What Makes a Good MAL Interest Stack?

It's been a hot minute since MyAnimeList has added interest stacks as a feature to their site, and to be honest... I really like them! While there are still some problems with this feature (such as not being able to search for them inside the main search bar or sometimes having them being shadow banned for being too NSFW or having some specific words in the title), they are a good way to find shows relating to either a specific theme you have in mind or just shows that are similar to some that you've already watched. However, there are, of course, some stacks better or worse than others, and, while this kind of feels like screaming at little children making bad Mario Maker levels, with this post I kind of want to explain what I personally think any stack creator should keep in mind before making one with a few simple questions you should ask yourself beforehand.

• Does your stack have a clear theme?

This is one of the biggest issues I keep seeing when people try to make interest stacks, and it kind of also spills over into some of the other questions here. If your theme is way too broad, it probably doesn't even fit into an interest stack. For example, a stack named 'Male/Female/Underage/Elderly protagonist' would definitely be too broad; a stack named 'Jewish protagonist' or something like that could be fairly interesting, as I imagine there aren't too many shows about something like this. If you really wanted to see every single show that includes some kind of beach episode or something, you could always just look on AniDB. Having a broad theme only works if it's really not TOO broad and if you limit yourself to the essential shows of your particular theme. A good example of a stack with a clear theme is this Amen Break stack.

• Is your stack just an 'opinion' stack?

One of the most common stack types I keep seeing for some reason. Basically almost all of them end up being useless because they're simply based on the users subjective opinion without a good reason for the stack existing. Examples of this stack type are those with titles like 'Underrated Anime/Manga,' 'Great OST/OP/ED,' 'Shows that make you cry,' or 'Classic [Genre] Anime/Manga.' There is no need for a stack like this since if people really wanted your personal opinion on a particular show, they could just visit your own anime list and look at the ratings or reviews. I feel that a stack like this is only useful in some cases where there's like a list of anime/manga made by some website, YouTuber, or blog or something that could benefit by being on MAL, i.e., if you want to watch the top 20 anime your favorite YouTuber likes as well. If you just want to mark things like underrated shows on your own list without writing a full-blown review, you could also just add a personal tag for any given show directly onto your list.

• Is your theme already covered by another MAL feature?

If your theme is already easily searchable on MAL via genres, themes, creators, extremely high or low ratings, etc., there is most likely no need for there to be an interest stack. This is often paired with the 'having too broad of a theme' problem. The only times when something like this might be useful is if the list of shows of a particular theme or genre on MAL is inaccurate to how many or which shows should be having that tag in reality. A good example of this is the Mahou Shoujo theme on MAL.

• Would your theme greatly exceed the 50 show/manga limit of an interest stack (without any good reason)? / Would you need to create multiple parts for your stack?

Often coupled with some other questions on here, mainly the one about a clear theme and the one about opinions. Seriously, nobody cares about your 'Underrated Anime Part 7' stack. If your stack could exceed the 50 show/manga limit, but you still feel like it's a clear theme that needs representation in the form of an interest stack, you should ideally limit it to the most important ones of the given theme. A good way to cut down on shows is to only include the first season/central piece of a show/manga to not artificially inflate the list with later seasons or OVAs or similar. There are also some exceptions for this question; the stack Digibro's 250 Anime Recommendations is a good example of this.

• Does your interest stack already exist?

This one should be fairly easy to follow, but I still sometimes see people making more or less the exact same interest stacks.

As I already discussed in some of these questions, there are a good few exceptions for some of the rules that can only really be considered on a case-by-case basis, but I feel like if you try to avoid the main problems each question discusses, you can easily make a good interest stack.