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190 points amichail | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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grishka ◴[] No.42195272[source]
> The use of algorithms to filter information has become the norm because chronologically presenting information from followers creates a confusing morass for the average user to process.

Can't disagree more. Call me old-fashioned but I hate any algorithms at all meddling with what I see. If I follow someone, I want to see their posts, all of them, without exceptions. If I don't follow someone, I only want to see their posts if they were knowingly reposted by someone who I do follow. If I want some posts filtered from my feed, I'll set up word filters myself, thank you very much.

It's a recurring theme in the modern IT industry that "the average user" can't be trusted to take their own responsibility. It's sometimes taken as an indisputable truth, even. Why does this keep happening? What can I do to put an end to this?

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anon7000 ◴[] No.42195552[source]
I actually disagree. (I agree that engagement-driven algos are cancer though. And that they developed for money reasons, not to help users. So maybe I agree with you actually lol)

I never used Twitter back in the day. I’m trying out BlueSky and not sure what my account should be. I could post software stuff, eg a career related account. I could post pictures from around the city. I could post my personal political thoughts. Or maybe hobby-related, like board games.

But if I’m following someone who’s respected in the career, I’m expecting career content, not random political thoughts. If someone is following me, I want to be able to post more personal content, and more random stuff. Unless it’s a personal friend, I probably don't need to see everything they post!

So I don’t necessarily want a chronological timeline. Custom algos like BlueSky has are pretty interesting. “Here are all the developer posts” and “keep the political posts over here out of your main feed”

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SoftTalker ◴[] No.42195766[source]
It's pretty easy: if someone posts a lot of stuff you find uninteresting, stop following them.
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1. timbit42 ◴[] No.42205171[source]
On Mastodon you can follow hashtags and/or people. Following hashtags means you see posts with hashtags you are following in your feed, even from people you are not following, instead of seeing a few relevant posts and lots of irrelevant posts when you are following people. For me, following hashtags greatly increases my signal to noise ratio. There are a few people I follow but I mostly follow hashtags. If someone misuses a hashtag, I can simply mute their account and never see them again. If I get tired of a hashtag, I can stop following it and if I see a post with a hashtag I want to follow, I can with two clicks.