Update: this was fixed at some point, but it’s broken again as of 2009-Feb-03

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Look at the “The world wants to…” box at the bottom of this page.

Have you noticed that some of the little thumbnails you see in that box seem to pop up rather frequently?

So did I.

Quick test: go to this empty page and refresh the page, while taking a look at the thumbnails that show up. It’s very, very likely that you’ll have to refresh the page less than 10 times until you see one of the pictures again.

Or, you can take a look at the table below, which I compiled from the last of three 1,000 screen scrapes of the main page:

Select 43 user	Times featured on main page	Goals with count for each
lizbit989	130	Finally admit Santa Claus is real OR fake and auctually have a logical reson why I believe it x 67 ; learn gymnastics x 63
GodsDarkAngel	91	save the world x 91
catrinac	89	Dress better x 89
ju1cygirl	86	get a juicy tee/sweater x 86
socalgrl	83	make a scrapbook of my favorite things x 83
alwaysbawling	83	lose weight x 83
daiquirikiss	80	Lose 10 pounds x 80
inkling79	80	Lose 15 more pounds x 80
littlemisslea	79	move to Florida x 79
anticrono	79	paint more often x 79
xBloodRedRosex	78	have more confidence x 78
mikecorp	78	Create website with wordpress x 78
Beckyknowsbest	78	Rip my entire CD collection x 78
CervantesVive	77	master AJAX x 77
newyorklights	77	finish a story x 77
roo9	77	buy an abercrombie and finch hoodie x 77
haroldchasen	77	visit the London tube station where scorpions live x 77
burnthatdress	77	smoke out in an amsterdam coffee shop x 77
Valo_love	77	I want to see the used, my chemical romance, Taking Back sunday, Afi and HIM all in one concert x 77
Hepzebah	76	get rid of unnecessary possessions x 76
theredshore	76	List my 100 favorite movies (movies you’d watch over and over again) x 76
DavidF	75	Get my Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu blue belt x 75
rosa0087	75	be happy x 75
xa_vitex	75	be able to talk to my parents x 75
TaraChristine	75	see rusted root live x 75
missshey	75	see snow x 75
ArmandoJr	74	tell my friends how much they mean to me x 74
Rachy_think_pink	74	be more outgoing and confident x 74
slightlyunsettled	74	grow my hair long x 74
Esin	74	take my son to the dentist x 74
applejuice	74	learn how to identify wild plants and mushrooms x 74
Vladivostok	74	marry my soulmate x 74
aglimpseonly	74	find 100 geocaches x 74
kittylittered	73	Get more sleep x 73
orpe	73	draw at least one drawing per month and try to learn painting :) x 73
Slimissa	73	meet Johnny Damon x 73
dynamitt	73	go to the Maldives x 73
michelle33	72	survive x 72
reevestrife	72	Read the entire Bible x 72
jaimee4sam	72	I want less people to like BrightEyes x 72
xodare2dreamox	71	Write and draw my own Manga x 71
girlbakura777	71	learn german x 71
starletsteph	71	write a novel x 71
Pomgirl	71	start wearing hats x 71
cobola	71	?öƒ??¬?ö??¡? x 71
Riotgirl83	71	Let go of my worries and my paranoia and learn to relax x 71
vivacity	71	give away 50 things I don’t need x 71
jmwang10584	71	lose 15 pounds and keep it off x 71
shainelee	70	learn Mandarin x 70
frugalmummy	70	earn more money x 70
queenofblather	70	knit a scarf x 70
m750	70	Identify things that make me happy x 70
geekymom	70	Sleep past noon occasionally x 70
Becky0421	69	be a stripper for a day x 69
allison302	69	not eat junk food for a week x 69
samhamyo	69	Lose 30 pounds x 69
archaeologychic	69	learn to speak italian x 69
davewasthere	69	go to bed by midnight x 69
Adoreblue	69	Clean the litterbox more often x 69
nymphamadria	68	get in a slap fight with Scottie Smith x 68
tupper26	68	Take more pictures x 68
fredera	68	Be a better worker x 68
krini	68	learn to be still x 68
GPBRANIGAN	68	be a better husband x 68
margo_hc05	68	Love like I mean it x 68
philthy	68	Sleep soundly x 68
theupbeat	68	play with puppies x 68
JKHPL	67	quit biting my cuticles x 67
jarule911	67	gail fraind x 67
chickidee	67	regain my optimism x 67
iLive4myFantasies	67	lay it down on mikey way x 67
