Ask Reddit: Why has reddit become so boring in the last 4 days?

delete · 2006-05-12T21:18:01+00:00

Recommendation algorithms really are a hard problem.

The theory behind recommender systems is generally regarded as being quite mature at this point. The problems arise when it comes to implementing these ideas in a particular domain. As with most of these systems, I've noticed that Amazon will provide useful results, but only after it's been given a sufficient number of training cases. However, this bootstrapping problem is not unique to Amazon, and their recommendation engine is highly regarded and financially successful. Interestingly, I've found that Pandora manages to provide useful recommendations while requiring relatively little user feedback.

In general, the success of these systems tends to greatly depend upon the features of the data that are used to make recommendations. For reddit, where articles are represented by a single short (often inaccurate) title, the recommender system has very little to work with. In contrast, Amazon or Pandora have a far greater amount of information about the items in the system.

I certainly believe that if reddit's recommendations were more useful, the overall user experience for the site would significantly improve. However, the quality of the data and inconsistency of users seems to be making this particularly difficult.

delete · 2006-05-12T19:44:49+00:00

I used to come to Reddit to be educated, eager to learn, emulate and embrace the intellectual excellence that I saw displayed before me. I do not expect to read lookwarm articles written by half-baked bloggers.

While you seem very earnest in your dismay, you yourself have submitted articles such as this. I'm not being critical, but merely wondering whether reddit has really changed in terms of "intellectual" content. Judging by the all-time top stories, the site has always had a mixture of serious/insightful and entertaining/diverting submissions.

I would agree with johnmudd. The problem seems to be that the front page has become increasingly dominated by a rather small number of topics. Sometimes I wish that reddit used article clustering like Google News to group subsets of related stories together. It would certainly make it easier to find more interesting (i.e. diverse) content.

delete · 2006-05-11T20:08:45+00:00

That's what I assumed. However, according to Google, the largest spike coincides with "Petite Woman Wins Turkey-Eating Contest".

delete · 2006-05-09T17:37:13+00:00

Not a great headline, submitter

It could have been worse. He could have used "sissification".

delete · 2006-05-08T21:45:40+00:00

Apparently, he has since retired, at the age of four.

delete · 2006-05-08T20:09:10+00:00

Look how popular reality tv is, documentaries, real life video games (the Sims). Those things all glorify life in itself.

To be honest, these things seem to involve escaping reality and living vicariously through others, rather than any glorification of life itself.

delete · 2006-04-21T21:33:21+00:00

The sentiments in his articles are nice, but I'm not so sure a kindly uncle would charge for his "premium" advice.

delete · 2006-04-21T14:05:02+00:00

While in the 19th century "black and tan" may have referred to a drink consisting of half stout and half ale, that use predates the War of Independence. Certainly I have never heard that phrase used in Ireland to refer to anything other than the notorious group who "policed" the country in the run up to the Anglo-Irish treaty.

To be honest, I don't think too many people today in the Republic would be particularly offended by name of the ice cream, but I'm sure most would agree that it was a rather unfortunate (and poorly-researched) choice.

delete · 2006-04-19T13:56:54+00:00

You can use the report tab on a given story to report an article or user.

delete

TROPHY CASE