> 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?
I used a starter pack that focused on NLP/LLM academics and researchers in industry that tend to publish and talk about their work on Twitter, but have moved to BlueSky. It really does feel like a breath of fresh air. It's the content I want to casually browse when I'm on the subway or the ferry with a lot less rage baiting and without bots and spam.
Plus, it has that nice chronological feature in the default algorithm that really focuses on recent news, which was always my issue with Threads.
I hope this will become true; it's the reason I made an account as soon as possible (not the one that matches my name), have followed hashtag-based feeds with mixed success, and donated to my favourite client (tokimeki.blue). I want to follow topics, in the fashion of Usenet or Reddit, not people. If I'm interested in dandelions, I want to read Jay Expert's posts about dandelions, not their posts about their breakfast (unless it's dandelions) or favourite TV show (unless it's about dandelions).
I fear the recent US election is going to kill it, though.
Decades later, those people who spent hours on their USENET killfiles (despite the name, killfiles weren't just blocklists - fancier clients supported quite sophisticated scoring - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_file) are finally getting their day in the sun.
(I don't necessarily disagree that this is the future, but it is quite funny that the "bring your own algorithm" approach was basically forgotten about for about 25 years, and then revived...)
Bluesky is a refreshing addition to social media. Many users say it reminds them of “old twitter”. I didn’t use twitter so Im not sure what that means. But compared with other social medias? No ads. Auth using your domain. Choose your own timeline algo. Its amazing!
I am worried about the commercial aspects though. I am willing to pay them a subscription if they just ignore ads altogether. The fact that all of it is oss (the protocol, and the implementation!) does give me hope that they won’t turn into an ad infected slop.
grishka ·17 hours ago
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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ZeroCool2u ·17 hours ago
Plus, it has that nice chronological feature in the default algorithm that really focuses on recent news, which was always my issue with Threads.
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kps ·18 hours ago
I fear the recent US election is going to kill it, though.
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rsynnott ·17 hours ago
(I don't necessarily disagree that this is the future, but it is quite funny that the "bring your own algorithm" approach was basically forgotten about for about 25 years, and then revived...)
Show replies
pm90 ·17 hours ago
I am worried about the commercial aspects though. I am willing to pay them a subscription if they just ignore ads altogether. The fact that all of it is oss (the protocol, and the implementation!) does give me hope that they won’t turn into an ad infected slop.
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