it’s just us, some bots, real world events, and random latency between instances as they federate

  • blackberry@midwest.socialOP
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    2 days ago

    yes, in designed algorithms (although it’s hard to argue that “hot” sorting is an “algorithm” unless we’re being pedantic). but in a colloquial sense, from an end user’s perspective, the thing they see is “the algorithm”. which for lemmy is about as natural as I described, unless I’m missing something (like the rate of photons hitting under sea cables), since there isn’t a suggestion engine for the “all” feed

    • Snazz@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      in a colloquial sense, from an end user’s perspective, the thing they see is “the algorithm”.

      Yes, usually the default or most common method of aggregating posts is what people talk about when saying “the algorithm”

      However, any method of sorting posts is by definition an algorithm. “top” is an algorithm, “new” is an algorithm, if you can compare two posts and have a method to choose which one to display first, that right there is an algorithm.

      I’d actually argue that the “hot” algorithm is one of the more opaque ones. It sorts posts based on a composition of different metrics, and It’s unclear exactly what these metrics are and how they are combined.

      • blackberry@midwest.socialOP
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        22 hours ago

        yeah totally, but those are basic algorithms and most lay people don’t even realize them to be. also I doubt many developers would show their boss “hey I built this awesome algorithm, it sorts by up votes” or “by time created” and continue having their job unless they built a recommendation engine per user or demographic, which is the generic corporate standard

        which is why I like Lemmy/fediverse. it lets things be much more “organic” for lack of a much better word