jr_hunter	67	Discover Truth x 67
Bethany1989	67	create the soundtrack to my life x 67
SophiainWonderaland	66	always live and work in environments that allow me to be silly and unpredictable x 66
VoiceOfPower	66	be known x 66
thedayafterme	66	snap some photo of new people i’ll meet x 66
glasswindow	66	Visit my relatives in New York. x 66
thecoolertwin	66	see the thing that is genuinely beautiful about every person x 66
dorariver	65	Quit my job x 65
szellem	65	finish my constructed language x 65
biblelover	65	I want to not use so much time at this site. x 65
BlackX4Life	65	write a book x 65
Melissimo	65	Read the Count of Monte Cristo x 65
Cyclone	65	find a balance in life x 65
adaptable	65	be a better listener x 65
Frinkle	65	Have a best friend. x 65
DrTran	65	get to level 60 on World of Warcraft. x 65
cesardzm	64	create my own layout x 64
jrashadb	64	Start a movement. x 64
rawrxbanana	64	to FOLLOW my to-do list x 64
DyLaNcOLE_BaBii	64	start a singing career x 64
walking_on	64	never wish i was in someone else’s shoes x 64
mnewton7	64	Have a really cool pavilion for Pennsic x 64
huneysuckle	64	climb mount kilamanjiro for D of E x 64
magdalena	64	get more tattoos x 64
cookiesinatincan	63	find or create my balance x 63
wordsoutof	63	get a scholarship x 63
BabyDracula	63	Read more books x 63
Quest_32	63	live a slower paced life x 63
Betsyb	63	find new music x 63
Laurabelle	63	Have a romantic date in Paris x 63
ebb9	63	Spend less time fooling around on the net and more time actually working x 63
frankieroberto	62	Visit all of Britain’s theme parks x 62
JulieJordanScott	62	Daily: Reflect on at least 5 things for which I’m grateful (Happiness Manifesto #2) x 62
booboop	62	go to egypt x 62
hammaskeiju	62	Meet the Dalai Lama x 62
Bobmac	62	snowboard more x 62
alenahra	62	go to Burning Man in 2005×62
joannpauline67	62	Learn to SNOWBOARD before I turn 40 in one year. x 62
okelay	62	read everything jane austen wrote x 62
Delcat	62	Finish Final Fantasy IV x 62
potato_phantom	61	promote my website x 61
girl3	61	be a good friend x 61
euterpe3rd	61	go to a anime/manga convention x 61
courtlove2009	61	lose 25 pounds x 61
joshp	61	create a “Junto” group x 61
Valerie80	61	learn to sew x 61
alostangel	61	get lasik surgery x 61
starsnspikes	61	Learn to knit x 61
erkkah	60	play more guitar x 60
mwatson	59	tell someone I really love them x 59
yasel16	59	create my own 3d game!(free) x 59
damagedbylove	59	get out of debt x 59
FireDragon	59	Save money x 59
daringtomove	59	list my fifty favourite songs x 59
HalfASmalli	59	Be let in on the Alien Conspiracy x 59
alexa444	59	Meet avril lavingne x 59
JessaLee	58	Learn Crazy Tricks on a Jet Ski x 58
thepicturelady	58	get a job x 58
BBAli19	58	identify 100 things that make me happy (besides money) x 58
dewdude	58	have a meaningful relationship x 58
SheilaRachael	57	make a concious effort to be more agreeable today x 57
melissafelt	57	Become a vegetarian and be healthy x 57
the_red_cat	56	weigh less than 200 lbs x 56
brainwidth	56	Lose 30 pounds x 56
leilalorelai	55	figure out what i want to do with my life x 55
BluePlasticStraw	55	Buy an iSight. x 55
akmedic	54	Spend more time with my nephews x 54
Charrey	54	have a healthy baby x 54
catie	54	take more photographs x 54
prairierose	53	visit every continent x 53
balut	53	organize my photos x 53
kawfmanlives	53	Become an AQUACADET! x 53
Warren22	52	make my own clothes x 52
pvflutechic	52	Go to graduate school x 52
blacksquirrel	52	own fainting goats x 52
pilot_erica	52	get back into rock climbing x 52
wherehasthemusicgone	51	Become a Photoshop expert x 51
misswithers	48	to exist instead of live x 48

What is special about these people? Some have very few entries/cheers (inkling79, VoiceOfPower, dorariver), others have thousands of cheers (ArmandoJr).

There are close to 1 million users on 43things. Because only exactly 149 of them get featured on the main page if you refresh it 1,000 times, I think the robots need to take a look at the randomization logic (and bump my username in those ranks ;-)