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I kinda wish mastadon wasnt anti-algorithm when it comes to your feed... The ideal, IMO, is that the user can pick whatever algorithm they want to effectively empower their feed and make discovery of new content better.

@freemo probably the biggest obstacle would be that algorithms require telemetry and fediverse has a vast over-representation of privacy nuts that religiously believe all kinds of telemetry are evil no matter what they're used for.

@Amikke @freemo Would they require telemetry though? I was thinking they’d be more akin to the algorithms that are already applied to trends on #Mastodon, or using logic similar to an #iTunes smart playlist

@realcaseyrollins @freemo true, not all algos are personalised like trends on Mastodon. But all that are require at least tracking what you like to work at all, and tracking what people that liked the things you like also like to be actually good. I don't know how iTunes smart playlists work, but even if they manage to only work from the context of the rest of the playlists / rules on your side and tags and the like on potential recommendations' side, it's not something that would work nearly as well for social media posts.

@freemo

I think blocks and follows work pretty good. With all the algos on other sites and all the targeted content out there, it's sometimes difficult to get a feel for general trends or to learn what the "other side" is thinking.

I go out of my way to try consume content from sources or people that I ordinarily wouldn't come across just so I can maintain some kind of perspective and not end up in an echo chamber.

Also, I think not having the algo is more fair, especially for folks who may not have talent or skills to get their stuff through the filter.

@freemo I think that algorithms being introduced would make an already polarized place even more polarized.

@freemo hmm polygorithmic settings or a tunable algorithm would be awesome

@freemo I feel like the marketplace of algorithms would be nice. @masnick's "Protocols, Not Platforms" paper knightcolumbia.org/content/pro outlines this idea with some analysis.

Mastodon seems to have an algorithm, by default; just add /explore to the name of the server. (or click on # explore) But qoto has this disabled for reasons I can only guess at. AFAICT this algorithm is basically boost count?

@ech @masnick

I dont think we have that disabled. You mean the explore hashtags?

@freemo

I don't know; maybe?

See these when you're logged out:
mastodon.online/explore
freeatlantis.com/explore
It says "These posts from this and other servers in the decentralized network are gaining traction on this server right now."

That's what I mean.

qoto.org/explore
It's sort of a directory of users. Nice, but totally different.

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