Arvind NarayananNov 4, 2022

Algorithms aren't the enemy. Chronological feeds don't scale and the signal-to-noise ratio will plummet if this ever gets popular. The real problems with today's algorithmic feeds are non-transparency, lack of choice, and optimizing for engagement instead of healthy discourse.

Open-source is a perfect opportunity to fix all this. Have there been any efforts to create a Mastodon instance with a (community governed) ranking algorithm? Is that technically feasible? Or is the idea simply anathema?

Show threadDan
@randomwalker why do you think signal to noise will rise as usage does if you're choosing who to follow?
Nov 5, 2022 at 12:24amWeb
Show threadLeenaNov 5, 2022

@mil @randomwalker Does noise to signal ratio improvement scale without personalisation? I think scale suggests bigger is better, maybe not?

Mastodon allows some #control around its features at the #community level like maximum message length I hear. I often wondered if the length of the messages on twitter was a problem. Lots of the best stuff I read was in long and annoyingly formatted threads.

Show threadDanNov 5, 2022
@leenamurgai @randomwalker yes, I think that's a really interesting point. the user experience of reading and interacting is such a fundamental part of the experience that's entirely seperate from algorithmic content surfacing. a chronological timeline can still be rich and conversational if the experience is well designed