions.

I'd like to see a 'puzzle of the month' competition here on meta.

At the start of each month we could have a question asking for nominations for best puzzle of the previous month.

Each user to get only 1 nomination, can't be for one of their own puzzles.

Nominations should explain what's so good about the nominated puzzle.

Then we just use voting to let the best ones rise to the top.

After we've got a few monthly winners we could list them in a 'hall of fame' on the main site.

I'm basing this suggestion on the way that photography.SE does their competition for featured photo. It seems to work well there.

To begin with we could have a 'Best of 2014?' question, as its a longer time period maybe allow the top 3 or 4 into the 'hall of fame'.

Thoughts?

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    $\begingroup$ I think this is another nice idea, but not exactly what I was after. I think more along the lines of long-term Google-able knowledge. Imagine somebody investigating geometric puzzles in some distant feature and 'discovering' a geometric-puzzle digest based on the puzzles on this site, but nicely summed up, sorted, categorized, commented by some or all puzzle-experts on this site. This kind of stuff. $\endgroup$ – BmyGuest Dec 29 '14 at 12:59
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    $\begingroup$ People with enough rep can see statistics on which questions in a day, fortnight, month, etc. are highest voted, lowest voted, most viewed, most commented, etc. This might be useful in selecting questions. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 16:04
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    $\begingroup$ Also relevant from Scifi & Fantasy SE. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 16:44
  • $\begingroup$ thanks @randal'thor. Is that a blog post? $\endgroup$ – A E Dec 29 '14 at 17:05
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    $\begingroup$ @AE Yes, and there are also meta posts which are presumably used to create the blog post. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 17:15
  • $\begingroup$ @randal'thor, where are the meta questions? $\endgroup$ – A E Dec 29 '14 at 17:16
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    $\begingroup$ A few examples. Also this. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 17:19
  • $\begingroup$ thanks @randal'thor, that's really handy. If we can borrow good practise from other SE sites then I think that's a good way to do it. $\endgroup$ – A E Dec 29 '14 at 17:46
  • $\begingroup$ This is probably the worst time to try and get people to discuss stuff on SE, since everyone's off being Christmassy! :-p The Green Llama is as barren as a desert mule atm, but I'll try and get a discussion going there unless you or Bmyguest already have. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 17:50
  • $\begingroup$ @AE Also I seem to remember someon mentioning that they do something similar on Photography SE - a 'photo of the month' or something, probably also done through meta with a blog entry. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 29 '14 at 17:54
  • $\begingroup$ @randal'thor if the current participation level is too low, we may store the idea for the beginning of next year and revive discussion then? $\endgroup$ – BmyGuest Dec 29 '14 at 18:51
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    $\begingroup$ @BmyGuest I got some responses from Doorknoob and AJHenderson in the Green Llama about possible ways to do this thing. $\endgroup$ – Rand al'Thor Dec 30 '14 at 0:02
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I'd like to suggest something like what we did a couple times on Mi Yodeya (Judaism.SE). We currently have three printable collections of Q&A for the holidays. I only participated in the most recent one, but went back and looked at the processes for the others as well, so i know how it's done.

For each one, we collected a bunch of Q&A sets around a theme, currently Passover, Purim, and Hannukah. The community picked the best/most interesting ones from the lists.
After that, we edited them to be up to a certain standard for printing (accessibility for the unfamiliar, removing links, cutting size). This is optional, depending on whether or not you want to optimize for printing.
Then, it got put together nicely, and had some final formatting and proofreading.
Voila, we have a book!

You guys could do something similar. Say, collect a bunch of questions, edit and compile into a nice collection. Voila, you have a digest of the best brainteasers on Puzzling!

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    $\begingroup$ Thanks. God suggestion. (Except that brainteaser is potentially the worst candidate...) $\endgroup$ – BmyGuest Jan 7 '15 at 10:11
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    $\begingroup$ I'm not really active on Puzzling, so i wouldn't know. :) Feel free to replace it with a better tag. $\endgroup$ – Scimonster Jan 7 '15 at 10:27

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