[thread_hijack]
If you want the order to look more like what you were once upon a time used to, just choose your favourite "nudge-the-numbers-my-way" metric such as views divided by number of replies, by number of distinct updates, or by calendar time between the first and the last update. As an example, the Gluttonic Knights which seemed to take forever back in 2002/2003 really took one year and 5 months to write and had an awesome 800 posts total, the current top two (and several others in the top 10) have lasted 2-3 years with 2k+ posts.
The BEST way to get high on the view lists and to last would seem to be to write something that is near interminable and appeals to the appetites of the AAR-junkies - or to write an AAR or something AAR related that is frequently referred to outside the AAR forums.
----This is all completely irrelevant to the thread but your earlier post on the page mentioning my name cropped up in my search filter and I just had to see what was going on. A big cheer from me to those who kept up writing EU2 AARs long past their due date! Some of you are obviously insane and have way too much time on your hands, but that does not diminish the glory of the accomplishments.
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People are writing much longer AARs these days. Perhaps it is the place itself that allows such AARs to be written. My first completed AAR was written in 2 months. Into the West was started in March of 2004 and finished at Christmas of 2006. Still, my last completed AAR was finished in under one year. That's pretty quick these days.