this post was submitted on 22 Sep 2023
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The whole point of Mastodon not having an algorithm to show you things is to put the user in control of what kind of content they want to see.
Why do you need an algorithm to tell you what you are interested in? You go on Mastodon and subscribe to what you want to.
Mastodon has algorythms. Otherwise it couldn't display the posts in the right orders, by example.
You're right. That word has always been kind of dumbly used as a replacement for something like, "feed manipulation controlled by corporate interests". Every computer application uses algorithms in some way.
Because it's hard to find things, the normal person is used to an algorithm
I remeber Facebook before algorithms took over.
You friended and followed things, and then you'd see content from those things only in either chronological order or by recent activity. People loved it and as "the algorithm" took over people complained that they were no longer being served the content they wanted and expected and were also seeing content they did not want to see from stuff they had never followed or shared interest in.
Fuck the magical algorithm that's tailored to serve me divisive content because that is what drives the most engagement. Or serves me content to sway my political and moral opinions to the benefit of some wannabe oligarch or government entity (looking at you TikTok/CCP).