I find that if the article slants one way, it can be the third cousin of a long-distant relative who knew Bill Gates and suddenly it's something hackers are dir

I find that if the article slants one way, it can be the third cousin of a long-distant relative who knew Bill Gates and suddenly it's something hackers are direly interested in. If it slants another, it can be study of small startups and the economic principles that drive success or failure using a double-blind study and suddenly it's too political for us to touch. For me, the best metric is just looking at what kind of discussion the article brings. If the discussion is full of "me too!" and emotional rants, lots of vindictive voting up or down, it's probably a bad idea, politics or not. If folks can maintain their composure, difficult subjects are a lot more rewarding to talk about than Erlang Innards because they challenge us to be civil and reach middle ground. But somehow I doubt health insurance -- yet again -- is going to be like that today. Hopefully I'm wrong.