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Timothy Chow
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Most important results of the year - appropriate or not?

The question Most important results in 2023 has been posted to MO, and as in previous years, has had a mixed reception. Whether such a question is appropriate for MO or not looks to be a recurring issue, and I don't think it has been discussed here on meta before. So, is it appropriate?

The main argument in favor, I think, is that despite some opposition, the analogous question in previous years has overall been received positively, and has received interesting and useful answers.

An argument against is that it is opinion-based in a bad way, deeming some results "important" and (implicitly, by omission) other results as "unimportant," not only in a narrow subfield, but across all areas of mathematics.

I don't know if any kind of consensus can be reached here on meta, but it seems worth having a discussion about it that we can point to when the subject comes up again.

Timothy Chow
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