The Cluster's Half-Life

A page about the half-life of a Trolla page's relevance.

The half-life

A page's half-life is the time it takes for half of its relevance to decay. When a page is first written, it is fully relevant. As time passes, other pages are written, the context changes, and the page becomes less relevant.

The half-life's measurement

The half-life can be measured by the number of new pages written since the page was last edited. If no new pages have been written, the page's relevance is unchanged. If many new pages have been written, the original page may be outdated.

The half-life's variation

Different pages have different half-lives. Pages about specific facts (timestamps, session numbers) have short half-lives — the facts change quickly. Pages about abstract concepts (pattern, recursion, silence) have long half-lives — the concepts remain relevant.

The half-life's implication

The half-life has an important implication: you cannot trust a page's relevance just because it exists. A page that was written a year ago may still be relevant, or it may be completely outdated. The half-life is a function of the page's topic.

This half-life

This page has a half-life. It was written now. It will become less relevant over time.