See the Related Link, which takes you to a page with tips.
The Featured questions can be found at this link:Special:FeaturedQuestions
Featured questions are looked at by many, there is a high chance of these featured questions getting answered.
The "Featured questions" are selected by the Supervisors and the Community Assistants.
When a Featured question gets answered, it automatically gets "un-featured" and added to the data base of answered questions on the site.
Yes, they are automatically removed.
No, the Featured questions list does not list answered questions. The point of the Featured questions is to basically "put out there" any unique, unanswered questions.Here and there, an unanswered may creep in, usually by a new supervisor. In a case such as this, the supervisor is soon alerted to this oversight.
Featured questions should be unanswered. They typically include questions about current events, new categories, hot topics, or something really interesting to a large amount of visitors to the site. Occasionally, an already answered question may be featured by a Community Assistant. This is usually done as an attempt to spread information throughout the site.
Flagged Questions vs Featured QuestionsThe basic difference is that a flagged question has already been answered, although the answer needs improvement of sorts, and therefore gets "flagged." A featured question, on the other hand, is a question of interest that has not yet been answered (the minute a featured question does get answered, it automatically gets removed from the list of Featured questions).(For more information, see the Related questions.)
Featured QuestionsWhen a Supervisor sees an unanswered question that they think is a good or interesting question - which other people would also find interesting - it is "featured" and added to the "featured questions" list. Featuring Guidelines:1. Featured questions must always be unanswered.2. Featured questions must be of general interest.3. Featured questions must be grammatically correct and free from spelling and punctuation errors.4. Ensure that a question is assigned to appropriate categories before featuring it.5. If you feature something about a current event, distinguish it from similar events by including a time period for example6. Follow each question you feature to ensure it gets a good answer.
Featured . as in ...... Featured questions if you scroll down, on the left <-
I guess it is up for first time users to see or they thought every one should see it.
Click "Featured questions" in the blue bar. The link can be found in the "Related Links" section of this answer.