What topics do you find the most interesting to read about?

[Deleted member 125588]

I'm working on an internal encyclopedia for my fiction. I am curious what topics people like reading the most. The results will help me determine which topics to present first in the menu interface.

• Creatures: Non-humanoid characters (e.g. Dolly the sheep)
• Cultures: Cultural groups (e.g. Chinese)
• Diseases: Self-explanatory (e.g. HIV)
• Events: Self-explanatory (e.g. 9/11)
• Factions: Political groups and movements (e.g. Republican Party)
• Families: Self-explanatory (e.g. Rothschilds)
• Groups: Non-political and non-cultural groups (e.g. Boston Red Sox)
• Ideas: Philosophies, ideologies, religions, etc. (e.g. Christianity)
• Life: Biological taxonomy (e.g. Felis catus)
• Locations: Self-explanatory (e.g. Grand Canyon)
• Media: In-universe books, films, music, etc. (e.g. Harry Potter)
• People: Humanoid characters (e.g. Nelson Mandela)
• Physics: Elements of time, matter, and energy (e.g. tsunami)
• Societies: Political geographical units (e.g. People's Republic of China)
• Technology: Self-explanatory (e.g. Windows 7)
• Tribes: Groups of families (e.g. Lakota)

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Smut.

 

[Deleted member 125588]

Smut.

That would fit under "Media."

 

[RepresentingWrath]

That would fit under "Media."

Media it is.

 

[Daitengu]

Ah shit, I just realized I don't read any of those things anymore, I watch them in video format. If you asked before youtube was a thing I suppose my answer is still true.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I got 2/3 as the most popular. I can die happy now.

 

[Deleted member 125588]

Ah shit, I just realized I don't read any of those things anymore, I watch them in video format. If you asked before youtube was a thing I suppose my answer is still true.

If the videos contain any words or subtitles, then they're technically reading. You could even count reading the titles of the videos as reading.

 

[georgelee5786]

I'd say technology, events, and people.

 

[RepresentingDesire]

I say disease, ideas and life because these things are interconnected and in many ways important to my life and mental state.

 

[TsumiHokiro]

Why only 3?!?!?

 

[Deleted member 125588]

Why only 3?!?!?

It forces people to decide their top interests (not their only interests mind you). Three seemed like a good maximum to me.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Media, life and physics

 

[l8rose]

Everything but factions (I know, that's more than 3) because I like learning and I regularly suffer from the wiki-effect. But if I had to choose, Creatures, Life and Diseases.


Gotta ask, why not just present things alphabetically?

 

[Deleted member 125588]

Everything but factions (I know, that's more than 3) because I like learning and I regularly suffer from the wiki-effect. But if I had to choose, Creatures, Life and Diseases.


Gotta ask, why not just present things alphabetically?

Alphabetically would also be an intuitive way to present the options. However, I ultimately want the options that are most popular first to be presented. Once launched, I would be very hesitant to change the order of presentation, as that would throw off users already accustomed to the order of things, so I want to get it mostly right the first time around. The order cannot please everyone, but if I present the generally most popular options first, it should please enough.

Of course, in practice, what articles people like to read also varies strongly on the source material. A wiki like King Kong for example, would understandably garner more interest in Life and Creatures than say Marvel, which would mostly garner attention for the People and maybe Factions.

Ironically, I won't know which pages users access most when I launch my wiki of sorts because I don't track what pages individual visitors access.