What does the “Hot!” Section on the questions tab do?

Question

It’s literally the same as the normal questions tab. Why is it even there?

EDIT: I stand corrected. My whole life is a lie. It IS different so I changed the question to what does it do

Comments

Thanks both of you! (Chose amythests answer because imgur does not work in the UK, it just says “content not viewable in your region)

Answer 1

It's based off an algorithm that includes factors like number of votes, views, how new the question is, and when the last answer was.

I doubt much has changed since 2019. Pretty esoteric, huh? Can't say I've ever used the tab. :P

Comments

the hottest thread being 13 years old and about our server thats been dead for like 3 years. looking good (thumbs up)

Answer 2

Here's how the feature works under the hood:

We don't have access to these settings, so the picture is taken from a "blank" instance of the software the site uses, called Question2Answer. Not sure what numbers Pokemaster put in there for our site.