

Do users generally demand transparent and simple algorithms in social software (e.g., social news)? - amichail


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bcater
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by that question. If you mean "Should
it be obvious to me how you're providing me with social news?", then the
answer is that it doesn't matter so long as your algorithm gives me something
that I want. I would care if you managed to solve an NP-complete social
networking problem in polynomial time, but that's because I'm a nerd. Figuring
out how you did it would be an enjoyable mental exercise for me, but the thing
still has to work or I'd get bored once I figured it out.

Take Netflix as an example. I haven't the foggiest idea how they seem to
always know what movies I want to rent (though I have my hunches, since I'm a
nerd), but that doesn't matter to me because they always seem to suggest great
movies.

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amichail
So how come reddit tries to be transparent in that respect?

