4 ms·

I appreciate the anecdote. The distinction I’d draw is that email was a push model, but today it’s platforms that decide what we see. If platforms wanted, I th

I appreciate the anecdote. The distinction I’d draw is that email was a push model, but today it’s platforms that decide what we see. If platforms wanted, I think it’d be trivial for them to make a setting for their users to filter out politics/outrage/whatever For example Reddit will (unprompted) put links to videos of police brutality on the home page when I’m not part of that subreddit. To me this anti pattern reminds me of putting candy bars in the checkout lane — pitting me against my self control on purpose

bell-cot 2y ago
True, to a degree. But if you recall the 1987-ish to 2007-ish era - there was enormous growth in the anger-positive, fact-indifferent conservative talk radio and TV segment. Which was not 100% opt-in...but still far more so than most modern social media. Another anecdote: Back about 2002, an old friend of mine cut off all contact with a life-long, retired friend of his. In retirement, the friend-of-friend had been bitten by the Viral Conservative Anger bug - and refused to stop forwarding dozens of VCA emails to my friend every week. Similar for discussing any other topic on the phone, or ... (Pre-retirement, the friend-of-friend had been a highly skilled engineer, and had seemed to be a wonderful person.)
spixy 2y ago
> For example Reddit will (unprompted) put links to videos of police brutality on the home page when I’m not part of that subreddit. What? Yes if you go to r/popular/ or r/all/ but on home page it wont (I just tested to be sure and it shows only my subscribed subreddits).
- smegger001 2y ago
  I bet you removed all of the default subs and gp didn't.
- benfortuna 2y ago
  In my experience of Reddit you don't just get your subscribed subreddits, but also "you might like this" posts from subreddits you aren't subscribed to. So I think there's definitely an algorithm at play here.
- zug_zug 2y ago
  What happens (if you aren’t on old.reddit.com) is if you have too few subreddits it recommends stuff from other subreddits, and a lot of it is viral/outrageous stuff

bell-cot 2y ago

True, to a degree. But if you recall the 1987-ish to 2007-ish era - there was enormous growth in the anger-positive, fact-indifferent conservative talk radio and TV segment. Which was not 100% opt-in...but still far more so than most modern social media. Another anecdote: Back about 2002, an old friend of mine cut off all contact with a life-long, retired friend of his. In retirement, the friend-of-friend had been bitten by the Viral Conservative Anger bug - and refused to stop forwarding dozens of VCA emails to my friend every week. Similar for discussing any other topic on the phone, or ... (Pre-retirement, the friend-of-friend had been a highly skilled engineer, and had seemed to be a wonderful person.)

spixy 2y ago

> For example Reddit will (unprompted) put links to videos of police brutality on the home page when I’m not part of that subreddit. What? Yes if you go to r/popular/ or r/all/ but on home page it wont (I just tested to be sure and it shows only my subscribed subreddits).

smegger001 2y ago
I bet you removed all of the default subs and gp didn't.
benfortuna 2y ago
In my experience of Reddit you don't just get your subscribed subreddits, but also "you might like this" posts from subreddits you aren't subscribed to. So I think there's definitely an algorithm at play here.
zug_zug 2y ago
What happens (if you aren’t on old.reddit.com) is if you have too few subreddits it recommends stuff from other subreddits, and a lot of it is viral/outrageous stuff