4 ms·

After having fired many of the devs, and the remaining ones not figuring out what all this is about, this looks like a desperate (or smart?) move to fix things

After having fired many of the devs, and the remaining ones not figuring out what all this is about, this looks like a desperate (or smart?) move to fix things while not spending a cent...

inglor_cz 4y ago
The interesting question is: can it work? Unlike with the software itself, there was never a serious attempt to open-source such algorithms in the big social media space. Obscurity was the undisputed king. I would be glad if this attempt actually worked out. Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant. But there will be a lot of bad actors trying to nudge the resulting algorithm somewhere in a subtle way. I wonder if all of them can be detected.
- Kye 4y ago
  There don't seem to be many examples of a once-proprietary tool improving after going open source. Blender is the one that comes to mind, but that's driven by a dedicated user base full of working professionals looking to get away from expensive proprietary 3D suites. Anyone who can really understand this algorithm is highly incentivized to use it to their advantage rather than improve it.
  - shagie 4y ago
    https://www-archive.mozilla.org/party/1998/flyer.html https://www-archive.mozilla.org/party/1998/flyer.html Incidentally, also March 31st. > So this is a joke, right? It's on April 1st. So it's a joke, right? > No, it's not a joke. It's on April 1st, because the source is going to hit the net on March 31st. The source is going out on March 31st because that's when the folks who wrote Netscape's press release said it would go out, way back on January 22nd. > Besides, posting a joke announcement a week before April Fool's Day would be bad form. Note that they set a date and stuck to it. Somewhere, I've still got the T-shirt.
    - Kye 4y ago
      A 1998 table-based layout probably made for sub-800 resolutions and it scroll wheel scales flawlessly to readability at 2560x1600.
  - drivingmenuts 4y ago
    There’s also a distinct lack of politics surrounding Blender. One of the first comments is about Fauci Files, leading me to believe that no matter the content of thee actual release, there will be a shitstorm around whether or not a certain person is vindicated or villainized girthed.
valevino 4y ago
Why you say that the remaining developers are not able to understand the algorithm?
- layer8 4y ago
  It’s literally in the quote above: > Our “algorithm” is […] not fully understood internally.
  - valevino 4y ago
    Probably was not fully understood before the layoff too.
  - Mountain_Skies 4y ago
    What makes you think anyone understood it before the layoffs? It sounds like lots of different people had been caking on layer after layer over the years to push things in whatever direction they wanted. Much of the code likely was put there by people who left the company long before Musk bought it.
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]

After having fired many of the devs, and the remaining ones not figuring out what all this is about, this looks like a desperate (or smart?) move to fix things while not spending a cent...

inglor_cz 4y ago

The interesting question is: can it work? Unlike with the software itself, there was never a serious attempt to open-source such algorithms in the big social media space. Obscurity was the undisputed king. I would be glad if this attempt actually worked out. Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant. But there will be a lot of bad actors trying to nudge the resulting algorithm somewhere in a subtle way. I wonder if all of them can be detected.

Kye 4y ago
There don't seem to be many examples of a once-proprietary tool improving after going open source. Blender is the one that comes to mind, but that's driven by a dedicated user base full of working professionals looking to get away from expensive proprietary 3D suites. Anyone who can really understand this algorithm is highly incentivized to use it to their advantage rather than improve it.
- shagie 4y ago
  https://www-archive.mozilla.org/party/1998/flyer.html https://www-archive.mozilla.org/party/1998/flyer.html Incidentally, also March 31st. > So this is a joke, right? It's on April 1st. So it's a joke, right? > No, it's not a joke. It's on April 1st, because the source is going to hit the net on March 31st. The source is going out on March 31st because that's when the folks who wrote Netscape's press release said it would go out, way back on January 22nd. > Besides, posting a joke announcement a week before April Fool's Day would be bad form. Note that they set a date and stuck to it. Somewhere, I've still got the T-shirt.
  - Kye 4y ago
    A 1998 table-based layout probably made for sub-800 resolutions and it scroll wheel scales flawlessly to readability at 2560x1600.
- drivingmenuts 4y ago
  There’s also a distinct lack of politics surrounding Blender. One of the first comments is about Fauci Files, leading me to believe that no matter the content of thee actual release, there will be a shitstorm around whether or not a certain person is vindicated or villainized girthed.

valevino 4y ago

Why you say that the remaining developers are not able to understand the algorithm?

layer8 4y ago
It’s literally in the quote above: > Our “algorithm” is […] not fully understood internally.
- valevino 4y ago
  Probably was not fully understood before the layoff too.
- Mountain_Skies 4y ago
  What makes you think anyone understood it before the layoffs? It sounds like lots of different people had been caking on layer after layer over the years to push things in whatever direction they wanted. Much of the code likely was put there by people who left the company long before Musk bought it.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]