3 ms·

> HN is mostly high value content but still it's not the most effective use of my time. Wonder how we could make it more effective. I’d love a keyword filter.

by voisin 3y ago

> HN is mostly high value content but still it's not the most effective use of my time. Wonder how we could make it more effective. I’d love a keyword filter. Or an algorithm I can train myself to teach it what I like and don’t like. ChatGPT summaries of the comments to filter the wheat from the chaff would be helpful too.

esperent 3y ago
I've been thinking of this for a while - something like an advanced keyword filter that would work across most webpages, using a smaller LLM maybe? Personally I'd love to put in the names of some American cult of personality figures - Musk, Trump, the Kardashians etc. Ideally it would filter out all posts and comment trees on HN or reddit that are about these people and a handful of other topics. Even if it only worked on those two sites it would be a huge improvement to the internet for me.
listenallyall 3y ago
HN works well because the top stories are same the top stories for everyone. Having the #1 story be unique and algorithm-driven for every user would be detrimental to the site and the sense of community.
- voisin 3y ago
  In what sense would it be detrimental? If the top news for the day is a new Google product, and I don’t care about Google, why would it be detrimental to anyone if I didn’t see that? I think you are conflating externally driven, top down algorithms, with users expressing their own preferences over what they see.
  - listenallyall 3y ago
    I disagree, HN is like a broadsheet newspaper, it encourages a sense of discovery and often learning that things you didn't initially have an interest in, can be interesting or perhaps a parallel to something with which you are engaged. Further, no personal preferences means the site isn't expected to be tailored to you specifically, this promotes a certain sense of deference where people are exposed to lots of ideas, concepts, industries, experiences and viewpoints -- nobody is an "expert" here and on any particular day, there may be multiple things for you to weigh in on, or none, and that's ok. Along with fair, objective moderation, the discussions here are mostly well-behaved, non-partisan and civil, which all the sites you can personally customize fail to achieve.

by voisin 3y ago

esperent 3y ago

I've been thinking of this for a while - something like an advanced keyword filter that would work across most webpages, using a smaller LLM maybe? Personally I'd love to put in the names of some American cult of personality figures - Musk, Trump, the Kardashians etc. Ideally it would filter out all posts and comment trees on HN or reddit that are about these people and a handful of other topics. Even if it only worked on those two sites it would be a huge improvement to the internet for me.

listenallyall 3y ago

HN works well because the top stories are same the top stories for everyone. Having the #1 story be unique and algorithm-driven for every user would be detrimental to the site and the sense of community.

voisin 3y ago
In what sense would it be detrimental? If the top news for the day is a new Google product, and I don’t care about Google, why would it be detrimental to anyone if I didn’t see that? I think you are conflating externally driven, top down algorithms, with users expressing their own preferences over what they see.
- listenallyall 3y ago
  I disagree, HN is like a broadsheet newspaper, it encourages a sense of discovery and often learning that things you didn't initially have an interest in, can be interesting or perhaps a parallel to something with which you are engaged. Further, no personal preferences means the site isn't expected to be tailored to you specifically, this promotes a certain sense of deference where people are exposed to lots of ideas, concepts, industries, experiences and viewpoints -- nobody is an "expert" here and on any particular day, there may be multiple things for you to weigh in on, or none, and that's ok. Along with fair, objective moderation, the discussions here are mostly well-behaved, non-partisan and civil, which all the sites you can personally customize fail to achieve.