On the other hand, seeing a post that has a 50% rating is pretty meaningless if only 4 people have seen it and two acolytes have given it a thumbs up.

Don’t hesitate. Your idea of using rec to view ratios was excellent. A post with two recs and four views is a better omen for the post quality than one with 20 views and 3 recs, and deserves more further attention - on average of course.

I have solved the problem of the Best Of lacking board diversity with the new Customize button near the top of the Beat Of page, allowing boards to be hidden from the list if/as readers want.

Your Land of Off Topics board idea is good also. The Atheist Shrewd used to occupy that domain though it is a little more focused now, so maybe we should add your board. There is also Open Letter which has a good tradition in the editorial section of papers in the past allowing public commentary, though always usually dominated by “politically on board” editors sensoring what they don’t like. Open Letter here, though, should encourage any topic to be covered whatsoever and if you posted there I believe many would follow.

- Manlobbi