I would like to be able to regularly get questions that I ask on various Stack Exchange sites to appear on the HNQ list. What are some tips for getting and staying on the list? Please include tips for questions about topics that most people might not naturally know much about.
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This is a discussion for meta.stackexchange.com, but I think it's been answered many times.– Robert CartainoCommented Jan 12, 2016 at 16:47
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@RobertCartaino Why is this a discussion for meta.SE? I'm looking for tips on how to write a question given whatever it is that we know about the HNQ list. I'm not asking anything about the HNQ algorithm specifically (though knowledge of that could inform an answer)– DanielCommented Jan 12, 2016 at 16:50
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This isn't a life hack. You're asking how to write a popular question that gets a lot of votes fast, coupled with a bit of knowledge about how the Hot Network Questions are selected. Ask on meta.– Robert CartainoCommented Jan 12, 2016 at 17:01
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1 Answer
Write a question that is interesting to a sizeable portion of the potential audience.
Post it at a time of day where the site is busy (so there's a larger audience before it passes off the first couple of pages of questions).
Some controversy in the question would typically result in some debate and make it more likely to get to the Hot list (the Hot Questions are defined by views within the last x minutes), but writing a question that fits the Stack Exchange model while courting controversy is going to be difficult.
I wrote a question that (briefly) made the Hot Questions list on SciFi&Fantasy - it was topical (it was about the previous week's episode of Doctor Who), interesting, written in a way that was engaging (if I do say so myself), and was picked up by many of the Doctor Who fans.
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"Write a question " - It's the title that matters, more so than the actual question.– PeterCommented Jan 12, 2016 at 18:07