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What we learnt from Twitter, and Facebook, and (I've never worked in those two, but I've worked in other companies) is that ranking posts in general increases u

What we learnt from Twitter, and Facebook, and (I've never worked in those two, but I've worked in other companies) is that ranking posts in general increases user satisfaction, and how often they return. I realise there are a number of tech people who hate it, and it should definately be configurable, but companies aren't doing it to be mean, they are doing it because it works.

progval 5y ago
Their metric for "it works" is that it makes them money. This isn't Mastodon's goal.
- gargron 5y ago
  The metric for "it works" is whether people successfully get started and continue to use the platform. For commercial companies this coincides with them making money. Even though Mastodon is a non-profit and does not and has no way of making money from having more users, it is a valuable goal in itself. Each new user decreases the network effects pull of commercial social networks and increases the usefulness of the network for everyone on it. Especially since the userbase is never static as people leave due to natural and unnatural causes, it is important to keep an eye on new user retention.
  - progval 5y ago
    I think we both agree there are things that Mastodon should never do, even if it increases retention, like highly addictive features. A line needs to be drawn somewhere, and it is not clear to me that Mastodon did, as a project; because it keeps pushing what I (and other early adopters) consider anti-features in the name of new user retention. For example, trending toots would have been unthinkable four years ago while trending tags were being designed, but trending tags eventually led to that.
    - progval 5y ago
      The OP release notes announced "As we value safety, these new features come with their own moderation tools–nothing will show up in trends unless reviewed by one of the server’s moderators first." Just a week later, here is a pull request adding an option to allow trends without reviews: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/17977 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/17977
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
betwixthewires 5y ago
Their metric isn't user satisfaction, it's user engagement as a proxy for user satisfaction, so says the sales pitch. It's obvious at this point it is not a sufficient proxy. Slot machines have a high user engagement and return rate too.

progval 5y ago

Their metric for "it works" is that it makes them money. This isn't Mastodon's goal.

gargron 5y ago
The metric for "it works" is whether people successfully get started and continue to use the platform. For commercial companies this coincides with them making money. Even though Mastodon is a non-profit and does not and has no way of making money from having more users, it is a valuable goal in itself. Each new user decreases the network effects pull of commercial social networks and increases the usefulness of the network for everyone on it. Especially since the userbase is never static as people leave due to natural and unnatural causes, it is important to keep an eye on new user retention.
- progval 5y ago
  I think we both agree there are things that Mastodon should never do, even if it increases retention, like highly addictive features. A line needs to be drawn somewhere, and it is not clear to me that Mastodon did, as a project; because it keeps pushing what I (and other early adopters) consider anti-features in the name of new user retention. For example, trending toots would have been unthinkable four years ago while trending tags were being designed, but trending tags eventually led to that.
  - progval 5y ago
    The OP release notes announced "As we value safety, these new features come with their own moderation tools–nothing will show up in trends unless reviewed by one of the server’s moderators first." Just a week later, here is a pull request adding an option to allow trends without reviews: https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/17977 https://github.com/mastodon/mastodon/pull/17977
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

betwixthewires 5y ago

Their metric isn't user satisfaction, it's user engagement as a proxy for user satisfaction, so says the sales pitch. It's obvious at this point it is not a sufficient proxy. Slot machines have a high user engagement and return rate too.