Some people want some sort of suggestion system. I figure as long as it’s an opt-in choice, why not? Gives people what they want and makes the ecosystem more enticing. And at least it’s an algorithm that’s transparent rather than one controlled by a large corporation.
Definitely! The reason why many of us hate algorithms is that they are constantly pushed on us. Look at what Reddit was doing before they killed third party apps. One of the reasons I went to a third party app was to avoid the Reddit bs.
People who dislike algorithms can simply avoid this app while people who prefer a personalized feed can use this app.
I strongly believe the “algorithm of the future” is a locally-run, personalized content filter AI that you can train to wade through all the shit and find the diamonds. We have the technology right now, but nobody has put it all together yet.
I figure as long as it’s an opt-in choice, why not?
I think the algorithm is a necessity on social media. However even if you don’t use it, it’s still going to impact your experience. As long as it exists there will be people (and scammers) gaming it.
I honestly think that mastodon will die on the no algorithms hill.
Plain reverse-chron just doesn’t scale beyond the “hanging with friends and neighbours” experience that mastodon was designed for.
Which is a great experience/platform, but not the social media many are after, I suspect, for better or worse. And also, I suspect, an experience that’s not so hard to get elsewhere.
Thing is that lemmy/Reddit show how helpful simple sorting and aggregated recommendation systems can be without any opacity to users. I’m still baffled that mastodon and people there haven’t embraced that ethos more.
You just made me go back and check because I honestly didn’t even know the explore page was a thing! Clearly we have very different styles of Mastodonning :D
I’m of the mindset that if I can’t fully catch up on my feed within 10 minutes twice a day I’m either following too many people, or the people I’m following are posting too much. I just don’t understand the desire for infinite content. After a certain point I’m not actually reading anything in depth I’m just distracting myself.
Completely agreed, and it’s one of the things keeping me off Mastodon honestly. I don’t have a close group of friends on it, and for the purposes of following a bunch of strangers/outlets and whatnot I want a better sorting algorithm to actually show me interesting posts when I check in the morning.
Incidentally, I just saw someone singing the praises of mastodon because it forces people to form “authentic connections” as if they don’t their feeds will be empty. Thing they get wrong is that people will follow random strangers that seem interesting in order to fill their feeds. There’s no authentic connection to it at all. And then you get stuck with an unmanageable feed of random stuff from people you don’t know. But this is the myth or affectation of mastodon … that it’s all authentic and real friendships when it’s just social media.
@Coelacanth@maegul I agree with the need for this and I think there has to be a way of doing it given mastodon’s non profit motives, something we can configure, something that works with recommendations and can turn off if we want unlike other platforms that see algorithms as the centre of their business model. Whether mastodon eventually does or it has to be done by an offshoot/successor I don’t know
This makes zero sense as the Fediverse uses algorithms. Hell, just go to Mastodon’s explore page. When people make this comment it also shows their believe in the Fediverse is phony. Big Social has incentives to keep people locked in and showing specific posts primarily for ad dollars. The Fediverse has no such incentive, thus them providing an option for users to see more custom content is a good thing. The beauty of the Fediverse is that it can provide optional experiences to all its members that better suits their individual needs.
no. It is an algorithm in itself to go from the latest post to the oldest. Algorithm just means a way to list the posts and a kind of suggestion system thst’s optional is good for mastodon because that’s one of the biggest thibgs preventing people from seitching or the first thing you have to get used to when you gwt into the fediverse
So, algorithms. Pass.
One of the reasons I don’t use the other medias.
Some people want some sort of suggestion system. I figure as long as it’s an opt-in choice, why not? Gives people what they want and makes the ecosystem more enticing. And at least it’s an algorithm that’s transparent rather than one controlled by a large corporation.
Definitely! The reason why many of us hate algorithms is that they are constantly pushed on us. Look at what Reddit was doing before they killed third party apps. One of the reasons I went to a third party app was to avoid the Reddit bs.
People who dislike algorithms can simply avoid this app while people who prefer a personalized feed can use this app.
I strongly believe the “algorithm of the future” is a locally-run, personalized content filter AI that you can train to wade through all the shit and find the diamonds. We have the technology right now, but nobody has put it all together yet.
Are there any good clients that has a good algorithm feed in android?
I think the algorithm is a necessity on social media. However even if you don’t use it, it’s still going to impact your experience. As long as it exists there will be people (and scammers) gaming it.
I honestly think that mastodon will die on the no algorithms hill.
Plain reverse-chron just doesn’t scale beyond the “hanging with friends and neighbours” experience that mastodon was designed for.
Which is a great experience/platform, but not the social media many are after, I suspect, for better or worse. And also, I suspect, an experience that’s not so hard to get elsewhere.
Thing is that lemmy/Reddit show how helpful simple sorting and aggregated recommendation systems can be without any opacity to users. I’m still baffled that mastodon and people there haven’t embraced that ethos more.
I agree that the no algorithm hill gets annoying once you’re following enough people.
What I don’t understand is why they don’t setup something like Bluesky has where you can choose which algorithm you want, including those not made directly by the Bluesky team: https://www.theverge.com/2023/5/26/23739174/bluesky-custom-feeds-algorithms-twitter-alternative
One of those algorithms could just be a chronological feed that some people seem dead set on sticking with. Everyone can be happy.
Same. I only use Mastodon for the explore page, which is basically an algorithm for the most popular posts
You just made me go back and check because I honestly didn’t even know the explore page was a thing! Clearly we have very different styles of Mastodonning :D
I’m of the mindset that if I can’t fully catch up on my feed within 10 minutes twice a day I’m either following too many people, or the people I’m following are posting too much. I just don’t understand the desire for infinite content. After a certain point I’m not actually reading anything in depth I’m just distracting myself.
Completely agreed, and it’s one of the things keeping me off Mastodon honestly. I don’t have a close group of friends on it, and for the purposes of following a bunch of strangers/outlets and whatnot I want a better sorting algorithm to actually show me interesting posts when I check in the morning.
Incidentally, I just saw someone singing the praises of mastodon because it forces people to form “authentic connections” as if they don’t their feeds will be empty. Thing they get wrong is that people will follow random strangers that seem interesting in order to fill their feeds. There’s no authentic connection to it at all. And then you get stuck with an unmanageable feed of random stuff from people you don’t know. But this is the myth or affectation of mastodon … that it’s all authentic and real friendships when it’s just social media.
@Coelacanth @maegul I agree with the need for this and I think there has to be a way of doing it given mastodon’s non profit motives, something we can configure, something that works with recommendations and can turn off if we want unlike other platforms that see algorithms as the centre of their business model. Whether mastodon eventually does or it has to be done by an offshoot/successor I don’t know
Looks like they’re topically curated feeds not algorithms. Doesn’t seem like a bad strategy.
Newsmast is trying something similar but they’re backed by a nonprofit
This makes zero sense as the Fediverse uses algorithms. Hell, just go to Mastodon’s explore page. When people make this comment it also shows their believe in the Fediverse is phony. Big Social has incentives to keep people locked in and showing specific posts primarily for ad dollars. The Fediverse has no such incentive, thus them providing an option for users to see more custom content is a good thing. The beauty of the Fediverse is that it can provide optional experiences to all its members that better suits their individual needs.
no. It is an algorithm in itself to go from the latest post to the oldest. Algorithm just means a way to list the posts and a kind of suggestion system thst’s optional is good for mastodon because that’s one of the biggest thibgs preventing people from seitching or the first thing you have to get used to when you gwt into the fediverse