Discussion
RE: https://hachyderm.io/@mekkaokereke/117455880475309031
GIven the positive traction this post got, I'd like to collect some "benevolent algorithms" we could consider. For example:
* Popular posts among people you follow
* Popular posts on your server
* Popular posts with this hashtag
* What would you suggest???
"popular" is defined as some transparent metric around replies + boosts
Unreads: a set of UserPosts. Contains all the unread posts since last visit, grouped by user (see below).UserPosts: a set of posts from or boosted by a specific user. (Contains all the unread posts from a specific user or boosted by them since your last visit).NextPost: a function that does the following: pick one random UserPosts from the Unreads set, then pick one random post from that UserPosts, which will be returned. Remove that post from the selected UserPosts (and remove that UserPosts from Unreads if it becomes empty).NextPost is invoked every time the feed needs a new post (i.e. several times when the feed first loads, and then repeatedly as needed as the user scrolls the feed).
NextPost could be adjusted to somewhat take into account post popularity, instead of only using randomization, if that would be desired.NextPost picking one post from the chosen UserPosts randomly, it could instead choose based on the highest post in the UserPosts, ranked by (say) (favorites + 3*boosts) / (max(followCount, 0) + 1).@golemwire @portaloffreedom These are all very interesting ideas, thanks for sharing.
@scottjenson @mekkaokereke a way to see your feed but time-shifted - ie a way to say roll back to see my feed for yesterday when I wasn’t online. Or to easily start my feed at say 14 hours ago when I had logged out for dinner/sleeping
Or to jump back to last week when I recall seeing a thread I wonder if it ever finished
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A view of “posts from new folks you have followed” (for some easily defined period of time) - so you can follow 10 new people and see a feed of just posts from those 10
@scottjenson posts you haven't seen yet
@scottjenson I think pushing up stuff that creates more reactions, making it more "popular" would actually make things worse, pushing people to write stuff edgy all the time, worse than now.
@portaloffreedom It would be an optional feed, nothing universal
@scottjenson @portaloffreedom yeah but that feeling spreads fast, we've already seen it play out. And before you know it most people are turning it on for the buzz of seeing number to up when they post their edgy shit.
@scottjenson A feed where people who post a little are not drowned out by people who post all day. Can't think of a snazzy name for that 😅
@scottjenson algorithm that pairs oulipo posts with the corresponding dolphin.space post
@scottjenson I was thinking about this the other day, and I wouldn’t mind a feed that gave importance to people I interact with more. So, the people who I reply to or whose posts I favorite most would bubble up. The problem it solves is that I often miss a lot of these folks’ posts because I don’t try to “catch up” with my feed. I could see it introducing problems, though, such as increasing and reinforcing my personal echo chamber.
@ramsey @scottjenson I solved this by adding Lists. Outside of my Home stream, when I wish, I can also click different lists like Essential or DontMiss or MinCup. This way I only see posts from certain people I follow and I can go back even for a week or more. Once I did this I
think it’s possible I even see more of who I follow now. But that may also be a function of following a lot of people for a long time.
@cobalt123 @ramsey @scottjenson Oh I just replied to this post without reading this thread and had the same request.
Yes, I use lists as well - I have a "Besties" list and a "Can't Miss" list. I'm glad I'm not the only one doing this!
One thing to consider is that California now has a law requiring age verification on services that use algorithmic feeds. The way they define algorithmic is far from clear, and it's uncertain whether it applies to existing Mastodon features. I imagine similar laws may be enacted in other jurisdictions.
@scottjenson I would like to give posts from accounts that rarely post preference over those that post a lot.
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@scottjenson it may be too complicated UX, but I've toyed with the idea of chronological timeline with posts from your lists randomly inserted to break it up.
Similar to how bluesky's chronological timeline will randomly insert posts from subscribed feeds with a callout saying which feed it's from.