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I am a big fan of RSS one of the reasons (alluded to by this article) is the type of content that tends to get exposed via RSS. Frequently the type of content

I am a big fan of RSS one of the reasons (alluded to by this article) is the type of content that tends to get exposed via RSS. Frequently the type of content that gets syndicated via RSS is long form and non-commercial. It turns out that these two properties produce a pretty good signal to noise ratio which filters out precisely the kind of trash that has ruined the web over the last decade or two (long form content at least has the possibility of teaching you something or presenting an idea with some kind of rigor; and since RSS isn't great at monetization, the worst offenders in media tend to deprioritize it). Of course RSS is a very imprecise filter, but it's basically the antithesis of a Twitter or Facebook feed, where everything is short form and you tend to see whatever serves the platform's commercial interests (i.e. their definition of engagement). This matters to me because at a certain point I realized -- I have basically never read anything short form on social media which enriched me in a meaningful way. I have learned a lot from studies, reference works, long form analysis, and books -- basically all the quality knowledge I possess has come from one of these sources. At best social media has given me occasional links to these things (scattered among an ocean of junk information). It's mostly because of how RSS originated with blogs I guess, and who was involved in designing it. But for whatever reason it has been far more valuable to me than any other form of content syndication online.

maximedupre 5y ago
> Of course RSS is a very imprecise filter, but it's basically the antithesis of a Twitter or Facebook feed, where everything is short form and you tend to see whatever serves the platform's commercial interests (i.e. their definition of engagement). At least with Twitter's "Latest" feed, you get everything in chronological order, without manipulations from the algo (AFAIK). As far as the signal-to-noise ratio goes on Twitter, depending on the quality of people you follow, you will also get exposed to many amazing long-form articles.
- runnerup 5y ago
  Same with YouTube's "Subscription" tab.
  - maximedupre 5y ago
    Yep. I used to be an Instagram user. Stopped cold turkey when they removed chronological feed.
  - iszomer 5y ago
    Used to be able to alphabetically sort your subscription but they removed that feature over whatever subscription is the most active. It is bizarre as hell.
  - rchaud 5y ago
    The problem with that is I only subscribe to channels that upload rarely. The subscription is basically a bookmark, because I'd forget them otherwise. But 90% of my viewing is on channels I'd never subscribe to, because doing so would overload my recs with similar channels, which I don't want.
- naravara 5y ago
  > As far as the signal-to-noise ratio goes on Twitter, depending on the quality of people you follow, you will also get exposed to many amazing long-form articles. I suspect having large follower counts of Twitter seems to induce some sort of brain rot. I’ve found many of my formerly good follows, once their profile has gotten bigger, have started to spend more time retweeting outrage baiters, dunking in various internet morons, or succumbing to talking in generic Twitter clichés. It’s like the platform trains you into being insufferable if you engage with it too much.
  - Nasrudith 5y ago
    I think that is a people thing with "popularity" that holds even in the most obscure and needlessly subdivided academic subfields. People selection bias themselves all the time to their own circles where they drive away anybody not as obnoxious as them in the same ways.
bobthepanda 5y ago
One interesting footnote about a specific type of longform content; recipes are categorically not under copyright in US law, but specific collections of them (like a specific cookbook formatting) can be, and recipes are also theoretically copyrightable if they contain "substantial literary expression." Which is why most food blogs usually have a longform essay of some personal anecdote right before the actual recipe you're looking for.
- 867-5309 5y ago
  I always thought that was simply for SEO
  - doctorhandshake 5y ago
    I always thought it was to push the useful information as far down the page as possible so you have to scroll by a bunch of ads to get to it.
    - throwaway984393 5y ago
      It's also a sales tactic. Mary Jo Rose is selling you her story so that you will buy the idea that you should subscribe and keep reading her posts even if you have nothing to cook, and eventually use her Amazon link to get 10% off paper towels.
    - bobthepanda 5y ago
      This is worse with web but is old as time. It used to be common for ingredient sellers to issue recipe books that would extoll the value of their goods, trash their competitors', and the recipes would usually include the ingredient even if it didn't do anything for the particular food you were trying to make. (E.g. "our flour is pure, unadulterated, and not bleached using toxic ingredients unlike our competitors who also eat babies", which was a more effective marketing tactic before the existence of food regulatory authorities curbed the worst excesses.) The recipe on the side of the box is a much smaller-scale version of this.
    - 5y ago
dgdosen 5y ago
Good use of "signal to noise ratio"

maximedupre 5y ago

> Of course RSS is a very imprecise filter, but it's basically the antithesis of a Twitter or Facebook feed, where everything is short form and you tend to see whatever serves the platform's commercial interests (i.e. their definition of engagement). At least with Twitter's "Latest" feed, you get everything in chronological order, without manipulations from the algo (AFAIK). As far as the signal-to-noise ratio goes on Twitter, depending on the quality of people you follow, you will also get exposed to many amazing long-form articles.

runnerup 5y ago
Same with YouTube's "Subscription" tab.
- maximedupre 5y ago
  Yep. I used to be an Instagram user. Stopped cold turkey when they removed chronological feed.
- iszomer 5y ago
  Used to be able to alphabetically sort your subscription but they removed that feature over whatever subscription is the most active. It is bizarre as hell.
- rchaud 5y ago
  The problem with that is I only subscribe to channels that upload rarely. The subscription is basically a bookmark, because I'd forget them otherwise. But 90% of my viewing is on channels I'd never subscribe to, because doing so would overload my recs with similar channels, which I don't want.
naravara 5y ago
> As far as the signal-to-noise ratio goes on Twitter, depending on the quality of people you follow, you will also get exposed to many amazing long-form articles. I suspect having large follower counts of Twitter seems to induce some sort of brain rot. I’ve found many of my formerly good follows, once their profile has gotten bigger, have started to spend more time retweeting outrage baiters, dunking in various internet morons, or succumbing to talking in generic Twitter clichés. It’s like the platform trains you into being insufferable if you engage with it too much.
- Nasrudith 5y ago
  I think that is a people thing with "popularity" that holds even in the most obscure and needlessly subdivided academic subfields. People selection bias themselves all the time to their own circles where they drive away anybody not as obnoxious as them in the same ways.

bobthepanda 5y ago

One interesting footnote about a specific type of longform content; recipes are categorically not under copyright in US law, but specific collections of them (like a specific cookbook formatting) can be, and recipes are also theoretically copyrightable if they contain "substantial literary expression." Which is why most food blogs usually have a longform essay of some personal anecdote right before the actual recipe you're looking for.

867-5309 5y ago
I always thought that was simply for SEO
- doctorhandshake 5y ago
  I always thought it was to push the useful information as far down the page as possible so you have to scroll by a bunch of ads to get to it.
  - throwaway984393 5y ago
    It's also a sales tactic. Mary Jo Rose is selling you her story so that you will buy the idea that you should subscribe and keep reading her posts even if you have nothing to cook, and eventually use her Amazon link to get 10% off paper towels.
  - bobthepanda 5y ago
    This is worse with web but is old as time. It used to be common for ingredient sellers to issue recipe books that would extoll the value of their goods, trash their competitors', and the recipes would usually include the ingredient even if it didn't do anything for the particular food you were trying to make. (E.g. "our flour is pure, unadulterated, and not bleached using toxic ingredients unlike our competitors who also eat babies", which was a more effective marketing tactic before the existence of food regulatory authorities curbed the worst excesses.) The recipe on the side of the box is a much smaller-scale version of this.
  - 5y ago

dgdosen 5y ago

Good use of "signal to noise ratio"