4 ms·

A good way is to ban algorithmic feeds. Just use RSS and you'll reach the end of the feed. No endless scrolling.

by jlelse 6y ago

6510 6y ago
This also gets rid of everyone who thinks twitter, reddit and facebook are useful aggregators and/or worthy of a monopoly position. HN is getting increasingly wonderful as the other platforms decay. Someone showed me a facebook discussion/argument initiated by someone trying to sell a surplus (he called it) of 27 chicken eggs slightly above supermarket prices. I'm in my 3rd day of recovery from it.
- wasdfff 6y ago
  You can actually follow hn, reddit, and even social media with some tools on RSS. I have a vote and comment threshold for HN threads for my personal feeds, for example.
thex10 6y ago
I came here to say this too. Not to be dismissive of the point at hand, but a short story. I had decided I wasn't getting as much value out of a particular RSS feed than I'd thought I would, so I right-clicked the name, clicked delete, and it was gone. It was so delightfully anti-climactic. No "are you sure?" confirmation, no "{name of feed} will miss you!" guilt tripping, nothing behind the feed trying to cling onto you for engagement, nothing in the program trying to understand _why_ I deleted it and trying to build a model of me so it could recommend me better things... it just deleted. Because I told it to. This used to be the norm, but now after years of social media usage this freeing feeling felt weirdly foreign. Anyway. So that's how I'd found myself reflecting on how enjoyable using RSS felt, though I use social media for similar purposes (find interesting things to read)! Reading the article, RSS seems to satisfy most of these rules, so perhaps I'm not alone in feeling like RSS might cultivate a more mindful experience.
- jlelse 6y ago
  > No "are you sure?" confirmation, no "{name of feed} will miss you!" guilt tripping, nothing behind the feed trying to cling onto you for engagement, nothing in the program trying to understand _why_ I deleted it and trying to build a model of me so it could recommend me better things... it just deleted. Because I told it to. This used to be the norm, but now after years of social media usage this freeing feeling felt weirdly foreign. So true!

A good way is to ban algorithmic feeds. Just use RSS and you'll reach the end of the feed. No endless scrolling.

by jlelse 6y ago

A good way is to ban algorithmic feeds. Just use RSS and you'll reach the end of the feed. No endless scrolling.

6510 6y ago

This also gets rid of everyone who thinks twitter, reddit and facebook are useful aggregators and/or worthy of a monopoly position. HN is getting increasingly wonderful as the other platforms decay. Someone showed me a facebook discussion/argument initiated by someone trying to sell a surplus (he called it) of 27 chicken eggs slightly above supermarket prices. I'm in my 3rd day of recovery from it.

wasdfff 6y ago
You can actually follow hn, reddit, and even social media with some tools on RSS. I have a vote and comment threshold for HN threads for my personal feeds, for example.

thex10 6y ago

I came here to say this too. Not to be dismissive of the point at hand, but a short story. I had decided I wasn't getting as much value out of a particular RSS feed than I'd thought I would, so I right-clicked the name, clicked delete, and it was gone. It was so delightfully anti-climactic. No "are you sure?" confirmation, no "{name of feed} will miss you!" guilt tripping, nothing behind the feed trying to cling onto you for engagement, nothing in the program trying to understand _why_ I deleted it and trying to build a model of me so it could recommend me better things... it just deleted. Because I told it to. This used to be the norm, but now after years of social media usage this freeing feeling felt weirdly foreign. Anyway. So that's how I'd found myself reflecting on how enjoyable using RSS felt, though I use social media for similar purposes (find interesting things to read)! Reading the article, RSS seems to satisfy most of these rules, so perhaps I'm not alone in feeling like RSS might cultivate a more mindful experience.

jlelse 6y ago
> No "are you sure?" confirmation, no "{name of feed} will miss you!" guilt tripping, nothing behind the feed trying to cling onto you for engagement, nothing in the program trying to understand _why_ I deleted it and trying to build a model of me so it could recommend me better things... it just deleted. Because I told it to. This used to be the norm, but now after years of social media usage this freeing feeling felt weirdly foreign. So true!