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Reddit Is Working on a New Front Page Algorithm

36 points by r721 11y ago

Artistry121 11y ago
I wonder if they could have an algorithm that changes based on the user - regardless of if they're logged in. If someone (judged by ip address or cookies) often reloaded or came back every 20 minutes or so the front page could become more variable to provide new content.
- smcl 11y ago
  From what I understand getting to The Front Page of Reddit is pretty big deal for some folks (or so I can tell from some FB friends' screenshots\comments they've posted - it's not my thing). I suspect that changing it so everyone (or some) people see a different front page would diminish the prestige of that and maybe make Reddit less special for some people.
  - davis_m 11y ago
    Everyone already sees a different front page, depending on which subreddits they are subscribed to. People generally mean making it to the front page of the default list of subreddits or the front page of /r/all.
    - jordigh 11y ago
      > Everyone already sees a different front page, depending on which subreddits they are subscribed to. I'd wager only minority of Reddit users are logged in. This is generally true of most websites.
  - drannex 11y ago
    As someone who has been on the front page of Reddit multiple times, it's incredibly important for the person who manage the post, and for the community.
- deong 11y ago
  I imagine there would be a significant backlash if it came out that reddit was explicitly acting on knowledge of a persistent profile of you that persisted across logging out or logging in on a throwaway account.
- r721 11y ago
  They could just make 45 000 (in this formula: http://amix.dk/blog/post/19588 http://amix.dk/blog/post/19588) a used-defined parameter, the formula basically means tenfold increase in score should be approximately during 45 000 seconds (12.5 hours) for submission to stay. Make it 4 hours for those who want a less stale front page or even 2 hours.
- yummybear 11y ago
  There are also an advantage to everyone having the same frontpage (r/all). A lot of what makes reddit reddit is the meta discussions relating to the frontpage.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
anthrophuman 11y ago
why does reddit get so much press coverage now? a whole article talking about their front page? or is there just a lack of real news to cover
- seren 11y ago
  Reddit is a YC company, so it is discussed frequently on HN.
  - Someone1234 11y ago
    There's also significant user overlap (or refugees from there).
- Phlarp 11y ago
  It's possible this is just a submarine after a few months of negative press. I have to imagine they hired a serious PR firm after all the drama over Ellen Pao and random firings.
- jkoebler 11y ago
  Hey, I wrote this article. We cover the internet and internet culture—Reddit is a massive, massive website that has very real impacts on the media and on what the average internet user sees on a day to day basis. As a reddit user, I saw dozens of threads complaining about the front page algorithm, so I decided to look into it. I emailed Reddit and asked what the deal was, and their CEO wanted to talk about it. We write about Reddit maybe 2-3 times a month and this took me only a couple hours to write. Felt it was important. Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like, but it's still a hugely influential website so changes to how it works is important
  - mahranch 11y ago
    > Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like Do they though? Reddit's getting 200 million unique views every single month. That's approaching youtube/facebook levels of traffic. Reddit isn't a small community anymore. It's a massive website that represents everyone from all walks of life. For example, you don't hear people claiming that facebook or youtube has a problem with "racism and sexism". Why is that the case, even though it does have a problem with those things? Because people expect it there due the sheer size of those sites. Well, reddit isn't some small community website any more. It's nearly the size of google/youtube and is about to overtake twitter in traffic. I think it's time we stop treating it like some small time website and start treating it like the behemoth it has become.
billybilly1920 11y ago
If they would have converted the school shooting story to a funny gif or an image demeaning to women, I'm sure it would have trended to the top of reddit within seconds.
- on_ 11y ago
  Bit distasteful, no?
  - billybilly1920 11y ago
    Go check the front page of reddit and get back to me.
    - lcswi 11y ago
      Done. Your turn, where are those?
    - on_ 11y ago
      I think that it was actually quit nice that Nelly used the money to send kids to college. [0]http://urbanintellectuals.com/2015/08/28/did-you-know-nelly-has-sent-two-kids-to-college-every-year-for-the-past-10-years/ http://urbanintellectuals.com/2015/08/28/did-you-know-nelly-...
ble 11y ago
The discussion in the article makes it seem like they are considering an adjustment for the fact that many users only view the front page, creating a somewhat artifactual disparity in votes received between front page and non-front page submissions. Sounds like a plausible explanation, good intuition, and a good idea.
rip747 11y ago
I imagine the main part of the algorithm will be: weight = title.toLowerCase().indexOf("cat") < 0 ? 0 : 1000;
- lfowles 11y ago
  Isn't it written in python? weight = 1000 if "cat" in title.lower() else 0
  - rip747 11y ago
    touche my friend :)
  - gipp 11y ago
    Too many false positives. More like if re.search('\bcat\b')

