• SlippiHUD@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    Turns out all it took was algorithms promoting hate speech, conservative view points and other rage bait.

    • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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      14 days ago

      As soon as the algorithm become engagement based, instead of “positive reaction” based,

      ie. algorithms now promote a post by how many reactions it has recieved, even if these reactions are negative, when it used to promote posts based on positive reaction.

      So now ragebait dominates most social media algorithms.

      • SlippiHUD@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        Yeah, it’s precisely why I stopped using every social media except the fediverse. It was toxic to my mental health.

        I feel safe assuming it’s been similarly toxic to everyone else’s, just some people haven’t zeroed in on that being the problem.

        • FundMECFSResearch@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
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          14 days ago

          Even Lemmy was like this. Especially with the default comment sort “active”, which promotes comments that lead to arguments. My experience has been better since I switched to “top”.

          I still haven’t found a good post sort that works for me. “Hot” and “Scaled” literally only promote stuff posted in the past two hours. “Top” is kinda sad because you always see posts 1 day old, and “Active” has the negative engagement problem.

          The best solution I’ve found is be on an instance with downvotes disabled and sort by “active” but it isn’t perfect.

          • NounsAndWords@lemmy.world
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            14 days ago

            I feel the same way and now typically use “Top 6 Hours”

            …which is a actually how I found this thread.

          • Sergio@slrpnk.net
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            14 days ago

            I just subscribe to communities I like, then sort by “New” to read those “Subscribed” communities. When I run out, I change to “Scaled” and “All”.

          • Orbituary@lemmy.world
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            14 days ago

            Thanks for the tips. I’m going to play around with it. Mine is set to hot currently, but maybe that’s not my cuppa.

          • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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            14 days ago

            maybe we should be able to blend several of these like i’ll take 20% of top day and 30% of active and 5% controversial… lemmy would grow more of the content was more suitable.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        algorithms now promote a post by how many reactions it has recieved, even if these reactions are negative

        ESPECIALLY if those reactions are negative. Rage and fear are THE top engagement drivers and engagement means retention means ad impressions means dollars.

        That it also means the end of democracy is immaterial to the billionaire ghouls in charge, of course.

      • Guilherme@lemm.ee
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        9 days ago

        It wouldn’t be hard to enact laws regulating how algorithms are allowed to use views, reactions and downvotes. Metrics like “Controversial” and Reddit’s “Hot” (that sums upvotes and downvotes like they’re all the same) would be forbidden and governments could demand deactivation of metrics, algorithms or even the entire platform.

        Of course such “anti-ragebait” regulations wouldn’t fix the issue but I believe it would significantly mitigate the overall state of nowadays internet.

    • Apytele@sh.itjust.works
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      14 days ago

      Also strawman liberal arguments to make living strawmen of privileged but sheltered children who won’t know any better than to make fools of themselves in public forums.