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Comment by leakycap | Hacker News Reader

What I like about HN is that it isn't an echo chamber of "my stuff"

I often stumble across articles, blog entries, and even niche industry news that sparks an idea or thought or helps me understand a part of the world I didn't know about

The human curation and upvoting process on HN is one of the best parts if you ask me

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Yeah I definitely agree. I think the nuance is that personalization doesn't have to completely overrun the current ranking algorithm, it more just slightly boosts known similar content you might like. Should be the best of both worlds really.

I think you're missing what I'm describing: which is that HN is a rare thing for what it is

And for what it isn't

Putting a little bit of what something specifically isn't (algorithmic personalization on HN) can change something and your own perception of what "is trending" or what is hot right now

There are very few corners of the web without this kind of algorithmic feed & maybe not everything needs to be "best of both" when including a little of both completely changes it

agreed, but looking at the article it looks like you can turn this personalization bit up or down though to find the mama bear/just right level?

What is the just right level when tuning in one's echo chamber?

shrug maybe the solution on something like this is where every nth post is a personalized one.

sneeze I do that by skimming things and clicking on every nth post that interests me

the "mama bear/just right level" I love this so much

I have a sinking sensation this phrase will pop up in a meeting now.

Yeah exactly. I was really worried about reducing the serendipity that HN provides (as it's arguably why I've used it for so long as well) but the configurability allows it so that everyone can tweak their level of personalization to get their perfect goldilocks level.

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