To ask mumsnet to never do this

[Marmiteontoastgirlie]

Something I feel has destroyed the internet is the site algorithms that show you more of the content the algorithm believes you are interested in, based on content you’ve paused on before. It makes websites unbelievably dull.

Reddit used to be interesting for me but now the home page is just multiple posts from pages I once visited, rather than an avenue for discovery like it used to be. I went on Facebook this morning and 70% of my feed is now videos of people with flexibility exercises, because I made the mistake of watching one video on this topic on the weekend.

I FEEL like mumsnet doesn’t do this as much as other websites, especially on the “active” tab - and it’s really great. I think mumsnet does do this for the “trending” section, as the trending section is usually the same 5 topics for me, which is pretty boring.

Anyway, my suggestion is for mumsnet to please never do this for the active section. The enjoyment of mumsnet is the randomness of discovering new posts and this is completely destroyed if we only see more of what we have looked at before. I definitely spend less time on websites that do this so please don’t become one of them in a misguided attempt to capture attention.

Hear hear.

You are so right, op.

Completely agree. Obviously FB is awful for this but the first one I noticed was Pinterest, ages ago - you used to follow people or boards you were interested in and see their posts, like any social media platform at that time, then they changed it so you just see whatever they think you want to see based on what you looked at before.

Since then it has been unusable apart from a way to keep lists or links for yourself (I have a list of books I want to read) no more is it a place to get ideas. If I have looked at a recipe for cauliflower curry it doesn't mean I want to see 100 more recipes for cauliflower curry - I've got one, thank you!

Couldn't agree more

Completely agree. It’s why the internet has become an echo chamber for everyone. No longer do we see a broad range of content but the same thing flung at us in different ways. Recipe for rigid thinking.

Agreed!

Absolutely. I love some of the serendipitous threads I stumble on. And of course there’s no need to meddle with active as there’s Trending and For You for those that want AI ‘curation’. The few times I’ve looked at For you it seems to be threads I wouldn’t ever pick to read from Active so it seems pretty useless at the moment.
I wonder if MN can tell and if so whether they’ve analysed what the jumping off point is for most users - active/trending/for you/following, looking at specific boards…?

Anyway, my suggestion is for mumsnet to please never do this for the active section. The enjoyment of mumsnet is the randomness of discovering new posts and this is completely destroyed if we only see more of what we have looked at before. I definitely spend less time on websites that do this so please don’t become one of them in a misguided attempt to capture attention.

Absolutely agree.

Mumsnet has opened my mind to so many different perspectives, have learned so much about people and ways of life that are so different to my life experiences - and discovered just how much we have in common. Do not destroy that. We need to understand others better, not sink into echo-chambers of self-perpetuating views.

For the same reason, I do not like the way MN has changed Favourite Topics to Following. I do not follow any topics, deliberately. I have topics I am more likely to post on.

Favourites vs Following is maybe a subtle distinction but I agree the former is a better label. ‘Following’ encourages passivity rather than active contribution.

There should be a “reset my algorithm” setting on every site.

I thought active were the most recent threads to be posted on, nothing to do with the algorithms?

Like I'll post this now and if I immediately go to active after I hit post, this thread will be very near, if not at, the top.

I completely agree, but I think you are mistaken in thinking that MN is concerned with what users like/want. If they will get more clicks or more revenue then our pathetic wishes won’t amount to a hill of beans.

Absolutely.

👏👏 absolutely back this @Marmiteontoastgirlie - if MN do this I'll most likely end up only seeing parking threads 😜

Beautifully put.

Hello @Marmiteontoastgirlie, thanks for posting. Active shows you what’s currently being posted on, while Trending is based on what's getting the most views. Neither are personalised - they’re both designed to give a broad, real-time snapshot of what people are talking about or reading across the site. Some parts of the forum naturally get more traffic, which is why certain topics might come up more often in Trending.

It’s really helpful to know how much variety matters to your experience of Mumsnet, and we’ll definitely keep that in mind.

Completely agree. I like seeing the wide variety of topics that come up as I scroll through the active threads. I've read lots of interesting things and learned a lot, some of it very useful and some very unexpected. I don't want to keep seeing the same topics over and over. Keep the full variety showing.

Active and Trending make sense but the For You list is baffling.

Not Mumsnet related at all, OP but if you go to reddit.com and stick /r/all on the end of the url it'll show you all posts across every subreddit (well, the SFW ones at least), rather than just from the subreddits you've followed.

@VimesandhisCardboardBoots thanks so much for the tip!

@BeckyAMumsnet thank you for the info and great to hear about the lack of personalisation, long may it continue! :)

Agree!

I agree. I am so wary of what I look at now on the internet because I know I will be plagued forever more by whatever it was I looked at. I've only just stopped being followed around the internet by mattresses 😂

Don't worry the app is about 20 years behind the times so it still doesn't know what an algorithm is. We're fine for a while yet 🙂