36 points by r721 11y ago

I wonder if they could have an algorithm that changes based on the user - regardless of if they're logged in. If someone (judged by ip address or cookies) often reloaded or came back every 20 minutes or so the front page could become more variable to provide new content.

smcl 11y ago
From what I understand getting to The Front Page of Reddit is pretty big deal for some folks (or so I can tell from some FB friends' screenshots\comments they've posted - it's not my thing). I suspect that changing it so everyone (or some) people see a different front page would diminish the prestige of that and maybe make Reddit less special for some people.
- davis_m 11y ago
  Everyone already sees a different front page, depending on which subreddits they are subscribed to. People generally mean making it to the front page of the default list of subreddits or the front page of /r/all.
  - jordigh 11y ago
    > Everyone already sees a different front page, depending on which subreddits they are subscribed to. I'd wager only minority of Reddit users are logged in. This is generally true of most websites.
- drannex 11y ago
  As someone who has been on the front page of Reddit multiple times, it's incredibly important for the person who manage the post, and for the community.
deong 11y ago
I imagine there would be a significant backlash if it came out that reddit was explicitly acting on knowledge of a persistent profile of you that persisted across logging out or logging in on a throwaway account.
r721 11y ago
They could just make 45 000 (in this formula: http://amix.dk/blog/post/19588 http://amix.dk/blog/post/19588) a used-defined parameter, the formula basically means tenfold increase in score should be approximately during 45 000 seconds (12.5 hours) for submission to stay. Make it 4 hours for those who want a less stale front page or even 2 hours.
yummybear 11y ago
There are also an advantage to everyone having the same frontpage (r/all). A lot of what makes reddit reddit is the meta discussions relating to the frontpage.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]

deleted 11y ago

[deleted]

anthrophuman 11y ago

why does reddit get so much press coverage now? a whole article talking about their front page? or is there just a lack of real news to cover

seren 11y ago
Reddit is a YC company, so it is discussed frequently on HN.
- Someone1234 11y ago
  There's also significant user overlap (or refugees from there).
Phlarp 11y ago
It's possible this is just a submarine after a few months of negative press. I have to imagine they hired a serious PR firm after all the drama over Ellen Pao and random firings.
jkoebler 11y ago
Hey, I wrote this article. We cover the internet and internet culture—Reddit is a massive, massive website that has very real impacts on the media and on what the average internet user sees on a day to day basis. As a reddit user, I saw dozens of threads complaining about the front page algorithm, so I decided to look into it. I emailed Reddit and asked what the deal was, and their CEO wanted to talk about it. We write about Reddit maybe 2-3 times a month and this took me only a couple hours to write. Felt it was important. Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like, but it's still a hugely influential website so changes to how it works is important
- mahranch 11y ago
  > Reddit has major problems with its community and racism and sexism and the like Do they though? Reddit's getting 200 million unique views every single month. That's approaching youtube/facebook levels of traffic. Reddit isn't a small community anymore. It's a massive website that represents everyone from all walks of life. For example, you don't hear people claiming that facebook or youtube has a problem with "racism and sexism". Why is that the case, even though it does have a problem with those things? Because people expect it there due the sheer size of those sites. Well, reddit isn't some small community website any more. It's nearly the size of google/youtube and is about to overtake twitter in traffic. I think it's time we stop treating it like some small time website and start treating it like the behemoth it has become.

billybilly1920 11y ago

If they would have converted the school shooting story to a funny gif or an image demeaning to women, I'm sure it would have trended to the top of reddit within seconds.

on_ 11y ago
Bit distasteful, no?
- billybilly1920 11y ago
  Go check the front page of reddit and get back to me.
  - lcswi 11y ago
    Done. Your turn, where are those?
  - on_ 11y ago
    I think that it was actually quit nice that Nelly used the money to send kids to college. [0]http://urbanintellectuals.com/2015/08/28/did-you-know-nelly-has-sent-two-kids-to-college-every-year-for-the-past-10-years/ http://urbanintellectuals.com/2015/08/28/did-you-know-nelly-...

ble 11y ago

The discussion in the article makes it seem like they are considering an adjustment for the fact that many users only view the front page, creating a somewhat artifactual disparity in votes received between front page and non-front page submissions. Sounds like a plausible explanation, good intuition, and a good idea.

rip747 11y ago

I imagine the main part of the algorithm will be: weight = title.toLowerCase().indexOf("cat") < 0 ? 0 : 1000;

lfowles 11y ago
Isn't it written in python? weight = 1000 if "cat" in title.lower() else 0
- rip747 11y ago
  touche my friend :)
- gipp 11y ago
  Too many false positives. More like if re.search('\bcat\b')