three comments:

(1) i'm confused as to how this works.

i understand you're afraid of siftbot, but crazy addicts will want to understand how this works. even if it's complicated, can you explain?

(2) it's not intuitive so far

i just gave the 10th vote to get farhad's robot guitar video published. but when you go to the front page, it's not there (some osama bin laden / family guy clip is first). when i started writing this, it was on the third page. a couple minutes later, it's on the second page, even though it still has the same number of votes and the same sift score.

so there seems to be a significant random element, or else the activity from the last X minutes is heavily weighted.

the problem with that model is that the published videos will jump around so much that sifting sequentially through 16 pages of videos (current number included in the hot sift) will be confusing. if it takes 5 or 10 minutes to get from page 2 to page 3, videos may pop down the list and "reappear" on page 3, or pop up the list and be missed entirely.

which means it will impossible even for hardcore addicts to know when they've managed to cast eyes on everything published. and there will be no way of knowing when you've "caught up", ie. seen everything published since last time you checked.

(3) i don't think this is a necessary innovation, in part because it's not adding much new beyond the "top videos -- 24 hours page" to the stereotypical superficial visitor (who looks at the front page or two and the top 15 sidebar, but not much else).

right now, here's how the hot sift stacks up against the top videos -- 24 hours page:

-- osama / family guy (#1 hot sift, #2 top 24)
-- restless goalie (#2 hot sift, #6 top 24)
-- beck loser (#3 hot sift, #1 top 24)
-- simpsons epcot center (#4 hot sift, #4 top 24)
** pedophile apeshit (#5 hot sift, #17 top 24)
** simpsons wiggum twin peaks (#6 hot sift, #19 top 24)
-- strangest tourist attraction (#7 hot sift, #9 top 24)
** family guy creationists (#8 hot sift, #16 top 24)
-- radish seed timelapse (#9 hot sift, #7 top 24)
-- silence of the lambs trailer (#10 hot sift, #8 top 24)

only 3 videos are on a different page than they would be, all with >10 votes in <10 hours, and thus all certain to be top of the 24 hour page before long (as older videos disappear)

Doesn't anyone realize that more Americans have died in Iraq than the WTC Towers? And the money spent stacked up is almost approaching the outline of the twin towers. Literally could have stacked the money spent to rebuild the towers.

And no.. Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.. Neither does Iran.

I love it when idiots do idiotic things to try and convince other idiots that their idiot social programs will work 'if only they get a few billion more dollars..." Of course, all the worlds problems would be solved if only the U.S. spent less on defense. Well, this thread proves that there are plenty of stupid people on the internet.

Tell you what - how about this? How about we stack up all the cookies that are spent on SOCIAL programs?

http://www.infoplease.com/cig/economics/government-share-economy.html

You see - what the moron from "Ben and Jerry's" (Pht - nice 'expert' to bring in...) didn't want to share is that the U.S. federal budget is already dominated by spending on social crap like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and so on. So how about this - every dollar we cut from Defense must be matched by a cut in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.

Stack up THOSE Oreos, why don'tcha? "Wah wah wah - the U.S. spends money on its own DEFENSE!" You morons do know that the Federal government is constitutionally ordered to fund defense, right? Or were you too busy reading Karl Marx to bother with the Constitution? Please show me in the Constitution where we are supposed to fund Ben & Jerry's education fund, and health care, and all the other crap that whiny liberals THINK should be funded?

BTW - all that money the government gets... They SURE do a good job of getting it to the poor and needy don't they? How about instead of picking everyone pocket to federally waste money, you guys put your money where your mouth is and donate money to the causes you support?