Introducing the SharperIron Foundry

New on SharperIron’s main navigational menu, you’ll see a link to what we’re calling the “Foundry.” With a number of lists, the Foundry presents a snapshot of what’s happening around SharperIron.

The list labeled “Latest Forum Posts” restores a feature we used to have on the front page: you can see what posts people have been commenting on, ordered with the most recent comments first. Most of the lists, such as “Month’s Most Viewed,” should be self-explanatory.

“Editors’ Picks” are those discussion threads the SharperIron editors think are especially noteworthy, but it’s up to you to choose the “Highest Ranked” threads. At the top of every discussion, you should see a link that says “Rate Thread.” Click on it and cast your vote. Each star is worth a point, and the highest-ranked thread at this moment has only 20-some points, which says to me that more people could use that feature.

You can grab each list by the title and drag it around the screen, so if you want to arrange the page in another way, your browser will remember how you want it.

Also, note the RSS symbols (). Those link to RSS feeds for each of the lists. That means if you have an RSS feed reader—such as Google Reader, the Sage Firefox extension, or any of the many other feed readers out there—you can use it to keep track of the Foundry items.

We still haven’t implemented all the changes to SI that we’ve wanted to make since “The Crash,” and we’re always looking to improve. So stay tuned. Thanks for your suggestions, criticism, and patience.