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This question shows over 2K views, but it was asked only 20hrs ago: How to control alcohol consumption in my country?

I'm not suggesting it isn't a worthy question or anything sinister, but compared to other new questions that are in the tens or low hundreds, 2K in the same timeframe seems remarkable, orders of magnitude higher.

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The question is currently in the Hot Network Questions list (HNQ). Each question asked on Stack Exchange has a set of "arbitrary hotness points" at any given time that depends on the number of votes and answers (and votes on those answers). The ones with the largest numbers of hotness points are on the list for as long as they remain "hot", and are displayed on the sidebar on all Stack Exchange sites.

Worldbuilding tends to get a lot of these questions, because they're often clickbait without meaning to be clickbait. Plus, they often attract loads of answers, which in turn means higher hotness scores.

The HNQ is controversial, in part because it often showcases questions that aren't representative of the best content of the site they're asked on. However, they also garner activity and visitors to the site, which is especially nice for smaller sites. At the end of the day, the HNQ has benefits and detractions.

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  • $\begingroup$ "...within meaning..." -- Did you mean "without meaning"? $\endgroup$
    – Frostfyre
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 16:13
  • $\begingroup$ @Frostfyre Thank you, I did. Autocorrect at work. $\endgroup$
    – HDE 226868 Mod
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 16:18
  • $\begingroup$ I read the Hot Network Questions on my bus ride to and from work. I often see questions on sites I'm not a part of that I go "huh, that is an interesting question" and take a dive in. Sometimes its a dumb question and sometimes its one that makes think, "wow, thanks for asking." There was one on Movies.SE about why acids were green in movies which I then got to link to a Worldbuilding question about Movie Acid that I'd answered a few days prior. $\endgroup$
    – Draco18s no longer trusts SE
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 16:40
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    $\begingroup$ This is the answer...with the exception of the fact that titles are very often completely intentionally clickbait :D $\endgroup$
    – James
    Commented Jun 6, 2017 at 20:16

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