This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1 · go to the accepted answer.
The most useful thing anyone has posted about topic list in this category was a table of what had been measured and by whom. That is what I would want again.
Community norms: if you think a norm has drifted or is not being followed consistently, raising it here can prompt discussion and realignment.
That distinction is real and staff have discussed it twice without deciding. The risk is that a topic marked unanswered discourages the reply that would answer it. If anyone has seen it work elsewhere, say so — that is the missing evidence.
I keep a log of this specifically because memory is unreliable about it.
Answering the question post #60 raises rather than the one it answers.
Two claims get bundled together under topic list and they need separating. The descriptive one — this is what was observed — is usually well supported. The causal one — this is why — usually is not.
Almost every disagreement in threads like this one dissolves once you say which of the two you are making.
I think the topic list question is answerable and has not been answered, which is a more optimistic position than most of this thread.
Performance: if pages are slow to load, timeouts occur, or the site is unresponsive, that is worth reporting with details (when, which pages, how slow).
This is where my knowledge stops and I would rather mark the edge than blur it.
Narrowing post #66, because the general version has more than one answer.
A note on scope: what I am saying about topic list applies to the case in the first post and I would not extend it further without checking.
Everything in post #64 holds. The case it does not cover is the one I have.
Feature request framed as feedback: the category list is long enough that a first-time reader cannot tell which four categories carry most of the traffic. A count next to each would fix that without changing anything structural.
I have seen it go both ways, which is why I hedge.
Reporting a real defect: on a long topic the jump-to-post link scrolls to the right post but the highlight does not fire on the first load. Second load is fine. Reproducible on my end, twice.
I am reporting what happened, not recommending it.
Worth separating two things that post #68 runs together.
Source for the topic list figure, since it was asked for. It is in the discussion rather than the abstract, which is why the version circulating is stronger than the paper is.
Reading the surrounding paragraph is worth the two minutes. The authors are more careful than their summarisers.
Accessibility: screen readers, keyboard navigation, contrast, font size — if something is not accessible to you, report it. Accessibility matters.
Adding the measurement that post #71 says would settle it.
Filing a mild objection to the consensus on topic list. Mild because I might be wrong; an objection because nobody has addressed the case that does not fit.
Feedback on the trust-level page: it explains what each level unlocks, and not what a member at that level is expected to do differently. The second is what people actually want to know.
I would be cautious about generalising from the topic list example above. It is a good example. It is one example.
The arithmetic in post #75 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
Suggestion rather than complaint: the vendor pages carry a review date, and topics do not. A topic that has been read by a maintainer recently is a different thing from one nobody has looked at since 2024.
The reasoning is more useful than the number, which is why I have shown it.
Post #75 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
The counter-argument is that a review date on a topic implies a maintenance promise nobody has made. A document carries one because somebody signed up to it.
I would be glad to be shown a cleaner way of putting this.
Adding a small correction to the topic list summary above rather than a disagreement with it. The substance holds; one of the figures is out by a factor that matters.
My experience of topic list contradicts the reply above. I am posting it as a data point rather than as a refutation, because one person's experience is exactly that.
Confirming post #80 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person.
Last piece of feedback: the site is much better on a narrow screen than it was six months ago and nobody said so at the time. Recording it because only the failures usually get reported.
It is one reading of the data and not the only reasonable one.
Reading back through the topic list threads from last year, the same three questions come up every time and only one of them has ever been answered properly. That seems like a documentation gap rather than a knowledge gap.
Post #84 is the version of this I will quote in future. One addition.
Topic list is well covered in the tag pages, and the older discussions are better than the recent ones because they were argued out properly. Worth twenty minutes before adding to this one.
Where I part company with post #86, and it is a narrow parting.
Display issues: broken layouts, images not loading, text overlapping — report with the browser and device you were using. Display bugs are platform-specific.
Not the answer, but possibly the question that gets there.
The arithmetic in post #88 is right; the assumption feeding it is the part to check.
Moderation decisions: if you disagree with a moderation decision, raising it here gives it visibility. Staff will reconsider if you make a substantive case.
If that reads as pedantic, it is, and it has saved me twice.
A methods point on topic list rather than a substantive one: if the comparison is not like for like, the difference you are measuring is the difference in method.