How is it determined whether or not a forum thread will be featured on the home page?

The home page is important real estate to the ProZ.com community, insomuch as it commands a high degree of member attention and time. In the interest of providing the best possible workplace environment, ProZ.com's staff exercises editorial control over what appears on it (as is common in publishing).

The selection of featured items is managed in a semi-automated fashion. There is a featured status set automatically for most new threads (depending on the forum) that permits them to appear on the home page. However, when a staff member comes across a thread that, for example, is more of a personal support ticket than a topic for discussion, he or she may unset the featured status. Also, topics which are locked may cease to be featured.