I have done it. I have gone to the Dark Side.
I have implemented reading suggestions.
Evil, I know. My beef with Facebook is that it has become an infinite swamp of Suggested for You clickbait with occasional posts from friends mixed in. I wanted to create a social network where you get to keep up with friends and bloggers you find interesting, not clickbait. I want this to be a site which is not addicting.
But non-addicting is kind of non-enticing until you have connected with enough people. So in order to get the activity ball rolling, I have added some suggested content, at the suggestion of one of the testers.
Diet Coke of Dark Lords
The Suggested for You content is limited, currently capped at eleven posts at a time. And it comes after all your notifications from friends, etc. Indeed, I think I have it such that it won't even appear unless you have nothing else to read. Your connections come first!
And you have the option of hiding this new feature if you want to keep things from being remotely addictive.
Who Makes the Suggestions?
At the moment I and a small handful of members have Curator status. When we come across an interesting public post -- be it personal, on a blog, or in a group -- we have the option of clicking a button and adding it to the list of potentially interesting posts.
Later, I am going to work up a system for trimming the earlier suggestions so the list will be somewhat fresh. (And though the list may get long, only the first eleven get seen by regular members.)
Carl Milsted, Jr on Jul 3, 2025 10:25 AM
Warning! The Suggested Posts are now seen even if you have other things to do. This is temporary! I'm still tweaking this feature and I need to keep the suggested posts visible for a bit. Will switch back to lower distraction mode soon.
If you want to make your mark upon the world by commenting, JOIN!, (or just log in if you have already joined.)
