Reading order for a first week here, and what to skip until later

Reading order is worth one more sentence than it usually gets, and the sentence is the one about how the number was arrived at.

The tag pages are usually a better entry point than the categories for a first read. A tag cuts across categories, so following one shows you how the same subject is treated by the analytical people and the practical people at once.

Counterpoint on reading order, offered without confidence: the same observation is consistent with a much duller explanation, and nobody has ruled the dull one out.

The Lounge is a real category rather than a dumping ground. The sourcing rule still applies there, which surprises people, but the register is looser and nobody minds a digression.

Offering a way to settle reading order rather than another opinion about it. Two measurements, taken the same way, a fortnight apart. If the difference is within the noise, the question was not answerable at this precision.

Reading order sits at the boundary between what this community can usefully discuss and what it cannot, and I think it falls on the discussable side, narrowly.

I disagree with the framing of reading order above, and I think it is a substantive disagreement rather than a terminological one. Setting out why, so it can be checked.

The reasoning depends on an assumption that is doing a lot of work and is never stated. If the assumption holds, the conclusion follows. I do not think it holds generally.

The Lounge is a real category rather than a dumping ground. The sourcing rule still applies there, which surprises people, but the register is looser and nobody minds a digression.

Clear enough that I do not think I have a follow-up, which is unusual.