Actually, I wouldn't mind a little bit of algorithm in my feed.
"Newest first" is annoying because unless I manage to read everything that's new then I have gaps. If I've only got a couple of minutes now then I want to be able to see a few things without losing track of what I have and haven't read.
"Oldest first" is annoying because -- as much as I might want to -- I can't keep up.
"Newest unread" is annoying because if someone's posted a series then I want to read them in order.
"Prioritised unread" might be OK -- if someone only posts once a month then I probably want to prioritise reading their post over reading absolutely everything by someone who posts multiple times a day.
I'm currently reading my RSS with Newsblur, and it's not perfect but it does give me flexibility through the "intelligence trainer" to highlight the stuff I want to prioritise.
Aside, RSS and Mastodon definitely are algorithmic. "Chronological ordering" is an algorithm, and it's not always the most appropriate.
"Newest first" is annoying because unless I manage to read everything that's new then I have gaps. If I've only got a couple of minutes now then I want to be able to see a few things without losing track of what I have and haven't read.
"Oldest first" is annoying because -- as much as I might want to -- I can't keep up.
"Newest unread" is annoying because if someone's posted a series then I want to read them in order.
"Prioritised unread" might be OK -- if someone only posts once a month then I probably want to prioritise reading their post over reading absolutely everything by someone who posts multiple times a day.
I'm currently reading my RSS with Newsblur, and it's not perfect but it does give me flexibility through the "intelligence trainer" to highlight the stuff I want to prioritise.
Aside, RSS and Mastodon definitely are algorithmic. "Chronological ordering" is an algorithm, and it's not always the most appropriate.