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"If you use a computerized system based on ratings, you will tend to get very relevant but safe answers"... I call this my "Radiohead metric": for a given music

"If you use a computerized system based on ratings, you will tend to get very relevant but safe answers"... I call this my "Radiohead metric": for a given music recommendation system, how long do I have to use it before it tries to recommend me Radiohead. One of the problems I find in music algorithms is they can't know how I've changed - suggesting music based on what I play or input - but that's stuff I liked in mid-2000s when I was in peak music consumption mode. Most suggestions then get picked from the same pool. I'd love these algorithms to take my age into consideration: "If you liked X when you were 25, you're going to love Y now that you're 35!"

redthrowaway 11y ago
Applying weight to each rating based on its age seems like such an obvious fix that someone must have tried it and realized that it makes things worse.
- hayksaakian 11y ago
  You can't really know that. Sometimes the things we miss are the most obvious.
- s_kilk 11y ago
  Maybe, but I'd think you'd have to take the age weight with a pinch of salt. The are 14 year olds who are obsessed with jazz and blues, while some 70 year olds only listen to hardcore punk and deathgrind
  - redthrowaway 11y ago
    Age of the vote, not age of the voter.
- cortesoft 11y ago
  It also might have to do with the time span of the data set... If they only have snapshot data, it would be hard to do anything with temporal information.
iak8god 11y ago
> I call this my "Radiohead metric" I don't use Pandora very much any more but when I did I'd just create a station based on a single artist and then usually listen to it without further interaction. All my stations would converge on Radiohead within ten - twenty tracks regardless of starting point: Joy Division? You must like Radiohead. Passion Pit? Radiohead. Billy Holiday? Radiohead. It was amusing but also more than a little bit annoying, and part of the reason I moved on from Pandora.
- seansmith23 11y ago
  So.... do you like Radiohead?

redthrowaway 11y ago

Applying weight to each rating based on its age seems like such an obvious fix that someone must have tried it and realized that it makes things worse.

hayksaakian 11y ago
You can't really know that. Sometimes the things we miss are the most obvious.
s_kilk 11y ago
Maybe, but I'd think you'd have to take the age weight with a pinch of salt. The are 14 year olds who are obsessed with jazz and blues, while some 70 year olds only listen to hardcore punk and deathgrind
- redthrowaway 11y ago
  Age of the vote, not age of the voter.
cortesoft 11y ago
It also might have to do with the time span of the data set... If they only have snapshot data, it would be hard to do anything with temporal information.

iak8god 11y ago

> I call this my "Radiohead metric" I don't use Pandora very much any more but when I did I'd just create a station based on a single artist and then usually listen to it without further interaction. All my stations would converge on Radiohead within ten - twenty tracks regardless of starting point: Joy Division? You must like Radiohead. Passion Pit? Radiohead. Billy Holiday? Radiohead. It was amusing but also more than a little bit annoying, and part of the reason I moved on from Pandora.

seansmith23 11y ago
So.... do you like Radiohead?