How are "hot topics" determined?

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Avatar of KnightNotHorse

Hi...was just wondering, for my own clarity -- the "Today's Hot Topics" choice under forums -- what makes it a "Hot Topic"?  Is it the number of people that are posting to it in a given timeframe (e.g. lots of people posting to a thread quickly) - this would be the best way to calculate it.  Or, is it done another way, such as "Oh, here is a topic that someone *just* posted to, so that makes it a Hot Topic".  This all sounds so dumb, I am sure, but I was just curious -- any insight here?

Avatar of erik
the first one - how many posts in a given timeframe.
Avatar of artfizz

What about a topic that a lot of people READ but don't POST TO? Doesn't this qualify to be considered hot - or possibly cool?